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A lot of things might have happened in the previous year to make it an unforgettable year. There definitely were some positive events and an equally high dose of negative events. After all, who can forget the turbulence that hit the aviation industry. I have dreamt more than two occasions on avoiding to travel by air, and have actually implemented it once. Yet, this is not what defined my year. Several things did though. However, what is germane to this blog will have to do with books and reading. Ever since I reactivated my reading passion and began blogging in 2009, 2014 was the year I read the least amount of books. At 20 books, the average of was less 2 per month, though I went several months without reading a book. This amount of books in 2012 or 2013 would have been swallowed up in about two and half months of reading. But then again, this was 2014 where a lot of things happened. Below is a list of books I read in 2014, where a review is available I have linked it. Books...

December in Review: Before I proceed to review the year in books, let me first review the month of December. By the way, Happy New Year to you all. Bonne Année . To complete the challenge of reading 60 books,  I projected to read four books in December . However, I exceeded this target by three books which was expected since the average for the last two months - October and November - had been 8 books. In all I read a total of 1,573 pages, which gives an average of 51 pages a day. There was a dip in December if compared to the last two months but it was not a bad month for reading. I read my first science fiction of the year; my second ever Graphic 'Novel'; and my first ever Zambian novel. I also read three short story anthologies, including Delta of Venus - that famous book. The following were the books read: Delta of Venus by Anais Nin . This is a collection of short stories bothering on different sexual desires, cravings, perversions and more. It is both repulsive...

December in Review:  December was the 'challenge round up' month; hence, I set forth to complete the reading of all uncompleted challenges. In all I read a total of six (6) books by the 27th December with a decision of pushing any book read in the four days left to 2013. The six books gave me a total of 1,490 pages or an average of 48.06 pages per day.The following are the books read: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. This is my first Woolf and was not disappointed. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Traces of a Life: A Collection of Elegies and Praise Poems   by Abena P.A. Busia Search Sweet Country by Kojo Laing. YEAR IN REVIEW Books Acquired Almost all the books read in 2012 (excludes Pdfs) The objective for 2012 was to make a dent into my unread books. I wanted, seriously, to not be a part of those whose unread books keep piling ...

I took this meme from Marie of Boston Bibliophile . I have taken the liberty to add some of the questions myself How many books read in 2010? Twenty-nine (29), two more than last year. Except that this includes two single stories. Plays (2); Memoir/(Auto)Biography (1); Single Stories (2); Anthologies (short stories) (4); Novels (20).  Total pages read was 7,799 (7,541 last year) and the average number of books per month is 2.42 (2.25 last year). How many did you review? Twenty-two (22). The remaining 7 were non-African novels. How many of the books read were on the Top 100? Only six. (hmm!) How man fiction and non-fiction? Only 1 non-fiction: You Must Set Forth at Dawn by Wole Soyinka Male-Female Ratio 8 Female, 18 Male and 3 indeterminate (?), I mean anthologies from various writers. Favourite book of 2010 African book: The Beautyful Ones are not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah Non-African book: Between Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and Wil...

I started reviewing African-authored books on this blog in June 2009, somewhere in 2010 I expanded the focus of the blog to 'Promoting African Literature'. However, for those who know and those who don't, Africa is the second largest and the second most populous continent. Consequently, it is made up of many countries, fifty-four to be specific. However, in my bid to promote African Literature I have, inadvertently, covered some countries more than others. This has to change. To represent Africa is to represent all the countries. So in addition to my on-going reading challenge, which is to read a selected list of 100 books to be read in 5 years, I would want to read at least an author from each African country in 2011. And this is where I need your help. I would want my readers to suggest interesting authors they have read from other African countries other than those I have listed below. Please help me form this list. Countries Covered since June 2009: Ghana ...

Last year (2009) I revived my interest in reading and beginning June I decided to review all African books (i.e. books whose authors are African by birth or by naturalisation) and sometimes books about Africa (as in Naipaul's A Bend in the River). In all I read 26 books and reviewed 24, which makes it an average of 3 books per month. My worst month was December with 0 reviews. The following are the number of books read per month: June: 1 July: 4 August: 6 September: 7 October: 3 November: 3 December: 0 I wish I could maintain this pace but I have started 2010 poorly. However, I am not going to give up no matter how busy I am going to be considering the fact that I am moving into a new job that requires a lot of time and attention and learning new things. I even have to learn how to read and speak French.This year I hope to read at least 3 novels per month giving a total of 36 for the year. This figure look very conservative judging from the fact that I read 24 ...