What to Give a Book Lover in Nigeria: A Gift Guide
July 14, 2026
Buying a book as a gift is one of the best things you can give someone, but only if you get the right one. A book that does not match the reader sits on a shelf. A book that does becomes something they press into other people's hands. This guide matches books from our catalog to specific kinds of readers, so you can give something that actually lands.
Every book below is available at The Book Monk Store with nationwide delivery from Lagos. Order online and we will ship it to you anywhere in Nigeria.
For the person who loves Nigerian literature
Start with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. If they have not read her, begin with Americanah: it is her most ambitious novel, it travels the widest, and it is the most immediately engaging. If they are already an Adichie reader, give them Purple Hibiscus, her quieter and more devastating debut.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare is one of the most talked-about Nigerian debuts of recent years and consistently sells to readers who want something that is unmistakably from here. Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo is the choice for a reader who wants to be genuinely surprised by a novel's structure. The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma is the right gift for someone who appreciates language and is willing to read slowly.
For the person who reads across African literature
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the strongest choice for a reader who wants to understand African and diaspora history through fiction. It spans eight generations and multiple countries. So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba is a compact, essential novel from Senegal: an epistolary exchange between two women navigating marriage, loss, and independence. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the book if they are starting to build a serious African literature shelf and do not yet have it.
GraceLand by Chris Abani is a strong choice for anyone who wants to read Lagos in its full contradictory life: the glamour, the poverty, and the particular violence of a city at a specific moment in history.
For the person working on themselves
Atomic Habits by James Clear is the safest and most useful self-development gift you can give. It is specific, practical, and grounded in real research. It does not make promises it cannot keep. Nearly everyone who reads it comes away with something they immediately apply.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is the right gift for someone who is thinking seriously about their financial life but does not want to wade through a textbook. It is twenty short chapters on how humans relate to money and why those relationships so often work against us. Genuinely one of the best books published in the last five years.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki are the classics of the category. If the person you are buying for has not read them, these are foundational. If they already have, go with Housel or Clear.
For the person who does not read very often
Pick something with momentum. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a novel about a woman who discovers a library between life and death where each book contains a different version of the life she could have lived. It is emotionally immediate, moves quickly, and is the kind of book that gets read in a weekend. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is the classic choice for someone who is starting out: short, accessible, and the kind of book people reread at different points in their lives.
How to order
Browse the full catalog, choose your books, and check out online. We pack carefully and ship nationwide from our Lagos store. If you want a recommendation before you decide, reach out and we will help you find the right fit.