The books you read and love as a child always stay with you. They shape the reader you become later on and in the case of many writers, the type of writer they will be and the stories they tell. Author Erhu Kome shares her three favoite books from her childhood.
Hello, my name is Erhu Kome and I’d like to introduce myself as the first female Nigerian author of bizarro fiction. A Nommo award nominated story that came to be from the premise, ‘what if love literally made the world go round?’
Another ‘what if’ led me to write my first young adult fantasy novel titled The Smoke That Thunders. What if a girl wanted more for herself than what the world tells her she can have? What if she decided to go after her dreams? What if I added a magical creature to shake things up? The answers to my what ifs spurn the story of Naborhi, whose fierce determination not to be put in a corner changes her life forever.
It’s not far-fetched to think all writers are readers, and the books we read continue to shape our writing in one way or another. From the mountain of books I read growing up, here are three I can never forget.
The Concubine by Elechi Amadi
This is the best love story I’ve ever read. I found it among a shelf of books in the home I grew up in and read it to tatters. The author wrote this literary romance novel in a setting untouched by any modernity, which makes it absolutely chef’s kiss. I think I fell in love with the story when the MMC says to the FMC, ‘I like your ways.’ I’ve read and heard a lot of romantic lines but none comes close, for me, to those four words whispered by Ekwueme.
There is also a bit of mythology surrounding the romance which only made me love the story even more. The ending though.
Violence by Festus Iyayi
This story is set in the great city of Benin, the city I grew up in. It blew my mind as a child to read a story set where I lived, but in the 70s! Mr. Iyayi’s description of Benin should be lauded and studied.
The novel has a lot of heavy themes pulled from issues still very much present in Nigeria today. But at the centre of this heart wrenching story, there is the unshakable love between a husband and his wife.
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I thought I’d end this post with the happier and more popular story of the trio. I read The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy on my very first laptop. I think it was the first eBook I ever read too. I had never laughed so hard reading any book. I absolutely loved it! I really thought the Vogons were kidding about demolishing Earth for an expressway. How lucky I was to have found such a book. That’s it with certain stories, isn’t it? How lucky we are to find them, read them and share them.
The Smoke That Thunders by Erhu Kome is available now in hardcover, audiobook and e-book.
Featured image designed by Jon Negroni. Read more articles by Brianna Robinson here.
Brianna Robinson is a book publicist and Sarah Lawrence College alum. She lives in New York with too many books and two enthusiastic dachshunds. You can find her on twitter @blrobins2.
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