Great African Reads discussion

The July/Aug 2022 read will be from Central Africa (as defined by the UN geoscheme)

Nominate great reads from any of these countries:
Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe.

Try to keep nominations to one pr. person - and you're welcome to second someone else's nomination.

Our last choices from this region are not eligible in this round:
African Psycho by Alain Mabanckou
Transparent City by Ondjaki
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.
Your Madness, Not Mine: Stories of Cameroon by Makuchi
Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa
La Bastarda: A Novel by Trifonia Melibea Obono
(but the threads are open if you want to read and discuss those titles)

Authors! Please note : We have decided to not allow self-nomination - but if you are an author and would like to promote your book, please feel free to do so in this folder. Thank you for your understanding!

Colonial Transactions: Imaginaries, Bodies, and Histories in Gabon

Calla wrote: "Colonial Transactions: Imaginaries, Bodies, and Histories in Gabon"
Hi Calla, you're very welcome to nominate the book here, although the regional reads tend to be fiction, so consider suggesting this as one of the non-fiction reads (as well) :)

I would like to nominate Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida's That Hair.

I’d like to recommend Congo Inc by In Kiki Jean Bofane

I would like to nominate Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Bue. Thank you

I would like to nominate Season of the Shadow by Léonora Miano.

Lynda, we read Behold the Dreamers recently so it's not eligible this time, (see opening note) but I liked it and recommend it.

I will second Season of the Shadow. I see that Wim rated it 4 stars.

Lynda wrote: "I would like to nominate Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Bue. Thank you"

Hi Lynda - as George pointed out this one was selected as a regional read 'recently', so feel free to nominate something else if you like. And if you read Behold the Dreamers, the group thread discussing it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Imbolo Bue also has a more recent title out: How Beautiful We Were if you're interested in nominating that :)

We read Season of the Shadow as a French group read 3 years ago (the original title is La Saison de l'ombre). The discussions of the book were in English though, you can find the thread here: feel free to add your impressions and thoughts.
Léonora Miano has several other great books that might be nominated.

It is almost time to vote...
As we only have 4 nominations total so far, and I assume a lot of people might have missed Season of the Shadow, when it was a French read (also its been a while), so that gives us these 4 so far:
Colonial Transactions: Imaginaries, Bodies, and Histories in Gabon by Florence Bernault
That Hair by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida
Congo Inc.: Bismarck's Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane
Season of the Shadow by Léonora Miano

Did I miss anything?
Does anyone want to add any more nominations?
@lynda Do you want to add another Imbolo Bue title (or something else?)

Last minute nomination : Awu's Story: A Novel by Justine Mintsa (original title Histoire d'Awu).

Wim wrote: "Last minute nomination : Awu's Story: A Novel by Justine Mintsa (original title Histoire d'Awu)."

I loved this one. Nice choice, Wim.

Thank you all for the nominations - the poll is now up, please vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...