World Book Day Recommendations: “Five Books I’m Grateful For & Why” — Pamilerin Jacob
April 23rd was World Book Day and Nigerian writer, Pamilerin Jacob shared five books he is grateful for.
Pamilerin Jacob is a Nigerian poet & editor. He loves doves.
Read him:
It’s so tough picking just 5 books, because so many books have influenced me in various ways. But these will do for now:
- Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh
A Buddhist monk dear to my heart, Thich Nhat Hanh is a beacon of peace and tenderness that feels so scarce in the world today. I am grateful for this book because it helped me find solace & solidarity within, in a period of great mental unrest & pain. His words are so gentle, so lucid that even a child would grasp them. Each page is filled with enough love to heal the heart & cut through bigotry.
Check Out: World Book Day Recommendations: ‘Five Books That Shaped Me’ — Chimee Adioha
2. Dialogues with Silence by Thomas Merton
A Catholic monk dear to me, I love Thomas Merton’s Dialogues with Silence, because it is exactly that—dialogues with Silence. That Great Divine Quiet that receives all supplications & doubts. It is actually a book of his prayers (& drawings), & honestly, each prayer/contemplation is vulnerable, potent, riveting. I am grateful for this book because it teaches/reinforces for me how sanctity & daily life are interwoven, how deity is hardly separate from humanity.
Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh in their books totally helped reshape my ideas of what spirituality could, should be—devoid of variance.
3. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
I am grateful for this book because it was my first encounter with non-duality in a way. Khalil’s poems feel sacred, omnidirectional—there’s a poem on Love, Children, Sorrow and Joy, Clothes, Religion, anything one could possibly conceive. Also, the writing style in my opinion is impeccable, necessary. I like that the poems satisfy both mystics and everyday people.
Suggested Read: World Book Day 2021: 30 African Contemporary Writers Share Their Favorite Books
4. Red Bird by Mary Oliver
Always say I’m a Mary Oliver stan, and rightly so. She has a lot of amazing books (poetry, essays, craft books) but Red Bird is my favourite. It is soaked with tenderness, attention, and dare I say holiness. My fave poem in the book is Invitation. Look it up! A perfect poem for all seasons.
5. The Art of Losing (Poems of Grief & Healing), Ed. by Kevin Young
This anthology of poems was a gift from a friend & peer, Christtie Jay. I am thankful for this anthology because it saw me through the grief of losing two important people in the past two years to death’s woeful grip. It helped— still helps—me process, live through the (unending) grief. A natural recluse, the poems helped me feel less alone. It’s as Baldwin said once, you think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.
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World Book Day Recommendations is a series of book recommendations made by African contemporary writers for World Book Day and #365DaysOfBookOclock.
Check out other recommendations here.
