The Other Life of Book Lovers Series — Tolani Thomas

My name is Tolani (@tolanithomas), I am a PR and business development consultant. When I’m not working, or out living my Lagos big girl life, I usually have my nose in a book.

I’ve always been an avid reader, I think it started with Disney fairy tale books; Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Snow White. Then I started reading Young Adult novels like The Princess Diaries and Harry Potter. I really got hooked on books when I discovered my step sister’s stash of Mills & Boon novels in Primary 4. Oh Lord, my eyes were opened, I was hooked. I devoured every soft cover romance novel I laid my eyes on. Next thing I knew, I had to read every book. I was always in the library in high school; my school has a lot of Enid Blyton, Baby Sitters Club and RL Stine’s Goosebumps books, I read almost every one. One of my biggest regrets till date is leaving that school without reading every novel they had in the library. I even tried to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica but Mr Okonkwo, the librarian, wasn’t having it.

Picking a favourite book is difficult for me as I believe every good book leaves the reader with something, sometimes without the reader’s knowledge. I don’t even have a particular genre I like, I just like to read and get lost in other worlds. These days I have a penchant for African literature; my favourite book last year was Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett. I read a lot of popular books, as well, James Patterson and John Grisham are two authors whose works I’ve read the most. I have a thing for autobiographies, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Living History and Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity are two books I can’t forget. Books by entrepreneurs and trailblazers always catch my eye.