What I've Read So Far In 2022

The first quarter of this year was pretty slow reading, unlike my blistering pace in 2021, where I was gunning for a reading goal of 100 books (don't ask me why I torture myself this way). On the bright side, it's been a lot less pressure and I've been able to relax and enjoy the activity of reading for its own sake, and to really dig into fictional worlds and follow enthralling characters as they embark on their journeys.

Without further ado, here are the books I've read in the first quarter of 2022:

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Open Water follows a young Black man in the UK finding love and struggling to be vulnerable in his new relationship. With captivating, poetic prose and a compelling protagonist, Open Water is a story about how much trauma racism and discrimination can have on the psyche, and how that trauma can have ripple effects on every other area of a person's life.

"Besides, sometimes, to resolve desire, it's better to let the thing bloom. To feel this thing, to let it catch you unaware, to hold onto the ache. What is better than believing you are heading towards love?"

Find it here on Goodreads: Open Water

Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Made by Damilare Kuku

Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad is a collection of 12 riotous and colorful short stories that depict the cauldron that is the Lagos dating scene; beware, all ye who enter. I really liked the simplistic writing style, which made the story very easy to follow, and the humor was spot on. I wasn't really a fan of all the stories, but at the end of the day, read for a good laugh and for eyebrow-raising commentary on navigating love and relationships in one of Africa's most (in)famous cities!

"Anyone who could keep a white shirt clean at the end of the day in Lagos deserved a standing ovation. But I should have known that any man who could keep a clean white shirt at the end of a Lagos work day would be dangerous."

Find it here on Goodreads: Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

Sankofa is the story of Anna Graham, a 48-year-old British biracial woman, whose life is unraveling. She's separated from her husband, her daughter is grown up and living her own life, and now she's just lost her mother. Everything changes when Anna discovers in her mother's things a journal belonging to her father, who abandoned her mother before she was born. Reading through the journal reveals this man who has long been a mystery, but her discovery leads to an even bigger revelation: that her father was the first president of Bamana, a fictional West African country, and that he's still alive. I wasn't too sold on the execution; the story moved too slowly in parts and I wish that more time was spent in Bamana. Still, Sankofa is a valuable story of relationships lost and found, of self-discovery, and the search for belonging, and it's a lesson that you are never too old to rediscover yourself.

"I could not resist Kofi. He understood this, perhaps: that a child can long for a parent in a way that a parent can never long for a child. He was fully formed when I was born, while I have always been missing a father."

Find it here on Goodreads: Sankofa

I'm hoping to read more sci-fi and fantasy, and maybe some thrillers and mysteries as the year progresses. Here's to more great reads in the rest of 2022!