#DecolonizeBookshelves2022 Reading Round-Up

Myra here.

2022 is about to end – where did the days go? I thought now is a good time as any to share my round-up of the books I managed to read for our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme.

Inspired by This Is The Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelf In 50 Books (Amazon | Book Depository), I initially intended to read 25 out of the 50 titles included in this book.

Unfortunately, I only managed to read 17 out of my target 25 titles, which I have listed below in the order that I read them:

1. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
2. Territory Of Light by Yuko Tsushima translated by Geraldine Harcourt [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
3. Love In A Fallen City by Eileen Chang and translated by Karen S. Kingsbury [Amazon | Book Depository]- see my review here.
4. Woman At Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi and Translated by Sherif Hetata [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
5. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
6. The Sellout by Paul Beatty [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
7. So Long A Letter by Mariama Ba [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
8. Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
9. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
10. Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
11. The Emperor’s Babe by Bernardine Evaristo [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
12. Discerner Of Hearts And Other Stories by Olive Senior [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
13. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
14. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
15. Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
16. The Bridges Of Constantine by Ahlem Mosteghanemi and Translated by Raphael Cohen [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.
17. The White Girl by Tony Birch [Amazon | Book Depository] – see my review here.

However, my reading progress indicates that I was able to read 106 titles in total within our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme, across 40 countries, and 18 languages.

I am glad that I was able to bear witness to stories coming from Ghana, Jamaica, Palestine, Colombia, Algeria, Haiti, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Antigua, Syria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Dominican Republic – just to cite a few.

While the structured academic nerd in me values book lists, the free-spirited, adventurous bibliophile part of me struggles to be confined to a rigid booklist which makes me regard my reading as more obligatory or mandatory – as opposed to a deliciously unexpected journey that I undertake as a reader. Plus, going through booklists leaves me with a hankering to create my own, hence I created my own personal reading progress (which can technically stand in as another list of sorts) that goes beyond the initial reading goal I set for myself. One thing I also realized is that I generally liked the books I discovered on my own as opposed to books that I had to read as part of the “assigned” reading list. I will share my #Top22of2022 booklist in another post that is forthcoming.

Given our commitment to decolonize our bookshelves, we will be extending our reading theme on to 2023 – especially since I am not even halfway through the list in This Is The Canon (!!). See here for our announcement page on our upcoming #DecolonizeReading2023 theme.