Readers' Top Ten - Casca Amanquah Hackman

I have known Casca on Facebook for sometime and I guess we became friends because after scanning his profile I saw we share a lot of things, a lot. He loves to read and to talk about them. Then we met at one of the monthly Writers Project of Ghana's book discussions for the first time.

About Casca Amanquah Hackman: Casca 'Comrade' Amanqua Hackman is a graduate of the Universtiy of Ghana, a former school teacher and past editor of the Golden World Magazine. His short stories and articles have been published in Daily Graphic and Mirror.

Below is Casca's top ten African books. Note that I have linked the titles and authors to posts within ImageNations, where available. My views and his might not be the same and so beware when reading and judging them.

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Yes, a good book is a good book, and it’s enjoyed anywhere; yet it's enjoyed better by persons who find the setting, characters and themes familiar. There are good books from Africa too. And so, as an African, reading African stories are most convenient to me, primarily because the environment, challenges and events are familiar, and so I find it easy to adopt the story as mine and also understand the messages naturally. 

There is a vast array of African books. I know that as I read more, the list is likely to change, but for now these are my top ten in no particular order. 

MATIGARI (Ngugi wa Thiong'o). I am fond of the main character of this book, Matigari ma Njiruungi. Personally, I share his conviction for justice and his abhorrence for oppression. It has a strong message for the capitalist system that has made indigenous people slaves in their own land. 

HEAD ABOVE WATER (Buchi Emecheta). Of course Buchi Emecheta has always written from her personal experiences and in this autobiography she delves deeper into her roots, to the extent of even going as far back as the period before she was born. From her native town of Ibuza, through her luck in getting admission at the Methodist High School, her marriage at sixteen and sojourn to England, she has chronicled her life in 33 beautiful chapters. I can only say her life has been a miracle.

DIPLOMATIC POUNDS AND OTHER STORIES (Ama Ata Aidoo). Released just last year, this book contains twelve thoughtful short stories.  Women are at the center as usual. It’s a blend of the success, challenges and expectations, whether reasonable or not, that stare at women both home and abroad.

NO LONGER AT EASE (Chinua Achebe). Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the famous Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart, is not able to escape the trap that Africans who had returned from studying abroad in pre-independence Nigeria had set for themselves. The economic and social expectations that welcomed him back home to Nigeria from studying in England, corrupts him against his own stance on morality. Although, it lives under the shadow of Things Fall Apart, its prophetic occurrence is not invisible.

MY FIRST COUP D'ETAT (John Dramani Mahama). It’s great to have political leaders writing their stories. Objectively, it helps the follower to know who their leader is and better assess his actions and ideas. Eighteen compelling chapters under different titles make this fine book. Mahama takes us through a tough and unforgettable journey from Damongo through Accra, Tamale, Nigeria and Russia. It’s an autobiography with very serious historical, social and political information that has either been hidden or misquoted all this while.

NEIGHBOURS (Lilia Momple). Have I heard any good thing about apartheid? This sad account of innocent people caught up in a bloody conspiracy they have nothing to do with adds up to all the evil of apartheid. In a quest to destabilize Mozambique, where ANC exiles were operating from, the South African government launches vicious campaigns, and peaceful people like Narguiss are caught up in the conspiracy they have nothing to do with. It’s an emotional story with a straight lesson; the fact that you don’t want trouble doesn't mean trouble wouldn't come your way.

THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK (Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie). Twelve nice short stories set in both Nigeria and USA, in which the complexities of love, career and many others are exposed to unexpected minds. The messages are straight and binding.

SO LONG A LETTER (Mariama Ba). It’s the most moving and emotional book I have read. This book can be placed alongside Buchi Emecheta’s Head Above Water, because of its candidness and emotional evocations. The style is skillful and the language is like music to the mind.

THE MEMORY OF LOVE (Aminatta Forna). Even in times of war and quagmire, people always fall in love. The difficult decisions to make and the complications in such situations are strongly highlighted by Aminatta in this lengthy novel. The style is subtle yet the theme is terse.

GATHERING SEAWEED (Jack Mapanje). All what we need to know about African freedom fighters are in this book. Even knowing the personal account of people like Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Ngugi wa Thiongo and many others is gratifying enough. In this collection, we have deeper insight into the challenges of fighting to free natives and lands from oppression and foreign rule.   

Readers' Top Ten - Mary Okeke Reviews

The Readers' Top Ten continues this week with Mary Okeke. One of the aims of this series is to introduce readers to the rich literature Africa has to offer.

About Mary Okeke: Mary is a reader and book blogger, at Mary Okeke Reviews She reads wide but mostly review African books. She lives in Barcelona, Spain where she studied Anesthesiology, Pain-therapy and CPR during her post-graduate studies. On her blog, Mary says:

I take so much pleasure in reading books! Specifically, those written by African Writers.

It is based on this that Mary shares her Top Ten African Books with us below.

Note: I have linked some of the books to posts within ImageNations - where available. Note that my views and Mary's might not be the same and so must be read with that in mind.

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The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

A novel beautifully written that insightfully deals with issues affecting us as African women. You give birth to children, but your children do not belong to you, they do not owe you for bringing them up, they are free human beings, when they grow up, they take decisions that best suit their living and not that of their parents. 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

African classic, what can I say? More over he is a townsman. 

Zenzele: A Letter from my Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire

A novel I highly recommend to all people of African heritage. What is the meaning of being an African woman?

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Another classic, even though it was only written in 2006. No matter the polemic she has been indulged in lately, she is just a novelist of a highly original kind.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Story of survival, how an African woman made it to the top, despite all her sufferings.

I do not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

It perfectly expounded on the every day life of most people in my side of the country (Eastern part of Nigeria). Hilarious and realistic.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah became my inspirational person right after reading this memoir.

Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo

I devoured this novel in a couple of days. You know Nana, I am a lover of African novels that deals on issues concerning us (African women).

No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

I am sorry I am in love with my townsman. Not just because he is my townsman but because he is just a genius of a novelist.

So Long A Letter by Mariama Bâ

Another classic. Love, life, relationship change from one generation to another. Starting point to African literature.

My top ten varies from year to year. I am yet to work on my 2013 top ten, which will take place next year. Novels like Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night by Sindiwe Magona, Born in the Big Rains by Fadumo Korn, Neighbours: the Story of a Murder by Lilia Momple, Diaries of a Dead African by Chuma Nwokolo might surely be included. However, for the time being above are my official top ten.

2011 in Review

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 guilty, which if done would be to put the slave above the master, no matter how weak the master's case is. The next book was DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little. This is a story about reality TV, teen murder, materialism, and our sense of justice. After this, I picked Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner and for more than two weeks I crawled slowly, trying to grasp Faulkner's delivery, attempting to crack it open. And still finding the doors tightly shut. At 150 pages I suspended the read and promised to pick it up in the new year. I don't easily give up on books and I have never abandoned a book so this will not be the first. The problem I had with the book is the preternaturally long sentences and the repetition of events. I picked the novella So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba. This epistolary story tells the life of a recently widowed woman, Ramatoulaye, who was rejected by his husband after about twenty-five years of marriage. In this letter to her friend, she informs her of the various problems she has gone through, pitching custom against modernity.

Projections made for 2011

In my 2011 Welcome Note, I tagged this year The Year of Reading and entreated those who are not reading-friendly as some of us are to take three books they have heard of which tickles their interest and go through them slowly. If anyone took this unasked for advice, they would have read three books this year. 

At ImageNations, though not stated, I decided to read five books per month - sixty by December 31. I also widened my reading coverage and promised to read more books from different countries in Africa through the Africa Reading Challenge. Catching up on the Top 100 Books was also mentioned.

What happened in 2011 regarding my goals

I was four short of the total number of books - I read 56 instead of 60, not counting single stories that are not part of an anthology such as the Caine Prize Shortlists. However, I am upping my determination again this year with Kinna of Kinna Reads (more of this in my 2012 Outlook). However, I read 12 single stories, making a total of 68.

The Africa Reading Challenge was very helpful. In fact I read a total of 20 books from 13 different countries including: Cote d'Ivoire (Veronique Tadjo), Kenya (Ngugi wa Thiong'o), Angola (Pepetela and Jose Eduardo Agualusa), Egypt (Alifa Rifaat), Malawi (Jack Mapanje) and Mozambique (Mia Couto and Lilia Momple). Other countries include Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Uganda, Cameroon, Namibia, Senegal and Gabon. According to geographic coordinates there were three from East Africa, one from North Africa, five from South Africa (not the country), two from Central Africa, one from South Eastern Africa and two from West Africa.

Regarding the Top 100 Books Reading Challenge, prior to 2011 I had read a total of fourteen (14) books out of the projected 100. Though the remainder is still high and would require extraordinary effort to go through them, I read a total of 15 books this year. Another reason is that about 63 percent of the books on this challenge list are books authored by non-Africans.

Details of my readings

I am using the meme I used in 2010 to summarise my readings in 2011; changes will be made where necessary to fit the year under review.

How many books did you read in 2011?

I read a total of fifty-six (56) - twenty-six more than last year - and twelve (12) single stories. Including double counting (a non-fiction could be a work of translation) the following are the categories according to the genres (in addition to the single stories): Short Story Anthologies: 4; Non-Fiction: (10); Novels - pages greater than 150: 28; Novellas - 150 pages or less: 8; Translations: 10; Plays: 2; Children Stories: 1.

How many did you review?

I reviewed all the books I read in 2011 except Weep not Child, which I've reviewed one of its theme before I read it for the third time and So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba, which I'll be reviewing in the new year.

How many of the books read were on the Top 100?

I read a total of fifteen books on my Top 100 Books reading challenge. This is about two times the number read for the combined years of 2009 and 2010.

How many fiction and non-fiction?

As already stated, my non-fiction books (10) forms 15% of the total number of books read.

Male-Female Ratio

The year began very good on this. It was almost 50-50 at a point in time. However, it has skewed again, though better than last year. Thirty-five percent (or 24 books) of all my reads (including single stories) were authored by women and sixty-three percent (or 43 books) were authored by men. One percent (1) was mixed - an anthology of both sexes.

Favourite book of 2011

I have already discussed this here.

Least favourite

Not exactly a book but some of the Caine Prize shortlists, which were in the category of single stories, did not interest me. Their subject matter were predictable and the narrator is almost always a young individual as if the recipe for a good story has just been discovered in from an Einstein-like mathematical experiments.

Any that you simply couldn't finish and why?

Perhaps Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom will fit here, though I plan to pick it up in the new year, after all it is on my list of 100 books to be read and they must all be read. The reasons for its apparent abandonment has just been given.

Oldest Novel

The oldest (in terms of publication date) was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), this is followed by Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (1895).

Newest Novel

I read four books that were published in 2011: Accra! Accra! More Poems about Modern Africans by Papa Kobina Ulzen; A Sense of Savannah: Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana by Kofi Akpabli; Look Where You Have Gone to Sit edited by Martin Egblewogbe and Laban Carrick Hill; and Tickling the Ghanaian: Encounters with Contemporary Ghanaian Culture by Kofi Akpabli. However, if the months are taken into account the latter will be the newest.

Longest and shortest title?

Longest: Tickling the Ghanaian: Encounters with Contemporary Ghanian Culture by Kofi Akpabli.
Shortest: 1984 by George Orwell and Mema by Daniel Mengara.

Longest and shortest books?

The biggest book in terms of pages was Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (639) and the least paged book is Accra! Accra! More Poems about Modern Africans by Papa Kobina Ulzen at only 28 pages.

Most read author of the year and how many books by the read was read?

The most read author was Ngugi wa Thiong'o. I read three of his books: The River Between; A Grain of Wheat; and Weep not Child.

Any re-reads?

Yes. I read Weep not Child for the third time.

Favourite character of the year?
Though I have favourite character in my spreadsheet for every story read comparing them is a problem. It means I have to be able to recollect why each character is loved and this means I have to recall all their characteristics and actions. A difficult job. However, I will randomly select Stephen Kumalo in Cry, the Beloved Country for African books and Sethe and Denver in Beloved for non-African authored books. The least favourite characters were all in one novel: Heathcliff, Mrs Catherine Earnshaw and Mrs Dean all in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Which countries did you go to through the pages in your reading?

I went to Kenya, Angola, Egypt, Malawi, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda, Zululand, Cameroon, Namibia, Gabon, Nigeria, South Africa, Britain, America, Cuba, Gabon, Kangan (fictional), and Senegal.

Which book wouldn't you have read without someone's recommendation?
Geosi of Geosi reads encouraged me to take up Benjamin Kwakye's books of which I read two this year: The Clothes of Nakedness and The Other Crucifix.

Which author was new to you in 2011 that you now want to read the entire works of?

Lewis Nkosi. His Underground People jumped onto my all-time favourite list.

Which books are you annoyed you didn't read?

A lot of them but will shift them to 2012.

Did you read any book you have always been meaning to read?

Yes. To Kill a Mockingbird and Nervous Conditions.

95. Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women's Writing by Yvonne Vera (Editor)

Title: Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women's Writing

Editor: Yvonne Vera

Genre: Short Story Antholgy/Feminism

Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series)

Pages: 186

Year of First Publication: 1999

Country: Various

This is a collection of 15 short stories by African women from 11 different countries. The anthology includes Leila Aboulela's Caine Prize winning story The Museum. With the exception of a few stories like Crocodile Tails, A State of Outrage, The Barrel of a Pen, and The Home-Coming, the stories revolve around polygamous husbands, domineering husbands, rape, domestic violence, girl empowerment and combinations of these.

The collection opens with Ama Ata Aidoo's The Girl Who can, which is a story about a girl who was looked down by her grandmother because she has lanky legs. 

'But Adjoa has legs,' Nana would insist; 'except that they are too thin. And also too long for a woman. Kaya, listen. Once in a while, but only once in a long while, somebody decides  - nature, a child's spirit mother, an accident happens, and somebody gets born without arms, or legs, or both sets of limbs. And then let me touch wood; it is a sad business. [..] But if any female child decides to come into this world with legs, then they might as well be legs.' (Page 9)

The grandmother kept questioning what she could actually achieve or do with such legs until she proved that there is more that could be achieved.

Written in the first person (as most of the stories were) and in flashes, Deciduous Gazettes (by Melissa Tandiwe Myambo) is about the trials of Mrs Ncube and her friends in a polygamous marriage. Though this is basically Mrs Ncube's narration, she sometimes assumes an omniscient observer telling the stories of her friends with as much detail. So that when Mai Sithole came home to find a talk-show programme discussing the issue of polygamy, she

[P]icks up the telephone table and smashes it into the television screen. ... She picks up a chair and throws it into her reflection again and again until shards of glass slide to the floor in jagged geometrical shapes: triangles, pentagons, octagons. She drags the chair into the kitchen and hurls it into the stove. (Page 34)

So pervasive was the issue that even on the cover of magazines Mrs Ncube's friends, with whom she shares similar fate, sees the sexism being portrayed. For

On the outside cover [of the Horizon magazine] is a picture of a woman opening the door to her husband arriving home from work late in the afternoon. Two children run joyfully to meet him. The slogan across the top is, 'Hapana muphuwira unopfuura Chibataura' [There is no love potion better than sadza]. (Page 37)

Lindsey Collen's Enigma is about the reflections a girl living with an overprotective father who wants her to get a good education so that she can get a bon garçon or a suitable boy to marry testing positive for pregnancy. She is thinking of what her father would do to her if she finds out that she is pregnant, the beatings and more. And her homework lies undone. The Red Velvet Dress by Farida Karodia is a rather interesting and twisted story. Katrina, after serving 25 years in prison for killing her father (whom she accused of sexually molesting her and her friend) came home to find her mother dying from cancer. And a family secret: the man he killed was not her father, as she had always presumed. Uncle Bunty by Norma Kitson opens with

You could have said Uncle Bunty was the ideal husband: he was a good provider. (Page 58)

And ends with:

That's how Auntie Betty learned that Uncle Bunty had a whole other family in Durban (a wife and three sons, all real males) and how, at age 81, she got her divorce from Uncle Bunty and lives very happily now in her flat overlooking the Durban beach front and goes to America whenever she feels like it. (Page 65)

It also about a domineering man who lived a double and polygamous life. In Aboulela's Caine-Prize winning story The Museum, a Sudanese woman, Shadia, sent abroad by her would-be husband to further her education found redemption and identity after a visit to the African Museum in Scotland with a classmate whom she was somewhat growing to like. She realised that her understanding of what Africa is is far different from the Africa that is on display. The Africa on-show in the Museum is about Scottish warriors who fought in the land and the plunder they carried home and Africa's wildlife. From a letter a diplomat wrote from Ethiopia in 1903

It is difficult to imagine anything more satisfactory or better worth taking part in than a lion drive. We rode back to camp feeling very well indeed. Archie was quite right when he said that this was the first time since we have started that we have really been in Africa - the real Africa of Jungle inhabited only by game, and plains where herds of antelope meet your eye in every direction. (Page 89)

State of Outrage by Sindiwe Magona is about a peoples' reaction to HIV/AIDS and how a group of friends who have lost one of their members infected with disease not to the disease but to the insane reaction of her neighbours set out to fight this pervasive homophobia even though statistics and projections show that, if nothing is done, by the year 2000 every single family would have at least one member living with the disease. This is one of the few stories that veered away from the usual 'bad-men' themes.

Night Thoughts by Monde Sifuniso is the only overtly political piece in the collection. It talks about the cycle of oppression and corruption, of how every new leader makes flamboyant promises only to morph into a personality far worse than his predecessor: adding onto the atrocities of his predecessor. Set in Barotseland, the western province of Zambia, a new litunga has been installed after the old one, Sikita, abdicated his. However the first thing Liswani, the new litunga, did after promising a new beginning and some form of democratic-tendencies did was to improve his litunga position (which though was not explained but was obviously lower than a king) into King, his indunas becoming ministers and the ngambela becoming prime minister. After that he sets out to enrich himself and to arrest and persecute anybody who spoke against him.

The collection ends with The Home-Coming by Milly Jafta, which is a story about a woman who after spending almost all her life abroad came home to meet a daughter who, although a stranger altogether to her, was prepared to offer her what her supposed good-life abroad never gave her, respect and recognition.

As a collection of works by women, it is expected that issues concerning women would predominate. Yet I was put off after the third or fourth story. The problem is should every story by a woman be against men or a man? However, the second half of the reading provided a series of varieties from a theme that was becoming monotonous and mundane after every read. In spite of this one of my favourite stories in the collection The Red Velvet Dress is also a story with such a theme. The ending took the reader by surprise and though a short story, it contains a lot of turns; the other favourite is Night Thoughts because of its political theme and its humour. It also reminded of the famous story Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika's, ghost stories; the parallels could not be overlooked.

Though there were crowding around themes, a problem with most stories coming out of Africa, each story was delivered with verve and passion and thus most were realistic. On the other hand there were a few where the storyline or theme, I think, was overstretched losing its power. Overall, the collection is worth the read if one is very interested in issues affecting women and women empowerment. 

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Brief Bio (Editor):Yvonne Vera, the Zimbabwean author, recently died in Toronto at the age of 40. She had moved there from Bulawayo in 2003, and was being treated for an AIDS-related illness. At the time of her death, she had published five novels (Nehanda, 1993; Without A Name, 1994; Under the Tongue, 1996; Butterfly Burning, 1998; and The Stone Virgins, 2002), several short stories, and an array of cultural, literary and social criticism. She had received numerous literary awards, including the Africa Region Commonwealth Writer's Prize in 1997, the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa in 2002 and the Swedish Tucholski Prize in 2004. (Continue reading)

Contributors

The Girl Who Can [Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghana]

Deciduous Gazettes [Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, Zimbabwe]

The Enigma [Lindsey Collen, Mauritius]

The Red Velvet Dress [Farida Karodia, South Africa]

Uncle Bunty [Norma Kitson, South Africa]

The Betrayal [Veronique Tadjo, Cote d'Ivoire]

The Museum [Leila Aboulela, Sudan]

The Power of a Plate of Rice [Ifeoma Okoye, Nigeria]

Stress [Lilia Momple, Mozambique]

A State of Outrage [Sindiwe Magona, South Africa]

Crocodile Tails [Chiedza Musengezi, Zimbabwe]

Night Thoughts [Monde Sifuniso, Zambia]

The Barrel of a Pen [Gugu Ndlovu, Zimbabwe]

A Perfect Wife [Anna Dao, Mali]

The Home-Coming [Milly Jafta, Namibia]

ImageNations Rating: 4.5/6.0

June in Review, Projections for July, and Reflections of the First Half of 2011

June came and passed me by so suddenly that as I turned to look at its tail in the bend, I saw I had only three books behind me in addition to zero interviews. The fascinating thing about June and its departure is that it also marks the end of the first half of the journey towards December. That's, in someway, July is like January - promising a new beginning and providing a new canvass for the making of resolutions.

Now back to the quick-feet June. The slough of books I left behind were:

1.  Shadows by Chenjerai Hove
2. A Sense of Savannah: Tales of a Friendly Walk through Northern Ghana by Kofi Akpabli
3. The Gods are not to Blame by Ola Rotimi

In addition to these reads, I also reviewed two books which were read in May:

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Every Man is a Race by Mia Couto

Though June was a lazy-drone, churning out a paltry sum of 311 pages - less than the lower boundary of a chunkster - it was the month in which this blog recorded its highest number of hits. Again, there were not many literary activities to attend - except last Wednesdays' (June 29, 2011) Book Reading by Manu Herbstein, author of Ama: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, at the Goethe Institute. And like a prophet of doom I predicted my own failure in May's review:

June would might also be dull as the data collected would need to be inputed and analysed. However, once I am in Accra I would be here more frequently than when I was away. I would be reviewing the two books I have already read. Currently, I am reading Shadows by Chenjerai Hove and enjoying it. (May in Review, Projections for June)

In July I hope things would pick up, though I would have to combine reading with searching for a job and performing some data analyses. However, I don't expect this dip in reading to continue forever. Definitely not.

Reflections for the First Half of the Year

On the whole, the first half of 2011 has been fruitful. Already I have almost equalled the total number of books I read  in the whole of 2010. I have read 29 books (as against 30 in 2010). The current total number of pages read stands at 5,926 (7,914 in 2010) and averages 988 pages per month (for the six months), or almost one Proust (Remembrance of Things Past) per month. At this rate, if things generally improve I hope to read more than a half-century of books.

In terms of translation (for more on these visit Winstondad) I have also read 9 translations this year (compared to 3 in 2010). I can proudly tell Amy of Amy Reads and Kinna of Kinna Reads that, 13 of the 29 books I have read so far were authored by women (compared to 8 in 2010). Finally, because I set out to read from many different African countries, I found myself enjoying, for the very first time, some Lusophonic writers such as Mia Couto, Lilia Momple, Pepetela and Jose Eduardo Agualusa.

Though these figures do not actually represent one who calls himself a reader, it does give me hope that 'it can only get better'. On personal writing fronts, I had some of my poems appearing at Sentinel Nigeria, Munyori Journal, Africa Knowledge Project (or JENda!), Writers Project of Ghana (WPG) and Dust Magazine. The poetry anthology Look Where You have Gone to Sit, also featured one of my poems.

ImageNations is focused on Promoting African Literature and it is our (my blog and I) belief that we shall become a locus for all those interested in promoting literature on the continent.

January in Review, Projections for February

My reading in January was aimed at fulfilling the Africa Reading Challenge, which is aimed at reading books from other African countries other than Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. In all I read eight books (or nine, counting the last book I read in December 2010, which was reviewed in January 2011). The countries I have read from are:

1. Mozambique (Mia Couto's Voices Made Night and Lilia Momple's Neighbours: The Story of a Murder)
2. Egypt (Alifa Rifaat's Distant View of a Minaret)
3. Angola (Pepetela's The Return of the Water Spirit)
4. Cote d'Ivoire (Veronique Tadjo's The Shadow of Imana)
5. Malawi (Jack Mapanje's The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison)
6. Zimbabwe (Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions)
7. South Africa/Botswana (Bessie Head's A Woman Alone - yet to be reviewed)
8. Lesotho (Thomas Mofolo's Chaka, currently reading)
9. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (not on any challenge)

Map of Africa

This trend would continue. However, I would need to also work on my Top 100 books to be read in five years challenge, if I am to read even thirty percent of the books. The main problem with this challenge has been the availability of the books. 

There are hints in my immediate future that suggest that my readings might take a plunge. However, unlike before this academic progression would not take me totally away from reading, writing, and blogging. I hope when it comes you would not abandon this blog but would stick with me as I trudge my way through another academic mire.

For those who still do not know how big Africa is and still consider it as one country, I have embedded into this post a map of Africa so that you would appreciate the various countries from which I would need to read.

Thanks

62. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder by Lília Momplé, A Review

Title: Neighbours: The Story of a Murder

Author: Lília Momplé

Translators: Richard Bartlett and Isaura de Oliveira

Genre: Fiction/Novella

Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series)

Pages: 133

Year of Publication: 1995 (In Portuguese), 2001 (In English)

Country: Mozambique

For the Africa Reading Challenge

ASIDE: The cover illustration of this book (at least the version I have from Heinemann as shown on the left) is by Malangatana. I got to know this great artist on the day he died, January 5, 2011, through a fellow blogger Abena Serwaa. His paintings are so unique that the very moment I saw the cover of this book I knew it is hi work (though I had only known him and his works for about two days as of the time of reading).

When Mozambique gained its independence on June 25, 1975, the country sought to help freedom fighters in South Africa and Zimbabwe in their quest to shatter the chains of oppressive regimes: colonialism and apartheid respectively. However, the apartheid South African government of the time financed and sponsored armed groups in Mozambique called the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) to sabotage the new government through murder and various acts of terrorism. This sabotage was aimed at destabilising the new government and inciting the citizens to reject the influx of South African refugees and ANC (African National Congress - South Africa's political organisation that was fighting against the apartheid government) members into the neighbouring country. 

It is within this setting that Momplé's story is told. She writes in the preface:

Oppression can take many forms. Neighbours was written out of my horror at the way countries can abuse each other's sovereignty for their own ends with impunity. Like many Mozambicans, I lived through decades when South Africa did as it pleased in Mozambique in order to protect the interests of the apartheid regime. During this period many Mozambicans were killed or had their lives destroyed. It is to them that I dedicate this book.

A sad premise for a story, even more when the premise is factual rather than fictitious. Neighbours is a story about the lives of five families - two of which would later become the victims and three, the perpetrators - as they struggle through the dark days leading to Mozambique's independence and the gloom and hopelessness that hung over the country such that people thought it best to flee the country and seek better living in various European countries especially Portugal.

Romu is a black Mozambican whose allegiance to the Portuguese' (the colonialist) cause is runs deep and is unquestionable. This resolve to protect the colonialist's grip on power results from an unstable childhood heaped onto him by his promiscuous mother and his own delinquencies. So that when the colonialists lost its grip on power and acceded to FRELIMO's (the organisation that fought for independence) campaign and fight for independence Romu's heart was broken. He felt his entire life's work - fighting alongside the colonialist's troops as they killed black Mozambicans - has come to naught. It is within this sombreness that he was approached by the two South African terrorists - Rui (a Mozambican who had fled to South Africa after the unsuccessful September 7 reactionary coup d’état by Portuguese settlers) and a real South African Boer. Romu sees the killing of Mozambican citizens to further the cause of white supremacy in South Africa, which would perhaps lead to the return of the Portuguese to Mozambique, as a chance to bring back the colonialist to power. Thus, Romu's motive of joining this massacre is his hatred against his own people.

Zaliua's motive of joining this cause was a thirst for revenge. Having left his mother in the hinterlands of Mozambique into the city, Zaliua worked his way up to become the head of the Criminal Investigation Police in Nacala under the colonial government. Thereafter Zaliua resorted to cheating, and corruption to enrich himself. However, a year after independence he was deposed, arrested and sentenced to a prison term. His wealth having been accumulated through corrupt practices were confiscated. However, Zaliua upon release decides to seek vengeance on the country and its people that have let him down; that never saw what he did to help them - appreciating his works with a prison term and poverty.

Dupont's motive was financially motivated. Coming from a family where every member is well-off, he is considered a loser and his marriage to Mena worsened his plight amongst his family, as Mena is considered to be of 'low social class' or 'an inferior race'. And when his family left for Portugal, Dupont made it a point to amass wealth in order to prove to his family that he could make it without their help.

These three individuals together with the two terrorists entered into the neighbourhood of Narguiss, an obese woman who - at the night of Eid, when no moon has appeared to warrant the celebration - was waiting for his cuckold husband and Leia and Januario and their daughter, Iris, of two years.

The story is told within twenty-four hours with the sections marked by specific times that certain events took place. The storyline of each person or family seems to run independent of the other until they come together at the peak when the murders were committed. By providing enough background information of each person or family, the event of their deaths was more felt than it would have otherwise been had we known nothing about them. For instance, we know that Januario's family were burnt in his village after he was helped by his mother to escape the abjectness of their lives in the bush where he had lived with his family. We also know that Narguiss has a family of daughters, with the youngest at the university seeking to come out as a medical practitioner. We also know that that evening Narguiss was only waiting for the moon to appear and her husband to come home so they could celebrate the Eid together, as they had been doing over the years. And for all these innocent, normal people to be caught up in a scheme they know nothing about because one country wants keep its grip on power is, to say the least, upsetting.

Though this book is only 131 pages (excluding the glossary), all characters are fully developed and we could sympathise them, hate them, love them, pity them. Momplé strips the story down to its essentials. This story is thus a historical fiction, where the characters could easily be identified with by numerous individuals. My only problem is that it was short.

This is a book I would recommend to everyone lover of African literature especially the Lusophonic part of Africa.

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Brief Bio: Lilia Momplé was born in 1935 on the Island of Mozambique and obtained a BA in Social Work in Portugal. She was Secretary General of the Mozambique Writers' Association from 1995 to 2001 and President from 1997 to 1999. She has also represented her country at a number of international cultural assemblies, and has recently been appointed to the UNESCO Executive Council. Her publications include No One Killed Suhara (1988), The Eyes of the Green Cobra (1997) and the script for the award-winning Mozambican video drama Muhupitit Alima (1988). Her novel Neighbours was first published in Portuguese in 1995. Lilia Momple lives with her husband in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. (Source)

ImageNations Rating: 5.0 out 6.0

Library Additions

In preparing for next year's Africa Reading Challenge, I have purchased some books that would help me achieve this. Note that these books were purchased based solely on availability. Consequently, I do not know what I am getting into.

1. Every Man is a Race by Mia Couto (Mozambique, Lusophone Africa): Have heard the name of the author from Kinna.
2. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Ghana, Anglophone Africa): purchase of this book was inspired by Kinna of Kinna Reads. Strictly this doesn't qualify for the African Challenge as I have read more authors from Ghana.
3. The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison by Jack Mapajne (Malawi, Anglophone Africa): This is a poetry collection.
4. Voices Made Night by Mia Couto (Mozambique, Lusophone Africa)
5. Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat (Egypt, Francophone Africa)
6. Dew in the Morning by Shimmer Chinodya (Zimbabwe, Anglophone Africa): Again strictly this would not have qualified for the African Challenge. However, I have only read and reviewed one Zimbabwean author, Tendai Huchu, though I have Tsitsi's books Nervous Condition and The Book of Not on my shelf.
7. The Shadow of Imana by Veronique Tadjo (Cote d'Ivoire, Francophone Africa)
8. Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women's Writing, edited by Yvonne Vera (Various Countries): As a collection of short stories, I believe this would help me sample enough writings from different parts of the continent. Besides, it would broaden my horizon on women writing.
9. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder by Lilia Momple (Mozambique, Lusophone Africa)
10. The Return of the Water Spirit by Pepetela (Angola, Lusophone Africa)
11. A Woman Alone by Bessie Head (Zimbabwe, Anglophone Africa). This is an autobiographical tale of one of Africa's talented writers who tragically died. Her novel A Question of Power was what I was looking for. 

I look forward to an interesting fun-filled reading in 2011. Along with these readings would be books on my Top 100 (African and non-African books) list. I would strive to read more of these books, availability permitting.

Fiction

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)

1. Eno's Story by Ayodele Olofintuade

Single Stories:

1. Bombay's Republic by Rotimi Babatunde
2. Butterfly Dreams by Beatrice Lamwaka
3. Dayward by ZZ Packer
4. Icebergs by Alistair Morgan
5. In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata by Lauri Kubuitsile
6. The End of Skill by Mamle Kabu
7. The Entire Northern Side was Covered with Fire by Rivka Galchen
8. The Kid by Salvatore Scibona
9. Here We Aren't, So Quickly by Jonathan Safran Foer
10. Hitting Budapest by NoViolet Bulawayo
11. How Kamau wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile by Mukoma wa Ngugi
12. How Shall we Kill the Bishop by Lily Mabura
13. Hunter Emmanuel by Constance Myburgh
14. La Salle de Départ by Melissa Tandiwe Myambo
15. Lenny Hearts Eunice by Gary Shteyngart
16. Love on Trial by Stanley Onjezani Kenani
17. The Life of Worm by Ken Barris
18. The Lump in her Throat by Aba Amissah Asibon
19. The Mistress's Dog by David Medalie
20. Muzungu by Namwali Serpell
21. The Pilot by Joshua Ferris
22. Soulmates by Alex Smith
23. Stickfighting Days by Olufemi Terry
24. Twins by C.E. Morgan
25. Urban Zoning by Billy Kahora
26. The Wasp and the Fig Tree by Brian Chikwava
27. Waiting by E.C. Osondu
28. What do you do out there, When you are alone by Philipp Meyer
29. You Wreck Her by Parselelo Kantai

Plays:

1. The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi
2. Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
3. The Gods are not to Blame by Ola Rotimi
4. The Government Inspector by Nikolai V.  Gogol
5. The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka
6. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
7. Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi
8. Madmen and Specialists by Wole Soyinka

Short Story (& Essay) Anthologies:

1. A Life in Full and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2010 Anthology:
1. The Plantation by Ovo Adagha
2. A Life in Full by Jude Dibia
3. Mr. Oliver by Mamle Kabu
4. Happy Ending by Stanley Onjezani Kenani
5. Soul Safari by Alnoor Amlani
6. The David Thuo Show by Samuel Munene
7. Set me Free by Clifford Chianga Oluoch
8. Invocations to the Dead by Gill Schierhout
9. Almost Cured of Sadness by Vuyo Seripe
10. The Journey by Valerie Tagwira
11. The King and I by Novuyo Rosa Tshumba
12. Indigo by Molara Wood
2. African Roar 2010 by Ivor W. Hartmann and Emmanuel Sigauke (Editors)
3. African Roar 2011 by  Ivor W. Hartmann and Emmanuel Sigauke (Editors)
4. The Best American Short Story 2004 by Lorrie Moore (Editor)
5. Best of Simple by Langston Hughes
6. Bloodlines by Veronica Henry (Editor)
7. Contemporary African Short Stories: Chinua Achebe and C.L. Innes (Editors)
8. Distant view of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat
9. Every Man is a Race by Mia Couto
10. Fathers & Daughters - an Anthology of Exploration by Ato  Quayson (Editor)*
11. The Ghost of Sani Abacha by Chuma Nwokolo
12. Incidents at the Shrine by Ben Okri
13. The Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano
14. Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God by Martin Egblewogbe
15. Opening Spaces: An Anthology Contemporary African Women's Writing by Yvonne Vera (Editor)
16. Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
17. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Tropical Fish, Tales from Entebbe by Doreen Baingana
19. Voices Made Night by Mia Couto
20. Writing Free by Irene Staunton (Editor)

___________________

*Includes Essays on the subject

Novella (Up to 150 Pages)

1. As the Crow Flies by Veronique Tadjo
2. Burning Grass by Cyprian Ekwensi
3. Duskland by J.M. Coetzee
4. Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
5. Maru by Bessie Head
6. Mema by Daniel Mengara
7. Neighbours: The Story of a Murder by Lilia Momple
8. The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
9. Return of the Water Spirit by Pepetela
10. Searching by Nawal El Saadawi
11. Shadows by Chenjerai Hove
12. So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
13. Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Novels (>150 Pages):

1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
3. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
4. A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
5. A Heart to Mend by Myne Whitman
6. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
7. A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
8. A Question of Power by Bessie Head
9. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
10. African Agenda by Camynta Baezie
11. AmaZulu by Walton Golightly
12. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
13. Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe
14. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
15. Atonement by Ian McEwan
16. Auto da Fe by Elias  Canetti
17. The Beautyful Ones are not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah
18. Blindness by Jose Saramago
19. Before I Forget by Andre Brink
20. Beloved by Toni Morrison
21. Big Bishop Roko and the Altar Gangsters by Kojo Laing
22. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
23. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
24. The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga
25. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
26. Burger's Daughter by Nadine Gordimer
27. The Castle by Franz Kafka
28. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
29. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
30. Chaka by Thomas Mofolo
31. Changes by  Ama Ata Aidoo
32. The Chicken Teeth by Fiona Leonard
33. Cloth Girl by Marilyn Heward Mills
34. The Clothes of Nakedness by Benjamin Kwakye
35. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
36. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
37. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky 
38. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
39. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
40. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
41. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
42. Definition of a Miracle by Farida N. Bedwei 
43. Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
44. Dew in the Morning by Shimmer Chinodya
45. Diaries of a Dead African by Chuma Nwokolo Jnr.
46. Diplomatic Pounds and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo
47. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
48. Faceless by Amma Darko
49. The Famished Road by Ben Okri
50. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
51. Fragments by Ayi Kwei Armah
52. Fury by Salman Rushdie
53. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
54. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
55. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
56. The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu
57. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
58. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
59. Harare North by Brian Chikwava
60. Harmattan Rain by Ayesha Harruna Attah
61. Harvest of Thorns by Shimmer Chiondya
62. The Healers by Ayi Kwei Armah
63. Home by Toni Morrison
64. How we Buried Puso by Morabo Morojele
65. The Imported Ghanaian by Alba Kunadu Sumprim
66. In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee
67. Infinite Riches by Ben Okri
68. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
69. IPods in Accra by Sophia Acheampong
70. Journey by G.A. Agambila
71. The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
72. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
73. July's People by Nadine Gordimer
74. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
75. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
76. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
77. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
78. Matigari by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
79. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
80. Mine Boy by Peter Abrahams
81. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
82. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
83. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
84. No Longer At Ease by Chinua Achebe
85. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
86. Not Without Flowers by Amma Darko
87. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
88. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
89. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
90. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
91. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
92. The Other Crucifix by Benjamin Kwakye
93. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
94. Portrait fo an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller
95. Possession by A. S. Byatt
96. Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
97. Praying Mantis by Andre Brink
98. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
99. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
100. The Purple Violet of Oshaantu by Neshani Andreas
101. The Repudiation by Rashid Boudjedra
102. The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
103. Sand Daughter by Sarah Bryant
104. Saturday by Ian McEwan
105. Search Sweet Country by Kojo Laing
106. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
107. Smouldering Charcoal by Tiyambe Zeleza
108. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
109. Sula by Toni Morrison
110. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
111. Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham
112. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
113. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
114. Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah
115. Underground People by Lewis Nksoi
116. Unexpected Joy at Dawn by Alex Agyei-Agyiri
117. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
118. War and Peace (Volume I, II, III & IV) by Leo Tolstoy
119. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
120. Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
121. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte