Great African Reads discussion

2013
Jan-Feb: Madagascar | Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar by Colleen J. McElroy - Join the discussion

Mar-Apr: Malawi | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba - Join the discussion

May-June: Mali | Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway- Join the discussion

July-Aug: Mauritania | Silent Terror: A Journey into Contemporary African Slavery by Samuel Cotton - Join the discussion

Sept-Oct: Mauritius | The Rape of Sita by Lindsey Collen
and The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah - Join the discussion

2014
Jan-Feb: Morocco | The Sand Child by Tahar ben Jelloun - Join the discussion

Mar-Apr: Mozambique | Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto - Join the discussion

May-June: Namibia | Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov - Join the discussion

July-Aug: Niger | Harmattan by Gavin Weston - Join the discussion
and Still Waters in Niger by Kathleen Hill - Join the discussion

Sept-Oct: Nigeria | The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin - Join the discussion

Nov-Dec: Rwanda | Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga - Join the discussion
and We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch - Join the discussion

2015
Jan-Feb: São Tomé and Príncipe: | Chocolate Islands Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery, and Colonial Africa by Catherine Higgs - Join the discussion
and The Exiles of Crocodile Island by Henye Meyer
- Join the discussion

March-April: Senegal | Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye - Join the discussion
and The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman by Ken Bugul - Join the discussion
and Squirting Milk at Chameleons: An Accidental African by Simon Fenton - Join the discussion

May-June: Seychelles | The Edge of Eden by Helen Benedict- Join the discussion

July-August: Sierra Leone | Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah - Join the discussion

Sept-Oct: Somalia | From a Crooked Rib by Nuruddin Farah - Join the discussion

Nov-Dec: South Africa | Coconut by Kopano Matlwa - Join the discussion

2016
Jan-Feb: South Sudan | There Is a Country: New Fiction from the New Nation of South Sudan by Nyuol Lueth Tong- Join the discussion
Non-fiction: Beyond the River Yei: Life in the Land Where Sleeping Is a Disease by Binyavanga Wainaina - Join the discussion
and | Emma's War by Deborah Scroggins - Join the discussion

March-April: Sudan | Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih - Join the discussion Bonus: Caravan Interludes: Sudan - Musical tip!

May-June: Swaziland | When Hoopoes Go to Heaven by Gaile Parkin - Join the discussion

2017
Jan/Feb: Togo | Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja - Join the discussion

Jan-June: Tanzania | Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah - Join the discussion

May-July: Zambia | A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe - Join the discussion

July-Aug: Tunisia | The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi - Join the discussion

Sept-Oct: Uganda | Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
- Join the discussion

2017 Reading plan:

(Possible bonus read: Western Sahara?)

Nov-Dec: Zimbabwe |
Nomination thread here: Final destination: Zimbabwe

FINISH LINE!

Post above will be updated, when the info is available!

Just a comment from someone living in Ghana, who does read some African fiction: although I haven't often read the selection at the time it is scheduled, somehow the titles do stick in my mind. And on more than one occasion I have been able to get a copy of a particular title, and read it - sometimes months or even years after the original timing. So I guess I am saying I am not a totally lost cause, and wish to encourage everyone to read as we can, given our individual circumstances.

Nina wrote: "although I haven't often read the selection at the time it is scheduled, somehow the titles do stick in my mind. And on more than one occasion I have been able to get a copy of a particular title, and read it - sometimes months or even years after the original timing."

Oh same here! That's actually why I'm updating the backlist of what has been read earlier - even when reading a book 'out of synch' with a group it is often nice to be able go back to the earlier discussion, and see what others thought of the book - and maybe add your own thoughts.

Yes! Add thoughts! Muphyn and I always made a point of never closing discussion threads for that reason. Thank you so much Annette for getting the back list updated.

Nina wrote: "Just a comment from someone living in Ghana, who does read some African fiction: although I haven't often read the selection at the time it is scheduled, somehow the titles do stick in my mind. And..."

I'm the same. I often track down copies of books and then don't get to them right away or it took longer than when they were being discussed. I assume I'll get to them... eventually. :)

Nina wrote: "Just a comment from someone living in Ghana, who does read some African fiction: although I haven't often read the selection at the time it is scheduled, somehow the titles do stick in my mind. And..."

Same here. I move them up on my to-read list and usually get to them eventually.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm the same. I often track down copies of books and then don't get to them right away or it took longer than when they were being discussed. I assume I'll get to them... eventually. :)"

Along the same lines: I just had a look at the 50 books by African women/men lists and realised quite a few of them was in my reading pile (physical one, library books, not a TBR online) - you pick up titles, then pick them up 'randomly' later