Articles Tagged Sunny’s random musings

2024 wasn’t a knockout reading year for me—I just squeaked home with 51 books read. But the top 10 had some knockout entries. As always, an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction, old and new books. And these were the books I enjoyed reading—which doesn’t mean you will! ~~~ Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry […]

Here are the best books I read in 2023, both old and new. The Aosawa Murders is a chilling Japanese story about an entire family being poisoned during a birthday. There is only one survivor—a young blind daughter. A remarkably well constructed, haunting mystery. Trust by Hernan Diaz was outstanding. It’s about the world’s richest man, and […]

How would you regard a guest in your home who trashed the place carelessly, tried to take it over, or generally made life very difficult for the original inhabitants? Human beings are guests, and planet Earth is our host. None of us is a long-term tenant; we are all on short-stay contracts. Barely any of […]

I didn’t read as many books this year, just sixty or so. That’s a large number by many standards, but it’s much lower than the 100 or so books I read in each of 2020 and 2021. Those were the pandemic years, though, when both the opportunity and the need to read more became very […]

  I read 95 books in 2021. I didn’t quite make it to the heights of 2020, but that’s OK. Still way more than my annual target of 50. Here are the best books I encountered, new and old. The usual caveat applies: which books we love is very much a personal matter. This is […]

In 2020 I managed to pass a mark I previously thought unreachable – 100 books read in a calendar year. It’s been a very unusual year thanks to a certain virus, and an enforced pause sent me to my bookshelf even more than ever. Here are the best books I read, new and old. My […]

Here are the best books I read in 2019. I read a lot more books this year – at the time of writing it looks like I’ll clock 80 books. My regular target is 50 per year, so this is unusual. But it does mean I had a lot more good books to choose from, […]

Here we go. These were the 5 most popular articles I wrote in 2019. If you missed them, see below. Some surprises here for me… The 5th most-viewed article on www.sunwords.com was this one: Are you still sitting on your wallet? It was about the old-fashioned men’s leather wallet – the one we males sit on […]

It’s that time of year, so here they are: the best books I read in 2017. If you confined me to just 12 books in the year, this is the dozen I would hope to end up with. My regular caveat first: reading is a very personal endeavour. The value of a book is squarely […]

“What savage manners, what people! What wasted evenings, what tedious, empty days! Frantic card-playing, gluttony, drunkenness, perpetual talk always about the same thing. The greater part of one’s time and energy went on business that was no use to anyone, and on discussing the same thing over and over again, and there was nothing to […]

Diplomacy Today Today yesterday tomorrow Diplomacy is was will be hollow Say it like it is What’s with the “excuse me please?” Do you, in the boxing match Hold back the power of your punch? Or do you fail To fully exhale? Coat words with honey? No! Claim back your money! Is the smell of […]

The 2 hashtags, #TwitterBigStick and #TwitterThumbsUp were never intended to be finished products in any sense. As I have said from the outset, they were simply a demo of what focused tweeting can do. They play on very human needs: to express frustration when good service or value for money is not provided; and to […]

I have a Friday 13th date with Jeff Koinange on his famous bench, K24 TV Capital Talk. The show will be aired at 8.00 pm Friday, repeated 10.30 pm. Also repeated Saturday morning, 9.00 am, and Sunday evening, 10.30 pm. It will also run on www.YouTube.com/K24TV.

Many of you have asked about this. As at this time, Storymoja advise that the following outlets have stocks of The Peculiar Kenyan: 1. Nakumatt Karen 2. Nakumatt Ukay 3. Nakumatt Galleria 4. Chania CBD 5. Prestige Bookshop CBD 6. Stanley Bookshop CBD 7. Wells Bookshop-Lifestyle 8. Bookpoint CBD 9. Bookstop Yaya 10. Simply Books […]

I’ll be discussing our peculiar businesses with Larry on NTV, at noon tomorrow.

I’ll be on the Capital Breakfast with Chris and Etta on Monday morning, 7.00 to 8.00 am, discussing matters peculiar and topical. Do tune in.

I will be on KTN Sunrise Live with Edith Kimani to discuss matters ‘peculiar’ on Wednesday 2 February, from 7.00 am. Do tune in!

I will be on Citizen TV with Jimmi Gathu on Thursday 2 December from 8.00 am, discussing ‘The Peculiar Kenyan’.

My new book, THE PECULIAR KENYAN, is now available in most leading bookshops and Uchumi. It is a collection of my more lighthearted Sunday articles over the years, particularly the ones lampooning (and celebrating) our very Kenyan peculiarities. I have added new commentaries, and there is a foreword by Michael “Peculiar” Joseph. Read it to […]

I am finally, reluctantly, on Twitter, as sunnysunwords I will be posting new articles (and some older ones) from this website, as well as occasional tweets when something worth saying overwhelms my deep fear of banality…

Henry Mintzberg, McGill University’s renowned professor of strategy and management, will be in Nairobi for a rare visit, courtesy of Kenya Red Cross. Strathmore Business School be hosting a unique session with Prof Mintzberg, moderated by me, on Wednesday 13th October from 3.30 pm. Details here Please contact SBS to book places for yourself and […]

‘The Peculiar Kenyan’ is launching soon. Come and listen to me discuss Kenyan peculiarities with journalist Pauline Odhiambo this Saturday, 2 October, at 2.00 pm. This is part of the Storymoja Hay Festival, Kenya’s leading literary event, at the Railway Club grounds, Tandaa ICT tent. The festival will have many attractions. For further information see […]

Hi All I hope you like the all-new Sunwords.com. We have given it a fresh new look and feel, and added modern features. These include video clips, easy links to social networks and sharing sites, better site navigation, and many more. You will also find an attractive version automatically renders when you visit the site […]

Welcome to Sunwords.com. Feel at home, look around, browse, sit down and read, leave a comment. Best wishes, Sunny

My recent interview on NTV (August 29, 2009, with Misiko Andere) is now up on the NTV website, courtesy of YouTube. Watch it here

Those are just two of the current and previous participants in Fast Forward, along with Linus Gitahi, Jane Karuku, Zeph Mbugua, Norah Odwesso, Frank Ireri, Winnie Ouko, Polycarp Igathe, Jeenal Shah, Martin Miruka, Karim Anjarwalla and many more. The intake for Fast Forward 2010 is now open. FFWD is the region’s most talked-about leadership development […]

I will be on Misiko Andere’s NTV breakfast show at 7.30 am on Thursday 27 August.

I will be discussing my book, Crown Your Customer, at the Storymoja Hay Festival at the Impala Club, Nairobi on Friday 31 July, 10.00-11.30 am. Come and join the discussion – I’d be delighted to have your company. The Storymoja Hay Festival is the first time that this prestigious literary event is being held on […]