Bibliotherapy for Your Staycation: 7 Books that Grabbed Me

Books can be therapeutic at any point in time, especially now. Here are 7 books that grabbed my attention and made a lasting impression on me. They may just be your next enjoyable read while we are locked down in this staycation.

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Reading was my first window to the world while growing up. As a child, I holed myself in two particular spots. The first was under the dining table. The second was on the hot seat in the toilet – some people are great at multi-tasking while shit stuff happens. Thought-provoking and gripping, the books that grabbed me were my portal into different worlds. They also got me in trouble at school. I was that pupil sneakily reading during boring lessons. The one whose books got confiscated and had many trips to the teachers’ common room, hotly pleading for their return. In one epic misadventure, I was even threatened with suspension for losing a library book. Listen. Nothing shook my young heart like that episode in school. Despite those enemies of progress circumstances, the love has remained. Here are 7 books that grabbed me – complete with a back story or three.

1. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie

First things first. I’ll read anything Adichie writes – because I’m a HUGE fan like that. Americanah is a story with love, race, immigration and the politics of Black hair-xistence threading through. It is one of the few books that grabbed me at the first line and never let go. In Ifemelu, Adichie birthed a heroine that felt real and…familiar. Within the parallels of our witty, African immigrant, natural hair-wearing, blogging selves, I found my literary alter ego. Americanah was my “unputdownable” escapist cocoon while in the thick of an intensive Masters programme. It is one of my top three annual re-reads. I know Americanah is polarising, and if you belong to the extreme end of disliking it, exit this blog and never return let’s talk in the comments. Recommended book reviews: Americanah | Kintu, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

2. Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah was prescribed reading in my English Literature class in high school. Let me tell you, it didn’t stoke my fires for a while. I mean, when you have to pore over a book ad nauseam, turning it this way and that in search of various themes, it can bring a few yawn moments. Years later, free from the myopic confines of youth, something happened. I picked up my copy from high school, tracing each bend and scuff of the well-thumbed book, and settled in for a re-read. Set in the fictional African state of Kangan, Achebe weaves a nuanced take on power, autocracy and the deteriorating relationship between four friends when one of them becomes ‘His Excellency’. I was gripped. In my opinion, Anthills of the Savannah is one of Achebe’s best works. Look what a healthy dose of re-reading can do, eh?

3. Becoming by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama’s Becoming was the holiday read during yours truly’s epic Thailand adventures. I carted it EVERYWHERE. From Bangkok’s sweaty bustle to the jade allure of Phi Phi Islands to the golden sunsets of Koh Lanta, I stole reading moments on flights, ferries, taxis, tuk tuks and long tail boats.

Becoming reads like something Aunty Michelle might have told you herself by a cosy fireside. Everyone is familiar with Barrack Obama’s meteoric rise to the highest office in the United States. In Becoming, you’ll get the inside track to Michelle’s story while everyone else had their eye on Barrack. Naturally, I tried to book tickets to Michelle Obama’s book tour in London’s Southbank Centre. AN EVENT WHERE SHE WAS IN CONVERSATION WITH ADICHIE, I MIGHT ADD. I’m not shouting...or, am I? How did that work out, you ask? Let’s…let’s not go there, okay? I don’t wanna talk about it.

4. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Born a Crime came to my attention in the way snail mail does – slowly. I’ve never been swept up in Trevor Noah’s comedic political commentary. Unsurprisingly, his memoir wasn’t on my radar, until I kept seeing it in others’ Twitter recommendations. Interest piqued, I bought a copy and settled in. My verdict? Born a Crime will make you laugh until you cry. And then you just may cry at some of the heart-wrenching realities of Trevor Noah’s South African upbringing.

5. Green City in the Sun by Barbara Wood

If one never followed the call of the spirit or ventured into new worlds, how tiresome a place this would be! It is in the nature of the human to move on, to experiment, to look at the horizon and wonder what lies beyond it.

Green City in the Sun

As far as reading-induced wanderlust goes, Green City in the Sun has pride of first place in my affections. Aged about 11 and bored at home one day, I went through my mother’s book collection and selected it randomly. Set in Kenya in 1919, Green City in the Sun is the saga of the reverberating effects of a curse by an African medicine on a British family who took over her Kikuyu homeland. Wood’s vivid descriptions of Kenya was my first tangible bridge to how words can transport you to places. I haven’t made it to Kenya yet – and when I do, my 11-year-old self will be seriously chuffed to bits.

6. If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon

I am Sidney Sheldon’s biggest fan, and If Tomorrow Comes is my favourite of the late author’s novels. Tracy Witney is an intelligent and beautiful woman on the cusp of marrying into a wealthy family when she lands in prison after being framed by the mafia. Down but not out, Tracy plots revenge on the people responsible, and along the way, becomes the con artist’s con artist. If Tomorrow Comes is such a page-turner, with intrigue and revenge running through at an unpredictably exciting pace. I first read this book in my teens. Yet, whenever I pick it up again, it’s with the same breathless anticipation of the first time all over again.

7. Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French by Stephen Clarke

While studying Journalism and French for my undergraduate degree, I had the option of taking a semester or year abroad. I picked the latter and ran off to a thoroughly enjoyable, yet highly frustrating time in France. I moved to Paris with rose-tinted fantasies. Initially, I found the “City of Love” bewildering and intimidating. Looking for an escape one day, I walked into a bookshop on Champs-Élysées and did a rash thing: I blew invested that month’s pocket money in books. (Yes, I subsisted on gari for the rest of the month after that impulsive cash splash). In that book haul, however, was Talk to the Snail, Stephen Clarke’s cackle-fest irreverently roasting the French. Are you looking for a tongue-in-cheek take on dealing with estate agents, falling in amour, surviving road rage and beaucoup, beaucoup more? You should Talk to the Snail.

So, now you know some of the books that grabbed me. What are some of your all-time favourite reads that I’ve GOT to check out? Share with me in the comments below.

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