In novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s newest work, Americanah, a young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected. Ms. Adichie took some time from her author tour to talk to us about books she’s recently read and those on her to-be-read pile:
I just finished Tash Aw’s Five Star Billionaire, which is a brilliant, honest, big, multi-character and hugely enjoyable novel about contemporary China.
I’m looking forward to reading three books in the next week or two. James Salter’s All That Is, for two slightly conflicting reasons: because it sounds like a slight departure from what he’s previously done and because I loved his autobiography and his novel Light Years. I admire his willingness to be what one might call precious, although I use it, in this case, as a compliment. He does it very well.
Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings. I am a keen fan of her work, her novels are wise and true and have something real to say. I think this one will, too.
Kiese Laymon’s Long Division, a novel set in post-Katrina Mississippi. After reading a beautifully-written and insightful online essay by Laymon, I was eager for more from this author, and so promptly ordered the novel.
As I am presently on book tour, I’m doing very little writing, which often leads to depression. So, to cope, I am dipping in and out of some poetry, to remind myself of the beauty and necessity of language: Christopher Wiman’s Every Riven Thing and Derek Walcott’s Collected Poems.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be reading from Americanah at Elliott Bay Book Company on Monday, June 3, at 7 p.m. Her earlier works include Purple Hibiscus, The Thing Around Your Neck (short stories), Half of a Yellow Sun. We are so grateful that she shared her current reading with us!
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