My Nairobi, My City – Book Reviews | Self Publishing Ideas

August 31^st is here and it is a mix of warm and cold. Our little corner in Nairobi is feeling dry-ish. Still waiting for decent rain. The month was filled with a voting week and the strange limbo that follows result week. Kenyans, we remain resilient. The business continues, and we march on. On the fun side, Netflix keeps on giving. I love the Sandman and hope they come through for a second season and a third. The Sandman comics are so much fun to read. My favorite episode remains the one with the cats and Calliope.

Maktaba Kuu

We made a trip to our national library, now labeled Maktaba Kuu. My sister and I went there to make a legal deposit for books we printed. It is always the most interesting activity to do. The government has recently revamped the national library and everything looks spanking new. There is so much space for books, which is awesome because when you buy an ISBN in Kenya you have to deposit two printed books with the ISBN to the library. This is the only to buy a new ISBN batch. I loved all the new reading spaces, and the librarians are all so friendly, that you just want to move in and stay. Hahaha.

The ISBN legal deposit of books is a great initiative in terms of contributing new titles to the national library. It also allows anyone to find the book and read it at no charge. So, if you want to read a book printed in Kenya and can’t find it or afford it for the moment, try visiting the Kenyan Library. Give it a read and leave it for the next person to check it out too.

Nuria the Honest Store

I recently reviewed Murdering Romance by Kendi Karimi. Through her, I got to pick up her book from Nuria the Honest Store. I love the concept of this online bookstore. They stock a wide range of genres, and especially stock Kenyan writers. You purchase these books online through their website and have them delivered to your location. I got my package and a cute bookmark that I will definitely use often.

If you’re a writer, consider approaching Nuria to sell your books. If you’re a reader, check out the Nuria Online store and see if they work for you. You can also visit their location in town to get a look at the titles they carry.

Amari’s Baking with Amari

This big book always excites me because it took some work to get through the editing process, the formatting, and the cover design. When the printed version comes home, I always have this moment of excitement going through the pages to make sure everything is as we planned. Yes, we do find a typo or a detail that should have been removed and it’s like…argh. But then, we shake it off and make notes to get it in the next edition. This is the journey, but nothing beats having the book in hand in printed form.

So, here is a plug. Get the Baking with Amari Recipe Print Book exclusively at Topserve Ltd. Or, you can buy the ebook from Amari Baking Center.

On Reading

My reading list was done faster this month. I got through five books, which is awesome. I hope I do about the same in September if I’m to get to 52 Books for the reading challenge. Hahaha. The best book this month has been Wash Day Diaries. Just…the best thing I’ve seen in a graphic novel.

On Writing

I’ve spent August in editing mode. Editing remains full of teachable moments, like keeping my writer self away from someone’s voice while insisting on rewrites.

September is coming. It is one of my favorite months. The second one is in October. That’s the update from the blog this August 2022. I’m super looking forward to September’s sunny days in our corner. Take care of yourself, and I hope you make a dent in your ongoing projects.

Today, our favorite companions, two white cats, with the most expressive eyes. I, most times, believe they understand every word we say. They’re both girls and get those moments when they huff and walk away…..clearly, they’re speaking here.

I saw them playing in the flower garden and it reminded me of another Saturday not too long ago. As mentioned before, I love gardening, flowers growing around the house, digging fingers into the dirt…all of it is therapeutic and a great mind-clearing exercise, as Mum says.

So, on this Saturday, we (Mum and me, worked in the flower garden, while my sister baked) spent time weeding, loosening dirt for the flowers, kneeling right in to pull out weeds. It doesn’t take long. Afternoons are the best around three p.m., going into dinnertime. It’s funny, but when we start working, everyone in the compound gravitates to that spot, and wild conversations arise. The last time, my sister (the bakerette), was reminiscing on when we were kids and each of us got a small patch to dig and plant. We each had digging tools, and even planned out what to plant. Of course, Our Mum would be supervising, and we grew flowers mostly, while she planted veggies, but it was a fun way to keep us occupied. Many years later, looks like we’re all still tending to flowers, and pretty grass. Of course, our little helper, Bindi the cat, always inspects the job, to make sure it was done right.

Bindi checking progress

Mum trimming the fence

Afterwards, we all sat on the stairs having tea with pancakes made by our in-house bakerette. Thinking about gardening today, I went to check the flower gardens thinking next Saturday, we need to do some garden work…the cats seem to agree.

She didn’t help carry out the dirt

But she looks forward to the next time.

Read a Story:

Save My Heart is available here, get the pdf, and read away.

Tag: My Nairobi, My City

August Adventures and a Fun Bookstore Named Nuria

Saturday afternoons in the Flower garden