Favourite Five: Victor Alao

Victor Alao's works are published in Sentinel Nigeria, The Colored Lens, and Jungle Jim. He never shuts up about stories. From time to time, he writes on The Heavenly Press blog as the Chief Spokesperson for the Heavenly Host. There are no exceptions to the things he would read. He loves Supernatural and has given up on Chelsea F.C. 

He had this to say about his favourite five books "My favourite list is too volatile and changes too often (usually with sentiment). So let’s call this a list of books I really would love to give people to read." 

Contract with God Trilogy by Will Eisner

This is the first graphic novel I read more than five times. It’s a collection of stories about the everyday lives of the residents of Dropsie Avenue and you will be really surprised at how extraordinary the lives of these people are. On the surface, they are everyday people and let’s be honest, what does that mean, to be an everyday person? In the title story, a rabbi feels cheated by his contract with God and reneges on his duties and as a result becomes the butterfly that starts the storm affecting every other person in the story. Great collection. 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

This book kept me smiling when I was done. The flap jacket will tell you it’s about time travel but it’s much more. King tells the tale of a man, Jack Epping, who goes to the past to prevent JFK’s death which is set for 11/22/63. Time travel is the least of things going on in this novel and since Jack has to wait in the past for five years before the date of the impending disaster, you can be sure this man will find adventures, including falling in love, along the way. Does he succeed in preventing JFK’s death or not? Read to find out. It’s one of my favourite King titles.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

This is the first book in The Gentlemen Bastards series. After the first sixty pages, it begins to feel like you are in a movie with a lively cast of thieves with a Robin Hood approach to stealing. And it reads really fast. Someone described it as Mission Impossible meets another movie I can’t remember. The statement is true, it has that espionage feel from Mission Impossible. Maybe you can call it Mission Impossible meets Robin Hood since its time period is somewhere in the Medieval Era. In any case, it’s really up there for me. 

Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

This book showed me another side of the “imagined” world I will always be grateful for. I met characters in its country of Aburiria that I will never forget. And how can I forget Machokali who enlarges his ears so he can show devotion to his master by being his master’s ears, or Markus who decides his eyes were better bigger to show dedication to the Ruler? It’s a country I’ve visited again and again. 

Perfume, the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a perfume maker in 18th Century France whose nose is like his eyes and he has the misfortune of not having a personal odour, which makes him feel invisible. And because of this curse, he kills in order to create the perfect scent. This is a different type of serial killer and Suskind delivers a book told through the nose of this killer. It’s all about smells and this killer knows them all.