January 2012 wasn’t a particularly great book-buying month for me, though my reading was what I would consider OK.
I finished reading seven books: five were fiction, two non-fiction. Three were written by Africans, and an additional one was about Ghana. The three non-African books were all mysteries. So here is my list:
- Ratcatcher, by James McGee (a mystery set in Regency London)
- Tabom, by Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel (about the Afro-Brazilian community among the Gas of Accra)
- Ways of dying, by Zakes Mda (South African novel which takes place in the townships before the end of apartheid)
- The sweetness at the bottom of the pie, by Alan Bradley (11 year old heroine in a country house mystery set in post World War II England)
- You’re not a country, Africa, by Pius Adesanmi (very readable essays; won the Penguin prize for African non-fiction)
- 10 years of the Caine Prize for African writing (winning short stories from 2001 to 2008; read for Accra Book Club)
- The snowman, by Jo Nesbo (serial killer in Norway involves snowmen)
With the exception of the Caine Prize collection and Ways of dying (which I borrowed from Ashesi‘s library), all were on my TBR shelves.
I didn’t really buy many books either. I bought two Tintin books (one is a gift), plus a couple of cookbooks (a weakness), and a copy of Children’s rights in Ghana, which was co-edited by a colleague – all in physical format. And there were were two electronic ones, loaded onto my Kindle: Silver sparrow, by Tayari Jones and the Caine prize collection mentioned already.
When I started writing this, I thought January was not very inspiring, but upon reflection, it wasn’t that bad, after all.
What a great month of reading, I can’t wait to read some of those titles myself (especially Adesanmi). And I hope you love Silver Sparrow.
So much to read, and not quite enough time [actually I need to make more time!]
Nina, I agree, you haven’t done badly at all. I would love to read the sweetness at the bottom of the pie. Any links?
This is a link to the Amazon UK page. I bought the book at Vidya Bookstore in Osu, but I am not sure if there are any more copies in stock, as it was more than a year ago.