Great African Reads discussion
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Welcome to new members!!... and introduction... if you want
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Sea
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Mar 12, 2011 07:46AM
Welcome to the club Sheila :) I hope you enjoy it!
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Sheila wrote: "Hi everyone I'm Sheila. Originally from Scotland, I usually live in England except for a 3 years spell when I stayed in the American Mid West for work reasons, and just now where for the the last 1..."Welcome Sheila! Good to see you here!
It is absolutely okay (and actually encouraged) to participate in the various threads even if you have not read the book that is being discussed so no worries if you can't access a particular book but have something you want to say in the thread. :D
Sheila wrote: "Hi everyone I'm Sheila. Originally from Scotland, I usually live in England except for a 3 years spell when I stayed in the American Mid West for work reasons, and just now where for the the last 1..."Hi Sheila, welcome!! Please chime in when and if you feel like even if you haven't read the book (which is going to be the case a bit by the sounds of it).
Hi Heather and welcome aboard! We've got a long way to go on our tour so in a sense you haven't missed too much! :Dand we have plans to do another tour as long as Goodreads is still around, but we might organize it a little differently.
Yes, I think we have a ways to go yet:). Heather, it's great to have you aboard.
Heather wrote: "Hi all, I'm Heather, and, as a librarian, I can't believe it took me so long to join Goodreads! I'm so excited about this group as I've become a rabid Africaphile over the last few years (it all..."
Heather, Welcome!! Fabulous to have you on board, hope you'll enjoy the journey. You can check out where we've been and what we've read here.
Heather wrote: "Hi all, I'm Heather, and, as a librarian, I can't believe it took me so long to join Goodreads! I'm so excited about this group as I've become a rabid Africaphile over the last few years (it all..."
Greetings from another Africaphile librarian from the Midwest. My journey began when my daughter up and moved to The Gambia a few years back. I didn't even know where Gambia is! So embarrassed by my ignorance of a whole continent, I began my tour of Africa book by book, lecture by lecture, film by film. I've only visited Ethiopia in person, for one week. I have many more destinations on my bucket list, to support libraries in African schools. I only recently found this Goodreads "Great African Reads" group. Lots of good suggestions! I'm always on the lookout for real African authors, you know, who tell the other side of The Heart of Darkness. Here's to good company on Tour d' Afrique. BookSlinger
what a great way to get thrown headfirst into the continent! my introduction was kind of similar, in fact...my dad and his wife moved to Kenya around the same time i got a killer project at work that lasted about three years because i had to study the entire continent (i didn't actually get to go there though, unfortunately). before that, i had not had much experience with Africa other than having had a wonderful high school soccer coach from Ghana and taking a couple of classes in the African Studies department in college.i'm looking forward to your suggestions and input!
Sharon wrote: "Heather wrote: "Hi all, I'm Heather, and, as a librarian, I can't believe it took me so long to join Goodreads! I'm so excited about this group as I've become a rabid Africaphile over the last fe..."
Hi Sharon,
Welcome! Sounds like you started your very own Tour d'Afrique!! That's fabulous, hope you'll enjoy this group! :)
Hi Sharon, you sound like the kind of person who will really enjoy our tour. We are a fun bunch (I think) and usually friendly:)
Mod
Hi Millicent,Welcome!! Keep on lurking in the background, that's cool! :D Even I have trouble getting hold of some books and I work at a large university in Australia - you'd think I could get hold of almost anything.
Where do you live?
Hi Millicent! just fyi, you don't have to read the books to join the conversation...if you are itching to say something while in lurking mode, feel absolutely free to. we also have the informal topic threads now where people just mention books they have read, heard about, want to read, and articles, videos, whatever is on topic so feel free to post thoughts there, too.and revived threads are *always* welcome and encouraged! so absolutely, add to discussion threads that seem "old." :D
Hi Millicent,One thing I like about this group is that people can always pipe up if a topic interests them. And I think it's okay to comment from memory about a book you've read in the past too. But I think you should feel free to lurk, if so inclined. I'm always interested to read others' reactions to books I haven't read yet. It gives me things to think about when I do get to the book.
Mod
Welcome!! Keep on lurking in the background, that's cool! :D Even I have trouble getting hold of some books and I work at a large university in Australia - you'd think I could get ho..."
Living in Rome currently. Lots of books around but hard to get just the one I want.
Hi I've just joined this group too. I'm still a relatively recent convert to Goodreads as I heard about it through bookcrossing. I love reading about all things Africa - I was hooked after reading The Washing of the Spears, a history of the zulu nation by Donald R Morris, when I was a teenager. I'm an archaeologist. I live in the UK at the moment and teach at a UK university in between running excavations. I also work in the Middle East quite a bit. So that's me... I'm looking forward to participating in the tour and also to reading other peoples thoughts and recommendations.
Welcome, Shovelmonkey1. I'm trying to think of an appropriate way to shorten your screenname, but nothing comes to mind:). I hope you enjoy the group! I'm currently reading "Red Spotted Ox" which was written by an archaeologist's wife. She told me she really enjoyed her husband's work because it allowed them to travel all over and work with local people wherever they were excavating.
Big welcome, Shovelmonkey!! :) Hope you enjoy the group and our reading tour. Look forward to hearing your thoughts and recommendations too, and to find out more about your background and archaeological work! :)
Hi Shovelmonkey! (i love the name and the avatar)apologies for the delay in welcoming you properly. i'm glad to see you've already had some great book recs in some of the other threads. i think in another life i would like to be an archeologist. the closest i've come to that type of work is digging around in some archives piecing together old military records. pretty fun, actually.
Thanks for all the welcomes. I am already enjoying being a member and seeing what everyone else is/has been reading... its given me some good books to add to my ever growing wish list.
Wow, what an interesting group of people gathered here! I'm a South African writer (I grew up on a flower farm in Cape Town) and currently living in upstate NY. I'm looking forward to diving into your book suggestions.
Deborah wrote: "Wow, what an interesting group of people gathered here! I'm a South African writer (I grew up on a flower farm in Cape Town) and currently living in upstate NY. I'm looking forward to diving into y..."Welcome, Deborah! we hope you like it here!
you mentioned you're a writer...we do make space here for writers to talk about their work, if you are ever interested in doing that.
Welcome, Deborah! Whenever I'm in Kenya, I visit my friend's brother's rose farm. I like looking at the roses, but the amount of chemicals used is sort of disturbing. I really enjoyed Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowerswhich gave me some insight into how the whole business worked.
Andrea wrote: "Welcome, Deborah! Whenever I'm in Kenya, I visit my friend's brother's rose farm. I like looking at the roses, but the amount of chemicals used is sort of disturbing. I really enjoyed [book:Flow..."That sounds really interesting! Thanks
Hello my African mates,I just found out about this group and here I am. I am new to the group, so a little introduction would be necessary. I am Rooble, born in Somalia, raised in Nairobi, Kenya and currently studying in Canada. I fell in love with African literature when I was in high school. I remember when I was in form 4, I had to memorize "A Man of the People" by Chinua Achebe just for the National Exam (KCSE...wakenyans, wako hapa?). Since then, I read most of the works of Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo. Besides that, I am also a science student aspiring to be a doctor in the future. Greeting to all of you!!!
Hi Rooble,Let me be the first to welcome you, as I expect to be helping people prepare for the much beloved KCSE in a year or so at a high school near Iten. So, shemeji, how do you like the lovely Canadian weather? Hope you will enjoy the group: we are lively and fun (IMO). Also hope the group doesn't make you homesick.
Hi Rooble! welcome to the group! we do a lot of different things here and hopefully if we do make you homesick at all, we are also *helping* you with homesickness. :D
Thanks for your warm welcome Andrea and Marieke. @Andrea, actually the weather here is not that different from Nairobi. I think it gonna be fun preparing students for the KCSE. I miss those days...hopefully, they will pass with flying colors. @Marieke, I appreciate that although by now, I would like to think that I am kinda getting used to my sickness, homesick. But thanks!
having lived abroad myself, i know that homesickness can hit you suddenly! :Dmy dad used to live in nairobi and i didn't get to visit him. :(
i heard *great* things about the weather. :D
Hello everyone!My name is Jessica and I am delighted to have found this group. Everyone seems so friendly and welcoming. :)
My interest in Africa is new, but I feel as though it has already gone past simply an 'interest' into a passion to read and learn everything I can...and of course to make it there myself.
I have just finished "The Poisonwood Bible". It made a huge impact on me, so much so that I have been looking for every book I can find on Africa since! I've just started Richard Dowden's "Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles". Has anyone else read it?
I can't wait to start the 'Tour D'Afrique'. :)
welcome aboard, Jessica! we like welcoming friendly, enthusiastic people. :DI think Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles is new to me. If others have read it and you want to discuss it, we can certainly set up a thread for it. we have our Tour but we encourage "extra-curriculars." lol.
in fact, that reminds me, i have been horribly remiss in setting up the next Theme. so i just did it and it's CORRUPTION. whoa!
Thanks, Marieke! :)Sure,an extra-curricular thread would be great, haha. I'm only a little bit into it, but would love other's opinions.
I'll go check out the new theme!!
I've seen "Altered States" at the bookstore, but haven't read it. Welcome to the group, Jessica. It is a pleasure to have you. If you could choose, where would you go first in Africa?
Hi Andrea, thank you for the welcome! I'm 3 chapters in, and am enjoying it so far. That is a difficult question! :) I can try to give you my top three: DR Congo, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. I've recently seen the BBC 4/True Vision Documentary, "Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children". When I was a child I just loved the name 'Zimbabwe', so it has alway been on my mind. After the documentary, well, I couldn't put into words the effects it had on me, and so someday, I will go there. My husband has a second cousin in South Africa, so I would like to go there as well. What about you?
I've only been to Kenya and there are so many places I haven't been to in Kenya that I would like to see, the Swahili coast, Maasai Mara... But I would definitely like to see Victoria Falls and would like to see some of West Africa. I'm really intrigued with Gabon, which we are reading about now. And I'd like to see Ethiopia. Guess that's a long enough list:)
Hi all, I'm Victoria, of the book blog Eve's Alexandria (http://evesalexandria.typepad.com). A couple of years ago I read the two volumes of Doris Lessing's autobiography, about her early life in what was Rhodesia. This inspired an interest in Africa and particularly fiction from the continent. I wanted to fill up the gap in my reading - I felt as though I had no idea of the African fiction scene. And then I picked up John Reader's Africa: A Biography of a Continnent and that got me interested in the history, geography and politics of Africa too. Now I'm insatiably collecting and reading such a lot of amazing reads. I'm very much looking forward to joining in with the Tour!
Hi Victoria,Always nice to have another reader on the tour!
Hello I'm David, I live in Amsterdam and work as a fundraiser in Holland. For my work I travel to several African countries every year and since I've started working with Africans I only read African literature. I love the way they approach life. Can't stop reading.... I used the top 100 of the Zimbabwean Book Fair in 2002 as a starting point. It has all the Africn classics on it. And couldn't stop buying, searching and reading African books since then. Looking forward to hear all the good tips.
Hi David, welcome (I'm a new member too.) I'd be interested to see the Zimbabwean top 100 list you mention - is it available online anywhere?
Hi Victoria and David! It's great to have you with us. And thanks for the link to a fabulous resource, David.I'm thinking of starting another new activity alongside the Tour of reading a work of contemporary fiction each month. I'll be posting info elsewhere in the group very soon...
Welcome to Victoria and David. Hope you enjoy the group. There is almost always an interesting discussion going on and if not, you can usually get one started.
Hello all! I joined the group few days ago but I didn't see this thread earlier. I live in Sri Lanka. I'm new to African lit. other than the few I studied at the college for Post-Colonial lit. I'm hoping to broaden my horizon here going beyond there. I'm a teacher by the way, and this group looks great!
Andrea wrote: "Hi Amalie, What do you teach?"
Literature, mainly poetry and drama. I also handle few language classes as well.
Hi Marieke, are you Dutch by any chance? Marieke sounds Dutch!
David wrote: "Hi Marieke, are you Dutch by any chance? Marieke sounds Dutch!"Hi Amalie! apologies for arriving late at the Welcome Wagon.
My name is indeed common in the Netherlands and Belgium, but i am actually just plain American. I was born in Germany and my parents were at the time really enjoying the Judy Collins version of the Jacques Brel song "Marieke." :D
ETA: hi david...i see now that you are actually in the Netherlands and already know all that about my name! ha!
@ Marieke: just took a look at marieke at Youtube, never heard of the song, actually the first time that I hear him sing in Dutch.....
David wrote: "@ Marieke: just took a look at marieke at Youtube, never heard of the song, actually the first time that I hear him sing in Dutch....."really?! that's funny. i am in my mid-thirties and i think there are a lot of women in my generation named Marieke because of that song. of course it's awkward for me in Germany where the name "Mareike" exists there...i am constantly reminded that my name is Dutch when i go there. lol.
Marieke wrote: " I was born in Germany and my parents were at the time really enjoying the Judy Collins version of the Jacques Brel song "Marieke." :Sorry, Marieke, but that really made me laugh. Probably because my mother chose my name from a novel: Persuasion, as in Anne Elliot.
Great African Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
The Shadow King (other topics)The Moor's Account (other topics)
Half of a Yellow Sun (other topics)
Huit leçons sur l'Afrique (other topics)
Africana: Viaggio nella storia letteraria del Continente (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Tsitsi Dangarembga (other topics)Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu (other topics)
Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (other topics)
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (other topics)
Yefon Isabelle (other topics)
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