Posts tagged as:

Africa

Afua Hirsch: Our parents left Africa – now we are coming home | World news | The Observer

27 August 2012

Something else worth reading. Read the whole thing. I remember the usual things that people comment on when visiting equatorial African nations for the first time – the assault of hot air when stepping off the plane, which I confused with engine heat, the smell of spice and smoked fish on the air, and – [...]

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ARC Review #4 – Aya of Yop City, Abouet

28 December 2008

   Country: Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa Author: Marguerite Abouet (& Clement Oubrerie) Review: This is the continuation of the story started in Aya, about the three friends from Youpougon, the working-class neighbourhood of Côte d’Ivoire of the 1970s, three fairly ordinary young women in a working class neighbourhood (Youpougon, in Abidjan), and their teenage lives. The first book [...]

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ARC Review #3 – Aya, Abouet

11 September 2008

Country: Ivory Coast Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa Author: Marguerite Abouet (& Clement Oubrerie) Review: Yes, yes, another coming of age novel. But I had to think about this one, because (a) it’s not All About Me, and (b) it’s a graphic novel. It’s about three young women in the Ivory Coast Côte d’Ivoire of the [...]

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ARC Review #2 – Purple Hibiscus, Adichie

7 September 2008

Country:  Nigeria, West Africa Author:  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  Review:  Perhaps it’s typical of novels from the African and Caribbean diaspora, but I find often that authors’ first novels are coming-of-age stories.   (It’s one of the things that’s turned me off reading novels from my own region, and equally, what’s stopped me writing The Big One.) [...]

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Update on Africa Reading Challenge

7 September 2008

No, I haven’t forgotten it.  Have you? Here’s my update.  I took books, as I said, to Guyana to read.  That was optimistic; I didn’t get the chance while on the ground, though I did read small bits of Purple Hibiscus in the bath once or twice.  I also didn’t get the chance to attend [...]

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Ancient Cemetery Found; Brings “Green Sahara” to Life

17 August 2008

Ancient Cemetery Found; Brings “Green Sahara” to Life I know I’m going to be CARIFESTA-blogging, but I couldn’t resist. How cool is this? Hat tip PZ Myers, Phyrangula.

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ARC Review #1 – Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, (Lalami)

4 August 2008

Country:  Morocco, North Africa Author:  Laila Lalami Review:  This is a novel/collection of related short stories, and in this way reminds me of Naipaul’s Miguel Street. The stories are about four Moroccans who take the risk of crossing the narrow straits between Morocco and Spain, and are separated into two main sections: “Before” and “After”. [...]

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My Africa Reading List

26 July 2008

If I take part, that is. What’s under my belt is pretty male and middle-century, and so I thought I’d branch out with some female voices and writing from more recent times Adichie (Nigeria) - Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun Emecheta (Nigeria) – The Joys of Motherhood Ngugi (Kenya) – Wizard of the Crow Baingana [...]

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Coming Late to the Party

23 July 2008

And not knowing whether I will take part because I can barely keep up, but: There’s a reading challenge going on this year that I’d like to alert people to, just in case. It’s the Africa Reading Challenge: Participants commit to read – in the course of 2008 – six books that either were written [...]

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