Great African Reads discussion

January's number is posted late to allow you time to adjust your list. You may continue to do so until midnight December 31 EST. Numbers will be announced 1 week prior to the end of the month during the rest of the year.

Numbers for 2024:
January: 4
February: 24
March: 21
April: 3
May: 11
June: 15
July: 5
August: 13

Numbers for 2023:
January: 4
February: 5
Mar: 17
April: 22
May: 6
June: 24
July: 19
August: 10
September: 11
October: 7
November: 8
December: 23

Numbers for 2022:
January: 20
February: 10
March: 12
April: 13
May: 6
June: 21
July: 1
August: 5
September: 18
October: 17
November: 24
December: 4

January's number is 12.


What will you be reading?

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi. Amazing! 😊

Priyanka Sofia wrote: "Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El-Saadawi. Amazing! 😊"

Great book! My teenage daughter just read it for school. I got A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn. Not my first choice, since I am not big into thrillers. I still look forward to it though.

I'll be reading Beneath the Lion's Gaze. I was just in Addis and got started, but was too busy to make much progress- I'm cheating by counting it towards my first month here. ;) Looking forward to get through some of these long neglected but interesting titles!

Edited to add-- both your choices are tempting adds to my own list.

February's number is 2.

What will you be reading?

I will be finishing (finally!) Africa's New Oil: Power, Pipelines and Future Fortunes, a dense but unique and deeply researched book of case studies on oil's impact on economies and people in Chad, Nigeria, and one other that I forget. The author digs into corporate and government agreements and parses out who were the power brokers and who actually benefited from the deals.

I started the book while living in Chad several years ago and somehow didn't get to it when I later lived in Nigeria for a year-- though it would have helped!

This is one of the few anglophone books on Chad that treats its contemporary history. Super useful.

Things Fall Apart! Love this one. It’s been nearly 15 years since I read it so really looking forward to this!

Tinea- Great review! You’re racing ahead!

Priyanka Sofia wrote: "Things Fall Apart! Love this one. It’s been nearly 15 years since I read it so really looking forward to this!

Tinea- Great review! You’re racing ahead!"

But I'm only halfway through it-- and it's been 3 years since I put it down! ;)

Hahah oh dear I misread it as finished! :) Sounds like a really interesting book. Going to check if my library has it.

My January book was terrible, so I have high hopes for February as it's The Yacoubian Building.

Sofia I love Things Fall Apart! Although I think Arrow of God is still my favourite of that trilogy...

Cam wrote: "My January book was terrible, so I have high hopes for February as it's The Yacoubian Building.

Sofia I love Things Fall Apart! Although I think Arrow of God is still my favourite of..."

Oh The Yacoubian Building! I love the movie! I haven’t read the book yet. I’m sure it will be a better read than Jan’a book! I actually haven’t read book 2 and 3 of the trilogy but plan to remedy that this year.

Priyanka Sofia wrote: "Cam wrote: "My January book was terrible, so I have high hopes for February as it's The Yacoubian Building.

Sofia I love Things Fall Apart! Although I think Arrow of God is still my ..."

I didn't know it was made into a movie. I'll need to look for that.

I didn't know it was a film either, I'll try to find it (with subtitles...)!

Any chance we could get the March number this weekend? I'm about to travel all month and would love to take my TBR with me. :)

Tinea wrote: "Any chance we could get the March number this weekend? I'm about to travel all month and would love to take my TBR with me. :)"

Sorry for the delay. I have been traveling abroad with limited internet access. March's number is 11.

Thank you!! And NO thank you-- my book is a real doozy! >:D Let's see if I can do it in a month!

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa

Interesting-sounding book Tinea!
That'll be The Forbidden Woman (L'Interdite) by Malika Mokkedem for me. Hoping to finish my February book on time...

April's number is 18. What book will you be reading?

Still got 150+ pages to go for March, but glad I get to turn to a novel for April: African Psycho

May's number is 19. What will you be reading?

Diane wrote: "May's number is 19. What will you be reading?"

Another one from a country I missed in the Tour d'Afrique: Passage of Tears by Abdourahman A. Waberi, Djibouti.

I will be reading The Jokers by Albert Cossery.

I’ll be reading Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe by Doreen Baingana

June's # is 24. What will you be reading?

I'm on a sci-fi kick this year, reading Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin for the first time. So my next read fits in: Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor.

I'll be reading The Lovers: A Collection of Short Stories by Bessie Head. If I've got time I'll try to also read Tales Of Tenderness And Power, as they're both quite short.

Just a reminder, you may make any changes to the remaining books on your list. You will have until the end of June to do so. Your list will become fixed again from July until the end of the year.

July's number is 23. What will you be reading?

Just finished up May's I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation-- a replacement for the Djibouti book I was supposed to read, cited above, that was recalled on interlibrary loan twice (!) because I couldn't get to pick it up in time with my travel schedule. But Eritrea was another Tour d'Afrique country I missed so it was a fitting substitute.

Working on June's Who Fears Death, and getting ready to dive into July's Your Madness, Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon, which I'm hoping to finish before leaving for my second trip to Anglophone Cameroon this year.

I am taking many liberties with the numeric rules system but clawing my way through untouched dusty books on my shelf, so: personal goals achieved. I did maybe actually purchase July's book to place on my shelf in order to qualify it for this shockingly effective motivational reading challenge, but hey, it's working!

Great books Tinea! I'm trying to not buy any books this year but your list is making it very hard ;).

I'm being a bit slow with this month's read and only just started Bessie Head's Tales Of Tenderness And Power. July will be The Bride Price, by Buchi Emecheta.

I had to swap out a few of my books due to moving and so not having access to the same libraries, and so quickly read God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène - absolutely excellent. I'm loving this challenge, thanks again Diane!

August's number is 5. What will you be reading?

Another heavy hitter: Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. Been on my shelf a long while, glad to get to it.

Great selection Tinea! I've read several articles and book chapters that quote her research so I'd be interested in knowing what you think of it.

I'll be reading Crépuscule du tourment by Léonora Miano.

September's number is 13. What will you be reading?

I've only just started August's selection but hoping to make quick progress on it this weekend as Léonora Miano's writing style is stunning. September will be Léopold Sédar Senghor's poetry, which has sat (untouched) on my shelves for years...

Finally! Making Sense of the Central African Republic

October's number is 1.


What will you be reading?

I am so horrendously behind. I still haven't finished August's book (Crépuscule du tourment by Léonora Miano), and might have to restrict my planned reading of all of Senghor's work to just Chants d'ombre suivi de Hosties noires.

October's read will be a collection of short stories from Sudan https://www.editions-magellan.com/liv....

Ooof, another tough one. I'm halfway through Tomorrow's Battlefield : U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa; it's relevant to the time I spend in the Sahel, but it's also a series of unedited blog posts frozen in time and pretty boring. Maybe I'll come around if I push through it!

Cam wrote: "Great selection Tinea! I've read several articles and book chapters that quote her research so I'd be interested in knowing what you think of it.

I'll be reading Crépuscule du tourment by Léonora ..."

Cam-- I loved it, though reading it feels like you got hit with it in the chest. She spells out some true horrors and torture. Here's my review. I kept thinking how I thought I knew a lot already but I didn't know all this.

November's number is 14. What will you be reading?

OK, it took til November to get really behind! I am still finishing September's Making Sense of the Central African Republic (last 100 pages!) and will probably skip October's Tomorrow's Battlefield : U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa. Too much heavy stuff in a row!

My November read is God's Bits of Wood. I need to see if I can snag it from the college library.

Thanks for the detailed review of Imperial Reckoning Tinea. I've added it to my list of priority reads!
I really loved God's Bits of Wood, I was expecting something quite dreary and hard to read but I couldn't put it down. Beautifully written on a subject not so well-known.

I'm finally caught up thanks to October's tiny selection of short stories from Sudan which left me time to make my way through Senghor's poetry (really not my cup of tea). November will be going back to the classics with Cheikh Anta Diop's Precolonial Black Africa.

I'm running behind (as always) but I'm very excited about the last draw for 2019! Is the plan to have a similar challenge for 2020? It's been a great motivator ^^

Cam wrote: "I'm running behind (as always) but I'm very excited about the last draw for 2019! Is the plan to have a similar challenge for 2020? It's been a great motivator ^^"

I will be continuing it in 2020. Glad you have enjoyed it.

December's number is 17.

What will you be reading?

Diane wrote: "I will be continuingit in 2020. Glad you have enjoyed it."

Great! I regret not having joined for 2019. You can count me in for next year.

Diane wrote: "Cam wrote: "I'm running behind (as always) but I'm very excited about the last draw for 2019! Is the plan to have a similar challenge for 2020? It's been a great motivator ^^"

I will be continuing..."

Great news! Thanks for setting it up and continuing to run it Diane!

I'm still slowly making my way through Precolonial Black Africa by Cheikh Anta Diop, and will be reading The Shadow of Imana by Véronique Tadjo for December.

Hi Diane, will you start over calling numbers for 2020? I love this challenge and hope it keeps going.