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Cheryl's books

Currently reading

The Collected Stories
John McGahern
Middlemarch
George Eliot
Omensetter's Luck
William H. Gass
Swann's Way
Marcel Proust, Lydia Davis
A Naked Singularity (Paper)
Sergio de la Pava
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews
Geoff Dyer
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
Claire Tomalin
Maps and Legends
Michael Chabon
I Do Not Come to You by Chance - Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani This was exactly the type of world lit book I enjoy reading. It is set in Nigeria and written by a Nigerian, so it felt like I was reading the story from within, from that perspective. It disobeyed all the rules of how to write about Africa, set out in that tongue-in-cheek Granta article several years ago ( http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1 by Binyavanga Wainaina.

The story centres around a likeable fellow from an honest and hard-working family who highly value education. Despite getting his engineering degree, he can't get a job, and he eventually falls into the 419 scamming industry, working for his highly successful uncle.
It is fascinating to learn more about that scam, and how it is perceived in Nigerian society, but the book is really about how the young man balances the expectations and beliefs of his family with his own desires. It gave a sense of what life is like for some people there. It was often light-hearted and funny.

"There were many possible explanations for the atrocious traffic in Lagos—population explosion, insufficient mass transit, tokunbo vehicles going kaput, potholes in the roads, undisciplined drivers, random police checkpoints, and fuel queues. But in Cash Daddy’s opinion, the go-slow started whenever the devil and his wives were on their way to the market. I think he was right."

A highly enjoyable and well-written book, recommended.