2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge books
Dates Read
January 28th 2014: Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
February 10th 2014: Harmattan Rain by Ayesha H. Attah
March 7th 2014: Opening Spaces: Contemporary African Women’s Writing by Yvonne Vera (editor)
March 21st 2014: The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta
April 2nd 2014: The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda N. Adichie
April 16th 2014: One Day I Will Write About This Place: A memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina
April 30th 2014: Voice of America: Stories by E.C Osondu
May 22nd 2014: Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
June 10th 2014: Women are Different by Flora Nwapa
June 26th 2014: Every Day Is For The Thief by Teju Cole
July 1st 2014: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
July 21st 2014: Minaret by Leila Aboulela
August 5th 2014: Girls at War and Other Stories by Chinua Achebe
September 4th 2014: The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo
November 22nd 2014: Can We Talk and Other Stories by Shimmer Chinodya
2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge books
Dates Read
January 12th 2015: We Should All Be Feminists (eBook) by Chimamanda N. Adichie
January 18th 2015: You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down by Alice Walker
January 28th 2015: A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah
February 3rd 2015: The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola
February 16th 2015: Sula by Toni Morrison
February 27th 2015: Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham (on Goodreads)*
March 22nd 2015: Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngūgi wa Thiong’o
March 31st 2015: Beyond the Horizon by Amma Darko
April 5th 2015: The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe
April 29th 2015: All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
May 7th 2015: The Housemaid by Amma Darko
May 25th 2015: The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
June 4th 2015: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
June 10th 2015: The Color Purple by Alice Walker
June 28th 2015: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
July 8th 2015: Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
July 12th 2015: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (re-read)
July 22nd 2015: Pig Tails ‘n Breadfruit by Austin Clarke
August 5th 2015: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
August 11th 2015: Matigari by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o
October 2nd 2015: salt. (ebook) by Nayyirah Waheed
October 4th 2015: The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (on Goodreads)*
October 17th 2015: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (on Goodreads)*
October 21st 2015: nejma (ebook) by Nayyirah Waheed
November 27th 2015: Letter to My Daughter (ebook) by Maya Angelou
December 26th 2015: Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime: Stories by J. California Cooper
2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge books
Dates Read
January 4th 2016: Summer in Igboland (ebook) by Ifeanyi Awachie
January 7th 2016: Fairytales For Lost Children by Diriye Osman
January 14th 2016: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
January 23rd 2016: African Love Stories: An Anthology by Ama Ata Aidoo (editor)
February 8th 2016: Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
February 12th 2016: Spirit-Controlled Temprament by Tim LaHaye (on Goodreads)*
February 15th 2016: I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan
February 27th 2016: Saturday’s Shadows by Ayesha H. Attah
March 1st 2016: The Seeing Place by Aziza Eden Walker (Ankara Press)
March 6th 2016: Love Next Door by Amina Thula (Ankara Press)
March 16th 2016: Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire
April 12th 2016: bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward
April 30th 2016: Tendai by Boakyewaa Glover
May 24th 2016: Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
June 3rd 2016: Sweet Medicine by Panashe Chigumadzi
June 14th 2016: The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
June 30th 2016:So The Path Does Not Die by Pede Hollist
July 5th 2016: We Are All Blue by Donald Molosi
July 16th 2016: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
September 16th 2016: Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe by Doreen Baingana
September 20th 2016: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (on Goodreads)*
October 27th 2016: As the Crow Flies by Véronique Tadjo
December 14th 2016: The January Children by Safia Elhillo
December 27th 2016: Lizard and other stories by Marcelle Mateki Akita
2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge books
Dates Read
January 7th 2017: soft magic. by Upile Chisala
January 27th 2017: Questions for Ada by Ijeoma Umebinyuo
February 15th 2017: A Bitter Pill to Swallow by Tiffany Gholar
February 22nd 2017: There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé by Morgan Parker
February 23rd 2017: We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity by bell hooks
March 12th 2017: The Unhappy Wife by Dr. K. E Garland
March 18th 2017: What We Lose: A Novel by Zinzi Clemmons
April 17th 2017: The Huza Press Anthology 2015: Versus and Other Stories
April 22nd 2017: Afridiaspora‘s Ghana at 60 Anthology 2017: Obibinii Te Ase
May 13th 2017: Neon Soul: A Collection of Poetry and Prose by Alexandra Elle
May 16th 2017: Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
May 19th 2017: A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
May 25th 2017: This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
June 21st 2017: Behold The Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
July 6th 2017: Born On A Tuesday by Elnathan John
July 28th 2017: Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
July 31st 2017: What I Know For Sure by Oprah
August 6th 2017: Counting Descent by Clint Smith
August 28th 2017: Now We Will Be Happy by Amina Gautier
September 11th 2017: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
September 20th 2017: The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours by Jill Scott
September 22nd 2017: Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono
* These books are reviewed on Goodreads, as they do not cohere with the genres of this blog.
![I’m still thinking about Lesley Arimah’s short story collection, which was out of this world - literally! I truly enjoyed her wild imagination and the finesse with which she created worlds I never knew could exist. This collection embodies what a short story collection should be: ORIGINAL, unpredictable, startling and out-of-the-box.
__
My favorite stories were- .
• The Future Looks Good (the ending of this story had me SHOOK 😳)
.
.
.
• Wild (there’s so much to say about this story. A lot was going on and I was absolutely here for ALLL of it)
.
.
.
• Windfalls (this was such a warped, heartbreaking story. But it was excellent!)
.
.
.
• Who Will Greet You At Home (this is a story I will never forget. I first read the story when it was shortlisted for the Caine Prize this year; but I enjoyed it more while reading it in this collection)
.
.
.
• Glory (loooved this story. I especially loved that the ending was ambiguous af. When executed well, I like short stories that end this way! You get to decide how it ends for yourself).
~
Overall, reading this collection was an exciting experience. I have no doubts that Arimah’s debut novel will be EPIC [background = books from our family library at home] •• #NaijaNoDeyCarryLast #LesleyArimah #ScienceFiction #SciFi #BlackWomenWriters #AfricanBookAddict! #WhatItMeansWhenAManFallsFromTheSky #AfricanLiterature #AfricanLit #NigerianWomenWriters #CainePrize2017 #Bookstagram #GoBookYourself](https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/p640x640/22637108_748597885329165_5940248372358152192_n.jpg "I’m still thinking about Lesley Arimah’s short story collection, which was out of this world - literally! I truly enjoyed her wild imagination and the finesse with which she created worlds I never knew could exist. This collection embodies what a short story collection should be: ORIGINAL, unpredictable, startling and out-of-the-box.
__
My favorite stories were- .
• The Future Looks Good (the ending of this story had me SHOOK 😳)
.
.
.
• Wild (there’s so much to say about this story. A lot was going on and I was absolutely here for ALLL of it)
.
.
.
• Windfalls (this was such a warped, heartbreaking story. But it was excellent!)
.
.
.
• Who Will Greet You At Home (this is a story I will never forget. I first read the story when it was shortlisted for the Caine Prize this year; but I enjoyed it more while reading it in this collection)
.
.
.
• Glory (loooved this story. I especially loved that the ending was ambiguous af. When executed well, I like short stories that end this way! You get to decide how it ends for yourself).
~
Overall, reading this collection was an exciting experience. I have no doubts that Arimah’s debut novel will be EPIC [background = books from our family library at home] •• #NaijaNoDeyCarryLast #LesleyArimah #ScienceFiction #SciFi #BlackWomenWriters #AfricanBookAddict! #WhatItMeansWhenAManFallsFromTheSky #AfricanLiterature #AfricanLit #NigerianWomenWriters #CainePrize2017 #Bookstagram #GoBookYourself")
