Book Reviews, Goodreads Reading Challenge (2016)

2016 Recap & My Top 5!

by Darkowaa

Hey everyone!

I hope the holiday season has been relaxing for you all. 2016 is almost over and it’s time for a recap of the year! I ended up reading 24 books this year. The break down of my 2016 reading experience is as follows:

Average books read per month: 2 books

e-books read: 11 books (wow! I didn’t realize this, even though I really dislike e-books) 

African literature: 17 books

Caribbean literature: 2 books

African-American literature: 3 books

Other: 2 books (these are non-African/non-diaspora books. I read books written by – Rupi Kaur and Tim LaHaye).

19 women writers ;  5 men writers

Top 5 favorite books of 2016

  1. Fairytales for Lost Children by Diriye Osman
  2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
  3. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
  4. So The Path Does Not Die by Pede Hollist
  5. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

These books took a toll on my emotions the most! If you’ve read my reviews for these books, you know exactly why they’re my top 5 of the year. Definitely look into reading these 5 books if you haven’t already!

Reviews for books read this year are in the Book Reviews section of the book blog. [Missing reviews (6 of them) will be posted in 2017].

What were your top 5 favorite books of 2016?

Favorite bookish events / images of the year:

Book Giveaway #1. Winner was announced back in February 🙂
Purchased this Achebe classic for my little cousins over the summer. ‘Chike and the River’ is suitable for ages 7-11!
Ankara Press books are now in paperback and available at Vidya Bookstore in Osu, Accra!
An array of books displayed after a reading, hosted by Writers Project Ghana at the Goethe Institute.
Collage I created for my review of the Caine Prize stories this year.
Bought this gem from the 14th Ghana International Book Fair!
Some 2016 summer reads.
Book + African City tote bag giveaway #2. Winner was announced late November; Third book (Sweet Medicine by Panashe Chigumadzi) winner was announced the same day.
Chuma Nwokolo and member of CACE at the Storymoja Festival in Accra.
‘Americanah’ by Chimamnda Adichie making an appearance on Neflix comedy-drama, ‘Orange Is The New Black’ season 4 (very upsetting season!)
Ghanaian authors – Ayesha H. Attah and Ayi Kwei Armah in conversation at ‘Brazil House’ James Town, Accra.
Awesome (but expensive) array of books on display at Brown Sugar boutique in Osu, Accra.
Ghanaian authors – Ayesha H. Attah and Ayi Kwei Armah in conversation at ‘Brazil House’ James Town, Accra.
Finally got my hands on ‘How to Spell Naija in 100 Short Stories vol. 2’ by Chuma Nwokolo after his reading at the Storymoja Festival 🙂
Ghanaian kid lit on display at the 14th Ghana International Book Fair.
Author – Celestine, of book blog -‘Reading Pleasure’ (https://readinpleasure.wordpress.com/) signing my copy of her African Haiku collection, at her book launch!
Favorite book of the year! Please read it if you haven’t yet!
Brunch over Books’s maiden event at Cafe Kwae in Accra [with my bissap (hibiscus tea) cocktail and the book I exchanged].

Also:

  • African Book Addict! was featured on Mary Okeke Reviews and Brown Books & Green Tea for the blogger spotlight project and #DiverseBookBloggers feature, respectively.
  • In May, I joined the ladies of Not Your African Cliché podcast to discuss Somali-Brit writer – Warsan Shire, Beyonce’s album Lemonade, and the need for us (Africans) to support our art/artists more.

2016 Reading Goals round up:

At the beginning of the year, I set 4 reading goals and I believe I’ve achieved most of them!

  • I planned to read a wider array of African novels: I ended up reading wonderful books from 10 African countries: Botswana, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Sudan, Ghana, Somalia, Nigeria, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe. (All reviews are in the book reviews section of the book blog)
  • I also set out to read more poetry: I wasn’t a big fan of poetry prior this goal, but I ended up reading 5 poetry collections and seriously enjoyed them! I hope to continue reading and feeling the words of many more great contemporary poets in the years ahead.
  • I wanted to broaden my horizon and read 1 African romance novel and/or 1 African thriller: Thanks to Ankara Press, I was sent 2 African romance novels in exchange for honest reviews. With regards to an African thriller, I read Tendai by Boakyewaa Glover which is actually of the science-fiction genre, but felt like a thriller to me! (watch out for the review in 2017). So maybe I kinda sorta missed the mark on the African thriller goal?
  • My final goal was to give back by hosting 2 or 3 giveaways this year: I achieved this by officially hosting 2 international giveaways and gave away 3 books in total (plus a cute African City tote bag to hold books!).

It’s truly rewarding to see that I have reached my goals, especially with my hectic (dental) school schedule. I always had these goals at the back of my mind and slowly tried to achieve them on a daily monthly basis. I’m proud of these achievements!

Were you able to achieve some of your 2016 Reading Goals? 

[Don’t beat yourself up if you weren’t able to – its definitely not that serious and you can still achieve them in 2017!]

Total books read in 2016

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (was featured in Part 3 of the series: https://africanbookaddict.com/2017/03/31/gh-at-60-our-writers-their-books-part-3-final/)
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (was featured in Part 3 of the series: https://africanbookaddict.com/2017/03/31/gh-at-60-our-writers-their-books-part-3-final/)
Read blurb/Purchase The January Children (African Poetry Book)
Read blurb/Purchase The January Children (African Poetry Book)

I’m truly grateful to everyone who frequents this book blog and for the great discussions (agreements, disagreements and recommendations) we have in the comments section. I really appreciate the support and love shown here from you all. This year, I’ve enjoyed discovering lots of new book blogs + book lovers and hope to connect with more in the future! Here’s to more great years of reading ahead, for all of us. 🙂  

17 thoughts on “2016 Recap & My Top 5!”

    1. Thanks, Anais! You read lots of great books this year too 🙂
      Yeah, I didn’t realize I read that many e-books. If an e-book is more than 100 pages, I will not finish it – I just can’t. But unfortunately when authors want you to read their work, the most convenient format for them is an e-book.

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      1. I used to be the same with ebooks too but once I played around with the setting and got the screen lighting just right, I was able to read longer books on them with no prob. Still, I prefer my physical copies.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, it’s been pretty good year in reading. I hope you’ve been able to achieve some of your reading goals as well? Yay, I hope you read ‘Fairytales for Lost Children’ sooner than later! You won’t regret 🙂

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  7. Really insightful summary. Congratulations on having a good year. Hearing by Disgrace from your blog was magical as it turns out to be one of my favorite reads. Looking forward to discovering more from you. Cheers!

    Liked by 1 person

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