Great African Reads discussion

It's been more than a year with the regional reads of African literature - so I wondered if you have any comments or ideas to share?

Is there anything you would like to read, other types of group reads, topics, themes, types of authors... Anything you are missing, that would make you participate more or read more African books - or just make you enjoy the group more?

I am enjoying catching the regional reads when I can but I miss the push towards encountering countries less well known (to me) and the challenge of finding and reading from a limited selection of works when there isn't much published or translated from a particular place. I would love to see the group go back to reading country-by-country instead of regionally, but perhaps jump around by region or something else instead of working our way through the list alphabetically.

I am enjoying regional reads far more than one-country reads, but have often forgotten to post anything here about my reading, and other members' posts tend to be once they've finished, if at all. It seems as though we're not getting the benefit from actually reading a novel together, but are engaged in the reading version of parallel play.

I could be wrong, but believe the lack of reading books as a group is a natural outcome of our extended nomination and voting process. I wish that nominations and voting happened at a predictable and finite pace and with some close-ish relationship to when the book will be read. I nominated a couple of books in January, but didn't know when voting would occur. In some instances, voting occurred in May or June, for a read to occur even later. That kind of gap reduces both excitement and participation, IMO. A cadence of nominations open for (no more than) 2 weeks, voting open for a week, and starting the read 6 - 8 weeks later increases the likelihood that readers know/recall what's coming up and can plan for it, and if they nominate, they know they'll be available to drive the conversation.

Just a thought.

Thank you both for your thoughts!
Tinea I am thinking the selections will widen, when we return to a region for the second and third time - but there is a danger of only reading Egypt/Nigeria etc... So good thoughts, and although I am personally not longing to read another "only book written in country X" when there are so many great works from other countries - I do think striking a balance would be good :)
Carol - I agree the excitement may wear off in a long proces - and I share your frustration over the parallel reading, so any ideas there are more than welcome (though we also have to give people time to get the book).
Please keep the comments and thoughts coming!

I have been liking the regional reads we have been doing so far. To have more balance and read from less known countries, we might choose alternative regions such as 'West Africa excluding Nigeria', or 'Francophone West Africa' or 'Lusophone Africa'? Or group together similar countries?

I agree with Carol that the voting and reading process is too much diluted in time. When we voted for The Translator and Woman at Point zero lately, I was wanting to start reading them, but then I realised that it wasn't even August while the books were for Sep/Oct and I didn't even start reading those for July/Aug yet! So good idea to reduce the length of the process, such as proposing the books for Sep/Oct in the first half of Aug, then voting during 1 week.

Instead of reading two books in two months, isn't it better to do one book a month? In that way we might synchronise better?

It has also surprised me that lots of people vote, but few actually post comment in the discussion groups while reading...

Thanks, Wim, I like your idea of adapting Regional Reads to narrow down the category a bit while still staying pretty broad!

Agreeing also with the multiple suggestions to reduce time between suggesting, voting, and reading.

Peterson wrote: "Here’s a poem contained in my book, do well to support me by checking it out, please.
I did this poem the night before we..."
I've deleted your comment as this is a thread for discussing group stuff - if you want to promote your work, please keep it in the thread for that - you can find that here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I do realize that there is a wide range of readers in this group, with different experiences of African writing/ African diasporan writing. I have to admit that at times I feel that we are defaulting to the older literature - for all sorts of reasons - whereas I think it would be interesting to hear about newer African writing. Or maybe we have a mixture of the two?

To continue on the Nov_Dec nominations discussion, I actually was surprised by the closing of the nominations (process that was launched in Dec 2017; I really admire your efforts Anetq!) as I had been postponing my input...

I recently moved to Burkina Faso where books are depressingly unavailable, so I do understand the need for at least 5 weeks between voting and reading, but I still want to suggest a shorter and more concentrated nomination process. Do we really need more than 2-3 weeks to gather suggestions before voting? Moreover, it is a bit confusing to nominate for next reads before having voted for the previous one.

So what I like to suggest is that the nomination process for let's says the next Jan/Dec reads should only start in October, with voting by half of November. Does that sound reasonable?

To react on another comment you made Anetq, I have not found any groups of African literature in other languages (French, Portuguese, ...), so it might be interesting to create a separate corner, though that depends mainly on the number of people interested in reading in those languages.

For reasons not connected with this wonderful book group, I fell off the train when the Tour d' Afrique A through Z ended. I responded well to the A-Z format. I failed to connect with the regional book club so I am really in the dark now. As a "fallen away" African book reader, I urge you to keep up the good and important work for African lit. Today I am looking through your title suggestions and find several that sound wonderful. Homegoing--I may start that today. Although I am not active in the club, I appreciate your booklists very much.

I hear lots of great suggestions here - Thank you all for taking an interest :)

Nina: Yes - more new African literature would be nice. How is the e-book versions (and therefore easy availability for those of us on other continents) ? I have an idea that it's a bit scarce - but I may remember it wrong, I might have been looking for classics? Do you know? Or can you suggest some never titles, so we can have a look?

Wim wrote: "To continue on the Nov_Dec nominations discussion, I actually was surprised by the closing of the nominations (process that was launched in Dec 2017; I really admire your efforts Anetq!) as I had b..."

I hear you (and others) - we'll tighten up the schedule - and as there are two months to read the book, those suffering long delivery times should still be able to catch up in the second month :)

Wim wrote: "To react on another comment you made Anetq, I have not found any groups of African literature in other languages (French, Portuguese, ...), so it might be interesting to create a separate corner, t..."

My own french is not good enough to read books (and enjoy it) - but we could set up a folder - especially if someone would like to head it up?
Would anyone like to give it a go?

Sharon wrote: "For reasons not connected with this wonderful book group, I fell off the train when the Tour d' Afrique A through Z ended. I responded well to the A-Z format. I failed to connect with the regional ..."
Join in anytime and anywhere, we'd love to have you back!

Another thing: We get a lot of African authors suggesting we read their work. We've had to disallow self-nominations - and I suggest they use our folder for selfpromotion, which they politely do.
But I just want to put it out there: If anyone has an interest in reading those brand new authors - it would be possible to do something around their works.
If anyone has an interest and would like to organise something - please put your (virtual) hand up :)

Anetq wrote: "My own french is not good enough to read books (and enjoy it) - but we could set up a folder - especially if someone would like to head it up?
Would anyone like to give it a go?"

I can try and moderate a group of those who want to read books that have only been published in French, if there are enough interested people to join.

"I can try and moderate a group of those who want to read books that have only been published in French, if there are enough interested people to join. "

Excellent, Wim! Est-ce que vous voulez un ...eh thread pour ca? (sorry no cedille on my keyboard either!)
In other words: Why don't we make a thread/folder for discussing it and/or setting it up - and you can proceed from there?

Voila: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Anyone interested, please go there and let your interest be known! I'll put it in a group message as well!

I read almost exclusively on kindle as print books are expensive and there is limited availability. It would be great if you were able to ensure a kindle version in every choice of books and shorten the process between voting and reading. The system does seem to lose momentum as it is drawn out.

Margaret wrote: "I read almost exclusively on kindle as print books are expensive and there is limited availability. It would be great if you were able to ensure a kindle version in every choice of books and shorte..."
Thank you for the input :) Unfortunately availability is always ...let's say interesting... when it comes to African literature, so I'm afraid we can't limit it all to Kindle editions (though I am a happy e-reader myself) - but we could ask people to check out availability when they nominate books as regional reads, then people can take that into account when voting for the books as well?

I really like the Read Across Africa Challenge and I hope it will stay up next year so I can read West to East. I have been finding some really good books this way. If not, I'm sure I will still do it on my own, so thanks for putting it up here and giving me the idea to do it.

Thank you so much Susan for the feedback - it's always nice to hear, and great that you have enjoyed it so far :)

I am new to reading African authors. This is what I appreciate about this group: the various challenges and lists as well as dates for regional reads which help me to have a guide or focus to what’s out there.

Also I like reading the both the comments of readers as well as the reviews by reviewers. Both provide a further way to think about what I am reading.

A huge thank to the moderators whose work make this list an important source for those of us who want to read African Literature.

Greetings, everyone. Have you read This Is Lagos And Other Stories (African Women Writers) by Flora Nwapa? If so, have you reviewed it? Let us know. Thanks!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

(Not sure if this is the correct place to post this. If not, please correct me on this. Thanks.)

Have we covered religions and folklores in Africa yet? It would be awesome to read about the various cultures religions. Perhaps add it on to the regional reads. That way we can search by region.

I
Like monthly nominations from the group followed by a poll to choose our next read. It’s simple and predictable

A new year is coming up - and as always we (the volunteer moderators of this group) would love to hear from you all, if there are ways to make this group better for everyone, mor engaging or if you have suggestions and/or would like to contribute somehow - let us know!

Thanks for getting the 2023 discussion going!

In 2023, I will need to bow out of facilitating the Quarterly Nonfiction reads, as life has been and appears like it will remain too busy to keep up. I am happy to pass the baton to someone else-- and would likely join from time to time.

Tinea wrote: "Thanks for getting the 2023 discussion going!

In 2023, I will need to bow out of facilitating the Quarterly Nonfiction reads, as life has been and appears like it will remain too busy to keep up...."
Thank you so much for doing it so far, highly appreciated!

A little bird has sung to me, that Carolien may be ready to pick up the baton :) But if anyone else would like to be involved, please get in touch!

This may be of interest to some of the group members: African Arguments has published its list of best African books of 2022: https://africanarguments.org/2022/12/...

Anetq wrote: "A little bird has sung to me, that Carolien may be ready to pick up the baton :) But if anyone else would like to be involved, please get in touch!"

Oh, that's great! I really love the Nonfiction reads, even though I have been lagging behind...

For my part, I just set up the regional read in French threads for next year, so nominations can start.

I have not been able to read and participate as much as I wanted in 2022... Any help to improve the group and to moderate the discussions is more then welcome!

Valerie wrote: "This may be of interest to some of the group members: African Arguments has published its list of best African books of 2022: https://africanarguments.org/2022/12/..."

Interesting list, Valerie! Lots of new books to discover.

I recently stumbled upon the following list of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century (https://library.columbia.edu/librarie...). It is an older list, but I hadn't seen it yet. It also contains some non-fiction.

Anetq wrote: "Tinea wrote: "Thanks for getting the 2023 discussion going!

In 2023, I will need to bow out of facilitating the Quarterly Nonfiction reads, as life has been and appears like it will remain too bu..."

A great list also to read in 2023! Thanks for sharing!

Wim wrote: "Anetq wrote: "A little bird has sung to me, that Carolien may be ready to pick up the baton :) But if anyone else would like to be involved, please get in touch!"

Oh, that's great! I really love t..."

2022 also did not turn out to be my reading year as far as GAR were concerned, but there is 2023 coming up and things might change for the better!

Wim wrote: "Valerie wrote: "This may be of interest to some of the group members: African Arguments has published its list of best African books of 2022: https://africanarguments.org/2022/12/......"

I love this list! Thanks for sharing!

We are nearing the end of the year - so it's time to think about 2024 and what (or how) we'd like to read next year?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Any type of reading you would like to head up?
Any other ideas for creating more activity in the group?
Would you like to pitch in and help out by sparking more activites?

Wim wrote: "I have been liking the regional reads we have been doing so far. To have more balance and read from less known countries, we might choose alternative regions such as 'West Africa excluding Nigeria'..."

I agree with monthly books instead of 2/2. The reason is that it’s easy to think I have 2 months to fit them in, then the EOM is suddenly upon us!

Anetq wrote: "Wim wrote: "To continue on the Nov_Dec nominations discussion, I actually was surprised by the closing of the nominations (process that was launched in Dec 2017; I really admire your efforts Anetq!..."

Good point to counter my input. Most of the nominated books have been available in amazon.us, but I have also had to scrounge for them in resales, and that takes longer.

Anetq wrote: "It's been more than a year with the regional reads of African literature - so I wondered if you have any comments or ideas to share?

Is there anything you would like to read, other types of group ..."

First, this is a wonderful and important Goodreads Group, and I’m happy to be a part of it. You have done a wonderful job Anteq, and you are credited for encouraging others to read more African literature. Thank you.

As to participation—One issue might be that the read finishes at the end of the month, so readers finish at various times. If the topic closes EOM, perhaps the “finished book” date should be 7-10 days sooner and the discussion period starts 7-10 days before the month ends. This will work if the book is selected 2 months out, depending on time needed to secure copies. You might already have this schedule, but I simply haven’t discovered the guidelines.

I generally love historical reads—Choukri Mohammed’s For Bread Alone is still with me. But the current state of the world compels me to read recent releases to better understand, particularly in my distant setting. When reading Egypt, I purchased the nominated book and was interested, but I also had a copy of Alex Rowell’s We Are Your Soldiers: How Gamal Abdel Nasser Remade the Arab World (will review in a few days). I was drawn to Rowell’s book to better understand that region. It’s alway a juggling act.

I also agree with you that it is a good idea to have options when deciding on a given country. It took a while for another group to get a copy of the one contemporary book from Azerbaijan.

Having said this, I am flexible on when, how, what. I will go with the flow on what works best for the group to be extent my schedule allows.

Thank your for asking for input!

Jax wrote: "Wim wrote: "I have been liking the regional reads we have been doing so far. To have more balance and read from less known countries, we might choose alternative regions such as 'West Africa exclud..."

I see your point that stretching a read over two months could be too long a time period. On the other hand, I had the impression that this way, more members can participate... it is really difficult to say...

Anetq wrote: "We are nearing the end of the year - so it's time to think about 2024 and what (or how) we'd like to read next year?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Any type of reading you would like to head up?..."

My participation in this group this year was rather weak, I have to admit. This was mainly because my reading gravitated towards predominantly less serious titles due to what's going on left and right ...
I also have difficulty sticking to plans when it comes to reading so if I thought a book was interesting to read two months into the future, two months later I might not be interested any more...
Therefore I think having buddy reads would be a nice idea...

Just a message on the regional reads in French that I have been moderating the past years: participation has been very weak in 2023 (nonexistant in fact, apart from the Jan-Feb read), so I think the concept needs to change. Fresh ideas and help to moderate the discussions are more than welcome!

Apart from that, I had a very turbulent year and did not read as much as I wanted. I was also quite passive as moderator for which I sincerly apologize! Unfortunately, the coming months I won't have more reading time, so I decided not to participate in the TBR and bingo challenges. I will try to finish the 50 books by African women challenge as I have only a few books to read and read a bit more non fiction on conflict and fragility which is also the focus of my current job.

Thanks Wim. I also strugglled in 2023 to keep up and was wondering whether we could do perhaps a quarterly or 6-monthly read including nonfiction? it was just you me and Valerie originally and I think participation was scant in the discussion. Given your own challenges, perhaps this strand could be shelved for a year and picked up in 25.

Jax wrote: "Anetq wrote: "Wim wrote: "To continue on the Nov_Dec nominations discussion, I actually was surprised by the closing of the nominations (process that was launched in Dec 2017; I really admire your ..."

Thank you for weighing in on this. There is work to do (and remember) for setting up nominations, votes and threads to discuss books, and currently VERY few people (if any) read the books selected. So for now I prefer to keep the 6 a year, rather than 12.
But if there is any way we can adjust, to make it easier for more people to read along, I'll be happy to try to adjust timing etc. I'd love more participation here :)
Picking 2 choices for each region every second month is hardly more work than just one - so that is an option, to create more choice?

Orgeluse wrote: "Anetq wrote: "We are nearing the end of the year - so it's time to think about 2024 and what (or how) we'd like to read next year?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Any type of reading you would li..."

Let's have some Buddy Reads, then :) Would you be our Buddy Read Ambassador and remember to promote it in some of the current Threads etc? And setting something up?
I've made a folder for Buddy Reads here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Wim wrote: "Just a message on the regional reads in French that I have been moderating the past years: participation has been very weak in 2023 (nonexistant in fact, apart from the Jan-Feb read), so I think th..."

I hope things quiet down for you soon, Wim - and as Laura suggests, let's put the French Reads on hiatus for a while - an maybe you can set up either some of your non-fiction choices as buddy reads?
And if any of you feel like adding a french flavour to the buddy reads, that'd be more than welcome too :)

Wim wrote: "Just a message on the regional reads in French that I have been moderating the past years: participation has been very weak in 2023 (nonexistant in fact, apart from the Jan-Feb read), so I think th..."

Hi Wim! Good to hear from you! There is no need to apologize for lack of moderating as I think that members in a group can be thankful that there is a moderator in the first place!!! So thank you for all your work in the past years in this group (this also counts for Anetq, Diane, Tinea and Ana Lucia!).
I wish you all the best for 2024, may your reads be interesting and your challenge be completed :))

Anetq wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "Anetq wrote: "We are nearing the end of the year - so it's time to think about 2024 and what (or how) we'd like to read next year?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Any type of rea..."

I could promote buddy reads starting with "That Hair" and would ask for nomination / participation in the thread you created. There would not be a poll as I fear that people who vote for titles do not necessarily read / comment on them, so the choice would be made within the thread. I have done so already in the EtL-group with the Russian Quarterly and hope this triggers more participation.
I hope this is roughly what you meant above :)?!?

Orgeluse wrote: "Anetq wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "Anetq wrote: "We are nearing the end of the year - so it's time to think about 2024 and what (or how) we'd like to read next year?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
A..."
Yep, exactly!