August 2011 Reading Wrap Up
Books Read: 19
Pages Read: 4016
Hours Listened To: 15
Books read:
- The Dark and Hollow Places – Ryan, Carrie
- The Fox Inheritance – Pearson, Mary E
- Everything Good Will Come – Atta, Sefi
- The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth – Robbins, Alexandra
- Islands of Resistance – Murillo, Mario
- At First, Lonely – Davis, Tanya
- The New Jim Crow – Alexander, Michelle
- Sometimes by Moonlight – Davis, Heather
- A Clash of Kings – Martin, Geroge R R
- The Virgin of Flames – Abani, Chris
- Daughters of Anowa – Oduyoye, Mercy Amba
- Eno’s Story – Olofintuade, Ayodele
- No Ordinary Day – Ellis, Deborah
- Dirty Feet – Awumey, Edem
- Money Boy – Yee, Paul
- Who is Ana Mendieta? – Redfern, Christine and Caro Caron
- Aunty Felicia Goes to School – Begho, Philip
- The Hidden Face of Eve – Saadawi, Nawal El
- The Woman Warrior – Hong Kingston, Maxine
This month for BAND I got to ask the discussion question and I asked How did you get into nonfiction? There’s been a lot of really great responses and I’m leaving it open for another few days until the next question goes up. Do feel free to add your own response, and check out the responses we’ve received so far. I am so happy to be finding so many other bloggers who share a love of nonfiction and want to discuss it and get more people reading it!
This month I had pledged to attempt to read my own books. How did I do? Well, I read a total of 19 books. Of that total, four were new, the remaining 15 (79%) were off my shelf. The four new books included one novella, the two children’s books that I reviewed as part of my Nigerian lit project, and the book for our Year of Feminist Classics project. However, another three of the books that I read were review copies which means that only 12 were my books off my shelf (63%). So I didn’t do as well as I had hoped but I still did fairly well! I posted about my staggering to be read pile as well mid-month.
Speaking of my Nigerian Literature Friday project, it led me to be nominated for the 2011 Book Blogger Appreciation Week awards. I made the longlists for both GLBTQ and Cultural Lit, and had to make a tough choice. In the end I chose to submit my links for Best Cultural Blog because even though I think I have less chance of actually winning in that category, I’ve reviewed and explored much more of the Nigerian culture this year than I have focused on GLBTQ literature. I feel the GLBTQ Lit award should go to someone who has done more than I have.
Related to the project as well, I’d been toying with the idea for some time and I’ve decided to go with it as it seems a few others are interested. October 1st is Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day celebration. I’m going to host a day of Nigerian lit reviews and I welcome any and all participants. Choose a book, any book, and review it on October 1st. I’ll collect links on my review that day. It seems a good way to spread the love from my project and hopefully get a few more people hooked on this fantastic literature. Also, if you live near me, do feel free to ask – I have a number of books that I’m willing to lend out 
In other news this month I attended BookCampTO, an afternoon of sessions on the book industry in Canada, and had a fantastic time. This led me to finally decide to do something about the lack of statistics available on racial diversity in Canadian publishing. This is kind of snowballing into something larger as I consider applying for grad school (though am unsure I’d be accepted) as a way to lend the study more legitimacy. I’m not sure I have the time to do my full time job at 40-70 hours a week, travel 50-75% of the time, maintain the other projects I also have on the go, and do school, but we shall see. I’m playing with a number of different options anyway and I think the study is important enough to make time for.
Lastly – stay tuned tomorrow for a fun announcement for a (yet another) reading project that Amanda (who blogs at Opinions of a Wolf) and I will be starting. Someone help me, I can’t say no to a good project! 
don’t know how you keep up the pace you do amy ,another great month ,all the best stu
Thank you Stu, I don’t do much besides read a lot of the time
(Well, work and sleep, but you know!)
Congratulations on your BBAW nominations – well deserved! I love the sound of your Nigerian project and I’ll try to join you. *heads of to see if I have any Nigerian books lurking in my house*
Thank you very much Jackie, and I’m so excited to hear that you’ll join in if you can!! I hope you have a book to read
Congratulations on your nominations! I do hope that you take the prize! It sounds like you’ve got a lot going on over there, aside from reading books from your shelf. I hope that your projects continue to go well, and I look forward to seeing what’s coming up next~!
Thank you very much zibilee, definitely a bit too much going on, but hopefully I can keep it all up!
19 books is a great amount and the fact that so many were off your shelves is great! I really need to start reading my own books.
Thanks reviewsbylola, I had planned to read only my own books but yes, I did do quite well anyway didn’t I.
With a lot on your table, already, you seem to be doing extremely well with your reading. This is good. And I love your Nigerian Lit Friday project. The October 1st reading project, is it any Nigerian book or any book?
Thanks Amy for your blog.
Thank you Nana, any Nigerian book at all for the Oct 1st project, I hope you join
Go you w your projects! I’ll try my best to do a Nigerian book for the 1st.
Yay thank you Eva
You are reading George RR Martin’s ‘Fire and Ice’ series? Wow! Wonderful to know about the Nigerian lit fest! It is tempting to join! Wish you all the best on your grad school application!
I’m slowly working my way through it Vishy. I read the first book back in… April or May. Might take me awhile to get through the whole series! And I do hope you can join
Thanks!
Congratulations on your nominations, and god luck with your projects! And please can you share whatever you’re on–I could use some of that postive energy
Thank you very much Niranjana. And goodness I wish I knew, I could use an extra dose!!! lol
Congrats on your nominations!
Thank you Kailana!
Congrats Amy and 19 books in a month is just too impressive!
Thank you very much JoV
Congrats too Amy. You did read extensively.
Thank you Geosi
When you read in so many different directions, and you don’t have an unlimited book-buying budget, I’d say that anything more than 50% is great, so congrats. And what a terrific combination!
Thank you BuriedInPrint. It really is hard when you like reading on such a large range of topics for sure. Too many different types of books I want!