Making our way to the DRC in March & April 2010

[Muphyn]

Hello everyone, happy new year and welcome to another year of reading books from and about Africa!

My new year resolution is to be a bit more active as moderator this year. ☺ Last year I was totally swamped with work with little time for anything else but I do intent to strike more of a work-life balance in 2010! ☺

So, I thought I'd open up the floor for suggestions for our March and April read, going to the Democratic Republic of the Congo!

Here are some ideas but please post your suggestions as well - I'd imagine that we'll have lots of choose from... So, if there are enough suggestions and sufficient interest, I will set up a poll and we can vote on the next book.

Fiction
* Ronan Bennett The Catastrophist : A Novel
* V.S. Naipaul A Bend in the River
* V.Y. Mudimbe Between Tides
* Graham Greene A Burnt-Out Case

Non-fiction
* Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness
* Adam Hochschild King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
* Michela Wong In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo
* Norman Mailer The Fight
* Alex Shoumatoff In Southern Light: Trekking Through Zaire and the Amazon
* Mike Tidwell The Ponds of Kalambayi


In the meantime, I hope there are some people interested in reading the current book "A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth". If you want to discuss the book, please do so here in the 2010 book club section.

Have a fabulous 2010!!

[Beverly]

I have two I woould like to add to the list:

Fiction
Ruined by Lynn Nottage. This won the 2009 Pultizer Drama Prize

Non-fiction
Chief of Station, Congo by Larry Devlin

Thanks
Beverly

[Andrea]

I'm surprised by how many of these I have read. Lots and lots of good choices.

[Marieke]

i'm surprised by how many of these i've *meant* to read...there's so much to choose from for DRC! should make polling fun. :D

[Muphyn]

Yes, i'm hoping we get lots of suggestions and then have a good selection base for polling and choosing some good books.

Marieke, I'm the same... lots of these I've been meaning to read for ages but just don't seem to get around to it. :(

[Lynne]

I have been wanting to read both Heart of Darkness and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa for a long while now. I would totally vote for one of those two.

[Melanie]

Really good choices!

[Julia]

After reading Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, I'd love to read King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa... I've readHeart of Darkness/The Secret Sharer, but as it's really short i wouldn't mind a re-read.

[Andrea]

As I said, I've read several of these, but would be happy to reread also. I'm very excited about this section.

[Muphyn]

It's fabulous that people are so exciting about the March/April read!! :)

Any other suggestions for books? Please post them by the end of Jan so I can set up a poll for early Feb.

[Nina]

I hope to actually be able to read one of the choices - eventually. It is pretty difficult getting some of them in this part of the world!

[Lynne]

Nina wrote: "I hope to actually be able to read one of the choices - eventually. It is pretty difficult getting some of them in this part of the world!"

It's difficult to get some of them in my part of the world too, and I live in the most spoiled part of the world there is! LOL

[Andrea]

I do not think I will be able to choose just one of these books.

[Marieke]

me either, andrea.
maybe we could have two (three?) polls...First Choice and Second Choice...(Third Choice????)

[Muphyn]

haha, how about we read one or two together and then you just finish the rest of by yourselves?! ;) It's exciting that there is so much interest!! :)

[Muphyn]

Thanks to those who voted in the poll for the March & April book. The selected read is Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa !

Looking forward to a fruitful and interesting discussion, and I hope everyone who wants to join in can get access to the book!

[Melanie]

Been wanting this one for awhile - this gives me an excuse to order it from Amazon today! :)

[Muphyn]

:) Great! I had a look at my uni library straight away too and it's there waiting me to take it out on loan!

[Lynne]

My copy is waiting for me at the local library!

[Judd]

I'm psyched for this one, I bought it about 6 months ago and was waiting for opportunity to get into it!

[Wendy]

I read this book a couple of years ago. It was excellent. I can't wait to follow the discussion once everyone else has read it.

[Sasha]

I've had King Leopold's Ghost on my TBR pile for ages, so I'm totally in for this. People LOVE this book. I'm excited.

I re-read Heart of Darkness just a few months ago. As some others have pointed out, it's short - not to mention a very quick read - and I hope some of y'all check it out in tandem with King Leopold's Ghost; I'd love to talk about it on the side. It's a terrific, savage little thing.

[Wendy]

I have Heart of Darkness on my shelf (I was prompted to buy it after reading King Leopold's Ghost). I will try to get to it and compare notes w/ you Alex.

[Sasha]

That'd be cool! It's short too, so it'll help you with your 50ish book goal. It's important to cheat with goals like that by reading novellas sometimes. And I read your profile; if there's a club here where we can geek out about bad reality TV, I'd probably join that too.

[Muphyn]

Wow, great that people are so exciting about the March/April read!! Please feel free to read and discuss other books from the selection too.

[Sasha]

I've never read "A Bend in the River," because I suck, so I might try to cram that in.

By the way, isn't it a bit of a stretch to call "Heart of Darkness" non-fiction?

[Marieke]

I never managed to finish King Leopold's Ghost so i'm excited to take it up again. I've meant to read A Bend in the River for a really long time and would like to take a crack at it after KL's Ghost.

[Marieke]

oh, and alex...i think "heart of darkness" is also being discussed on another thread on here...i think the one about Things Fall Apart. check it out and add your thoughts!

[Andrea]

I really liked "A Bend in the River" and think it would be great to read along with "Heart of Darkness" is anyone is really ambitious. They are both definitely fiction, of course.

[Marieke]

i'm *always* ambitious. but that doesn't mean i succeed in what i set out to do... :D

[Muphyn]

haha, me too - I still haven't finished 'A fish caught in time' but am determined to do so!

[Melanie]

Should hopefully get this next week - had a weak moment and ordered a couple others with it that I have been wanting for awhile, Africa and Africa: A Biography of the Continent.

[Marieke]

Andrea wrote: "I really liked "A Bend in the River" and think it would be great to read along with "Heart of Darkness" is anyone is really ambitious. They are both definitely fiction, of course."

since you've already read both, do you recommend i reread King Leopold's Ghost before taking up A Bend in the River? or does it not really matter which order I read them in?

[Andrea]

I don't think it really matters. "A Bend in the River" is really more about Naipaul's view of the Congo than it is about the place itself. At least that's how it seemed to me.