January 1 - December 31, 2009
Scavella at Scavella's Blogosphere is hosting the 2009 Caribbean Reading Challenge where participants commit to read by the end of 2009 six books written by Caribbean writers or that deal significantly with Caribbean people and/or issues.
The rules are:
- Create a blog post with your list of books to read for the challenge.
- When you read a book, write a review of it and post it on your blog. Then leave a comment on the page about the challenge with your blog-name and the book you are reviewing with a link to the review.
I’ve narrowed the challenge down somewhat, partly because the Caribbean’s probably one of the most misrepresented regions in literature, and I deliberately excluded books that take merely place in the Caribbean. Read them if you like, but try do so in the light of books written by/about Caribbean people. Often our islands (these generic, featureless “islands”) are no more than backdrops for the activities of “real” people. If you asked me, Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery, while a fun read, wouldn’t count for the challenge; nor would the hundreds of Harlequin romances of various flavours that are set on the Spanish Main (a.k.a. the Caribbean Sea) or on endless stretches of beach with funny-talking natives. Read them by all means; just don’t count ‘em.To learn more and to sign up, visit the page about the challenge and leave a comment.
