African Reading Challenge 2008

I've been meaning to jump on the bandwagon for some time now, but hadn't got around to blogging it yet.

SO... African Reading Challenge 2008: the idea, posted here, is to read six books about Africa. Rebekah, Pernille, Tumwijuke and others have already started, so I'll follow suit.

(By the way, Mom, I hope this means you'll help me out with a package from Amazon, since many of these books are not Aristock regulars.)

1. Waugh in Abyssinya: Didn't even know that this existed until I followed a footnote in book #2, which I'm about half way through. Evelyn Waugh reported for the foreign press in Abyssinya, now Ethopia, for quite some time and I look forward to his wry observations.

2. I didn't do it for you: Michela Wrong's excellent piece about Eritrea. Already about half way through, so expect the review soon. (On a different note, though, the tag line for the book is "How the world betrayed a small African nation," and a friend of mine, upon noting the cover, said, "Well, that won't be biased at all." But then again, bias isn't always bad.)

3. Justice on the Grass: A book about the gacaca trials of three Rwandan journalists implicated in spreading propaganda before and during the genocide. (Fellow Columbia alum's book, I picked it up at a bargain price while I was in New York.)

4. Che in Africa: Okay, stolen from Pernille, but sounds like a book I really really want to read. And the great thing about this challenge is other people's lists, since I certainly didn't know about this book.

5. Heart of Darkness: I know, I know, ridiculous that I've never read it. But what better time than this challenge to finally get around to it?

6. Blood River: a journalist tracks through the entire huge swathe of territory that is the Congo. Though I fear this may be some poverty porn, who am I to resist another journalist writing on Congo?

7. The Invisible Cure: A new treatise on AIDS in Africa, acclaimed by many a critic. Now that I'm going to be doing some work for PlusNews, this seems like a necessary volume.


So that's my list. But I thought I'd also add a list of some other books about Africa that I've read lately if you're looking for more fodder. (I'm not linking to all of them - my internet is way too slow - so you can do some googling.)

Emma’s War
What is the What
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
Aiding Violence
King Leopold’s Ghost
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz
Shadow of the Sun
Half of a Yellow Sun
When the Crocodile eats the sun
Graceland
Machete Seasons
Freetown Ambush
Emergency Sex
The Graves Are Not Yet Full

Also, books NOT to read:

Anything by Alexander McCall Smith - stereotypical, badly written bullshit
In the Hot Zone - see my review here
The Zanzibar Chest - I should have known better than to pick up a book with an "antique" on the cover...