Award-winning Nigerian author reveals her 6 favourite books

16:39 - 29 August 2016

'Under the Udala Trees' by Chinelo Okparanta

You need to check out these great book recommendations from Chinelo Okparanta.

In an Interview published on Books Live South Africa, Nigerian-American author Chinelo Okparanta shares her 6 favourite books.

She told Books Live: "There are so many books I love. But I will say that I particularly appreciate satires, or novels that are in some way reflective of the social issues of the time and also simultaneously transcend the time"

See her favourite books and why she loves them:

1. Candide by Voltaire, because it’s funny but so real. It’s a book that cautions against misguided optimism.

2. Gulliver’s Travels by Swift, because it’s brilliant and inventive. It is a satire, and is a novel that is reflective of the social issues of the time and also simultaneously transcends the time.

3. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, because it is sweet and poetic and honest and simple (in a good way). And it’s about love, and it’s about a rose.

4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin, because it speaks to the plight of women in society, then and now.

5. Things Fall Apart by Achebe, because, let’s face it, colonialism is still a problem.

6. God Help the Child by Toni Morrison. I am a huge fan of Toni Morrison. I love The Bluest Eye. But I also love God Help the Child.

Okparanta was shortlisted for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing, and her collection of short stories Happiness, Like Water was shortlisted for the the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature. Her debut novel Under The Udala Trees was awarded the Lesbian General Fiction Award some few months back.