Great African Reads discussion

Our July/Aug 2024 read will be from Northern Africa (as defined by the UN geoscheme)

Nominate great reads from any of these countries:
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara.
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
The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlam Mosteghanemi
The Translator by Leila Aboulela
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Children of the New World by Assia Djebar
The Open Door by Latifa Zayyat
For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri
The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz
(but the threads are open if you want to read and discuss those titles).

Authors! Please note: We 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!

I have been a member of this group since college, but have never participated. How do I vote for this month's book?

Alexandra wrote: "I have been a member of this group since college, but have never participated. How do I vote for this month's book?"

Hi Alexandra! Great that you want to participate :) In this thread you can nominate books for the July/Aug read, to be vited on later. You can vote on the upcoming read in the poll. The easiest way to navigate the group is with the list of links in the top of the group front page, which you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

ghost season by fatin abbas- sudan

The Road to the Country, Chigozie Obioma. Perhaps not far enough north, but brand new novel by two-time Booker Prize finalist.

Wendy wrote: "The Road to the Country, Chigozie Obioma. Perhaps not far enough north, but brand new novel by two-time Booker Prize finalist."

Hi Wendy - Sorry no, he's Nigerian and the story is set in Nigeria as well. But you can nominate it for the Nov/Dec read, when the regional reads hit that region: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I just found a copy of The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz in a Little Free Library. Would anybody be interested in reading that book?

Ghost season sounds interesting

Ghost Season is on my bookshelf waiting to be read so I'd be up for that!

Karen wrote: "I just found a copy of The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz in a Little Free Library. Would anybody be interested in reading that book?"

You don't want to nominate it for July/Aug? He is Egyptian, so fits this region. I'm thinking of possibly nominating his Palace Walk.

I'm surprised to find that my local public library has Abbas' Ghost Season as an eaudiobook and paper book. I figured it must have had good reviews somewhere and found one from New York Journal of Books:
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book...
It has a somewhat long summary of the story and has review comments at the end.

I’ve read The Beginning and the End. Not wanting to add any spoilers, I would say it is simply chilling, parallels to what some people may be going through now. Think frog in a pot of slowly boiling water.

OK, so I'll nominate The Beginning and the End. (I think Ghost Season looks pretty good, too.)

Okay - thank you all for the nominations, I hope you will stick around for some reading - as we'll move on to voting now!
(and remember you can always read the books that do not get picked as a buddy read!)

Vote now: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...