Tag Archives: Ghana

A Deathly Tour

Destination: Bali, Philippines, Sicily, Dorset in England, Ghana and other assorted locales.

Book Cover
Book: Making an Exit: From the Magnificent to the Macabre–How We Dignify the Dead (NEW December 2012) by Sarah Murray

Sarah Murray has chosen an intriguing subject for Making an Exithow we deal with death. And she has a winning style of writing.  I loved the concept–travel around the world to check on their customs and practices and decide how she herself would like to “Exit”. A travelogue of death rites.

She says that death is scary stuff…

But we humans are practical beings. When we need shelter, we build a house.  When we’re hungry, we hunt, farm, and cook.  So when confronted with the terrifying vision of our impending mortality, we get really creative.  After all, there’s perhaps no human condition to which more attention has been devoted than death.” Continue reading A Deathly Tour

Five Women’s Lives in Africa

[amazon_image id=”0805093621″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Civilized World: A Novel in Stories[/amazon_image]Destination: Ghana, Africa

Book: The Civilized World, a NEW book (April 2011)   by Susi Wyss

We have taken a look at a book that shows an old, tribal Africa and travel literature about the days of the explorers. Recently I talked about The First Grader, a film that shows the results of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya from the 1950s. With The Civilized World, we get a new view– a look at contemporary Africa, Africans living in a modern world, and non-Africans who live in Africa.

Elmina Window
Ghana Window

I always come away slightly puzzled from the kind of literature that ends with unresolved conflicts, or at least not solidly resolved. So if you are like me, be warned, the characters are intriguing and solid, but the story line expects you to use your imagination a bit. The women have plenty of self-doubts, but all do something gutsy. Continue reading Five Women’s Lives in Africa

African Nobel Prize Winner’s Book


Destination: Kenya, Africa

Book: Unbowed by Wangari Maathai

A GUEST POST by Gayle Pescud

I was in a modern bookstore for the first time in months in January,  getting well and truly high on the smell of new books (we live in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region of Ghana, 18 hours from Accra, the capital), but I could only buy one (I used my spending money on coffee and chocolate). Continue reading African Nobel Prize Winner’s Book