How would you spend a rainy Saturday morning? Would you rather sleep in and enjoy the cozy weather, or join other book lovers in Lagos for a lively book discussion? For us at AIFA Reading Society, it was the latter.
On Saturday, July 8, 2023, AIFA Reading Society hosted members and friends of the Society to a book club session at Cleon Leisure space, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Book Club session, which had various industry professionals and young adults in attendance turned out to be a refreshing time for all the attendants despite the rainy weather.
The book club members read and discussed another thought-provoking short story by Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s titled, “a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or a shame to the family.”
Ijeoma Ezenwere gave the welcome address and facilitated an introduction of all the participants to ensure their acquaintance. All participants subsequently engaged in an icebreaker quiz that got the room charged up for the book discussion.
Right after the introduction and the games, a book club member, Moses, summarized the short story for discussion which opened the floor for the book club members to express their opinions on the short story.
Speaking on the title of the story, of the attendees, Victoria, opined that judging from the title, she assumed the author connoted that any profession outside the ones mentioned in the story is not important or relevant.
Subsequently, other participants shared salient points they had picked up whilst reading the story. Unsurprisingly, this led to a deeper and positively charged discussion on parental preference over choice of career for their children. The Club pondered on if parents still get to decide a career path for their children, stating that things have evolved, leaving room for children in this generation to explore careers in the digital and creative space. There were further discussions about favouritism, cultural preservation, patriarchy, symbolism of names and impact of relocation on family values.
The ambience, games, refreshments coupled with enthusiastic participants ensured that the Book club session was enjoyed by all. Arguably, one of the best elements of the book club session was the light-hearted banter shared by the participants. Each question asked by the participants involved deep reflection and measured answers which were further discussed at length by all in attendance.
The end of the book club session was marked with a group photograph to ensure that all in attendance had a memory to take home. Participants also stayed back to enjoy the games and further discuss lessons from the story.
It was truly an enjoyable experience for all in attendance and in the words of one of the participants, Omolara, “I decided to come out today and read books with other book lovers and I must say that I had a good time.”
Have you read the short story? You can visit Adda Stories to read up and don’t forget to tell us lessons you learnt from the story.
