Great African Reads discussion

Hi there!
Is anybody left in this group and still interested in reading African literature?
I'm asking as I am reading Africa for another challenge this year - and would love to discuss some of the books with others interested in this. Also I found this group and the old discussion threads are an excellent ressource.
However it looks like activity died out here (and there are lot's of good reasons, why people don't have the time etc.) - so my questions are:
1) Are there still people here interested in reading Africa?
2) Do you need more moderators to help out? (and would that be okay with the current mods, or should we go elsewhere)
3) Would you like to continue the alphabetical tour?
4) Could there also be a way to read more freely from the great catalogue collected here (I missed countries A-T, so ways of catching up would be an interesting angle to me!)

But you know - don't get hung up on answering all the questions, maybe just say hi if you're still here?
And let me just underline: this is not a complaint about the group, just a wish to read some african lit with others :)
Annette

I'm still here and interested in reading African literature.

Hi, still here. Just finishing up the school year and have all summer to read. Not necessarily confined to alphabetical order, providing others agree!

yep still here!!

I'm still here but not keeping up very well. This year I'm reading more outside of Africa than in, but eventually want to finish up my Africa list.

I'm still here and still interested as well! Like others, I've gotten busy with other reading and other projects, but I'd be happy (thrilled, actually) to jump back in as is possible.

I am also interested and in Africa, perusing the libraries of folks I get to visit. My ability to access contemporary reading material is severly limited so what I'm reading has often been collected by others. Much of it obscure and colonial. However, I enjoy being exposed/introduced to what you all are reading in case I run across it somewhere. Karibu from Njombe Tanzania

*raises hand*

Still here and definitely still interested.

I'm still here and still interested. I was really enjoying our Kenya challenge last year and have a personal challenge that involves quite a few African books going for the year. If anybody is interested, I'd love some buddy reads on these:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

As a person living in Africa, I'd hate to see this group die. Maybe we need some volunteers to assist Marieke to moderate?

As a follow on, I'm more likely to be an active participant if we are nominating on books and reading them together, then if we stick to a single country and moderators compose a schedule.

Great to hear there is still people around and interested in reading together!
@carol That's a good suggestion - might even work in combination with more alphabetical reading :)
@carolien Buddy reads would work nicely too - and discussions could continue on the discussion threads, where the book has already been read in the group?

Does anyone know how to get in touch with the Mods? Maybe comment on a thread they started?

The moderator is Marieke.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...

I think you can send her a direct message.

I'm interested in participating. I've not been an active participant in the past in part because of normal busyness and other commitments, but also because I've felt overwhelmed by the scope and amount of reads that are going on in this group! I have been meaning to scour the threads and add reads to my to-be-read list, though! And I too have a personal goal to read books from as many countries in Africa as I can, which is what started me on quizzing myself on the countries and capitals of Africa and testing myself on a map!

Finding books at my library, which is a good one, is hit or miss and I'm pretty restricted to what I can borrow rather than buy. I am also more likely to read a book if I can get it on audiobook.

I'm open to all styles of group reads, but I've noticed I tend to do well following through when there is a single book chosen that we all read together with some advance notice to get copies.

I'm planning on reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi with another group in May.

Last year I read some good African reads:
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe/US)
Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana)
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone)

Other books on my radar include:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( loved Half of a Yellow Sun) (Nigeria)
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ (Senegal)
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somalia/Kenya/Netherlands)
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Thanks for starting the conversation, Anetq. May I ask how you pronounce your name? Ah, Annette! I reread your opening comment and saw your signature at the end. In any case, mine is hard to pronounce just based on the spelling. It is pronounced "Leeza". :)

Carolien wrote: "I'm still here and still interested. I was really enjoying our Kenya challenge last year and have a personal challenge that involves quite a few African books going for the year. If anybody is inte..."

Hi Carolien! I'm interested in reading some of those with you. Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) in particular would be one we could do.

Thanks Lise! I've sent a direct message to Marieke now :)

I am trying to up my Africa reading this year too - so I have a lot of African lit on my TBR - I've been collecting a few over here for a challenge I've set for myself: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... (I've only read the countries in bold).

I'm currently reading An African in Greenland (Togo/Greenland)
Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries (Angola)
Blackass (Nigeria)
And have a few others lined up:
The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born (Ghana)
Beneath the Lion's Gaze (Ethiopia)
Secrets (Somalia)
The Smoke That Thunders (Zambia)

So yes, some buddy reads would be great!

I'm still lurking in the background. There is an overwhelming number of great African reads. Group reads occasionally would be welcome.

Hi Susan! Didn't realize you are in this group! Nice to see you here.

For years, the group has been working through Africa alphabetically.

This year is supposed to be:

2017
Jan-Feb: Uganda | TBC

Mar-Apr: Western Sahara | TBC

May-June: Zambia | TBC

July-Aug: Zimbabwe | TBC

One of us could set up a folder for Zambia and get plans going for what we want to read, since May is coming up in a week or so. The moderators already created the framework, and we could (at the very least) move with in that!

ETA: I set up a discussion for Zambia here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Please come add books you'd like to read.

Hi Lise! Yes I found this group to be an excellent source for Africa reads.

@Jenny Great!

Some of us do lurk a bit - or rather a lot - but I am definitely still in the group even though I may not read a particular read when everyone else is! I just finished Blackass by Igoni Barrett, which was interesting for its discussion of life in Lagos. Plus Born on a Tuesday which takes place in Northern Nigeria and I thought was pretty good. And I finally got around to reading the Aya series [in French no less] which I remember hearing about via this group

Nina wrote: "Some of us do lurk a bit - or rather a lot - but I am definitely still in the group even though I may not read a particular read when everyone else is! I just finished Blackass by I..."
Nice! I have both of those in my pile too - and will put Aya on my list! Lurking around your profile ;) I was wondering if you have any insider tips for Ghana? Maybe something more recent than The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born? Any good (female?) writer you'd like to recommend?

Re recommendations on Ghanaian literature, you might want to consider any/some of the following:
Ama Ata Aidoo She has written several collections of short stories, plays and a novel, Changes: A Love Story, which I do recommend.
Taiye Selasi is much more contemporary, with her debut novel Ghana Must Go
Nii Ayikwei Parkes is another younger author, with his main work being Tail of the Blue Bird

You could take a look at the following list which includes a wide range of books set in Ghana - many of which are written by Ghanaians (but not all)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Hey guys! I know you are accustomed to my apologies at this point. I am looking for someone or more than one person to take the group over. I just can't even do the bare minimum anymore, honestly. I've asked Annette, but maybe someone else is also interested? Especially if she isn't?

Jenny, if I'm still the main mod when you need a poll set up, shoot me a message and I'll do my best to get it done quickly. Or I could make you moderator at least for the purpose of setting a poll? Let me know.

I'm kind of looking forward to being a plain old member. At least I can use my phone app to participate that way!

Great to hear from you Marieke and thanks again for all the work you've done so far, it's a great group :) I'd like to Mod - but I'd also love to have help from a couple of people, so everyone is not dependent on a single person doing all of it (Like Marieke we all have lives, that sometimes interfere with our reading time and Goodreads time, so it's great to have more people helping out!
Jenny: I'd love it if you'd like to join too?

I really can't commit to being a moderator on another group, because I'm already stretched a bit too thin (and don't want to have to commit to participating unless I'm super inspired, if I'm being honest.)

I totally understand Jenny. In fact I kind of expected this to be the case. But I could make you moderator just to get the poll done if necessary, or anyone else, for that matter, while we try to get things going again. Polls are one of the hardest things for me to get to. I'll reach out to Melanie (yellow boots), too. In the past she has helped me out, but I'm not sure how active she is right now on Goodreads.

If not I'll set them up :)

I wish I could volunteer but it's not in the cards for me right now.

No worries, Lise! But thank you :)

Later today Annette will be a new moderator and the main person at the helm. I'll stay Chief Chatterbox for at least the short term. If anyone is interested in helping out with moderator stuff, please do let us know.

I could tentatively help with mod stuff, but probably mostly on the logistics end for the next while -- I'll be moving at least twice in the next few months and am not sure how much of the reading for the group I'll be able to do/access. (Whether or not that changes will depend largely on where I end up, which is still up in the air.) Annette/Marieke, let me know if that would be useful; no worries if you're looking for something more substantial.

Oh please join Liralen, I'm happy to run ship, but any help would be great, just contribute a little when you're up for it :)

Well, I'm game if you & other current mods are :)

Yay! Welcome aboard!

Liralen, you know the group really well, so that would be great!

Sounds good! Annette, how do you want to go about organising/discussing/divvying/etc.?

Liralen wrote: "Sounds good! Annette, how do you want to go about organising/discussing/divvying/etc.?"
I'm just travelling for two days (so there may be delayed responses), but Marieke said we could create a mod-discussion to sort out detail among us.

Suggestions for reading Zambia already has a thread, so everyone should head over there and suggest books. Then I'll set up the poll later :)

After that maybe a brainstorm on how to proceed for those who havent read the A-Z but would like to catch up. Maybe looking at the existing resources in the group and if it makes sense to make it easier to get an overview of, for those who joined later?

Hello again everyone!

To get things moving along, Jenny has started the conversation to pick out a book from Zambia (to continue the A-Z Tour D'Afrique) - join us here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also for those just wanting to do some African reading, I've set up a 2017 challenge: So if you want to read more from Africa, join in - you're setting your own goal, so two books are fine, so is twenty ;)
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

Next up is looking into maybe re-organizing some of the materials in the group, so it's easier to navigate for newcomers, but for now: suggest books for Zambia - and join the challenge if you'd like?

@Sofia That sounds great!

@Anetq, thanks for stepping up to get the group going again. I was sad to see it become less active.

@Marieke, thank you for founding this wonderful and very important group. I perfectly understand how life can get hectic and how you have had to prioritize other things in your life.

Count me in. I would love to help out in any way I can.

The poll is ready for our upcoming Zambia read! You can still nominate a book inside the poll - or just vote:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

@Diane Thanks - I'll add you to the moderator crew if you like?

Anetq wrote: "@Diane Thanks - I'll add you to the moderator crew if you like?"

I would be honored.

Diane wrote: "Anetq wrote: "@Diane Thanks - I'll add you to the moderator crew if you like?"

I would be honored."

Awesome! I'd like to invite you to a group to sort out details, you don't allow messages, so I've requested to be your friend?

Anetq wrote: "Diane wrote: "Anetq wrote: "@Diane Thanks - I'll add you to the moderator crew if you like?"

I would be honored."

Awesome! I'd like to invite you to a group to sort out details, you don't allow m..."

I have accepted your request and put in requests to the other mods. I look forward to getting together to the group up and rolling again.

I'm
Back and keen. Desertion does not appear to
Be on kindle sadly. I reckon to read only kindle books!

Zambia! I've extended the poll by 5 days - so everyone gets a chance to help pick out the book for Zambia - it's in nerve-wrecking tie at the moment,
so go cast your vote here!