Great African Reads discussion

This discussion is about the challenge to read books from the list:
50 Books By African Women That Everyone Should Read.

Join the challenge, decide how many of them you want to aim for reading (you can edit it later if your plans change) - and tell us below - or use this thread to discuss your choice of books!

If you want to keep track of you own reading you can post your reading list for this challenge in this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

These are great lists - definitely worth exploring. Getting the books may be a bit of a challenge for some of us though!

True Nina! Availability is always tricky :) Some of this is more modern, so it might be available as ebooks, for those who do that?

This is excellent, Anetq! Thanks so much for bringing this list to our attention, creating the challenge and offering this thread. I'm in and will target reading five in 2018.

Thanks Carol, but it was a joint effort from the group, and someone else pointed out the list - there is a male list as well, for when we run out of woman :) But great to hear that others are interested too.

I just checked the list and I have read 4 before we begin, but as they will still count, I’ll aim for 40 in total, so 36 in a couple of years...

Ha ha, I had been wondering why this list was getting so much attention of late. Thank you all for this feature.

Haha Aubrey, love it!

I've read a couple and aim to read 30 by 2020.

Aubrey wrote: "Ha ha, I had been wondering why this list was getting so much attention of late. Thank you all for this feature."
Yeah, I was really glad when I found the Listopia list, it makes it so much easier, so thank you :)

Greetings! I can't see the list where can I get the list?

Mekdes wrote: "Greetings! I can't see the list where can I get the list?"
Hi Mekdes - follow the link in the first post to the challenge - that has multiple links to lists of the books :)

Great initiative! I surely want to read more books written by African women. I have read 6 out the 49 books on the list, and aim to read 14 more by 2020.

The link to the list doesn't work in the mobile application, only on PC.

Wim wrote: "Great initiative! I surely want to read more books written by African women. I have read 6 out the 49 books on the list, and aim to read 14 more by 2020.

The link to the list doesn't work in the m..."

Great that you are joining the challenge! Unfortunately Goodreads' mobile app is not very good at many things in my opinion - I tend to visit the site in a browser, even if I am on a mobile...

Anetq wrote: "Wim wrote: "Great initiative! I surely want to read more books written by African women. I have read 6 out the 49 books on the list, and aim to read 14 more by 2020.

The link to the list doesn't w..."

Oh, indeed. One must always use the desktop version on mobile.

I love this challenge! Have just managed to find the links to all the 50 books, and have read 10. I am aiming to read another 10 in 2018. I think it's a great way to truly roam the continent!

ps. it seems you all have set a two year challenge! So I d like to double mine to 20 by 2020.' Has anyone chosen theirs yet? I am perhaps selfishly more attracted to the more recent publications (1980s onwards) as the themes and history are closer to my sensitivity. Does anyone have a top 5 MUST READ from this list? thanks

Laura wrote: "ps. it seems you all have set a two year challenge! So I d like to double mine to 20 by 2020.' Has anyone chosen theirs yet? I am perhaps selfishly more attracted to the more recent publications (1..."

20 is good target, I've been far too optimistic and set myself a challenge of reading 30 ...

Anyway: oh interesting question Laura! I haven't decided which ones I'm going to focus on, but definitely going to read Bessie Head, Buchi Emecheta, Ama Ata Aidoo, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Mariama Bâ, Nawal El-Saadawi, No Violet Bulawayo.

Those all sound like excellent choices. I have started reading This September Sun, and I am enjoying it. I have unfortunately read all of Adichie's books already. I wonder why she hasnt published anything recently. Fingers crossed for another book from her soon.

This September Sun sounds brilliant. I'm putting it on my list. Same- I've read everything by Adichie. I really hope she writes another one soon (I didn't quite like her Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions - it wasn't bad, just really basic in my opinion). She needs to get back to fiction! I wonder why Pettina Gappah is not on the list! Her An Elegy for Easterly is such a great read!

This is really appealing given the 2 years to read the books (and find them). I've read one, Dust and have 10 more on the Listopia list that I want to read. So i'm half way to my goal of 20. And I may read Dust again because it was so amazingly good and powerful when I read it back in 2014.

Dear all!
With the new year coming I have been doing som housekeeping in the group to attempt to make things easier to find. So I have set up an extra thread for everyone to keep their personal list in - that should make it easier to see what everyone is reading for the challenge, and keep this thread for chatting along as we read and consider which books to tackle - we can also set up some buddy reads if more people would like to read some of the titles together?
So please post your reading list for this challenge in this thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Looking forward to reading these with you!

I am considering following Wathingira's suggestion and kick off with NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names - I also happen to have that in a pile waiting to be read...

Just starting The Translator on audio!

Two of our books are coming up as regional reads for Sept/Oct - and your choice @beth is one of them :)
The Translator by Leila Aboulela (Sudan)
and
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi (Egypt)

The Translator has been on my list for a while. Hopefully I can get to it.

I read another one Our Wife & Other Stories - and liked it a lot - fine short stories! My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I took this challenge with a very easy goal of five of the books and I had already read two before joining the group (July's People and Half of a Yellow Sun). In May I read African Love Stories: An Anthology which I borrowed from the university library here. Now I'm reading two more from this list, Nervous Conditions which I bought used, and Woman at Point Zero which I also borrowed from the university library. So I will meet my goal very soon! I will see if I can read at least a couple more from the list as well.

I have a question. Based on this list, I assumed that Nnedi Okorafor was African, and by that I mean, born and raised in a country on the continent of Africa. As most of you no doubt know, but I didn't, she is the daughter of Nigerian parents, but was born and raised in Chicago. I'm delighted to be reading my second of her books in as many weeks, but ....

I don't question her knowledge of Nigerian culture or perspective, but my goal in reading authors on this specific list was to expand my reading and knowledge of women authors who were at least raised in an African country, as opposed to those raised in a Western country. So my question is... are there other authors on this list who are not African by birth? No criticism is intended of any of these authors, and I'm not suggesting that their works are any less valuable or their voices less important than others' voices, please note.

It is a bit hard to say when one stops to be African, especially now that people move easily and tend to accumulate different identities. As second generation migrants often do, I think that Nnedi strongly identifies with her parents' origins, as is reflected in her writing. Does being born in the US disqualify her as "African" author? I don't think so.

Carol - it's a valid question - and I as you are in this to read more African authors, preferably from Africa - but as Wim points out the borders are blurred these years, and whether one counts birthplace, family origins, currently living in, ethnic origin or whatever as parameters some author will fall on different sides of the lines. There are no easy answers - so for the group we've not set any firm rules on what counts or doesn't count for the authors from the African diaspora. And people can choose for themselves what to read - as you do :)
This particular list was put together as a recommendation by a book blogger promoting African literature - and as far as I can tell it's mostly authors born in and/or living in Africa, apart from Okorafor as you point out - but maybe the original post will answer your question - there is a bit more context on the authors and their history - You can find the first 25 here: http://whatsonafrica.org/50-books-by-...

Anetq wrote: "Carol - it's a valid question - and I as you are in this to read more African authors, preferably from Africa - but as Wim points out the borders are blurred these years, and whether one counts bir..."

Thanks, Anetq - I was hoping to avoid researching multiple authors and appreciate your suggestion. Will do. Thank you again.

Aminatta Forna is called "Scottish- Sierra Leonean" on Wikipedia. She was born in Scotland to a Scottish mom and Sierra Leonean father, they moved to Sierra Leone when she was an infant, then she moved to Scotland at college age and is actually an OBE. So she is a mix that's doesn't fit a single country origin.

George wrote: "Aminatta Forna is called "Scottish- Sierra Leonean" on Wikipedia. She was born in Scotland to a Scottish mom and Sierra Leonean father, they moved to Sierra Leone when she was an infant, then she m..."

Indeed. Thanks for reminding me, George. I think of Forna as a UK author, but hadn't followed up on the details.

When I finish The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna I'll have read ten of the 50 books on this list, a respectable number I think. I am quite liking The Memory of Love so far, at half-way, and plan to read another of Forna's books in the future, probably her new one, "Happiness".

2020 is coming and this challenge runs for another year, so which books are you planning to read this year?

I have these in queue for 2020:

We Need New Names
The Joys of Motherhood
Our Sister Killjoy
The Promised Land
The Blind Kingdom


I have put these in my TBR Challenge for 2020:

Efuru
The Map of Love
Changes
I Do Not Come to You by Chance
On Black Sisters Street
Butterfly Burning
Nehanda
In Dependence
The Shining Girls
This Summer Sun
David's Story
Men of the South

I plan to read some of the short story anthology "Daughters of Africa". I'm not sure if I'll get to any others.

George P. wrote: "I plan to read some of the short story anthology "Daughters of Africa". I'm not sure if I'll get to any others."

That is one VERY large collection, I've noticed. I got the follow up collection: New Daughters of Africa, but haven't gotten around to it. May need a push...

And I know I said the challenge runs until the end of 2020 - but I am inclined to extend the deadline if no-one objects, 50 books is a long list of books to get through (and some are hard to come by).
Or we could off course just make a new challenge for people to read more?

I made some modest progress on this and intend to continue into 2020. I own ten further books on the list which I hope to get to soon:
We Need New Names
Nervous Conditions
The Memory of Love
Bitter Leaf
July's People
The Joy's of Motherhood
The Translator
The Map of Love
Distant View of a Minaret
On Black Sister Street

I would be up for prolonging the challenge as there is no way I will be able to complete it by the end of 2020. Especially since I am also doing a personal challenge of reading through the African canon, which is a list of 140 books (the 50 women's list is integrated in this longer list, but in a somewhat updated form). So I think I will need like ten years to complete both challenges, lol!

I managed The Map of Love (my favourite book of 2019) and Your Madness, Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon this year.

For 2020 I aim to read:
Half of a Yellow Sun
Dust
The Memory of Love

In 2019 i didn't read any on the list. Unbelievable how I got sidetracked. Here is my list for 2020
Changes Ama Ata Aidoo
AYA
Our wife and other stories
Tropical fish Tales from Entebbe
July's people
Dust
The map of love

Are any of the books from Somali authors? That's a country Id like to know more about.

Laura wrote: "In 2019 i didn't read any on the list. Unbelievable how I got sidetracked. Here is my list for 2020
Changes Ama Ata Aidoo
AYA
Our wife and other stories
Tropical fish Tales from Entebbe
July's peop..."

Nadifa Mohamed is a Somali author, but her book on the list Black Mamba Boy doesn't take place only in Somalia.

Valerie. Much appreciated. I am adding that one to my 2020 list!

I have read 18 books of the list so far, planning to read Men of the South soon and have added 18 others to my 24 TBR takedown challenge for 2020.

Valerie wrote: "Especially since I am also doing a personal challenge of reading through the African canon, which is a list of 140 books (the 50 women's list is integrated in this longer list, but in a somewhat updated form)...."

Interesting Valerie! Do you have a link to this list of 140 books?

Wim wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Especially since I am also doing a personal challenge of reading through the African canon, which is a list of 140 books (the 50 women's list is integrated in this longer list, but ..."

I don't have a link. It is a list I collated myself from what I could find online and had double checked by an african lit professor.

Valerie wrote: "Wim wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Especially since I am also doing a personal challenge of reading through the African canon, which is a list of 140 books (the 50 women's list is integrated in this longe..."

I'm interested too - if you want to share it somehow, I'd love it!

I don't mind sharing it with people here, but I am not sure which platform to use. Does anyone have any suggestions?

One can create lists on Listopia (integrated with Goodreads) - but I guess it's a fair bit of work to add 140 works to a list. What format is your list in currently?