ImageNations

Source Once again, the year has come to an end and bookish individuals will be taking stock of what transpired within the 365 days we had. But before we can conclude on whether this year has been successful, we must, as a matter of importance, relate our goals at the beginning of the year to what actually happened: Projections vs Actuals, as most Monitoring and Evaluation Officers do. However, I will first review my readings the month of December. December in review I read three books and suspended one in December. The objective for November was to play catch-up by reading enough books on my Top 100 Books Reading Challenge. It started well with Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird : a novel about race relations in America's south told from the point of view of the nine-year old Jean Louise Finch, daughter of a lawyer appointed to defend a black man - Tom Robinson - in an alleged rape case, which people know to be fault but are not prepared to pronounce one of their own ...

Proverb: Yεnim sε nkyene yε dε; nanso yε kɔ dwa so a, yε tɔ mako Meaning: We know that salt is sweet; yet if we go to the market we buy pepper. Context: Functions are different and so are needs. No. 4364 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

Source After sharing my Favourite Reads of 2011 I turned to my friends to share theirs with ImageNations through the Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus platforms. The handler on Twitter was #FavBook2011. There were no rules except that the book(s) should have been read in 2011. The following were the books shared. The objective of this sharing exercise is to encourage others to read.  The first person to respond to this call was  Novisi Dzitre who blogs at  Novisi . He is a Blogger, Technology Geek (though he might not accept this), Writer, a Friend and a Great Controversialist.  Novisi chose Ngugi wa Thiong'o's  Weep not Child  and A Grain of Wheat   as his favourite books of 2011. It is not every time that an author gets to enjoy this position in a reader's life. If you haven't tried anything yet by Ngugi, you should start from the first of these books. Obed Sarpong of Ready to Chew , a Radio Broadcast Journalist and Writer, sel...

Source: Penguin The year 2011 saw me read more more than twice the total number of books and single stories I read in 2010 (the actual review of the year's activities will be published on this blog somewhere on 31st December or early January, 2012). This post presents some of my favourite books read in 2011 and not necessarily books published in 2011. I usually don't get that kind of luxury embedded in reading books just as they are published.  Reading a large number of books presents one major problem: choosing the favourite ones. To avoid this problem I decided to settle on six for each of the two categories: African-authored books and Non-African-authored books. No further classification such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry and others were considered as not enough books were read in some of these and would endanger this exercise. African-authored Books: This blog is mostly about promoting African Literature. African Literature here is defined as any literary ...

Last year, I introduced to you Fred McBagonluri. In an interview he granted ImageNations he stated that his books - Harvest of Jenes and  Flames of Will - were in advanced stages of completion. In fact, the former was schedule for release in December 2010; unfortunately, this was not to be. I am, however, happy to inform you that Harvest of Jenes  has been published and available for purchase on amazon . Dr. McBagonluri was a former employee of Siemens Hearing Solutions and headed the Research and Development department of the company. He was voted in 2008 as the Most Promising Black Engineer of the Year and in that same year won the New Jersey State Healthcare Business Innovator Hero Award. He is a co-inventor for three issued US patents. Currently, he is a Sloan Fellow at MIT. ( Continue reading here ) About Harvest of Jenes (from Amazon): The encounter was brief and at first benign. It portended some sort of effortless bliss. The repercussions, however, lasted a life...

Proverb: Animguase mfata ɔkanni ba. Meaning: The Akan does not deserve shame. Context: Shame is worth than death. The Akans say they fear being disgraced more than dying. No. 4397 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

Under my grief glows a serenity that comes from knowing the truth always wins in the end. Why do movies end happy? Because they imitate life. You know it, I know it. But my ole lady lacks that fucken knowledge, big time. [8] You don't know how bad I want to be Jean-Claude Van Damme. Ram her fucken gun up her ass, and run away with a panty model. But just look at me: clump of lawless brown hair, the eyelashes of a camel. Big ole puppy-dog features like God made me through a fucken magnifying glass. You know right away my movie's the one where I puke on my legs, and they send a nurse to interview me instead. [8/9] What I'm learning is the world laughs through its ass every day, then just lies double-time when shit goes down. [28] The learning jumps to mind, that once you plan to do something, and figure how long it'll take, that's exactly how long Fate gives you before the next thing comes along to do. [28] Silence fills the forty years Fate gives me ...

Anyone who read and loved The Catcher in the Rye  will love DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little  (Harcourt; 2003; 277), winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize. It contains the teenage hormonal angst, the classic misunderstanding, and a heavy dose of teen-lingo and more. The more in DBC Pierre's book - a pseudonym that is almost eponymous to the names of several of the entities in the industry he satirised - is the 'provocatively satirical, riotously funny look at violence, materialism, and the American media' that were the major concern of the this book. In the town of Martirio, sixteen students have been killed. And the town's police officers are working hard to get a culprit by all means necessary, even though the murderer - the Mexican Jesus Navarro - had committed suicide after his slaughter. Enter Vernon Gregory Little, a misunderstood boy of almost-sixteen from a single-parent family and the only friend of Jesus. Vernon's appearance (unshaved hair), Nike bo...

Harper Lee's  To Kill a Mockingbird (1960; 284) - read for the Top 100 Books Reading Challenge - is a beautiful and innocent book that mirrors the conscience of a people. It belongs to the group of a few books, including Morrison's Beloved  and Song of Solomon , that investigate our common mentality, query our attitudes and unapologetically point to our internal failings as humanity. Those books that slowly furl man's animalistic masque, a masque that creates a dissociation between thought and words so that we could think one thing and act entirely in the opposite direction or even a dichotomy of thoughts - one for the thinker and his or her coterie and the other for the Others, masques which further create a diametric self in an already dual personality. One might say a Jekyll and Hyde personality, had it not been described as a cliched phrase. However, what makes Harper Lee's book different from these few others in this sub-genre is the protagonist, nine-ye...

Proverb: Nimyε di bi. Meaning: He who knows how to do it is entitled to his share. Context: The labourer is worthy of his hire. No. 4404 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. [34] It's against the law, all right ... and it's certainly bad, but when a man spends his relief checks on green whiskey his children have a way of crying from hunger pains. I don't know of any landowner around here who begrudges those children any game their father can hit. [35] Finders were keepers unless title was proven. [39] There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results. [50] Had I ever harbored the mystical notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my early life, she was cold and there. I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. ...

The short story is now in vogue and as Africa goes through a Literary Renaissance, it is expected that the short story will play a major role. Consequently, many awards schemes have been put in place to encourage is genre form. There is the Caine Prize for African Writing and the reformed Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize . It is therefore unavoidable that there is going to be several anthologies of such stories. The latest to hit the shelves is The Granta Book of African Short Story edited by Helon Habila, author of Oil on Water . Here is a brief review of the book at Africa Book Club. Follow to read the full review. “But I grope after language to describe the feeling I experience on my evening walks, the light in the air and on the sea. This pleases me: that some things remain beyond my grasp…”  thus muses the jogger in Henrietta Rose-Innes’  Promenade  about a significant encounter between him, a middle-aged unassuming copy writer, and a young ambitious bo...

Proverb: Nimdeε firi obi ano. Meaning: Knowledge (or understanding) are from someone's mouth. Context: We learn from others No. 4395 in Bu me Bε by Peggy Appiah et al.

Quotes for Friday will be back next week; haven't marked enough lines for a serving this week. In its place, I would want to share my newly acquired books with you instead. It has been a month since I shared my list of acquired books on this blog. The reason for the time lag being that I have acquired fewer books over this period. However, there is a person out there who has been sending me some of the books on my challenge list. And I have recently some books from her. Thanks very much for your kindness. Mad Libs by Roger Price and Leonard Stern . This is a workbook of grammar. After having the fun, I'd work it out with my son. Don't you just love it when a child you don't know send you a book? This is why I am against any sort of book burning. I am beginning of forming an online movement (if one has not already been formed) about Bloggers Against Book Burning. Let me know what you think. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer . This book is on the list ...

November could be termed Ghana Reading Month here on ImageNations. Most of the books I read went into the Ghanaian Literature Week organised by Kinna at Kinna Reads . Of the five books I planned reading , three were read, I am reading the fourth,  To Kill a Mockingbird,  and the fifth,  A Place of Beautiful Nonsense , has been postponed. I also reviewed Tail of the Blue Bird  as part of the GLW celebrations. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes . This a book about a young man Kayo trying to crack a case of seeming murder in a village of Sonokrom. The book highlights the science versus tradition (spirituality) tango. Depiction of Ghanaian living was palpable and true. This book was read in October but reviewed in November for reasons already stated. The Other Crucifix by Benjamin Kwakye . This book is about identity, culture shock, home and more. It follows Jojo Badu as he finds his way into the US and the trappings of living in such society which make...

Title: The Imported Ghanaian Author: Alba Kunadu Sumprim Illustrator:  Alba Kunadu Sumprim Genre: Non-Fiction/Satire Publishers: Marvik Pages: 264 Year of First Publication: 2006 Country: Ghana This book was supposed to be reviewed within the Ghana Literature Week hosted by Kinna . However, I had to defer it. Alba Kunadu Sumprin's book is a difficult book that provides an unapologetic and scathing look at some supposed Ghanaian eccentricities and foibles. How much the issues discussed are a general Ghanaian problem and how prevalent they are to merit such generalisation is what need to be discussed not whether they occur or not. However, there are certain things that must be cleared before I discuss this book: If you are a man be careful when reading this. According to the author, almost all the things she discussed are caused by men. Even when she was discussing the problems of women, she found ways of making their problems male. The author pla...

Butterfly Dreams was shortlisted for the 12th Caine Prize for African Writing Prize in 2011 . It was part of the crime anthology 'Bad Company' published by Pan Macmillan SA in 2008. It has also been included in the Caine Prize for African Writing 2011 anthology To See the Mountain and other stories. Beatrice Lamwaka's story is a sad one. It is a story that represents the true story of many children caught in the unending conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Uganda government in northern Uganda. This conflict has left in its wake many rape victims and child soldiers. And those who escape from their abductors are left traumatised, needing rehabilitation. It is within this setting that Lamwaka's story is set and told and eleven-year old Lamunu is one of such children. Like all children Lamunu also had a dream, a dream to become a medical doctor and take her mother's profession a step higher. Consequently, she loved to learn. She loved book...