March and April 2012 book related activities

I just realized that April was an extremely slow month for posting – ouch! True, I was busy with family visitors, but I am not sure that stands as a good excuse.

Yet, looking back I did read a fair amount. In April and March combined I read 15 books:

four either by Ghanaians or with a Ghana setting:

• Three cheers for Ghana (Robert Peprah-Gyamfi) [basically the author's account of a visit to Ghana in the mid 2000's after a long absence in Germany and the UK]
• Diplomatic pounds & other stories (Ama Ata Aidoo),
• The black body (edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah) and
• Abina and the important men, by Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke [the last I thought was very good]

one non-Ghanaian African novel: As the crow flies (Veronique Tadjo)

six thrillers/crime novels (one of my favourite ways of relaxing):

• Our kind of traitor (John Le Carre)
• Sharp shooter (Nadia Gordon)
• The office of the dead (Andrew Taylor)
• The girl on the landing (Paul Torday)
• A reliable wife (Robert Goolrick)
• Legends (Robert Littell)

three literary works:

• Super sad true love story (Gary Shteyngart) [for Accra Book Club]
• A mercy (Toni Morrison)
• Pigeon English (Stephen Kelman) [also for Accra Book Club]

On the book buying front, I bought nine books – all physical items, no e-books!  I do feel I have to do some work on my To Be Read shelves

• six on Ghana/by Ghanaians
• one a cookbook (a personal weakness)
• one mystery
• one on marketing to women

Book related events included:

• Ama Ata Aidoo’s book launch (at British Council) and book reading (at Goethe Institut)
• two Accra Book Club meetings – mentioned here

Plans for May?  None really, apart from the May read for Accra Book Club.  Generally I tend to go with my feelings rather a planned set of readings.

 

Accra Book Club and Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English

During April 2012 the Accra Book Club read, met and discussed Pigeon English, by Stephen Kelman. I recommended that we read this book as it had a Ghana connection (perhaps the main reason) and also because it made the UK Booker prize shortlist in 2011, with several good reviews.

Interestingly none of us were really thrilled or highly enthusiastic about this book. Some admitted to not liking child narrators, and felt that Harrison Opoku did not behave in a “realistic” way for an eleven year old, even if he had just come to the UK.

There were also questions about the so-called pidgin English expressions which Harri uses; none of us had heard any of them despite having lived in Ghana for many years. Maybe because of our own Ghana experience somehow aspects of the emigrant/immigrant experience didn’t seem to ring true.

Personally I did wonder where Kelman got the Ghana background from – again, aspects of which grated a bit. We also felt that many of the characters seemed to be stereotypes.

And of course there was the omnipresent pigeon – a pigeon!?

However, this was a first novel, so I suppose one could give the author a bit of slack.

I wonder whether anyone else has read it, and felt this less than complete enthusiasm?

Literacy, information and reading

Quite a lot coming up this week:

Discussion/brainstorming on a Literacy manifesto for Ghana takes place – but though I’ve been invited to attend, unfortunately I will be out of the office for more than half the week, so that has to be a pass. But it is very interesting nonetheless, especially as the initiative has come from an NGO rather than a government organization or ministry.

For three days I will be attending a workshop organized by CARLIGH and INASP on Open Source Software for Libraries. I am not an IT person, but I feel I should know what is out there to recommend to those who can do all the tekkie side. And if it does get a bit technical, well, who says one can’t learn something new?

On a personal note, Accra Book Club will be discussing Alan Bennett’s The uncommon reader, a short comic or satirical novel about reading, public life, the British monarchy and the distractions that books can provide. It should be fun.

E-readers in Accra Book Club

I belong to Accra Book Club [we don't have a website, but if you are interested, leave a comment below], which is a group of mostly women who meet once a month over a meal to discuss a book or books. I do mention it fairly frequently in this blog.  We’ve been in existence for about seven years or so, and usually we’ve made our book selections for six months or so in advance.  The main reasons for doing this – at least when we started – were:

- this allowed members some time to source the books to be discussed
- members might often share one copy of a book
- chosing locally available titles
- allowed individuals to plan reading

We often chose books which were not available in the limited local bookshops here in Accra.  Alternatives were:  borrowing from a friend/colleague/fellow reader, buying books when travelling or relying on someone who could actually buy books outside and have them shipped to Ghana.  I know that I have used all these alternatives in the past, but for some of us, regular travel of say more than twice a year, was not part of our lives.  Nor did some of us have regular access to regular, straightforward shipments from outside Ghana.  But on the whole we did manage.

At least one bookshop I know – Vidya Bookstore – has ordered books which the Accra Book Club recommended – but delivery times were not as speedy as some would wish, plus prices were not “cheap”.  Buying books personally from a site such as Amazon is not difficult, but the freight for delivery to Ghana, even from the UK, is huge, almost doubling the price of whatever you try and buy.  And woe betide you if you tried ordering books from Amazon.com and having them shipped here; at least one order took ten weeks, despite there being regular transatlantic flights and daily flights to Ghana from Europe!  Needless to say I was not pleased.

Borrowing a book after someone had read it was always a possibility, especially if a member had read a title early.  On occasion we chose African writers that were published in the African Writers Series, mainly because it was very easy to get a copy of the books in Accra

But how things have changed, even here in Ghana!   

At the last gathering of Accra Book Club, every one present either had an e-reader with them, or at home.  One had been a very early adopter, and even mentioned that she had ordered a Kindle Fire! But others had probably bought them, or been given them, during the last few months. And most probably because it is an international group, all had Kindles – as opposed to Nooks, or iPads or other tablets.  I suspect also that many were just the ordinary wifi versions, even though most of us did not download books in Ghana through wifi, but rather through laptops or pcs.  For those used to simply clicking on a book and having it download automatically to one’s device, having to ad the transfer from laptop may seem to be a burden.  But I am sure that for many of us who have “suffered” because we couldn’t find enough books to read here, having a Kindle and being able to download more or less whatever one wants to buy with a few clicks – and admittedly an internet connection – is absolutely wonderful.  It is true that the environment does have an impact:  you do have to have a credit card to buy from Amazon (which is probably a big issue for most Ghanaians), you do have to have an internet connection (becoming less of an issue with the proliferation of mobile internet access) but with these even those of us based here could access what Amazon has to offer.

And that is a big change.  Now when we make selections, usually the problem is with items that are not on Kindles.  Otherwise we just go ahead.

Bookish activities in September 2011

When I started writing this, I thought September hadn’t been a particular active month for me on the books side.  But then upon reviewing it I realized it wasn’t as quiet as I had originally thought!

I bought nine books at local bookshops here in Accra:

• 2 cookery books – I just can’t resist buying these, though I don’t always cook from them!
• 1 novel – one of Boris Akunin’s books, The winter queen, which I had heard of on BBC World Book Club podcast
• 2 art books
• 2 pamphlets for visitors/tourists:  one on Twi and the other on Old Accra
• 2 copies of Ama Ataa Aidoo’s The days, to be given to children as gifts

And then there were two freebies downloaded to my Kindle.

I only completed two books – which for me is unusual:

• Flat earth news, by Nick Davies:  non-fiction on the media andvery relevant in the days of scandals from the Murdoch empire
• The historian, by Elizabeth Kostova:   probably the main reason why I didn’t finish many books, as this is over 700 pages long!  An entertaining vampire story

The last couple of weeks of the month was busy.

I went to GAWBOFEST – briefly, as I mentioned in an earlier post.  Like others, I look forward to more of such events, though I know there is a lot of effort involved in organizing them.

Next was one of the Writers Project of Ghana events at the Goethe Institut with Camynta Baezie reading from his novel The African agenda.  I had bought the book a couple of years ago, and quite enjoyed it – an international thriller with African characters!  A pity though that there weren’t more people attending.  I know Goethe Institut puts information onto its website, and sends out emails, and Writers Project also sends out information via Twitter, but maybe these means are still not enough to bring people in?  I guess it also depends on how much publicity the authors themselves do.

And there was a gathering for Accra Book Club, after a gap of couple of months, to discuss Diane Setterfield’s The thirteenth tale. .  The book is a contemporary “gothic” with tales within tales, but with lots of references to reading, writing and books. That was fun.  And we planned our readings for the next six months or so, which was good.

So that was my September on the personal literary side.

Some comments on holiday reading

Earlier this year I travelled outside Ghana, and considered myself quite careful in my choice of accompanying reading material: two books, plus a Kindle, were what I carried with me. I figured that I wasn’t likely to be doing too much reading, because of what was going to happen to my eyes, but at least there would be something to read on the plane trips and at other times.

So what did I chose? The first was an Accra Book Club choice: Geraldine Brooks, People of the book, which I thought I should read first since I was the one who suggested it in the first place, and I had chosen to “lead” or “facilitate” the discussion on this novel in June. Normally such a book would have taken me a week or less to read, but dealing with adjustments in eyes and reading glasses meant it took longer.

The second book was Farida Bedwei’s semi-autobiographical novel, Definition of a miracle, which I had ordered through Amazon, after hearing it was published but not having seen any copies here in Ghana. Yet another case of jumping the gun, as of course it is now available here in Accra! Oh well, no harm done. The author should benefit – hopefully. An additional reason for reading this book was that Bedwei’s story was on a list for consideration as an Ashesi-wide read. I admit I enjoyed it, and found her portrayal of a girl with a handicap amusing and touching. Her handicaps were accepted as part of her life, yet the main character did lots of reading, and had friends.

I was very glad I took my Kindle. I had bought it in 2010, and had downloaded a few items onto it, but hadn’t really, really used it. I am not sure why, but I suspect partly because I had/have so many physical books to read, that I didn’t really feel the need. But somehow for travelling having the Kindle was very appropriate.

And because my eyes were in transition, I really loved being able to increase the font size to compensate for my uneven eyes! And then to change it to whatever felt comfortable to me! The other great thing was being able to download books directly to the Kindle without the intermediary of my laptop. In Ghana I usually end up downloading books to my pc, and then push them to the Kindle – none of which is particularly arduous, I do admit!

Am I a total convert to e-reading?  No.  Am I a fan?  Definitely.   Will I continue to read electronically and in physical formats?  Oh yes.

Discussion of Emma’s war

I finally went to an Accra Book Club meeting on Tuesday; my first in more than a year I think. I stayed at work, and then got to the Zanzibar restaurant early, and actually continued reading. Kudos to the owner/manager who turned a light for which I was very grateful.

As I mentioned in an earlier post the book under discussion was Emma’s war by Deborah Scroggins. I had only read a quarter of it but it was interesting hearing the three others present discussing some of the themes/ideas which appealed to them or struck them as worth discussing. I am still reading it, so it wasn’t really a “spoiler”. And anyway I know that she died… but it was fascinating hearing reactions to descriptions of the aid/development/relief communities of which Emma was a part.

The detail on the Sudan is considerable, and in a way the book’s title is a little misleading, as at least half of it is devoted to explanations of the changing situations in that turbulent country. I am learning something, and having had a discussion, one does notice some aspects more

Reading for Accra Book Club

I really, really, really wanted to be a very constant member of the Accra Book Club, but somehow R’s illness, and my feelings of obligation, rather stopped that from happening as I would have theoretically wished.  But I did and do usually buy the books and read them more or less at the right time, and wish for a few evenings that I could have joined other members to eat and hear their views on what we had just read – fully, partly or not even at all.

Given that R is pretty hostile to me these days, and that I don’t actually do anything to help or support him when I come home, I figuredthat I might as well go to the next gathering – which would be taking place sometime during the first week of December.  The book under discussion was originally planned for October, Emma’s war, by Deborah Scroggins.  I’d started it, so didn’t expect to  say much about it, though it is well written, and does give a lot of background on the Sudan, which for various reasons is quite a “popular” location this year for readings for this book club.  [The ABC also read Dave Eggers, What is the what, earlier this year.  I found the bits in the US more moving somehow than the scenes in the Sudan.  Maybe the latter were simply too horrible?]  I remember hearing about Emma at some point – must have been through the BBC or through UK newspapers and magazines available British Council in Kumasi.

I find reading non-fiction does take more effort, maybe because I actually have to read more, rather than merely skim to enjoy the flow and the plot.  So I do have to apply myself over the next few days.

The November book for the ABC was originally going to be Alaa al Aswany’s The Yacoubian building , which I was to lead on, but that has been postponed till the new year, I think.  I did finish it, and enjoyed it.  I suspect that the language would have had more impact in its original Arabic, but it was still readable, at times amusing, and at times moving.  I can understand – to an extent that an outsider can – just how controversial this novel was and is in Egypt.  To describe corruption, homosexual relationships and sexual harassment of women in such straightforward terms must have really had an impact on Egyptian society, which is quite heavily controlled by the state, though in comparison to other Middle Eastern states, it might be considered to be quite “liberal” in terms of societal mores.  That the author is not only Egyptian, but living and working in Egypt, makes it even more interesting.  I wonder how the other readers will have reacted to it.