Happy World Book and Copyright Day!
I’ve decided to compile a list of all the books I’ve been reading over the past 27 days of National Lockdown.
Over the past week I have made a minor change to the live Instagram readings for the adults by moving the time to 17:00pm. If you haven’t been joining me – here’s a below picture of all the books I’ve read from.
The reading lasts an hour and we go from me reading to the comments and wrap up with some discussion/questions. Some of the books here I’ve never read but I’ve always had them in my collection, there is a quote somewhere about an unread library right? There’s books that I’ve since decided to read along with the course of the year because they’ve stayed with me since the live reading like Landa Mabenge’s Becoming Him. See my reading journey for this book here. It is a journey of triumph as Landa shares his coming off age story and trans memoir. This book is making me cry, I’m learning and unlearning some things, and I wonder why some people would actually be so cruel to their children. I keep going back to another book I’ve read while I read Landa’s journey, Thuli Nhlapho’s Colour Me Yellow.
In the first two weeks of lockdown I had read about 11 books which I shared as per below, I’ll be highlighting some of my favourite reads.
I read from Keletso Mopai’s If You Keep Digging, which is a collection of short stories. This book juxtaposes themes like mental illness, domestic violence, patriarchy, and focuses on highlighting the earlier years of post democratic South Africa. Two of the short stories in this amazing collection have since been nominated for the 2020 Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction by Africans Long List – see story here. Below is the list of the books I’ve read so far:
- We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
- Colour Me Yellow by Thuli Nhlapo
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- The Ones with Purpose by Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
- Searching for Simphiwe by Sifiso Mzobe
- Living While Feminist: Our Bodies, Our Truths edited by Jen Thorpe
- IGoli Dreams by Anelile Gibixego
- Black Tax edited by Niq Mhlongo
- The Longest March by Fred Khumalo
- If You Keep Digging by Keletso Mopai
- Siren by Kuli Roberts
- Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
- The Last Stop by Thabiso Mofokeng
- If I Stay Right Here by Chwayita Ngamlana
- The GoldDiggers by Sue Nyathi
- Kiling Karoline by Sara-Jayne Makwala King
- The Blessed Girl by Angela Makholwa
- The Mourning Bird by Mubanga Kalimamukwento
- The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
- Becoming Him by Landa Mabenge
On some days I’ve read from the same anthology like Living While Feminist, I read Anelile Gibixego‘s submission titled Feminism in the Church: The Teachings and the Unlearning. I also read from Relebone Rirhandzu eAfrika‘s Silent Revolution entry. “This collection takes us from an examination of skin and hair, to an exploration of pleasure, sex, and safety. It considers the way our bodies change, our health, and how we become who we are. It questions the way that institutions can trap us, how we can trap ourselves, and the importance of our hearts in all of this.” Living While Feminist will be available in all good bookstores when lockdown is over and is available as an e-book via Amazon, Takealot, Kobo and Snapplify. Because the in-person book launch was going to be during the lockdown, some of the contributors shared a podcast of them reading their entries. Click here to listen via your preferred platform. Don’t forget to place your order post lockdown and indulge.
What has been your reading journey been like during this lockdown? Have you managed to reach your reading goals for the month of April? I have surprised myself and finished two books which I’ve shared their reviews here. Remember to be kind to yourself as we navigate our reading goals through a pandemic.
