Great African Reads discussion

This is my personal TBR takedown 2021:

1 - Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World

2 - This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga

3 - In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo Manyika

4 - Land Without Thunder by Grace Ogot

5 - Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes

6 - One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

7 - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (re-read)

8 - Collected Plays: Volume 1: A Dance of the Forests; The Swamp Dwellers; The Strong Breed; The Road; The Bacchae of Euripides: 001 by Wole Soyinka

9 - The Waiting by Martin Egblewogbe

10 - So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ

11 - Mr. Fix It by Richard Ali A Mutu

12 - Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night by Sindiwe Magona

13 - The Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo

14 - An Eternity in Tangiers by Titi Faustin

15 - Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela (re-read)

16 - Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa

17 - Dreams of Maryam Tair: Blue Boots and Orange Blossoms by Mhani Alaoui

18 - That Hair by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida

19 - Shark's Egg by Henrietta Rose-Innes (dnf-ed in 2020, 2nd chance)

20 - Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela

21 - Far from My Father by Véronique Tadjo

22 - Collective Amnesia by Koleka Putuma

23 - The Quarter by Naguib Mahfouz

24 - Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji

You have some very interesting books here, Orgeluse. I read Lyrics Alley this year and enjoyed it very much, I'm planning on reading The Translator in 2021. I've got So Long a Letter in my 2021 planning. I picked up Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona at the same book sale where I bought the latest Sue Nyeti. Dreams of Maryam Tair and the Curious Case of Dassoukine's Trousers are somewhere on a list. I want to read something by Naguib Mahfouz as well.

I am so excited about this challenge, the more so as I normally read by whim, so I will see if the format of this particular challenge will suit me...
Great to know we have some titles in common! Looking forward to the exchange of thoughts!

Great list Orgeluse! I only read four or five of these, thanks for the inspiration!

Awesome list! I have read 9 of these, but there are quite a few I am not familiar that I will need to put into my radar. Happy reading!

Orgeluse wrote: "I am so excited about this challenge, the more so as I normally read by whim, so I will see if the format of this particular challenge will suit me...
Great to know we have some titles in common! L..."

I'm way too structured for this challenge. I have spreadsheets of reading lists, etc and so avoid this challenge. My main challenge for African reads actually ended up in a different group where I have to read at least 12 books: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

:))) Yes, I found your list of 12 books some weeks ago and think to find a title by a female author for every year in a decade really is a fun challenge!!

I have finished Far from My Father by Véronique Tadjo for the month of January and this is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For February the number chosen is 5, so I will be reading the latest short story collection by South African author Henrietta Rose-Innes. It is called Animalia Paradoxa and contains the following stories:
1. Sanctuary (read 18/01/21, 5 stars)
2. The Second Law (read 24/01/21, 4 stars)
3. Promenade (read 29/01/21, 2 stars)
4. The Leopard Trap (read 29/01/21, 5 stars)
5. Limerence (read 24/01/21, 4 stars)
6. The Boulder (read 17/01/21, 4 stars)
7. Homing (read 30/01/21, 4 stars)
8. Porcelain (read 30/01/21, 5 stars)
9. Star (read 30/01/21, 4 stars)
10. The Bronze Age (read 19/01/21, 3 stars)
11. Poison (read 21/01/21, 4 stars)
12. Animalia Paradoxa (read 15/01/21, 4 stars)

As these stories appeared in different collections in the years 2007-2017, I do not intend to read this collection in one go but within the months of January and February to avoid "short story collection fatigue" :)).

Completely unexpected as it is my TBR takedown read for February, I have already finished Animalia Paradoxa today :))! The strategy to stretch the reading to avoid "short story collection fatigue" has worked well (see reading schedule above) and as I have been sort of infatuated with the works of Henrietta Rose-Innes since I read all of her four novels last year I can only say that I loved most of her stories in this collection, too (see star rating above).
Especially the stories "Sanctuary", "The Leopard Trap", "The Boulder" and "Animalia Paradoxa" reminded me of themes and motifs that are also present in her novels, e.g. the "wild / untamed" side of the human psyche and human societies being alienated from nature leaving individuals alone in their struggles to live with / in nature.
Some stories also center around the relation between grown-ups and their elderly relatives. The stories in total are so versatile that reading the collection does not become tedious at all!
The author has a way of creating a distinct atmosphere I like very much so I am looking forward to the publication of her latest novel (Stone Plants) hopefully this year!
The only story I did not really get is "Promenade" so if there is anybody out there who has read it and to whom it made sense, I would be pleased about a hint :))).

For March, the number chosen is 24, so I will be reading Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji. This is NOT a story collection (though it says so on the back). Rather Loli, a Congolese girl, tells the story of her Congolese family living in Canada in different episodes (thus "stories") that provide glimpses of life in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto that is dominated by social housing.
The book was published 2019 by VS. Books, a new series aiming at featuring emerging young writers who are Indigenous, Black or a person of colour.

I have finished Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji. It was a solid three-star read for me, meaning that the book is no candidate for a re-read.
The novel set off quite promising by giving an insight into the lives of different characters in the above mentioned suburb of Toronto. But in the second half of the novel the focus was entirely on Loli's various love relationships which were all very much alike so the story became tedious and the ending for me was in a way unsatisfactory.

For April, the number chosen is 1, so I will be reading Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World edited by Zahra Hankir. The collection contains 19 essays by 19 sahafiyat (= female journalists) from Arab / Middle Eastern countries + an introduction by Zahra Hankir, so 20 texts in total.
The essays are arranged in 5 categories (remembrances, crossfire, resilience, exile, transition) which I am curious about.

Look forward to your thoughts on this one, it's in my TBR.

The essay collection Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World contains the following list of essays that I will pick from by whim over the next days. I'm curious about the women authors!

Remembrances
1. The Woman Question by Hannah Allam (05/05/2021)
2. Love and Loss in a Time of Revolution by Nada Bari
3. What Normal? by Hwaida Saad
4. On a Belated Encounter with Gender by Lina Attalah

Crossfire
1. Maps of Iraq by Jane Arraf
2. Spin by Natacha Yzbeck
3. Bint el-Balad by Nour Malas
4. Hull & Hawija by Hind Hassan

Resilience
1. Just Stop by Eman Helal
2. Three Girls from Morocco by Aida Alami (17/04/21)
3. Words, Not Weapons by Shamael Elnoor
4. Yemeni Women with Fighting Spirits by Amira Al-Sharif

Exile
1. Between the Explosions by Asmaa al-Ghoul
2. Fight or Flight by Heba Shibani
3. Breathing Fear by Lina Sinjab
4. Hurma by Zaina Erhaim

Transition
1. Syria Undone by Zeina Karam
2. An Orange Bra in Riyadh by Donna Abu-Nasr (18/04/21)
3. Dying Breed by Roula Khalaf

I finished Land Without Thunder by Grace Ogot for November, a collection of bleak short stories which were first published in 1968 and portray the struggle of Kenyan men and women who suffer from illtreatment in different areas of life.

As the year is nearly over I would like to reflect on this challenge:
I managed to finish six titles from my list which were in parts the titles that I should have read according to the rules of the challenge but I also finished some titles just because ...:)))
The two small volumes of short stories (Land Without Thunder and Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night) both came across to me as outdated as they portray the situation mostly of women in the 1960s/1970s in the respective countries. I discovered that at the moment I am more interested in getting to know more about the situation of women today (this is also why I am not really into Victorian novels any more :))
I can recommend the essay collection Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World - I read almost all of the essays in the course of the year and will read the rest of them in 2022.
I must admit I had some difficulty with the play "The Road" by Wole Soyinka. It requires a good knowledge of the Bible and of African mythology and rituals so I had the feeling I needed an annotated edition of the text instead of my simple paperback... For someone who has the time to dive into the rabbit holes that this play opens up it is definitely worth reading!
As far as That Hair is concerned I dnf-ed it, as I was expecting it to be a piece of fiction (of course based on the author's personal experiences). It turned out to be more or less an autobiographical account with lots of reflections and only little plot. At the time I wanted to read it, I could not really get into it so I put it on hold but decided to pick it up at a later stage.
All in all, this challenge was worth participating in and I am looking forward to participating in 2022!

I agree with you, Orgeluse, even though I didn't read all the books, it was worth participating.