Great African Reads discussion
Welcome
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Welcome to new members!!... and introduction... if you want
Marieke wrote: "Tahir, i can make you an author thread. that way you don't have to worry about "shameless self-promotion" if you want to talk about your book with fellow members.if you are looking around the gro..."
Marieke, an author thread would be amazing. That way I can chat on non-author things in the regular group activities. I did check out the group just after joining, but I'm planning to have a good look around this weekend.
Thanks very much.
Andrea wrote: "Tahir, I loved your book The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca. Welcome to the group!"Thanks very much Andrea! I'm happy to be in this group where I can discuss Africa and its books.
HiI'm Furny from North Yorkshire in the UK.
I love fiction set in other countries and I have quite eclectic reading tastes.I have next months book choice on order and I am going to read this months too (even though we are nearly at the end of the month).
Looking forward to discussing Africa reads with you all.
Furny x
Thanks Osho and Andrea.:0)
Welcome Furny- love eclectic readers! I look forward to hearing about what you read.
Welcome Tahir! I also enjoyed The Caliph's House and In Search of King Solomon's Mines. Look forward to hearing about your traveling experiences.
Hello everyone-In August I'll be moving to Addis Ababa for two years. I've been scanning this group and others for titles and so far have Aethiopika, The Emperor, and There is No Me Without You on my TBR list. (I just now found the list of books set in Ethiopia - that ought to keep me busy for a while!) I've already read Cutting for Stone. I'm looking forward to reading other African titles with you all as well.
Lorna wrote: "Hello everyone-In August I'll be moving to Addis Ababa for two years. I've been scanning this group and others for titles and so far have Aethiopika, The Emperor, and There is No Me Without You o..."
Lorna, hope you have an amazing time there! I just finished reading a book called In Search of King Solomon's Mines, which was written by Tahir Shah, who I see is also in this group. I really liked the book. It was about his travels through remote parts of the country and really gives a good insight into the people and what they're like. Definitely a great read, and made me want to read more on Ethiopia.
Welcome Lorna! Half of the books on my TBR list are from recommendations in threads here. :)
Mod
Hello to all those who have recently joined!! :) Fabulous to have you in the group!
I'm thrilled to have found this group, as I'll be visiting Tanzania and Rwanda in January 2013 to help the Rafiki Development Foundation (rafikifound.org) set up a service project exchange program. So I'm absorbing all things Africa in preparation for that trip -my first to the continent. Just finished Little Bee and Cutting for Stone, and eager to read more works by actual African authors. I'll go back over your previous books, but welcome any that might be pertinent to my project. Oh and I'm also a micro-publisher, member of IPNE.org.
Hi CharlotteWelcome to the group and I hope you enjoy your trip!.
In the meantime the books chosen here should help you get a real feel for Africa. :0)
Have you read Cutting for Stone? Probably!? Millicent wrote: "Oh yay! I lived in Addis for 3 months and loved it. The town has so much going on. As for books, I definitely second The Emperor. Also, Philip Marsden has two really enjoyable ones: a history o..."
Hi Charlotte, In addition to looking at the group list, many of us have individual bookshelves that are public and sometimes a little more divided up that might interest you. What kind of service projects will you be working on?
Andrea
Welcome Charlotte! i hope you'll like it here and get some good reading ideas. We haven't yet reached Tanzania or Rwanda on our "Tour" but that doesn't mean i think the group will have any shortage of suggestions for good reading recommendations.
Thanks for the welcomes! I've just started reading Fuller's Don't Let Us Go Now to the Dogs" about Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Our project will bring volunteers for hands-on support to ongoing sustainable development projects. The first will be a school-based tree nursery in Musoma; and subsequently a teen vocational center in Dar es Salaam, and a women's collaborative in Arusha, which produces clothing, accessories and jewelry. The pilot expedition, in Jan. '13, will bring US board members and a few others to map out the structure of future exchanges and college internships.
Charlotte wrote: "Thanks for the welcomes! I've just started reading Fuller's Don't Let Us Go Now to the Dogs" about Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Our project will bring volunteers for hands-on support to ongoing sustainable ..."speaking of tree nurseries, we are currently reading Unbowed for our Kenya tour stop selection.
Yes, I just got that on the Nook app also. Too much to read!! A first-world problem, as they say!
Charlotte wrote: "Yes, I just got that on the Nook app also. Too much to read!! A first-world problem, as they say!"Well, you won't find yourself alone here!
Hi all, Lisa here from New York City. I'm a book editor (I was the US editor for the now-classic history of the continent since the 'end' of colonialism, The Fate of Africa, and our company has published many other nonfiction books on Africa and African issues) and a longtime reader of African fiction as well. I just tried to add Half of a Yellow Sun to the general reading list but it is marked 'read' on my own bookshelf, and doesn't seem to accept editing to 'not yet read' on this shelf. Apologies. Any ideas on how to fix? Should I take it down altogether?
Hi Lisa, and welcome to the group. We only mark books as "read" on the group shelves if we have read them as a group. Otherwise, they need to be on the "to-read" shelf, regardless of whether the person adding them has read them already or not.ETA: i just reread your comment and i had understood what you were saying completely backwards. anyway, i think there is a glitch because it is not allowing me to change it to "to-read," either. Let me know if you encounter more problems. Muphyn and i will try to get it sorted out.
Fela wrote: "Adam wrote: "Hello, I am Adam and I live in London (UK).My interest in Africa lies mainly in Southern Africa (South Africa and Namibia), and I have read quite a few books about South Africa and i..."
Thanks!
Hi Lisa, welcome to the group. I used to think I would like being a book editor, and then I became a bookseller and realized that there is, perhaps, such a thing as too much to read. I'm not sure I could have the discipline. It's hard enough getting through what my students write, sometimes.
Marieke, Fuller's "...Dogs" was amazing. She just appeared in my area, but I was out of town.
Charlotte wrote: "Marieke, Fuller's "...Dogs" was amazing. She just appeared in my area, but I was out of town."Alexandra Fuller reading from Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
06/26/2012 7:00 pm Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
Alexandra Fuller is the author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Scribbling the Cat, and The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. She was born in England in 1969. In 1972, she moved with her family to a farm in southern Africa. She lived in Africa until her midtwenties. In 1994 she moved to Wyoming, where she now resides.
Oh! I thought this was last week! Great, I'll be there, will you?
If either of you go, please do tell us how it is! I have her newest but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
I plan to go; even trying to get permission to videotape it for my Face The Book community media TV show about independent publishing. Marieke wrote: "If either of you go, please do tell us how it is! I have her newest but haven't had a chance to read it yet."
Charlotte wrote: "I plan to go; even trying to get permission to videotape it for my Face The Book community media TV show about independent publishing. Marieke wrote: "If either of you go, please do tell us how i..."
We now have video sharing capability here but I haven't tried it yet...if you get permission to tape it, would it be possible to also share it here? Or at least link to your program, if you post things online?
Of course! That would be excellent coverage all the way around. Thanks for the offer. It does look like I may, according to early indication from Fuller's NY publicity firm. Still waiting for the word from the "top." Marieke wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "I plan to go; even trying to get permission to videotape it for my Face The Book community media TV show about independent publishing.
Marieke wrote: "If either of you go, pleas..."
Great! Just let me know and I'll try to figure out what to do. And add another skill to my moderator toolkit while i'm at it. :)
Charlotte wrote: "Oh! I thought this was last week! Great, I'll be there, will you?"Sadly, I will miss it (since I live in Tanzania and won't be in the Boston area at that time), but I am encouraging lots of friends to go!
Unfortunately I had dance mom duties Tuesday night and didn't get video. I would have arranged to be free, but never heard back from the publicist either. Anyone have a report? Let me know when there are GAR authors in the Boston area and I'll try again. Or grab some video of an author talk in your own area, and I'll put in on the show. Email to logon05@gmail.com.
Oh well. And yes, anyone with a relevant video to share let me know and I'll figure out how to put it in the video section of our group's main page. :)
This is what my friend, Lisa, wrote of the event: "Bobo Fuller sends her love to all of you in Lusaka and environs. Her talk in Cambridge was extraordinary. Hearing her stories about her parents and her life made me miss Zambia so much that all I could do was come home, eat a mango and cry. I guess I'll just wrap my pitiful self in a chitenge and go to bed now!"
Wioletta wrote: "Hello to everybody :) My name is Wioletta, I am 27 and from Poland. By profession I am a kindergarten teacher but right now I do enjoy the benefits of parental leave as I am a new - and single - mo..."Wioletta. You express yourself perfectly well in English. Your English is very good, and proper. You have nothing to worry about.
Welcome, Wioletta. I am impressed that you have time to read with a new baby at home.
Welcome Wioletta! I think you will love it here.Your English is fantastic! Please do not worry; just enjoy yourself. :)
BUT you are a lucky lady because if ever you find yourself stuck, Muphyn is a native German speaker and German is my second language. So you have a safety net with us! :)
Also I think your written English is better than my written German. I make a LOT of grammar mistakes in German.
Hi Wioletta! Welcome to the group and congrats on your little one! When I had my son, I couldn't even read one book a month! I would say tho, after about seven or eight months I was able to get back into the swing of things. I look forward to seeing your comments :)
Hello everyone. I still have a few books to give away. If you are interested, you can check here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
Hattie wrote: "I'm a new member in this group. I had to get the book from my library. I've wanted to read it for the longest time. I'm late. All of you are almost finished reading it. So I won't rush to start it...."WElcome, Hattie! We have two group reading projects that we do here, the Tour d'Afrique for which we choose a book every two months; and Contemporary Literature, for which we choose a book each month. Which book are you joining us for? No worries about joining in "late," we don't believe in "late" here. In fact, you might say we worship "late." You'll see... :D
Anyway, we are always happy to welcome new participants into the discussion threads and we keep all the threads open, so feel free to join in any of them any time.
Hattie wrote: "Hi Marieke,I'm reading "the secret lives of baba segi's wives" by Lola Shoneyin. I am on page 81. I can't believe this man has four wives. To make it worse three wives have children. The fourth o..."
You are really in for some surprises! :D
Please do join us here in the discussion thread whenever you are ready. You don't have to be finished. we are being very careful about spoilers.
Greetings, all -- I am Kat Warren, new to this group and addicted to fiction and non set in Africa. Not sure where to post what but here's a recap of African mysteries of my ken which are superior. If I'm in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, let me know.I expect you're already au courant with Elspeth Huxley's engaging Edwardian African mysteries, if not let me know.
There's the South African series featuring Lieutenant Kramer and Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi by James McClure. These are finest kind although difficult to find; worth their weight in gold. Here are just a few:
Steam Pig
The Gooseberry Fool
The Sunday Hangman
Even more difficult to find and maybe even a bit more rewarding are the novels by Wessel Ebersohn which are nothing short of remarkable:
Store up the Anger (King Penguin)
Those Who Love Night (also titled "Divide the Night" which I prefer)
A Lonely Place to Die
Then, there's Robert Wilson's Bruce Medway series set in Africa but not South Africa, excellent.
A Darkening Stain
Blood Is Dirt
and more
For those not familiar with Malla Nunn, herewith her titles thus far, they are very good in the noir tradition.
A Beautiful Place to Die: A Novel
Blessed Are the Dead: A Novel
Let the Dead Lie: A Novel
Wioletta wrote: "Marieke, thank you too very much and yes, you are right: I love this group already :) Not only the topic itself I think simply wonderful but also the warm welcome.Danke schön :) At an average rea..."
Hi Wioletta :) Welcome to the group. Read through your post and saw your comment about widows being inherited by their husband's brother. This practice used to be very common in my Yoruba tribe (Nigeria/West Africa) The argument was that it provided a safety net for the woman (the protection of a man) and because wives didn't inherit property, financial support. Apart from property, there was also the issue of children. Because of the patriarchal social system, children belong to the man and even in the cases of divorce/death of the man, they usually have to stay with their father/paternal family. I hope this answers some questions. I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that things are changing :)
This was also Jewish practice.
Osho wrote: "This was also Jewish practice."Do you know if it's still practised by any Jewish sect?
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)
More...
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)
More...
if you are looking around the group, you'll notice we have two group activities--a tour around the continent and a contemporary literature project. we also have casual chit chat on almost everything (especially Africa!)