BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ IN YOUR LIFETIME

How to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee.

This book will help you understand racism and its effects on the victims of it. Told through the innocent eyes of a child with no prejudice, it fully breaks down the unfairness of it in a fictional story of what could possibly be true events. Published in 1960, it’s a shame that even now in 2020 racism is a topic that still needs understanding for some. This book will help you understand racism as well as aid you to explain it to others.

Plot: Harper Lee’s classic tale set in 1930s Alabama is perhaps the seminal text on racial tensions in the Deep South. The story follows the white lawyer Atticus Finch as he attempts to save the life of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. By being narrated by Finch’s six-year-old daughter Scout, the unfairness and incomprehensibility of the situation is illuminated further, seen through the eyes of an innocent child.

The diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

Know your history,  especially major historical events that happened in the world. This book narrates true events of the Holocaust from a personal account of a young girl called Anne Frank. It will also give you a different perspective on how to find love in a time of hate and war. With tribalism and racism still a vital thing in our country and the world in general, this book will play a part in enabling you to play a part in spreading hope and love.

Plot: Unforgettable and deeply influential, Anne Frank’s diary is a raw account of a young girl’s life as she hides from the Nazis. Despite her circumstances, Anne believes that people are still good at heart and that the world is full of beauty: she will change your life. The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the dutch language kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

A book that touches on all things, questions, struggles in life and how to handle all of them from a point of love. This an in depth book, written with so much wisdom and knowledge. It will show the value of love in life and how to be fully present in your everyday moves and shape your future in the process. This is a book that will stay with you forever.

Plot: This is a novel written by Turkish author Elif Shafak, The book was published in March 2009. It is about Maulana Jalal-Ud-Din, known as Rumi and his companion Shams Tabrizi. This book explains how Shams changed the life of Scholar to a Sufi through love

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

This book touches on the subject of African traditions and Christianity and how they came to collide and at times come to cohesion with one another. We know colonialism happened to Africans but this book seeks to explain the effects of colonialism from an African perspective.  You will get some understanding of the roots of some of our tradition and the reasons of disposing others.

Plot: It comprehensively imagines how the Nigerian Igbo community functioned prior to colonialism. The divisions in this community accompany the tragic fall of the hero, Okonkwo, whose heroic but rash stand against colonialism ends in a lonely suicide. Achebe’s wisdom is sufficient to move readers beyond recriminations or historical blame, since the Igbo community adapts to accommodate Christianity and new forms of colonial governance. Just as the novel’s title quotes Yeats’ poem The Second Coming, Achebe’s African philosophy of balance in all things works towards a millennial partnership with Western modernity.

My life in crime by John Kiriamiti

This a thriller book, a real life story of a gangster and professional criminal set in Kenya.  This book will keep you on the edge of your seat, a timeless piece of art that will open your eyes to the immense talent in our country, a best seller written by a high school dropout and ex-con. This book will show you the loopholes, corruption in our country through the eyes of a criminal.

Plot: My Life in Crime is a 1984 novel by Kenyan author John Kiriamiti.  It is a fictionalized account of Kiriamiti’s criminality in Kenya during the 1960s and 1970s. The novel details Kiriamiti’s crimes under the alias Jack Zollo that led to his imprisonment.

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Change is inevitable, we only have to know how to quickly adapt to it. This is a short book packed with so much knowledge. One of the best motivational books you could ever read. It will help you maneuver in your life as well as your career path, how to handle failure and motivate you to reach your goals.

Plot: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published on September 8, 1998, is a motivational business fable. The text describes change in one’s work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two “Littlepeople”, during their hunt for cheese.It’s a short, light-hearted parable about change, by best-selling author, Dr. Spencer Johnson. It follows the physical and emotional journeys of four characters – Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw – as they search, find, lose and must rediscover their favourite food, cheese in a large, twisting maze.

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

The question we all ask ourselves is,  why am I here? what’s my purpose on earth? this book seeks to give you those answers. The book goes hand in hand with a christian lifestyle encompassed with God’s incredible plan for you as a christian. It stems from God being the giver of life, the bearer of the meaning of life itself and your part in it. It’s a great book that will give you a sense of direction and identity that most motivation books don’t. Different from other books that seek to make you the determiner of your life’s journey, this book gives the determination to a higher power, God.

Plot: A bible study book written by Christian pastor Rick Warren and published by Zondervan in 2002. The book offers readers a 40-day personal spiritual journey and presents what Warren says are God’s five purposes for human life on Earth. The most basic question everyone faces in life is Why am I here? What is my purpose? Self-help books suggest that people should look within, at their own desires and dreams, but Rick Warren says the starting place must be with God and his eternal purposes for each life. Real meaning and significance comes from understanding and fulfilling God’s purposes for putting us on earth.

Make a point to read these book in your life and recommend them to your loved ones.