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It's been a long long time. A lot has happened in my life and in the world at large. We have had this pandemic, which has locked almost every country down. In this period, there are few activities you can do and reading is one of them.  Share your COVID-19 Reading List with us so we can have an interesting chats. Tell us the favourite on the list and why.

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...

This week something nudged me. I have not been reading for sometime. It has been about two years of leave, an unnecessarily hiatus, from reading. But then I had lost the joy of reading. The beauty and fun of being in multiple places at the same time; of being in people's world; of being both an active and passive observer of lives. Of this, several things played a part. I discovered other things, both good and bad. I found myself reading more of 'social media stuff'; playing games; and others. Nothing pushed me to read. Within this period, I also participated less in literary activities. In fact, I have not written a poem in more than two years (excluding Haiku, which I indulged in once in a while).  But on Sunday, out of nowhere, something nudged me. It suddenly occurred to me that I'm missing my books. So I went to pick up Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami . It was the last book I abandoned. Now I am enjoying it. And I believe reading is going to be fun...

The Writers Project of Ghana has a book club it prefers to call The Book and Discussion Club which meets once every month to discuss the selected text for the month. The Book and Discussion Club has selected and read several books since its formation in 2011. Last month's (March) book was Mawuli Adzei 's collection of poems Testament of the Seasons . When information reached Dr Adzei - author of Taboo  - that we were going to read and discuss his book, he volunteered to be present. It was always going to be tricky discussing and interrogating the work of a writer in his or her presence. In his absence you could always say whatever you like and this was the first time it was happening. The Book Club has played host to some authors before, though their works were not under discussion at the time of the meeting. We have had Binyavanga Wainaina and Kojo Laing visiting us and reading to us their works. ( Note that this discussion is different from the monthly Book Reading ...

Last week Wednesday (February 19), the Writers Project of Ghana organised a special book reading for Chuma Nwokolo at the International House of the University of Ghana. It was special because this reading was outside the monthly book reading WPG organises with the Goethe Institute. The Reading: One thing every reader needs is a good reading voice and an ability to capture and control the audience. And Chuma has both. He has a way of controlling and bending the audience to his (could this be the result of his training and practice as a lawyer? Possibly! The room vacillated between quiescence and laughter. There was never a point of boredom. Anyone who could be bored by Chuma's reading is more likely to be suffering from irreversible depression. Chuma read from four books: the poetry anthology,  Memories of Stone ; the 'novel',  Diaries of a Dead African ; the collection of short stories,  The Ghost of Sani Abacha ; and his latest short story collection,...

Caveat: These are untested hypothesis, or more specifically the sample size that has proved this is n=1, which is not enough to make statistical inferences of rejection or non-rejection. However, I have often been asked to state what I think could be done to improve or spark up people's interest in reading. And I have often pretended that what I used when I began blogging in 2009 will work for everyone. I must add that I was a reader even before 2009 but book blogging requires a much higher dedication to reading and a much more careful reading. Whether this will work for another individual aside myself remains to be seen, but how else will I know this than to share it with others. To begin with, I believe everybody reads. We read inscriptions, letters, manuals, directions, road-signs, Christian literature, novels, plays, poetry. We form and read sentences within our minds. The problem therefore is not that people do not read at all. It is the frequency and type of reading d...

Chuma On Septeber 26, 2012 I attended a book reading organised by the Writers Project of Ghana at the Goethe Institute dubbed the Ghana Voices Series. There I happened to meet one of Nigeria's great writers Chuma Nwokolo, whose short story Quarterback and Co  I read and reviewed in the first edition of the African Roar anthology . If there was an author who was in charge of his work and who read with passion, vigour and complete control, it was Chuma Nwokolo. I followed Chuma on his facebook page ever when I read that phantasmagorical short story of his and heard of his works, some; however, I never really took the time to search more about him. In fact, after that short story, perhaps because I erroneously thought most of the contributors were new authors, I didn't delve deeper into any of them until recently when his collection of short stories - The Ghost of Sani Abacha - popped up again. Chuma read from this and also from his Diaries of a Dead African and a poe...

I've blogged about Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd in this post. In that post, I mentioned the idea of organising a reading challenge in line with Boston Bibliophile 's Europa Challenge. The basic rule in this challenge is to read any book published by Ayebia Clarke. To see the books they have click here. The following are books I've read and reviewed on this blog, which are published (or have been republished) by them: The Other Crucifix by Benjamin Kwakye The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga Underground People by Lewis Nkosi Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga You Must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka From now on any book I read published by Ayebia Clarke will count towards the challenge. If you are interested in books by African authors, let's get it on. Note that There is no limit to the number of books: it could be one or two or more; The book could be fiction or non-fiction; It could be by an African or a non-African (usually a Caribbean...

I have already blogged on the challenges I would be participating in this year. Most of my challenges have been self developed and I hardly join in other challenges except the Ghanaian Literature Week and the Nigerian Independence Book Reading Challenge hosted by Kinna and Amy respectively. This year, I am taking a step away from my comfort zone and participating, formally, in external reading challenges whilst making sure that all books I read also meet other reading challenges such as the Top 100 Books Reading Challenge.   AFRICA LITERATURE READING CHALLENGE When I blogged about my challenges for this year, I mentioned the Africa Reading Challenge to be hosted by Kinna . After days of deliberation, Kinna has finally put up the rules for this challenge. The rules are simple. The reader is supposed to have fun and get to explore Africa. He/She at the end would have actually visited several African countries through books. The rules are: REGION: The entire African con...

In our last reading for the year 2011, we will feature Dr Gheysika Adombire Agambila, author of the novel, “Journey”. Gheysika Adombire Agambila was born in Bolgatanga, and was educated in Ghana and the USA, where he had his BA from Brandeis University, an MBA from the University of Rochester, and Ph.D from New York University. Dr Agambila  has worked with Ernst and Young, taught at the University of Ghana Business School, and served as a Deputy Minister of State in the  Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Harbours and Railways, and Environment and Science. He also has to his credit a collection of short stories for children, “Solma: Tales from from Northern Ghana”. Dr Agambila will read from the novel, “Journey”, described by reviewer Kari Dako as “…an absorbing exploration of reality in contemporary Ghana…” and by A Denkabe as  “… a fine novel, written in a sober yet often moving style, and rich in the way it reflects the Ghanaian post-colony.” “Journ...

This month, we will be featuring Elizabeth Irene-Baitie, author of the novel, “The Twelfth Heart”, which won the first prize in the Burt Award for African Literature (Ghana) in 2010. Elizabeth-Irene Baitie is a Clinical Biochemist and runs a medical laboratory practice in Adabraka. She grew up in Ghana. She attended Achimota School, and has a degree in Biochemistry with Chemistry from the University of Ghana, Legon, as well as a postgraduate degree in Clinical Biochemistry from the University of Surrey in the UK. In 2002, her novel, “Lea’s Christmas”, was short-listed for the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa (Senior readers). Four years later, her children’s story, “A Saint in Brown Sandals”, won the Macmillan Prize for Africa (Junior readers). She has just finished another novel for young adult readers which will be published next year. Elizabeth will be reading from her novel, “The Twelfth Heart”, which tells the story of fifteen year old Mercy, in boarding school for the f...

@Farida's Reading at the Goethe Institute Last Friday, under the auspices of the Ghana Writers Project and the Goethe Institute, the Ghana Voices Series organised its first book reading of the year, which saw Farida Bedwei read from her debut novel, The Definition of a Miracle . Her detailed description of scenes and events was palpable as she read different passages to the audience. The lighter side of the story sends guffaws all across the hall. Her description of life in the early and later 90s in Ghana is fresh and the language precise especially for the main character, from whose view point the story was narrated. There is nothing as interesting as meeting an author and questioning her on her book as the question and answer session proved. I made a purchase which I got autographed; it would be reviewed on this blog in the course of the year. The Definition of a Miracle  would be launched on March 5, 2011 at the PAWA (Pan-African Writers Association) House located near Accra...

Geosireads has set himself the challenge of reading all the Commonwealth Writers Winners for Africa Region. As one who promotes African Literature, I believe I should participate in this challenge. I am, however, not setting myself any time limit for this challenge. I would as and when I get the books. The awards are in two categories: Best Book and Best First Book. From 1987 to 1988 there was no Best First Book, rather a runner up was chosen for the Best Book category. This changed from 1989, though in that year no selection was made under the Best First Book category. Titles in italics are those read and reviewed, in which case they have been linked to their respective reviews. Best Book 2010  –  The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)  2009 – The Lost Colours of the Chameleon by Mandla Langa (South Africa) 2008 – The Hangman’s Game by Karen King-Aribisala (Nigeria) 2007 – The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson (South Africa) 2006 –   The S...