The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Delve into the depths of Africa in this month's World Lit challenge!

The topic for March is Sub-Saharan Africa. This means any book that is either written or set in Sub-Saharan Africa, or that is written by a Sub-Saharan author.

Countries include:
African Union, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (DRC-Kinshasa), Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia

For more information on Sub-Saharan Africa, click here

Check out the 'Popular Sub-Saharan Fiction Books' list here on Goodreads for some ideas.

Dora's World Literature Group Read nomination, Infidel, fits perfectly for both the World Literature challenge and the Nonfiction challenge, so I'll be reading that in March. It looks amazing.

My library just added The Orchard of Lost Souls, which is set in Somalia in the 1980s. That looks interesting, as well as the author's first book set in Somalia in the 1930s, Black Mamba Boy.

I'm also considering The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, set in Botswana. I've been eying it for a long time, so may use this as an excuse to go for it.

Possibilities...

- Heart of Darkness (WL)**
- Long Walk to Freedom (memoir)
- Cry, the Beloved Country (genre/WL)**
- Ghana Must Go (FAB. March 1)
- Half a Yellow Sun (library/kindle)
- Things Fall Apart (library/kindle)
- The Power of One ?
- Out of Africa ?

I've started Cry, the Beloved Country. I'm really enjoying it. It's very well written. A small town minister must go into the city of Johannesburg. The early chapters underscore how out of place the man feels in the big city with its multitude of vehicles and people and rushing around. Then as the story progresses, we see that it's not just the physical differences but differences in philosophy and life style. Each person that he visits brings more to the story of the minister's family, but also the story of South Africa and the politics of the day.

Renee wrote: "I've started Cry, the Beloved Country. I'm really enjoying it. It's very well written. A small town minister must go into the city of Johannesburg. The early chapters underscore how out..."

I read that in high school 20 years ago and still remember it! It's a real classic.

Renee wrote: "I've started Cry, the Beloved Country. I'm really enjoying it. It's very well written. A small town minister must go into the city of Johannesburg. The early chapters underscore how out..."

I'm planning to read that this month, too.

I read that several years ago and loved it. Many, many years ago (I think in elementary school) I read another book by Alan Paton Too Late the Phalarope. It was good too.

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but Michener's (I know he's not from Africa. :-)) The Covenant is a very good history of South Africa. Technically fiction, but factually based.

I loved the reading I did this month in this category. It felt like a mini-course in African history. Very meaningful and interesting and sad. I would gladly have reread The Poisonwood Bible if I could have worked it in. Plus a few of the things on my original list that I couldn't get to. Maybe next year, if we do a WL Challenge again.

Thanks Caitlin, just added this to my 'to-read.'