NewStats: 3,262,605 , 8,177,673 topics. Date: Tuesday, 03 June 2025 at 12:46 AM 2h6g4r

If you grew up in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s, before the advent of social media, there is no way you wouldn't have escaped reading some of these books. I read most of them, especially those from the classical African Writers Series and Pacesetters.

Going through the list was a bitter-sweet experience for me because I am a lover of books, and it greatly reminds me of the gradual death of literature not only in Nigeria, but the world at large. It also reminds me of my childhood and the swift age of time. One minute you're a child without a care in the world, and the next instant, you're an adult with adult responsibilities...

I grew up reading these books, so lets go on a journey in exploration of these all time African classics.

I will start with my all time favourite:

The Bottled Leopard by Chukwuemeka Ike. I read this book uncountable times until the rats in my father's house ate it up, as if saying "ENOUGH!!". Lol.

It's a boarding school story set in 1949, about a boy, Amobi, possessed with the spirit of a leopard who ran amok destroying things until African juju chained it up. I the main character's best friend is a Nigerian-American half-caste boy named Chucks ( or is Chuks?). Chucks later spread false rumours about Amobi. Very interesting read and my personal all time favourite.

http://www.lailasblog.com/2016/07/lailans-how-many-of-you--these.html

Time Changes Yesterday by Nyengi Koin. A precocious girl match makes and hooks up her teacher with her widowed dad.

The Second Chance, also by Nyengi Koin. Mina and Richard's unlikely rich girl, poor boy love story. The story almost made me weep at the romance and the lovely way it turned out.

Yeah I this one. The twins were separated at birth over Mina's father's refusal to allow poor Richard marry his daughter.

It was an interesting read,because as a student of the Government College Umuahia then,which was the setting of the book,i could relate with everything written therein.From Bottled leopard to Arrow of god to Forest of flowers(Ken saro-wiwa) to The Concubine,all were written by our old boys.

Proudly Umuahian. Our will to shine as one.

One Week One Trouble, by Okoro Anezi. The ultimate boarding house story. One week one trouble. Wilson Tagbo. I have never seen someone as beleaguered with mischief as Wilson Tagbo, the protagonist. Lol

Wilson Tagbo the trouble maker!!

Dreammaker by RMD's late first wife, MEE Mofe-Damijo. Assad Lawson, Ama St Clair and Kayode something (I forget now). Honestly I can barely the plot.

I honestly don't know this one. I'm just seeing this book for the first time

Another personal favourite, God's Big Toe, by Obii Nwachukwu-Agbada. Who re Onwubiko? The only son of his rich igbo dad who previously had several daughters before him. Spoiled rotten, he was a brat who thought the world was his oyster, until daddy died and reality came crashing in...

I love this one. I read it uncountable times. Onwubiko is God's Big Toe who must never be stepped on! What a punk

The Virgin by Bayo Adewole. Very funny premise. I'm pretty sure if this story came up on Naija twitter today, there will be war. Lol

I don't think I read this one

An African Night's Entertainment, by the late and great Cyprian Ekwensi. All I about this book is that it is set in Hausa land, the main character lost an ear and then went on a very long voyage of revenge. Very interesting read. Cyprian also wrote the classic port of Mallam Ilia, for those who can .

This took me down memory lane. Wow!!

I also another one written by Cyprian, about an old man struck with a spell of the wandering disease. Each time someone mentions Sokugo, the old man loses his senses and starts wandering upandan distant lands. I have forgotten the name but the plot has stayed with me all these years.

The Birthday Party by Segun Adebanjo. If my memory serves me well the writer used to be a journalist. This babe in the story was a serious runs girl. Had four guys at her beck and call. All came crashing when all four sponsored her party. Oh gosh, when they crashed the party it was a huge mess and scandal, with broken bottles flying and broken heads as well. Lol

I this one. The girl's hoe game was weak

Rich Girl, Poor Boy by the late UNILAG Creative Arts lecturer, Bode Osanyin. It is about aluta continua and how love triumphed at the end. I won't say it is particularly interesting but it was hugely popular back then,

I agree. Very dry novel with a very unrealistic ending. It was written and published during the military era, in 1983 when Osanyin was still wet behind the ears.

Ade Oguntoye's Too Cold For Comfort comes next. Mother-in-law vs Daughter in-law palaver.

I barely this one, but I know it was very interesting

Ishilove:

This took me down memory lane. Wow!!

yeah, I read this one like five times,but like two years ago,

At all, except these...

Uncle Eddie Iroh with this classic Without a Silver Spoon. If you schooled in Nigeria, you must have read this. Dirt poor boy is sponsored through school by his stingy teacher, who he serves as a house boy. The poor boy goes to the bush to look for palm kernels to break and eat because of hunger because his honesty wouldn't permit him to steal. A classic any day any time.

The part that got me was when the boy's father spat into his hands and asked him to lick it

The Virtuous Woman by Zainab Alali. I can barely the plot, but i know it is about a childless woman searching for the fruit of the womb. Quite interesting.

Haven't read "anyone" of dose storybooks ooo bt i tink i saw dat "The Birthday Party" somewhere bt can't rememba...aaaahhh ave read "Without A Silver Spoon"....dat book almost made me cry...no...it made me cry....twas poverty at its peak
Hmm Ishilove is d Op..it might make Fp

The Drummer Boy by Cyprian Ekwensi.

I owned a copy of this book and I saw Kokoro everyday in traffic, yet it didn't occur to me that the book was about him (until just before his death).

Another favourite, The Concubine by the recently deceased Elechi Amadi. This timeless classic is about beautiful, gap teethed Ihuoma, wife of a Sea King (spirit husband) who can only be a concubine to a man, but never a wife. All the men who married or tried to marry her died tragically. Ekwueme her husband, Madume (that one's death was terrible), and Emenike. Very painful, this story, but very interesting. One of my personal favourites.

When I read it the cover was different. Ekwueme died from the injuries he sustained in a fight with Madume. Madume, the greedy lecher began eyeing Ihuoma after her husband died. I think Madume later hung himself on a tree after he went blind. The spirit husband came in the form of a snake and spat into his eyes, blinding him. He sunk into depression afterwards, and then committed suicide.

Truly an unforgettable classic...

Ishilove:


The part that got me was when the boy's father spat into his hands and asked him to lock it

I preferred Forty-Eight Guns For The General. My God, I lost myself in that book!

Mother's Choice by Agbo Areo (I wonder where this writer is. I read so many of his books growing up). This is a story about a mama's boy. My memory is so fuzzy...

Who can the other books written by Agbo Areo?

Ishilove:


This took me down memory lane. Wow!!

An African Night's Entertainment and Eze Goes To. School. Wonderful memories.

Buchi Emecheta wrote The Joys of Motherhood. It is one of the most recent in this collection, having being written in the early 2000's. I never finished the book because my copy was stolen by a big eyed thief who I was never able to catch, but from what I , it is about a woman who worked her back off for her children but died before she could reap the fruits of her labours.

Quite sad, although I am more acquainted with Second Class Citizen

I love Ralia the sugar girl And Footsteps in the Dark, by Theresa Meniru


The [b]Bottled Leopard [/b]is also exciting, I read more than 7x

The books that I've read are not here

If you Ralia the Sugar Girl, you will also The Boy Slave and Return of the Boy Slave because they were all written by the same author, Kola Onadipe. If my memory serves me well, it is a biblical Joseph the slave kinda story. I think the protagonist also rose to become a king or something. It has been so long.

I thought i saw Ralia Odinga

I know I've read this Boyslave book, but each time i try to conjure up the memory, Koku Baboni keeps popping up.

Who also re My Father's Daughter by Mabel something?

The Drummer Boy by Cyprian Ekwensi. This one about a blind boy who lived on the streets. He had a very sweet singing voice, was d with a restaurant and somehow got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Truly a walk down memory lane. Social media has effed up so many things

I read the bottled leopard sugar girl D Ó Fagunwa books men reading book good oo

I read tons of Pacesetter novels decades ago, but this is the only one that has totally stuck in my head. I can almost every single line.

The Director by Agbo Areo.

[quote author=Ishilove post=47575598][/quote] Do you know who this novel is about?

naptu2:
I read tons of Pacesetter novels decades ago, but this is the only one that has totally stuck in my head. I can almost every single line.

The Director by Agbo Areo.

Yes! What's the plot again?