Book Duka – The African Bookstore

I like books.

I like some more than others.

I like the feeling you get when you’re excited to turn the page but still have to finish reading the current one.

I like reading and being smart.

2019 was supposed to be a chilled year for me where I don’t get a demanding job for the first few months. Where I just take a break and breath.

I’m terrible at taking breaks. I’m just as bad at procrastinating as I am at taking breaks. When I wrote the Scramble and Partition for Africa article I needed to do a lot of fact checking. Part of me feels like even now I don’t really have the full story. I therefore made a mental note, read more African books.

I got a few. I started with Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and I now feel like an expert in apartheid. Then I read George Orwell’s, The Animal Farm and though it is written in a Norwegian set up, in most ways it describes our world. I read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists, and now I have a deeper insight on issues like feminism. I then read The Smart Money Woman by Arese Ugwu and that book simply changed my life. I’m nowhere close to where I want to be but I’m definitely somewhere.

Every time I read I realize how little I know. How sheltered my knowledge is and how much more I need to read… How much more I ought to read.

Therefore, I’ve posted quite a bit, where I’ve written on the importance of reading. It all started when I wrote on Reading Culture. But it’s easy to tell people to read. However, where do you get the books from? Loads of people have previously emailed me asking me for books and I always share them. I started by mailing the e-books I had, which is a big mistake. Why rob a writer? It’s a difficult habit to get out from because as Kenyans we love short cuts and free things, and who has money for books anyway? But there’s so many other ways to get books that are affordable. (Story for another day)

I’m a big believer that you have everything you need to succeed so out of the blues the offer came up to run and manage a bookstore. I wasn’t sure about it but now I run a bookstore. I manage the nitty gritty’s. It’s funky and it’s called Book Duka.

I just started and of course I’m extremely terrified and have no clue how to go about it. But hey, if there’s something I’ve learnt from reading Dale Carnegie’s, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is worry doesn’t solve anything. It only makes you live in fear. And I think it’s safer not to look at the world from damaged eyes. So why not try something new. A new challenge? Definitely, cause that’s what life is.

Here’s to diving in.

Here’s to new experiences!

Feel free to stalk away! I really would appreciate if you stopped by any of these pages and dropped a like or follow, your choice 🙂

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookduka/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookduka/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BookDuka 

Website:  https://bookduka.co.ke/ 

Any tips on how to do this are much appreciated. Any feedback as well. You can always drop me an email on info@glynismaina.co.ke I’ll be sure to answer any questions you may have or queries.

Also Part 2 of Chronicles of Mafia is coming soon!

Stay happy,

Glynis.