Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

  • About
    • Hours
    • Directions and Maps
    • People
    • Policies
  • Research Help
    • Get Research Help
    • Research Tools
    • Research Guides
    • Get Endnote
    • Cite your Sources
    • Subject Librarians
  • Services
    • Print, Scan, Copy
    • Computers and Software
    • Group Study Rooms
    • Accessibility
    • St. Mary’s Project Resources
    • Services for Faculty
    • Borrow, Renew, Request
    • Notary Public Services
  • Archives
Library & Archives > Summer Reading > Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole

Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole

July 11, 2014 by Melissa Rushing

In Every Day is for the Thief, Teju Cole explores the past decade of rapid change in his native Nigeria. After 15 years in the United States, the book’s nameless narrator returns to visit family in Lagos. He is shocked by his country’s rampant corruption, embodied by everyone he meets, beginning with the bureaucrats renewing his passport (for a bribe) in New York’s Nigerian consulate. In Lagos, the narrator navigates a home that feels alien after living in the United States. Living in America has changed him – he now has “some of the assumptions of life in a Western democracy.” Wandering the city, he is disappointed in the poor quality of the National Museum, thrilled when he spies a woman on a bus reading a Michael Ondaatje book, and generally uncomfortable with what the city has become.

Beautifully illustrated with the author’s own photos, Every Day is for the Thief is a meditation on belonging and estrangement. The photographs are a haunting representation of a Lagos that is at once global and uniquely Nigerian.

Availability:  USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Recommended

Filed Under: Summer Reading

Recent Posts

  • UPDATED Library Hours – Spring Break 2023 March 8, 2023
  • Library Winter Break Hours 2022-23 December 14, 2022
  • Library Hours – Fall 2022 Finals Week December 7, 2022
  • Library Hours – Thanksgiving Break 2022 November 14, 2022
  • Shauna Siggelkow on “Understanding the Great Replacement Network on YouTube” November 4, 2022

Categories

  • Announcements (2)
  • Archives (12)
  • Database Trial (8)
  • Events (52)
  • Exhibits (6)
  • Faculty and Staff Profiles (4)
  • Library Building (34)
  • Library Collection (60)
  • Library Ethnography Project (2)
  • Library Hours (54)
  • Library People (27)
  • Musings (34)
  • Services (31)
  • Student Employees (21)
  • Summer Reading (284)
  • Teaching & Education (2)
  • Web Resources (11)

Archives

Contact Us:

(240) 895-4264

ask@smcm.libanswers.com

47645 College Drive
St. Mary's City, MD, 20686-3001

Follow Us:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow Library News

  • Directions
  • Archives
  • Directory
Support the Library
St. Mary's College of Maryland, the Public Honors College
St. Mary's College of Maryland
47645 College Drive
St. Mary's City, MD, 20686-3001
(240) 895-2000

Next Steps

  • Request Information
  • Visit Campus
  • How to Apply
  • Discover Our Value
  • Virtual Tour

Just For You

  • Current Students
  • New Students
  • Parents
  • Faculty | Staff
  • Employment

Resources

  • InsideSMCM
  • Directory
  • Events | Newsroom
  • Hilda C. Landers Library
  • College Rankings
© 2023 St. Mary's College of Maryland Consumer Information Copyright Privacy Policy Campus Rights & Responsibilities Help Desk Website Feedback
National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 BeFree Textline Text HELP to 233733 (BEFREE) More resources on human trafficking in Maryland