Choices
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Brittany, Chelley, Tessa, Grayson, Mr. Clemente
Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness by Jeffrey Tayler
Hannah, Ben, Shannon
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rachel, Bailey, Eileen, Maria, Haley
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard
Kylie, Alex, Adam
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo by Michela Wrong
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild
Connor, Damian
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
Emma
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Jordan, Josh
The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Kathryn, Laura, Natalie, Pat, Paige, Whitney
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12 comments:
Roberto Clemente. Cry, the Beloved Country is revered as a classic of South Africa and the apartheid period. I would like to gain an understanding of this time, plus I hear the movie version is worth watching and would be good for comparison.
Chelley. I chose Cry, the Beloved Country because it is known for being “the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history” and because the summary caught my attention. I haven’t learned much about South Africa and I hope to, through reading this novel, achieve a new level of understanding of apartheid in South Africa.
Tessa. I chose Cry, the Beloved Country because I read the summary of each book and this one stood out to me. It is an important novel about Africa’s history and I would love to understand more on this history. I hope by reading this novel, I will achieve a greater knowledge of South Africa’s tragedy.
Shannon. I chose Facing the Congo because I have always been interested in the explorations and lives of the people in the Congo, because it has always been so troubled and exciting. I hope that by reading this novel I will gain a better understanding of the people living there and their hardships as a people, seeing as I aspire to join the Peace Corps and travel there someday.
Bailey. I chose Half of a Yellow Sun because the time period and summary of the book deeply intrigued me. I have also heard many great things about this book. I hope to gain a new perspective of a different time period and about a different culture that isn’t spoke of often.
Haley. I chose Half of a Yellow Sun because we had to choose a book and I didn’t know anything about any of the books listed, but the title to this one attracted me. I hope to find a different view of what living in Africa in past years is like, rather than the Hollywood version, which is what our society has come to expect.
Rachel. I chose Half of a Yellow Sun because it seemed like it would be interesting based on the summaries I read and I liked that it was more of a novel than a biography. I hope to gain a better understanding of life in Africa and to learn a little bit about the issues and prejudice there.
Mystery Guest. I chose Half of a Yellow Sun because of the recommendation that was given to us in class (that a past student read it and loved it). So I looked it up and was intrigued by the storyline. I also wanted to read a novel. From reading it, I hope to gain a better understanding of cultural differences between the rich and poor of Africa.
Kylie. I chose Into Africa because the book is about a compelling adventure that is based on a true story. I personally like nonfiction because I am more likely to believe it, and so this book seemed like an entertaining tale that wouldn’t present any boredom while I read it!
Adam. I chose Into Africa because it is a nonfiction historical narrative based on the adventures of Dr. Livingstone. I have always thought Africa was an interesting continent because not much is known about the people, landscape, culture, etc. I hope to gain a better understanding of the interesting continent through reading this book.
Connor. King Leopold’s Ghost seemed like a good selection to me because I learned about Leopold in World Civ. last year. His situation in Africa seemed intriguing with what he did to the Congo and how the world responded. I like historical non-fiction/fiction books. I hope by reading this book I will better understand that period of colonization in history, especially in Africa.
Paige. I chose Things Fall Apart because it is a view of Africa’s apartheid from the tribal perspective rather than the European perspective. It will give new insight to the historical event and be good to compare to other pieces of work such as newspaper articles about the apartheid.
Natalie. I chose Things Fall Apart because I have heard from many of my friends that it is a wonderful book. I hope to learn more about any part of Africa because I have not been exposed to it very much.
Pat. I chose Things Fall Apart to learn more about the tribal life in Africa. I have read Kaffir Boy, which takes place in a large ghetto, but not much is said about tribes. I don’t know all that much but I hope to learn more about this culture.
Whitney. I wanted to read Things Fall Apart because I love learning about African culture—I would love to go there in the next few years. I hope to learn more about what life is really like for those surrounded by tribal influence and tradition, and this book seems to showcase those two elements.
Ben. I chose Facing the Congo because it sounded interesting and I read a few reviews and I liked what they had to say. I hope to gain more of a look into Africa by reading this book.
Maria. I chose Half a Yellow Sun based on recommendations from last year's students, and I was in the mood for a fiction story. I hope to gain more knowledge of the turmoil in Africa through reading this story about civil war.
Grayson. I choose Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. I did not know anything about any of the books on the list, but I figured that being in the Oprah Book Club, it must be good. I hope to read an excellent story and gain an insight to life in Africa.
Brittany. I chose to read Cry, the Beloved Country because it is an extremely well known novel about South African history. I also read summaries for the other novels and this one stood out to me. I have heard that this is an insightful and moving novel. I hope to learn a lot from this book.
Emma. I chose Out of Africa because according to the summaries I read online the book is accurate yet simple. I'm extremely interested in the different lifestyles and cultures in Africa, and I intend to study abroad in South Africa in college. Hopefully I can gain a better understanding through the book.
Josh - I chose The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver because I hope to gain a valuable insight to European colonialism in Africa. I hope to gain a definite understanding of the motives of European colonization and better understand the effects of colonization pertaining to the modern world.
Damian, I chose to read King Leopold’s Ghost because sophomore year I did a history project on the Congo and knew a little of the history. This book interests me because the information I knew of King Leopold was that he was an evil and harsh man. I hope that this book shows me the thought process of a man able to fool all of Europe into thinking he was a humanitarian when he butchered thousands.
Laura. I chose Things Fall Apart because I read reviews for every book option and this one interested me the most.
Alex- I chose Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone, because I have heard several stories about the so-called epic adventures, and have been interested, but never enough to really persue anything. I chose the book because it allowed an outlet for such an endeavor, and because I read previews online and was immediately engrossed in the well written narrative.
Hannah. I chose Facing the Congo because of the adventure that seemed to unfold even before you open the book. Written by Jeffrey Tayler, he describes his recreation of British explorer Henry Stanley and everything he experiences there.
Kathryn. I chose Things Fall Apart because the viewpoint is different and the African culture of the tribe is very intertwined in the book. It sounded interesting to me.
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