Tag Archives: Top 5

2016 Recap & My Top 5!

Posted in Book Reviews, Goodreads Reading Challenge (2016) by

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

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. 🙂  

2015 Recap & My Top 5!

Posted in Book Reviews, Goodreads Reading Challenge (2015) by

Hey everyone!

I hope the holiday season has been relaxing thus far. 2015 is almost over! I ended up reading 26 books this year (and I turned 26 years old this year too, haha. It’s a coincidence, I promise). The break down of my 2015 reading experience is as follows:

Longest book read: A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah – 432 pages.

Shortest book read: We Should All be Feminists by Chimamanda N. Adichie  – 32 pages.

Screen Shot 2015-12-28 at 9.07.18 PMAfrican literature: 10 books

Caribbean literature: 2 books

African-American/Black literature: 11 books

Other: 3 books (these are non-African diaspora books. I read books written by – Mitch Albom, Lena Dunham, Jhumpa Lahiri)

14 women writers ; 6 men writers 

I read multiple books (two each) by the following authors: Amma Darko, Maya Angelou, Ngūgī wa Thiong’o, Alice Walker, Chinua Achebe and Nayyirah Waheed. 

Top 5 favorite books of 2015

  1. The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
  2. You Can’t Keep a Good Women Down by Alice Walker
  3. The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe
  4. salt. by Nayyirah Waheed
  5. Dreams In a Time of War by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o
Alice Walker
Chinua Achebe
salt
NgugiWaThiongo

These books took a toll on my emotions the most! If you’ve read my reviews for these 5 books, you know exactly why they are my top 5! And didn’t I say The Fishermen would win many awards? So far Obioma’s debut novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (this is a big deal!) alongside other nominations, and won the 2015 Emerging Voices Award. There are probably more awards it’s won that I’m missing out! I’m not surprised by the success of The Fishermen, it is well deserved – #iToldYouSo!

Reviews for all the books read this year are in the Book Reviews section of the book blog. [Some missing reviews (4 of them) will be posted in 2016].

I also attended quite a number of book readings, thanks to Writers Project of Ghana and some invitations I received to attend readings. Below are pictures of my favorite reading events this year:

Eghosa Imasuen reading 'Fine Boys' at the Goethe Institute.
Eghosa Imasuen reading ‘Fine Boys’ at the Goethe Institute.
IMG_2375
Got it signed!
Got it signed!
Ayesha H. Attah's reading at cafe - Cappa Cappuccino
Ayesha H. Attah’s reading at cafe – Cappa Cappuccino
The audience at Ayesha H. Attah's reading
The audience at Ayesha H. Attah’s reading
Me and Ayesha H. Attah!
Me and Ayesha H. Attah!
Me asking a question at Ayesha H. Attah's reading. Photo Credit: J.K Photography
Me asking a question at Ayesha H. Attah’s reading. Photo Credit: J.K Photography
Photo Credit: J.K Photography
Photo Credit: J.K Photography
Finally, currently reading this now!
Finally, currently reading this now!
IMG_2514
Finally met Binyavanga Wainaina!
Finally met Binyavanga Wainaina!
IMG_2469

In my 2014 recap, I mentioned that my favorite book for 2014 was Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, One Day I Will Write About This Place. I was elated to finally meet him when he came to Accra! Unfortunately, Binyavanga recently suffered from a series of strokes and is receiving medical care in India. I pray he has a speedy recovery, so we can all enjoy his fun-loving spirit soon. Let’s keep him in our prayers!

Finally, this year I joined in a partnership with AFREADA !

“AFREADA is an online literary magazine, featuring original stories from emerging writers across the Continent.”

If you write short stories or you love photography, definitely submit your work to AFREADA! And if you are a lover of original, African short stories – visit the website! There are some lovely stories written by talented writers from all over the continent, as well as photo stories AND book reviews by me! Visit http://www.afreada.com, and thank me later. 

It has been a fulfilling year! What were your favorite books of 2015? And what were some of your fave bookish events? Please do share!

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 also enjoyed commenting on various blogs as well! I really appreciate the support and love shown here from you all. I’m excited for all I have to share in 2016. God bless 🙂

2014 Recap & My Top 5!

Posted in Book Reviews, Goodreads Reading Challenge (2014) by

If you’ve been following my book blog for some time, you would know that I participated in the Goodreads 2014 Reading Challenge and I pledged to read 12 books this year. Since I have a strong passion for African literature, as well as African-American and Caribbean literature, I challenged myself to indulge in books of those genres this year. I successfully surpassed my goal and ended up reading 15 books in 2014.

I started this blog because I needed to express my views on the books I read, especially with people around the world who have read some of these books. Over the years I’ve realized that simply discussing the issues of the books I read with friends doesn’t suffice for me, for many reasons. Writing reviews on this blog and expressing my opinions on the books I’ve read has beIMG_8741en fulfilling! It would be nice to actually discuss in detail the things I liked and disliked about the books, but I can’t include spoilers in my reviews – its always so tempting!

Check out all the books I read and reviewed this year in the Book Reviews section of the blog!

(note: I wasn’t able to finish reading Sozaboy: A novel in Rotten English by Ken Saro-Wiwa and The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola. I just wasn’t feeling them at the time… And I think my ‘Currently Reading’ posts were jinxing my reading progress 😦 )

 Top 5 faves of my 2014 Reading Challenge

1. One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

2. Happiness, Like Water by Chinelo Okparanta

3. The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo

4. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

5. Harmattan Rain by Ayesha Harruna Attah

Spider King's Daughter cover
15798797

I plan on participating in the Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge as well. I’d like to read more Caribbean novels next year, so we’ll see how that goes!

What were your favorite books of 2014?

IMG_1845

Thanks for all the support! See you in 2015 🙂