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Retired Challenges > The Mzansi Challenge

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message 1: by Lauren (last edited Nov 20, 2012 12:33AM) (new)

Lauren Smith It's about time we had a challenge to celebrate South African writing, so here's a proudly South African challenge!

You have to read books that are either written by South Africans or set predominantly in South Africa (a few scenes in SA don't count). You can read both fiction and non-fiction.

The challenge:
Read 3 books - that's kiff
Read 5 books - that's bakgat
Read 7 books - Schweet!
Read 10 books - that's the real Mzansi!

Kiff
Katherine
Lu

Bakgat
Claudia

Schweet!
Lauren

The Real Mzansi
Carolien


message 2: by Lauren (last edited Aug 05, 2012 12:24PM) (new)


message 3: by Lu (last edited Jun 02, 2013 01:45AM) (new)


message 4: by Claudia (last edited Aug 05, 2012 12:19PM) (new)


message 5: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith I read the first few pages of Exhibit A - looks really good and I was surprised by how funny it is!


message 6: by Jennifer (new)

Jennifer (jevine) | 939 comments My Planning list so far:
Kiff
1.Saturday night at the Palace: A play in one act
2. Flamingo Feather
3. Mafikeng Road And Other Stories

Bakgat
4. Unto Dust and Other Stories
5. Cold Stone Jug
6. How Graham Weir has accidentally managed to stay alive: stories and plays by Graham Weir


message 7: by [deleted user] (new)

This sounds fun, but how do you know which books are Kiff?


message 8: by Lauren (last edited Mar 31, 2011 04:49AM) (new)

Lauren Smith No, it goes like this - if you read 3 SA books then you're kiff. Read 6 and you're bakgat, etc.

Or rather, your reading is kiff. Or you've reached the kiff stage, etc.


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

Oh sorry, I had a moment there :)


message 10: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Woohoo, finished the first section!


message 11: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
wwooohooo congratz :)


message 13: by Katherine (new)

Katherine (kathldk) | 141 comments Woohoo! I'm kiff, bru. Aweh.


message 14: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Cool :) Will update.


message 15: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Yay, I made it to Bakgat!


message 16: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Nice!


message 17: by Carolien (last edited Nov 19, 2012 07:42PM) (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
Just realised how many South African books are lurking in the to be read piles around here, so I'd like to join.


Kiff:
Completed Fighting for Justice
Completed Like Clockwork
Completed The Bang Bang Club

Bakgat:
Completed Sometimes there is a Void – Memoirs of an Outsider
Completed The Unlikely Secret Agent

Schweet:
Completed Stones Against the Mirror: Friendship in the Time of the South African Struggle
Completed The Native Commissioner: A Novel

Real Mzanzi
Completed Final Deadline: The Last Days of the Rand Daily Mail
Completed Infanta
Completed Onsigbaar


message 18: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Welcome Carolien :)


message 19: by Jennifer (new)

Jennifer (jevine) | 939 comments Started the planning and then never got to read the books..

Completed Mafeking Road: and Other Stories


message 20: by Claudia (new)

Claudia (claudiavstoomanybooks) | 1779 comments Does this one have an end date?


message 21: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith No; I didn't make one because most people don't read much SA fiction, but this has been going on for a while so I'm thinking I should just cut it off at the end of the year.


message 22: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Please Note: I'm ending this challenge on 31 December 2012. If you want to read more for this challenge or complete it, you have to finish your books before then. You can still join and use any South African books you read from 10 March 2011 onwards. After the challenge has ended, I'll post the results.


message 23: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Completed Kiff :)


message 24: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Cool!

I went through the other posts and updated the top post as well.

Come on Carolien, just one more book! You can do it!


message 25: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
Lauren wrote: "Cool!

I went through the other posts and updated the top post as well.

Come on Carolien, just one more book! You can do it!"


Busy with Onsigbaar. Will hopefully be finished next weekend!


message 26: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
Done!


message 27: by Barbara (new)

Barbara | 4434 comments Mod
congrats!


message 28: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Well done Carolien!


message 29: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
Come Lauren, your turn - 2 to go!


message 30: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Yay I actually got to the next level :)


message 31: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Oh, err, I actually ended this challenge on 31 December (see messages 22). Although I see I also promised to do a tally, which I never got around to...


message 32: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Lol I thought it might be done :)


message 33: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Can we do this challenge again?


message 34: by Carolien (last edited Sep 08, 2013 02:04AM) (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
I obviously enjoyed it, so I would vote yes. I would suggest that we maybe make it Africa in general so that there is a wider choice of books so either written by an African or predominantly set in Africa.

What about the same 10 book structure, but covering 10 different African countries?

Another alternative would be to stay with the South African theme, but go for 9 books, each set in a different province plus a bonus 10th book if we want to.


message 35: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith I like the idea of broadening it to Africa, but given that most of us struggled a bit I'd say make it simply 10 African books - either written by an African author or set predominantly in Africa.


message 36: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
I'm up for either :)


message 37: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
I agree, let's keep it simple.


message 38: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Cool :) When do you want to start?


message 39: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
1st of this month? We can just add in the last few days of reads if anyone has read anything?


message 40: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
We've just had 2 others starting, so give this one for 1 Oct - there's nothing else exciting as far as I am aware off and let it run until at least 31 Dec 2014.


message 41: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith I prefer 1 October as well, with the 2 challenges just started and 5 new ones coming up for November. Thinking of making it about 6 months long though.


message 42: by Lu (new)

Lu | 12672 comments Mod
Good stuff :)


message 43: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
Given our conversation here, I thought you may find this interesting.
http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/201...

There's definitely no shortage of material. It took me about 9 months last year to read the 10 books. I had a look now and there's probably about 15 that I can use for the challenge lurking about, but they're not necessarily easy reading. We'll probably only have a few people doing this again, so let's try and get a few more books read. What about 30 June as end date then it's just more than a book a month which most people can manage to fit in.


message 44: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith There's no shortage of choices but a lot of African novels are literary or political fiction - heavy stuff that most of us don't read that often.

30 June is a good date - it's a nice easy schedule and I don't think we have anything else starting or ending then, except MishMash.


message 45: by Carolien (new)

Carolien (carolien_s) | 2729 comments Mod
That's exactly it - I have a pile, but it includes 5 serious biographies and some fairly literary stuff - Zakes Mda etc. I can read about one of those a month.


message 46: by Barbara (new)

Barbara | 4434 comments Mod
Set predominantly in Africa I can do so I am joining you!


message 47: by Varla Fiona (new)

Varla Fiona (dory_42) | 1332 comments Mod
I'll join in


message 48: by Lerato (new)

Lerato Boshigo (lerabosh) | 1 comments recommend something plz, tired of reading about Usa


message 49: by Lauren (new)

Lauren Smith Of the books I read for this challenge I liked:
Exhibit A by Sarah Lotz The Mall by S.L. Grey The Beggars' Signwriters by Louis Greenberg

Also Death of a Saint by Lily Herne, but you'll have to read Deadlands first.

I also recommend:
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes Zoo City by Lauren Beukes Cracks by Sheila Kohler The Cutting Room by Mary Watson

And my first book for the challenge will be
Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor


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