So it was on Thursday the 19th of the last month of 2019, December precisely, that we gathered an interesting group of people in the training room of The Eugenia Abu Media centre for the last Abuja Book chat of the year. As it is traditional to get a Special Guest at every edition, we invited the respected Ambassador Joe Keshi to lead the discussion as our Special Guest. The theme for this 5th Abuja Book chat was Why Book reading is critical for 2020. Our Special guest was as formidable as we expected but so were our guests. We had a development expert in the house, a couple of writers, a broadcaster, a leading member of the private sector, a teacher, a retired civil servant, a student, a school proprietress and a Caribbean Chef. One other interesting guest was the Deputy Ambassador for our annual summer writing workshop for children, The Treasured Writers, TTW, Shise Alagh and she had quite an interesting submission. The guests were a stellar cast of amazing minds.
Ambassador Keshi gave the usual comments by the Special Guest admonishing us all to read more in 2020. His mainstay was that to read is to be involved both in governance, leadership and community development. He said when they were in school, reading was a competition for who was reading the most and it made their generation more aware and incredibly knowledgeable across board. He added that reading also provided one the opportunity to make friends and could even lead you to making friends with the opposite sex while exchanging the books you read. He regaled the audience with tales of how you could both be reading in a bus and then one thing leads to another in exchange and you were visiting your book reading mate. This led to a round of mirthful laughter. But the bottom line in his comment was that if we all read newspapers and books we could contribute to national development and more importantly we could all be better citizens and choose wisely in the 2023 elections if we knew what was going on and understood the candidates better in addition to understanding the commentary surrounding the political terrain. It was a defining moment.
The conversation then opened up to who should be held responsible for our reading habits and how it was important for parents and teachers to be involved fully. Talk also revolved around the internet and how it has affected reading. There were many interventions by those who were convinced that they read better online and those who felt reading a book physically inspired them. Many guests said they signed up to attend to improve their reading habits and Ambassador Keshi and other guests made suggestions including but not limited to commuting to work in order to be driven so you can read a book. Discussions were held around starting to read again and the book chat submitted that you read a book with multiple stories in it to enable you get your spark back. Ambassador Keshi advised that we form the habit of buying books and returning to reading slowly. I added that heavy books were not really good if you were beginning to read again but lighter books that are funny or easy to read and biographies. It was a very excited set of guests that further engaged Ambassador Keshi and each other as we all gathered for small bites as the evening came to a close. One young participant added the final highlight of the evening when she said a nation does not grow beyond her educational system. Well… here are some of the books that were mentioned at the fifth Abuja book chat and the last one for 2019.
1. Julius Ceaser by William Shakespeare. This was agreed by all as an iconic book and Ambassador Keshi described Mark Anthony’s speech as a classic. Now if you have never read Julius Cease, do well this season to read it and pay special attention to Mark Anthony’s incredible speech.
2. The vulture is a patient bird by James Hadley Chase. Everyone in the room except a few agreed that James Hadley Chase was a master storyteller and had such big crimes reduced to enjoyable fiction, “The vulture is a patient bird” was one in a series of nearly 40 titles of chase that I read. It not only discussed crime but everyone learnt the American lingo from it. Ambassador Keshi’s hilarious submission. For me in addition, there were manners of speech that are still with me today.
3. Enid Blyton as an author held me spellbound with her many adventures for children and I still have a collection at home today. Worn but not tired. Read by my children, hopefully will be read by my grandchildren.
4. From third world to First World by Lee Kuan Yew was Ambassador Keshi’s book on how leadership can affect a country’s fortune and how the visionary Prime Minister of Singapore singlehandedly changed the course of his nation in less than three decades.
5. Any book on Dubai. Another nation that Ambassador Keshi dwelt on as one that had a movement led by the Dubai Emir Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rasheed Al Maktoum and his Father who changed a desert to a touristic nation.
BONUS BOOKS AT THE BOOKCHAT:
When Hitler took Cocaine and Lenin lost his brain. Aphrodite by Isabelle Allende Any cookbook. Do join us at The Eugenia Abu Media Centre for more Book chats in 2020: For discourse, book talk and networking. Happy new year to all our readers.
