#GhanaMustRead group reads so far

The third book group I belong to is quite different from the others. It is led by a real bookworm, who is a book reader and lover, a photographer and producer of several podcasts https://soundcloud.com/bookradioafrica related to books and reading.  He also has an online business selling books though that website seems to be under reconstruction at the moment!

Members too are young and mostly Ghanaian. I think yours truly is the oldest member.

A theme is chosen each month and then Bookworm Man puts together a list of contemporary books, complete with blurbs and audio files. Members then vote for their choice, and sometimes even there is a second round!

Since mid-2017 we’ve read and talked about the following:

• Here comes the sun, by Nicole Dennis-Benn [set in contemporary Jamaica]
• Ginny Moon, by Benjamin Ludwig [main character is an autistic teen]
• Who will catch us when we fall? by Iman Verjee [takes place in Kenya]
• Born a crime, by Trevor Noah [autobiographical account of the South African comedian’s early life]
• The book of night women, by Marlon James [takes place in late 18th century Jamaica]
• Before I go, by Colleen Oakley – our March 2018 read

I probably wouldn’t have chosen some of these books if I had been browsing for myself, but then that is the great thing about a book group.  You read what you like; and you read material that is different from your own “preferences” (whatever those might be).

 

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NAWA book group reads for part of 2018

I also belong the NAWA book group, which is made up of members of NAWA – a multinational group of women.  This group is as a result restricted to NAWA members, but I still felt like sharing the titles of our reads.

For the first few months of 2018 this book group is reading the following:

• Hillbilly elegy, by J D Vance [this was our January read]
• The gift of rain, by Tan Twan Eng [I actually read this last year while on vacation; it was long but really good] – for February 2018
• The miraculous fever tree, by Fiametta Rocco – originally for March 2018 but cancelled
• Stay with me, by Ayobami Adebayo – now the March 2018 read
• Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid [I just finished reading this for Accra Book Club] – for April 2018
• Fever dream, by Samanta Schweblin
• Empire of the summer moon, by S C Gwynne
• A year of marvelous ways, by Sarah Winman

Unfortunately, I usually end up missing the discussions as they take place during the day, while yours truly is at work.  Sigh…

But I still read the books.

Accra Book Club selections for 2018

Accra Book Club is one of the three book clubs/book groups I belong to.

Here are our reads – actual, and planned for 2018:

1. The ministry of utmost happiness, by Arundhati Roy – January 2018 (actually discussed on 1 February. I don’t think any of us was overly enthused)
2. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid – February 2018 (we will probably combine this with number 3, but I do need to get started on it).
3. The orphan master’s son, by Adam Johnson – March 2018
4. Stay with me, by Ayobami Adebayo – April 2018
5. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders – May 2018
6. Anything is possible, by Elizabeth Strout – June 2018
7. Memoirs of a polar bear, by Yoko Tawada – August 2018
8. The woman next door, by Yewande Omotoso – September 2018
9. Confessions of the lioness, by Mia Couto – October 2018
10. Under the Udala trees, by Chinelo Okparanta – November 2018
11. The automobile club of Egypt, by Alaa al Aswany – December 2018

Quite a few African works in this batch – more than usual!

As usual I will probably read most of these on Kindle, but I do already five titles in hard copy.