Although it wasn’t that long ago since I posted about my reading, buying and events, this was about May and June, so rather than delaying things, I thought I should get my act together reasonably early this time.
So this covers activities in July.
I completed six books during the period: five fiction and one non-fiction. There were four male authors and two females, and only one Ghanaian author! Plus two were read on Kindle, and the rest in physical form.
Here, in the order that I finished them, are my July reads:
- Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore, by Robin Sloan [read for Accra Book Club; I preferred the first part of this novel, and didn’t really like the way it ended. Maybe I need to re-read it?]
- Late rain, by Lynn Kostoff [I guess you could call this a crime story, maybe Florida noir?]
- The kill artist, by Daniel Silva [pure escapism, but a good story nonetheless. I do like Silva’s hero!]
- Ghana must go, by Taiye Selasi [family saga or drama; very poignant and moving. I really liked it. I think this is one of my favourite books of the year.]
- Holes, by Louis Sachar [I had seen the movie, and then came across the book. Not sure which one I preferred!]
- Taste – the story of Britain through its cooking, by Kate Colquhoun [I do like cookery and food books, and this one was pretty interesting]
The buying front was also pretty busy – and somewhat self-indulgent. I managed to acquire seven titles on my Kindle (or rather, to be read via a Kindle app on my new tablet) – including four freebies (yeah!) plus nine physical books. That definitely means that I will have to try to restrain myself a little in August.
I attended four book related events in July (previously discussed, so I won’t go into much detail) – and they were concentrated in the last couple of weeks. Two involved Taiye Selasi, who read excerpts from her first novel, Ghana must go, to a packed audience at the Villa Monticello, followed the evening after by a discussion about how she finally made the decision to write her novel. Then Nigerian writer Chibundu Onuzo joined Martin Egblewogbe at an all too brief reading hosted by Nii Ayikwei Parkes at Sytris. And finally there was a reading by chick-lit/romance writer Nana Malone who gave a reading at the Goethe Institut. It was interesting to hear how she got into full-time writing, and that the self-publishing e-book route had served her well.
I am not sure what my plans are for August; I tend to decide on my reading on a rather ad hoc basis. But I have plenty of works to choose from!
I didn’t attend Taiye Selasi’s first event at Taverna Tropicana on 16 July; I was at a meeting instead. But I heard it was fun, there was good music, a youngish crowd, and there were books for sale!
And to top off the week, there was the 
Accra books and things 