Accra Book Club reads for 2014 and looking forward to 2015

A recap of the books Accra Book Club read and discussed during 2014

• Ender’s game, by Orson Scott Card. I know this was on the list, but I can’t remember the discussion. I did eventually watch the film on DSTV, and thought it was pretty well done.  I used to have a physical copy of this book, but somewhere along the line, it disappeared.  So I had to buy a e-copy!
• Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – a good discussion. I suspect that a different group would have a very different perspective.  I actually read a Nigerian edition!
• Dear life, by Alice Munro – brrr, the Canadian climate does permeate these rather bleak stories
• Kindred, by Octavia Butler – I really like Octavia Butler’s work, and wonder why it took me so long to read them!
• The Burgess boys, by Elizabeth Strout – a disfunctional family, with locations in New York and Maine. Moving though.
• The invention of wings, by Sue Monk Kidd – based on historical figures, involved in the abolition of the slave trade
• The housekeeper and the professor, by Yoko Ogama – I didn’t attend this discussion, but I enjoyed the book which was very different from most of the work I read during this year
• The lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri – moving account of two brothers and their families in India and the US.  Another physical copy
• The shining girls, by Lauren Beukes – upon reflection, I found the discussion of this book helped me to understand this book better
• We need new names, by NoViolet Bulawayo – I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy this book that much; I also wasn’t that sure about having the two different settings of Zimbabwe and the US.  Ironically I bought the e-book, and then discovered that EPP books had loads of physical copies, and for a very, very reasonable price!
• Euphoria, by Lily King – a love story told from different points of view. A good read.

And because I am aware that some people may be wondering what we are going to read and talk about in 2015, here is our current list of books:

• Flight behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver
• Memory of love, by Aminatta Forna
• How to get filthy rich in rising Asia, by Mohsin Hamid
• The woman upstairs, by Claire Messud
• Boy, Snow, Bird, by Helen Oyeyemi
• Foreign gods, by Okey Ndibe
• Don’t let me go, by Catherine Ryan Hyde
• The short and tragic life of Robert Peace, by Jeff Hobbs
• Ade, by Rebecca Walker

If anyone wants to know more about Accra Book Club, do comment or send an email to accrabookclub [at] gmail [dot] com.

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