Sunday, August 24, 2014

September 2014: The Rent Collector

We will now be traveling to Cambodia to discuss the book "The Rent Collector" by Camron Wright. 

Here's a Book Summary:

Survival for Ki Lim and Sang Ly is a daily battle at Stung Meanchey, the largest municipal waste dump in all of Cambodia. They make their living scavenging recyclables from the trash. Life would be hard enough without the worry for their chronically ill child, Nisay, and the added expense of medicines that are not working. Just when things seem worst, Sang Ly learns a secret about the bad-tempered rent collector who comes demanding money - a secret that sets in motion a tide that will change the life of everyone it sweeps past. The Rent Collector is a story of hope, of one woman's journey to save her son and another woman's chance at redemption.

http://www.therentcollectorbook.com/about.htm
 
We will be meeting at Mojo Bicycle Cafe in NOPA neighborhood on Sunday September 14th at 2pm, cross street is Fulton. 

http://www.punchbowl.com/parties/c0d51ea80ce4013b25a1

Next books to read:

October - Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

August 2014: Ghana Must Go

***Apologies for not posting this on the blog on time****


We will focusing August on reading and discussing the book "Ghana Must Go" by Taiye Selasi, released in 2013.
Here's a Book Summary:

Kweku Sai is dead. A renowned surgeon and failed husband, he succumbs suddenly at dawn outside his home in suburban Accra. The news of Kweku’s death sends a ripple around the world, bringing together the family he abandoned years before. Ghana Must Go is their story. Electric, exhilarating, beautifully crafted, Ghana Must Go is a testament to the transformative power of unconditional love, from a debut novelist of extraordinary talent.

Moving with great elegance through time and place, Ghana Must Go charts the Sais’ circuitous journey to one another. In the wake of Kweku’s death, his children gather in Ghana at their enigmatic mother’s new home. The eldest son and his wife; the mysterious, beautiful twins; the baby sister, now a young woman: each carries secrets of his own. What is revealed in their coming together is the story of how they came apart: the hearts broken, the lies told, the crimes committed in the name of love. Splintered, alone, each navigates his pain, believing that what has been lost can never be recovered—until, in Ghana, a new way forward, a new family, begins to emerge.

Ghana Must Go is at once a portrait of a modern family, and an exploration of the importance of where we come from to who we are. In a sweeping narrative that takes us from Accra to Lagos to London to New York, Ghana Must Go teaches that the truths we speak can heal the wounds we hide.
We will be meeting in the Mission neighborhood at the Atlas Cafe (between Alabama and Florida Street) on 20th Street. 

Next Books to Read:
September - The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
October - Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie