African Music to My Ears

I highly recommend you listen to this book instead of read it. It's a series of short stories by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie and read by Adjoa Andoh. Listening to the stories in a true Nigerian accent made them come alive!

From Amazon: "Winner of a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and an Orange Prize for Fiction, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie continues the literary tradition of Chinua Achebe, one of her greatest influences, in this brilliant collection of stories. Focusing on life's many clashes - tradition with modernity, African cultures with American - Adichie delivers a series of haunting, character-driven tales." Click here to listen to a sample.

Most of these stories have appeared first in various periodicals such as The New Yorker and the Virginia Quarterly Review. Jumping Monkey Hill is the most autobiographical story, taking place at a writers workshop in Cape Town. One of my favorites is A Private Experience in which a Christian woman and a Muslim woman find themselves hiding in a building together to avoid a street riot. The title story The Thing Around Your Neck is about a woman named Akunna who obtains a much longed-for American visa and goes to live with her uncle in Connecticut, only to have to move out to avoid his unwanted advances.

Here is the NYT Book Review of The Thing Around Your Neck. A reviewer in The Times said, "Stunning. Like all fine storytellers, she leaves us wanting more." I agree, but make sure you listen to this book. Two thumbs up.