We ask a select number of Daily Trust editors and reporters what books excited them in 2017 and they come up with an eclectic list sure to thrill book lovers all over the world
Abdulkareem Baba Aminu
Editor, Daily Trust on Saturday
Origin, by Dan Brown
After being a super-fan of writer Dan Brown because of The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, I confess I drifted away. I also own up to having picked up his new book, Origin, out of curiosity. But as I began to read it, page after page, I could see that he has returned to top form, perhaps outdoing himself this time.
Origin tells the story of Robert Langdon, in the fifth instalment of the protagonist’s stories. Described as a science fiction mystery thriller novel, I thought of it more as a Rubik’s Cube in book form, presenting puzzles I aspired to solve before the story unravelled itself for my entertainment.
There are new characters, like Edmond Kirsch, a futurist, inventor and former student of Langdon. He claims to have solved the question of where humanity comes from and where we are going. While he presents his results, he is shot. The book sees Langdon and Ambra Vidal, the fiancée of the future King of Spain, try to figure out what Edmond Kirsch wanted to reveal. The ending presents a classic Dan Brown twist that had me smiling for some minutes.
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Award-winning author of ‘Between the World and Me’ Ta-Nehisi Coates has always had a compelling voice, and perspective. This, his latest, reflects on race, Barack Obama’s presidency, Donald Trump’s White House win, and its still-unfolding aftermath. While some see it as a lament of reconstruction-era black politicians, the selected essays within this hefty (for Coates) 367-page book explore the tragic echoes of various histories. It paints an almost-perfect canvas of the unprecedented election of a black president, which appears to have lit the flame that is currently a dumpster fire of sorts, electing the man Coates has tagged America’s “first white president.”
Coates examination of the Obama era from a vantage perspective, having interviewed Obama in the past, shows the well-standing feet needed for such a book. Granted, ‘We Were Eight Years in Power’ sports the writer’s popular essays first published in The Atlantic, but they all seem strangely fresh for the times today. There is a lot for other nations, Nigeria included, to glean from the essays in in this book. That’s because the themes within project broader social and political phenomena. Exactly what we need to, as Nigerians, come to terms with today.
Carnivorous City, by Toni Kan
Toni Kan, famous for writing raunchy short stories for a huge audience, via Hints Magazine, has evolved into a wordsmith who breathes life into characters by first of all detailing the sprawling canvas on which their lives unfold. ‘Carnivorous City’ is his first book after a rather risqué one he offered some years back. This time, he’s armed with a deceptively simple premise: a Lagos ‘Big Boy’ called Sabato goes missing without a trace, leaving his more down-to-earth brother Abel, from Asaba, to deal with the events that follow.
Lots of contemporary fiction coming from Nigeria tend to be verbose, slathering one unrecognizable word after another in an attempt at sophistication, but Kan’s book thankfully refrains, and from that projecting a kind of kinetic elegance. We meet super-rich fiends, and villains drenched in squalor, as well as everything in-between.
The writer’s deft usage of pop culture, and sometimes even political zeitgeist, gives ‘Carnivorous City’ a chip on the shoulder. The reigning brats of Nigerian music are name-checked, almost in the same breath as the most popular American TV shows. It is difficult to say how all that works into the success of the story, but it does. It is a book faithful to the titular metropolis, and its darkness, an unpretentious tale about the pretentiousness of Lagos.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
News Editor, Daily Trust, Sunday
Stay with Me, Ayobami Adebayo
In 2017, one book that has been much talked about is Ayobami Adebayo’s debut novel, ‘Stay With Me.’ It is no fluke that it made it to the finals of the Bailey’s Women Prize, having been shortlisted a few weeks after its publication. Told in simple, engaging prose, the story revolves around the marital crisis of Akin and his wife Yejide and the deception that marred their marriage and forced them apart. A brilliant debut from an author who has whetted the appetite of the world.
The Woman Next Door, by Yewande Omotoso
What Yewande Omotoso does in this book is to succeed in making you follow the story of two horrible women. Who said your characters have to be likeable to make an impression? She threw out the rule book on this one. Hortensia and Marion are two women, both over eighty, one black the other white. who share the same fence in post-apartheid South Africa. They also share the same deep-rooted hatred for each other. But soon enough their lives collide in unexpected fashion and the two have to find ways to pilot life with each other. This is a brilliant novel of navigating hate and age with two most unlikeable characters that somehow grow on you.
A General Theory of Oblivion, by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
My most amazing discovery of 2017 is Anglola’s Jose Eduardo Agualusa, a brilliant writer of the most enchanting stories. This novel revolves around Ludo, a reclusive Portuguese woman, who on the eve of Angola’s independence walls herself in an apartment and remains holed up in Luanda but completely isolated from the country for the next 30 years until a little thief climbs over her fence and gradually brings the world into her life again. A novel of rich and lush prose with elements of the great narrative techniques that made Gabriel Garcia Marquez great. No surprise it won the International Dublin Literary Prize. His other book I read last year, ‘Creole’, is just as fabulous.
Sugar Money, by Jane Harris
This is my chance discovery of 2017. Jane Harris’s fabulous novel ‘Sugar Money’ is set in Martinique in 1765 and follows two slave brothers Emile and Lucien, the colourful narrator. The duo are charged by their French master, Father Cleophas, with a mission to return to their former home, Grenada and smuggle back 42 slaves claimed by English invaders. For young Lucien, this is an adventure, but for his wiser, older and mysterious brother, Emile, the dangers are all too clear. But the love of Celeste, draws him to the island he once called home and the dangers of this mission. Lucien is a witty and humourous narrator and not often does one find a slave narrative filled with so much humour and heartbreak.
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
American novelist Colson Whitehead won numerous awards for his slave escape narrative and it was one of the most talked about books of 2017. ‘The Underground Railroad’ is a novel of fabulous prose and heart-breaking anecdotes of the evil of slavery and one slave’s determination to escape. It brings to mind Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ but if there is a downside to this novel, it is that at some points, the author veers off the story’s paths to vividly paint the evil of slavery. It was a shock when it missed out on a Booker Prize shortlisting but then again . . .
Nathaniel Bivan
Arts and Entertainment Desk
Love Does Not Win Elections, by Ayisha Osori
Amina Osori’s political nonfiction, ‘Love Does Not Win Elections’ proves that a good book does win a reader’s heart.
Before I met Ayisha Osori, I saw her book with a friend, and with little time to spare, went through it quickly. I was immediately taken by the cover design, and then the title. Who wouldn’t? There were the words, ‘Love Does Not Win Elections’ with a cover art of a box and pieces of papers bearing red heart shapes. Indeed, love doesn’t necessarily win elections, I instantly agreed.
I met her at the 2017 Ake Arts and Book Festival in 2017, after which I got an autographed copy of the book. Wow! In this case, a good book does win the heart of a reader.
The book chronicles her attempt to clinch the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in 2014 to run for the Federal House of Representatives for AMAC/Bwari constituency in Abuja. Witty, hilarious, and at the same time sad, it lays bare the corruption in Nigerian politics, and the religious and ethnic sentiments that influence who gets what in the system. So, imagine a fresh face like Osori vying for a political position within the Federal Capital Territory. Plus, she’s a woman. All these make the book an exciting read as she narrates how powerful money is in getting party hotshots to support her.
By the time I was done reading this book, I was drained. But like the author said, it was worth it, because she now has it all documented, and this might just be a bigger win for her.
Victoria Bamas
Content Editor, Daily Trust Online
The Fishermen, by Chigozie Obioma
‘The fishermen’ revolves around the lives of four brothers in a small community in western Nigeria whose lives and family are shaken to the core after a violent prophecy. The book got me thinking on fate, destiny and free will.
‘Why we‘re hosting African Creative Summit’
From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos
Organisers of the first ever African Creative Summit have explained that the need to maximize human and material potentials available in the industry for the production of good and qualitative productions is the reasons why they plan the convocation of the summit.
In a meeting with journalists in Lagos, the programme initiator, Brienze Lawrence said unknown to many in the Nigerian creative sectors, some of the equipments being used for the production of creative works are under-utilised.
“Our people are great movie makers. For instance, in Nollywood, we have brilliant people but we seem to be lacking in technical know-how and manipulation of some of our production equipment. Despite the greatness of some of the equipment we have at our disposal, I can say there is still gross under-utilisation. Some of our cameras for instance can be manipulated to get certain effects in production but yet very little of their potentials we have discovered and we are putting into use.
“These are some of the challenges we want to address in the proposed summit which is the first of its kind in Africa. On our part, we are going to be bringing experts who have been into these businesses at the global stages to share experiences with some of our people. Sessions are going to be organized on how to maximise the potentials of some of the available equipments, how to use them, among others.
These are really not new elsewhere. In many developed countries, there have been arrangements where resource persons especially from manufacturers do meet from time to time with industry players to put them through and offer advices on how to maximize potentials of the equipment available for the creative works,” Lawrence said.
She said aside enhancement of the technical know-how on the use of equipment, the summit will also be focusing on the business side of the in creative industry especially as it affects how to invest, the kind of investment, laws and industry regulations, among others.
Nollywood actor and film producer, Fred Amata also explained that the aim of the 2018 African Creative Summit is geared towards taking the creative industry beyond what it is. He said every industry grows with the reality of the time but in doing so; the organizers also take cognizance of the experience of some stakeholders who have been there over the years and as such, would be involving them.
“Many industry players have been around for many years. Their experiences no doubt count. So as we strive to make a statement with the new initiative. All industry players that matter as film makers, scriptwriters, directors, technicians among many others with cognate experience will be brought on board to also contribute their quotas,” Amata said.
