Register with the Fazendin Portfolio book club.
Welcome to the Fazendin Portfolio book club! This is a book club like no other -- for people who love Africa, are curious about Africa, have traveled to Africa or are planning a trip to Africa. A good book or two is a critical element on any safari packing list, and what better way to spend your afternoons on safari (or at home!) than by reading the words written by those who have so eloquently written about the wonders of the African continent. African-themed literature has developed and maintained the mystique and romance of the African continent, and though this book club you will come to better understand African culture, history as well as this mystique and romance.
We’ve scoured bookstores and web sites, looked long and hard, and interviewed the most serious of readers to bring you this stellar list of uplifting African books. We’ve read all these books and highly recommend them. Can’t start a book club? Simply use this as a reading list to prepare for your upcoming safari in Africa…
Register here for the Fazendin Portfolio book club and receive:
- Monthly book suggestions complete with links to purchase, reading guides, book club “how to’s” etc.
- A kit complete with: recipes and suggested beverages for the book club host each month, book club “how tos” and free African goodies for the monthly host to give to book club members.
First Year Book List
| January: West With the Night by Beryl Markham | February: The Number One Ladies Detective Agency (number 1) by Alexander McCall Smith | March: Sarah’s Psalm by Florence Ladd | April: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe |
| May: The Zanzibar Chest by Aiden Hartley | June: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles | July: Rules of the Wild by Francecsa Marciano | August: North of South by Shiva Naipaul |
| September: Tick Bite Fever by David Nennun | October: Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Della Owens | November: The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley | December: African Silences by Peter Mattheissen |
Here are some tips on starting a book club.
- Think about how many people you want to participate and extend invitations. The size will likely be dictated by the place where the group meets. If you plan on hosting meetings in your own living room, for example, you may find it difficult to accommodate more than seven or eight members. On the other hand, if your group is too small, discussion may suffer, especially if you don't have perfect attendance at each meeting. Many book clubs recruit solely from friends or coworkers, but you don't need to stop there. Posting flyers at your local public library is an excellent way to foster diversity in your members and meet new people.
- Once you have recruited members and established guidelines for your book club, it is time to focus on the actual discussions. We have included book discussion guides for some of the books, and starter questions for the others. But let the groups own thoughts and interested lead the discussion and see where you end up! If there isn't a reading guide available for the book your group is reading, it would be a good idea to have each member write down a question before the meeting. Good discussion questions are typically somewhat open-ended and debatable, but are also specific enough to promote a focused discussion.
Discussion Questions for Fiction
The following general questions can be applied to any novel, and they provide a good starting point for creating your own discussion questions for a given work.
What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?
What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? What do you think he or she is trying to get across to the reader?
Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?
How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?
In what ways do the events in the books reveal evidence of the author's world view?
Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?
Discussion Questions for Nonfiction
While many book clubs choose to only read novels and other works of fiction, there are many fascinating works of nonfiction that make for excellent discussion. Biographies, memoirs, essays, and historical accounts can all be very good reads, with topics ranging from politics and religion to science and technology. The following questions should help provide some ideas for discussion.
What did you find surprising about the facts introduced in this book?
How has reading this book changed your opinion of a certain person or topic?
Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he or she achieve this?
If the author is writing on a debatable issue, does he or she give proper consideration to all sides the debate? Does he or she seem to have a bias?
How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?
