Africa Reading Challenge
Reading challenges seem to circulate as memes in Blogger and Wordpress-based blogs. I don't know that I've ever come across one on LJ.
For me, this is a good one to start with.
Africa Reading Challenge
Participants commit to read - in the course of 2008 - six books that either were written by African writers, take place in Africa, or deal significantly with Africans and African issues. (Read more if you like!)
You can read whatever you want, but of the six books, I recommend a mixture of genres. For example, you might select books from each of the following:
1. Fiction (novels, short stories, poetry, drama)
2. Memoir / autobiography
3. History and current events
I also recommend reading books from at least 3 different countries.
My books:
1. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
2. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
3. Distant View of a Minaret and other stories by Alifa Rifaat
4. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
5. Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
6. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There are some very helpful resources linked here, but mostly I just poked around and pulled together a much longer list than this. This is a damned cool list. Maybe when I'm a grown-up, I'll get to this one. (You realize, of course, that I'm linking all those so I can find them myself later.)
I am starting this late and I have a ton of other reading for school, but this really appealed to me, so why not give it a go? I'll be posting reviews as I finish the books, but don't expect anything immediately.
For me, this is a good one to start with.
Africa Reading Challenge
Participants commit to read - in the course of 2008 - six books that either were written by African writers, take place in Africa, or deal significantly with Africans and African issues. (Read more if you like!)
You can read whatever you want, but of the six books, I recommend a mixture of genres. For example, you might select books from each of the following:
1. Fiction (novels, short stories, poetry, drama)
2. Memoir / autobiography
3. History and current events
I also recommend reading books from at least 3 different countries.
My books:
1. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
2. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
3. Distant View of a Minaret and other stories by Alifa Rifaat
4. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
5. Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
6. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There are some very helpful resources linked here, but mostly I just poked around and pulled together a much longer list than this. This is a damned cool list. Maybe when I'm a grown-up, I'll get to this one. (You realize, of course, that I'm linking all those so I can find them myself later.)
I am starting this late and I have a ton of other reading for school, but this really appealed to me, so why not give it a go? I'll be posting reviews as I finish the books, but don't expect anything immediately.