Great African Reads discussion

We will be visiting Tanzania in July and August...let's here your suggestions for a group read. The author does not have to be Tanzanian, but the book take place in or be about Tanzania.

The first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, was a founding thinker of the global Third World liberation movement (articulating a "Third Way" for liberated nations to follow besides capitalism and communism) and what he called African socialism. I read Freedom And Unity: Uhuru Na Umoja ; A Selection From Writings And Speeches 1952 65 way back in college and maybe don't suggest it as a group read, but for those who want to dig deep into Tanzania, it's worth looking up a few speeches and history.

Nyerere's legacy is debated in Tanzania today. He forced collectivization on farmers and supported them with subsidies. Tanzania's agricultural economy collapsed. Some compare Nyerere to Mao and blame him for the continuing poverty in the country, others say the cards were stacked from the beginning against the country and its liberation path, and blame the global food and fuel crisis that forced the country to accept the privatization, opened markets, and deregulation of an IMF structural adjustment policy. Now, Tanzania has a strange mix of Nyerere's socialism-- many/most farmers are still organized in cooperatives-- and neoliberal capitalism--those farmers cannot compete with cheap imports and face dauntingly low prices for their crops.

All this to say, I don't have a book suggestion, but I would be fascinated to read something that deals with this tangled legacy and its complexity.

The books I have on my list include three from the same author, so that may be where I'm more inclined to go.

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Man Booker Prize nominee 1994)
Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah
By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Then there is this very interesting title!!
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar by Emily Ruete

Gurnah is one of the authors I'm curious about too.

Some others:
And Home Was Kariakoo: A Memoir of East Africa
Kinship: A Family's Journey in Africa and America
Golden Boy

I've read Paradise and would be up for reading more by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Children of the Moon by George McBean (https://books.google.co.tz/books?id=M...)

Crazy River by Richard Grant (https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-River-Ex...)

Children of the Moon and Crazy River: Exploration and Folly in East Africa for the GR links to Elizabeth's suggestions.

Thanks for putting the links in!

I just randomized the list to get the five titles for the poll:

Golden Boy
Desertion
Kinship: A Family's Journey in Africa and America
By the Sea
Children of the Moon

Our official selection for Tanzania is Desertion!

I have to admit that I haven't read any of the shortlist for Tanzania, not to speak of the final selection.

Nina wrote: "I have to admit that I haven't read any of the shortlist for Tanzania, not to speak of the final selection."

that's okay...i did read Desertion, but never came back to drum up conversation! i remember that i enjoyed it a lot. I'll have to revisit my review (surely it's short) to see what i can remember.

We've set up an official read for this title - Please join us and discuss it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...