Photo: Sanja Gjenero | Stock.xchng
When I went back to Manila for Christmas, strewn alongside some shirts and other goodies for my family and friends were books for my sister, my niece, my BFF, and my goddaughter. I’m not in the publishing industry for nothing. I truly believe that books are some of the very best gifts I could give people I care for. They nourish the mind and soul. They open up our lives to great adventures from the comfort of our settees on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
For my sister, I bought a newly minted coffee-table book of watercolour paintings of East African birds. She loved it, of course. After all, she herself is a watercolourist. I can’t wait for her to open her own one-woman show.
For my little tadpole of a niece, I bought a set of three books of Kenyan animal tales: a crafty chameleon, a hungry hippo, and a tricky tortoise. But they were well-produced books: beautiful illustrations, clean binding, well-written text. Only drawback for me on those ones was the fact that they were written by a mzungu and printed in the UK. (Where oh where are the Kenyan writers and publishers?) I could have bought other children’s books by local publishers, but I was aiming for quality. Sadly, I was hard-pressed finding it among the local ones I saw on the shelves. Maybe there are some coming up this year. I hope.
Then for my BFF, I bought a book by a wonderful Ugandan writer that was short-listed for the Caine Prize. That was a joy to do because I really support her. If she hadn’t left Nairobi at the time I was ready to leave for Manila, I’d have asked her to autograph it. I’m looking forward to more literary works from this writer soon.
As for my goddaughter. Ah! That princess. I bought her a large-sized book retelling the story of Owen and Mzee, the odd hippo-tortoise couple down at the Kenyan coast.
I’m glad that I have people in my intimate circle who love books as much as I do. They reduce my headache of figuring out what to buy as gifts. ;-P But more than that, I just really love handing over a gift that keeps on giving even when it gets dog-eared, yellow, and torn. That’s how love and friendship is supposed to be, too.
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