Americanah (by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Americanah is one of those books that you'll only want to read once, but you'll forever be glad you did. It was recommended to me in April 2020 - an apropos recommendation for this year.

If I had to describe the story in one word: loneliness. It is a meandering tale spanning decades, without any sense of start or end. There is no denouement, no cliffhanger and no neatly wrapped conclusion ... just continuance. And in that way, it's an intensely real story.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's account of the migrant experience nonchalantly flips from being devastating to hilarious. It made me glad to be back in my home country, but at the same time made me yearn to explore again. A great book to pick up and appreciate being stuck at home.

The Freelancer Show

The Freelancer Show has been going for years. I stumbled into it soon after starting my own software consultancy business and I have no doubt that I owe some small part of my success to the great advice I've picked up while being a listener. In fact, it is the inspiration for Ram's Picks and therefore holds a place in, this, the first Ram's Picks.

There are a LOT of episodes, so to help you out, here are a few recent ones I found interesting:

• Episode 359 - Don't do hourly billing with Mike Volkin
• Episode 339 - The Dark Side of Freelancing
• Episode 304 - Writing Better Project Proposals

What's more, they have recently signed up a new host Petra Manos - an awesome content marketing guru from Australia! It's great to see more diversity in the panel, and to hear the perspective of a kick-ass Aussie entrepreneur.