Chigozie Obioma comes to Books at Noon next Wednesday, April 22 to discuss his latest work, The Fishermen. We asked him six questions about what he likes to read.

When and where do you like to read?

I read almost everywhere I find some measure of serenity. I don’t do well with noise, especially organized noise. But I mostly read on my couch in my one-bedroom apartment. For some reason, I find it hard to read on my bed, in my room. So I read either on the couch, or on the dining table, or, rarely, at my desk. 

What were your favorite books as a child?

I was fascinated by the works of Amos Tutuola, especially the first African novel in English, The Palm Wine Drinkard.   Since Nigeria was once a British child, I had relative easy access to the works of British masters. But amongst this gallery of faces, I found extreme delight in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’urbervilles, which, even now, I still regard as the masterwork of the 19th century literature. But most of all, I found a stronger affinity with the works of African writers: Chinua Achebe, for Arrow of God, a harrowing, sweeping novel; Wole Soyinka, for The Trials of Brother Jero; Cyprian Ekwensi, for An African Night’s Entertainment; Camara Laye, for The Dark Child, and D.O Fagunwa, for Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, which I read in its original Yoruba version. And lastly, I devoured and was fascinated with mythology, the Greek myths. I read Homer’s The Odyssey at age fourteen, over the course of three months because the library at my school could not let me take it out.  

What books had the greatest impact on you?

The Palm-wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola, for its breath of imagination; Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy, for its enduring grace and heart; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, both for the power of their prose. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe, for its firmness in Igbo culture and philosophy. 

Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership?

I am still trying to understand why some people do not know about the American writer, Shirley Hazard. She is a fascinating writer, and one of the great prose stylists of the 20^th century. Begin with her novel, The Transit of Venus. There’s the Australian writer, Amanda Curtin. It might sound biased since she is a friend, but The Sinkings is an ambitious, original novel, even if slightly weighty. She deserves a readership outside of Australia at least! Perhaps because he has written more plays and memoirs than fiction, not many have read the Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. Yes, I know he has won the Nobel, but I think people should seek out his work. Read his version of Bacchae of Euripides and you thank me for pointing you to this great of greats. 

What was the last book you recommended?

The Palm-wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola.

What do you plan to read next?

I am looking much forward to sinking my teeth into What Burns Away by Melissa Falcon Field, even as I am slowly re-reading Eleanor Catton booker-winning The Luminaries. After these, by my bedside, lies, bidding me read it, Humboldt’s Gift by Saul Bellow—my first Saul Bellow.