ImageNations

In October of 2009 , about seven months into my book blogging life, I came up with a plan to guide me read some fantastic books. I had just transitioned from reading 'everything' (or preferably pulp fiction) to literary fiction with focus on African literature. Realising how much I was missing, I set myself the target of reading 100 amazing books in five years. These books were to be exclusive of all other books I will read in the year. Thus, I can read other books but at the end of the five years I should have read these 100 books. I developed the list with vigour, with information from several sources (recommendations from friends and best books lists). This is the kind of challenge I cherish though I don't always complete challenges . However one challenging factor when it comes to challenges is book accessibility and it is because of this that I set the five-year target thinking that within that period the hurdle would have flattened out.  So I made a list of books...

After reading numerous blogs, I have decided to also challenge myself by assigning to myself 100 books to be read in 5 years, depending on availability and cost. The first set of books comes from Africa's Top 100 books as researched by the Zimbabwe Library Foundation . If I should come across interesting translations from Francophone and Lusophone writers, I would read them alongside these. As it stands now, all these writers are from Anglophone countries (except Mahfouz Naguib, from Egypt). Since this list contains mostly the classic, new writers would be read alongside these. Note: All books by the following authors would be read as and when they become available: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  Books I have read would be italicised; Books I have read and reviewed on this blog would be italicised, crossed and linked; Books from Africa's Top 100 Books by the Zimbabwean Library Foundation: Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Anowa by Ama...

The Handmaid's Tale  (402; 1985) is an imaginative dystopian about a fictional world; a place where all rhetorics about women's place in the world are realised. It is also a world that has been lived before. In this novel, Atwood relied on all that had been said and is being said about women and what they should and shouldn't do. In the fictional world of Gilead, the constitutional government of the United States had been overthrown; its place place taken by Gilead, a state based on the Christian teachings and its purpose for women. In Gilead women are grouped into Wives, Marthas, Aunties, and Handmaids. Handmaids are reproductive 'machines' that keep the population of Gilead from declining. And children are the most prized assets of the day. Rich couples unable to bear their own children contract these handmaids to get pregnant for them. A Handmaid who's unable to get pregnant after several 'servicing' with Commanders are described as unwomen. The...

For other categories, see Review As the tagline of this blog suggests, I promote African Literature. However, I read non-African-authored books and this is a list of those I wrote about on this blogs arranged by title. Note that most of these aren't reviews but comments. 1984 by George Orwell A Bend in the River  by V.S. Naipaul A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner Beloved by Toni Morrison The Castle  by Franz Kafka The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Dayward by ZZ Packer Dreams from my Father  by Barack Obama The Entire Northern Side was Covered with Fire by Rivka Galchen Fela, This Bitch of a Life by Carlos Moore The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy The Handmaid's Tale  by Margaret Atwood Here We Aren't, So Quickly by Jonathan Safran Foer Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy The Kid by Salvatore Scibona The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy  by Davi...

For other categories, see Review This lists alphabetically books reviewed on ImageNations beginning with the title. If the title begins with 'the', the next word in title is used; unless the whole title of the book is THE, this I have not as yet met. This is not the case if the title begins with the indefinite article 'a'. -1- 1984 :  George Orwell -A- A Bend in the River :  V.S. Naipaul A Farewell to Arms : Ernest Hemingway A Grain of Wheat :  Ngugi wa Thiong'o A Heart to Mend : Myne Whitman A House for Mr. Biswas :  V.S.  Naipaul   A Life in Full: Jude Dibia A Man of the People : Chinua Achebe A Month and a Day & Letters :  Ken Saro-Wiwa A Question of Power: Bessie Head A Sense of Savannah, Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana :  Kofi Akpabli A Woman Alone: Bessie Head Absalom, Absalom! :  William  Faulkner Accra! Accra! More Poems about Modern Afrika:  Papa Kobina Ulzen Anthill...

For other genres and categories, see Review There are many sub-genres of fiction. The list of books were amenable to the sub-genres provided below. Single stories are stories read online or downloaded and read in a pdf format. It could be part of a major collection such as The End of Skill  but was read as a stand alone. Novellas are complete stories (novels) that are 150 or less pages long. Children Stories (<12 years) Eno's Story by Ayodele Olofintuade Single Stories: Bombay's Republic by Rotimi Babatunde Butterfly Dreams by Beatrice Lamwaka Dayward by ZZ Packer Icebergs by Alistair Morgan In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata by Lauri Kubuitsile The End of Skill  by Mamle Kabu The Entire Northern Side was Covered with Fire by Rivka Galchen The Kid by Salvatore Scibona Here We Aren't, So Quickly by Jonathan Safran Foer Hitting Budapest by NoViolet Bulawayo How Kamau wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile by Mukoma wa Ngugi How Shall we Kill the Bishop...