Great African Reads discussion

What a great Bingo! Happy New Year everyone!

I am going for the full bingo, so here is what I intend to read (to be filled in further in the course of the year):

☆ Country new to me: Zimbabwe
Undressing Under the Noon Sun by Charity Hutete

☆ Published 2019-2021
Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes
(finished 30/01/2021, 4.5 stars)

African Island
- planned reading: The Madwoman of Serrano by Dina Salústio (Cabo Verde)

☆ Diaspora
Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji
(finished 14/03/2021, 3 stars)

☆ Short stories
Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie
(finished 02/01/2021, 4 stars)

Spanish/Portuguese
- planned reading: That Hair by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida

☆Free choice
Land Without Thunder by Grace Ogot
(finished 08/11/2021, 3 stars)

Published 1980-1990
- planned reading: So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ

☆ Theme: Family
Far from My Father by Véronique Tadjo
(finished 02/01/2021, 4 stars)

☆ Poetry
The Internal Saboteur by Musawenkosi Khanyile

☆ Africa 39
Mr. Fix It by Richard Ali A Mutu
originally written in Lingala
(finished 15/03/2021, 4 stars)

Debut novel
- planned reading: Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie

☆ Non-diaspora
Psalm for Chrysanthemums by Nkateko Masinga

☆ Group Read
The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers by Fouad Laroui
(finished 08/03/2021, 4.5 stars)

☆ Non-Fiction
The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa by Patricia C. McKissack
(finished 30/01/2021, 3.5 stars)

☆ Prize winner
L'Étranger by Albert Camus
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
(read one after the other and finished 06/05/2021, star rating see below)

Happy new year to you too Orgeluse. And good luck with your reading challenge. You already have some great options listed.

I enjoyed Awu's story very much this year. Good luck, look forward to seeing your reviews.

Happy new year and good luck with the bingo! (Should start planning my own :) )

I have just finished my first square in the category of short stories and read Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie. She was born in Nigeria but grew up in the UK (London). She is presented in the anthology New Daughters of Africa. The stories are populated with all sorts of more or less young outcasts (bank robbers, drug addicts, people with disabilities of one kind or other, even ghosts and aliens) and evolve from their perceptions of reality. They focus on their inner states of minds and centre around relationships with others. I would recommend this collection especially to those who like magical realism. For me it was a 4 star read!

I have finished my second square in the category of Theme: Family as I read Véronique Tadjo's Far from My Father for my TBR Takedown.
It was a 3.5 star read.

My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

You are making great progress, Orgeluse! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on both books.

Sounds like some good reading Orgeluse. I have two African Reads on the go right now, reading chunks at a time, Kintu & Leo Africanus

Ardene wrote: "Sounds like some good reading Orgeluse. I have two African Reads on the go right now, reading chunks at a time, Kintu & Leo Africanus"

I hope you enjoy your chunks! I have discovered that Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi has a new novel out: A Girl Is a Body of Water which also seems to have been published under another title namely "The First Woman". As Kintu is really good, I have her latest novel on my TBR for the second half of this year!

I have finished the short story collection Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes. As it was published in 2019 I will use it for the category "published 2019-2021".
I have already raved about her novels I read in 2020, so it came to no big surprise to me, that I also liked most of the stories in this collection. In total it was a 4.5 star read for me and my short review can be found here:

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

You're making excellent progress.

Thanks, Carolien! I am enjoying this weekend reading as much as possible as the weather outside is not really inviting :))

I have finished my fourth square "non-fiction" by reading Patricia C. McKissack's The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa. It was a 3.5 star read for me as it was an easy-to-read introduction into the three kingdoms mentioned in the title that were situated in West Africa.

Here is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Orgeluse wrote: "Thanks, Carolien! I am enjoying this weekend reading as much as possible as the weather outside is not really inviting :))"

We've had a week of rain which is completely out of character for Joburg in the middle of summer.

Carolien wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "Thanks, Carolien! I am enjoying this weekend reading as much as possible as the weather outside is not really inviting :))"

We've had a week of rain which is completely out of cha..."

The winters here are warmer than they used to be and the summers are much hotter and drier... I reckon that climate change is the real challenge of our times...

I have finished my fifth square "group read" by reading The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers by Fouad Laroui.
This collection of stories, which are partly linked, is simply hillarious and highly recommendable! This was my first Laroui but definitely not my last!!!

I have come up with a short review of The Curious Case of Dassoukine’s Trousers:

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

I'll get to this one next month. I'm glad to see you enjoyed it.

I will definitely check on his other titles such as La vieille dame du riad, Poldermarokkanen : tragikomische verhalen over emigratie and Une année chez les Français. Quite a lot of his books are also translated into Dutch!

I have finished my sixth square "diaspora" which I fill with Téa Mutonji's debut novella Shut Up You're Pretty. Though it says "stories" on the cover, this book covers the life of Loli, a Congolese girl growing up in a social housing estate in Toronto.
Though it was "only" a three-star read for me (due to a tedious second half of the book) I will definitely watch out for this still young writer. I will also check on VS.Books, a Canadian imprint focussing on writers who are Indigenous, Black or a person of colour.

I have finished Mr. Fix It by Richard Ali A Mutu for my seventh square "Africa 39".
It was a quick read and though the tone was somehow comical at the beginning it did not remain so...
A short and easy-to-read but nevertheless not superficial piece of work!

Nice progress, Orgeluse! I'd like to read this one, but I think it will take a bit of an effort to get it. Will add it to my bookstore list.

For the category "Prize Winner" I read both Kamel Daoud's The Meursault Investigation and L'Étranger by Albert Camus.
I guess it is vital to read Camus's novel first to fully understand Daoud.
As for the rating:
I remember quite enjoying La Peste when I was still in high school but I must admit that the main character (Meursault) in L'Etranger was REALLY getting on my nerves for being so passive and detached from basically everything. I know that this is done on purpose by Camus and that there is a whole philosophy behind all that but this does not mean one has to like it :))
As far as The Meursault Investigation is concerned, I have not yet figured it out what to think of it. All I can say at present is that I feel the urge to get to know more about the colonial history of Algeria and I will definitely sit with the book a little longer...
I have finished my 8th square, so half the bingo is done and still 8 months to go which means I am not in a hurry with this challenge :))

I finished my 9th square. I read Grace Ogot's first short story collection Land Without Thunder which was a solid 3-star-read. The stories told from the 3rd person limited point of view centre around both female and male characters and their struggles with determinism. It becomes obvious that their roles in life are determined by a society rooted in traditional values so that individual development is impossible and the characters cannot but suffer and sometimes even die.

I finished three more squares by reading three small volumes of poetry from the poetry collections "The New-Generation of African Poets" edited by Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes. For everyone who likes contemporary poetry these collections are a treasure trove containing little volumes of poetry by young poets from the African continent and from the African diaspora.
I will include more volumes from these collections into the challenges next year.

Though there are still 4 more squares to go for a blackout I will call it a day but very much enjoyed taking part in this bingo and also reading your comments in my thread and the other threads! Thanks again, Anetq, for setting it up!

Great job Orgeluse, and thank you for these suggestions on African poetry!