Silent Reading Parties for Adults

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It's called many different names around the country & the world. Regardless of the program title, the intent is the same—to develop fluent readers by providing time during the school day for kids to read quietly for an hour.

But did you know that silent reading parties for adults are a thing as well?

Thought to be invented by Christopher Frizzelle of Seattle 7 or 8 years ago, silent reading parties were created as a way to promote the fun/importance of reading & generally take place monthly. Often held at cozy bars with couches & plenty of other seating, you can grab a drink & read in comfortable silence for an hour or two among fellow book lovers.

BYOB has a different meaning for these events--it's Bring Your Own Book as attendees don’t read the same novel. Most of the time, attendees are not even expected to discuss what they’re reading. It's just pure reading as a community in a shared space. 

These "parties" are perfect for people who like companionable silence while they read. They are also inclusive without being intrusive. You can show up, read & leave without saying a word if you wish. Some events are quiet with only a occasional hushed question or comment.  Some merge the ideas of reading & party with a time for introductions to your fellow readers/their books, an hour of quiet reading & then optional mingling afterwards. A few events even offer a free book swap. Occasionally, people even end up hanging out reading & discussing books all night long.

If a silent reading party appeals to you, look for one in your area on the Silent Book Club site, through an online search (using phrases like silent reading party & silent book club) or via social media. The Silent Book Club also offers tips to help you create a club in your area if none currently exist.

I'm sad to say that though two such silent reading groups exist in NYC where I reside, neither have any new events planned so let me know if attend a silent reading party so I can live vicariously through your bookish self. 

Happy reading!

Book Suggestions for September?

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Mia choose September's country to read because she's recently been listening to a lot of this location's music. I love the music too along with this country's passion for soccer (or football as many call it).

Still unsure which country we're talking about? Play the video below for some great background music while you read on. (It's a catchy song from there which translated into English is titled, "The Telephone Rang Again.")

Ooh! Samba, funk, rock & bossa nova merged wonderfully together. Nice choice, Mia! :)

Any guesses as to the country we're adventuring to next month? Well, if you know where samba & bossa nova are from, you've probably guessed correctly. Brazil!

Their main language is Portuguese. It's the largest country in South America covering 3.3 million sq. mi. (8.6 million sq. km) which is around 47% of the continent & it has one of the longest coastlines in the world at 4,655 mi. (7,491 km) long. In addition to music, Brazil is most famous for it's Amazon River, the annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro & seriously huge football/soccer stars like Pele, Ronaldo, & Ronaldinho not to mention their successful World Cup team who has won an astonishing 5 times.

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And don't get me started on the food! As this gorgeous cookbook by a Rio de Janeiro native notes, "Brazilian food is an explosion of color and flavor—the mixture of three distinct cultures, Portuguese, African, and native Indian."

Brazilian cheese bread (pão de queijo) is crispy on the outside while soft & chewy on the inside filled with a cheesy tang. Fritters, croquettes & empanadas are deliciously-fried guilty pleasures while dulce de leche cake with a sour cream sorbet makes the perfect Brazilian dessert. 

The very addictive caipirinha made with cachaça, sugar & lime is the national cocktail. 

Brazil will be an amazing country to read & we'd love to hear book suggestions from you. Just let us know by Mon., Aug. 14 11PM ET. (That's NYC time. See this converted to your local time below.)

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

Please note - We're specific in the books we read, they must: 

• Largely occur in the country specified unless the world described is an alternate universe
• Be written by an author born there who has spent a good portion of their life there
• Exist in paperback & ebook available on both Amazon & Kindle at least in the US & hopefully elsewhere

A Fantastic Replacement for OverDrive is Here

I adore OverDrive. I've used it to borrow books from my library for years. I listen to borrowed audiobooks on the OverDrive app & borrow ebooks from the app to then read on my Kindle. But there's a new kid in town & her name's Libby. She's looking to replace OverDrive in your heart & on your mobile device/laptop.

You may be surprised to find out that OverDrive is even welcoming her to the world. That's because they're the ones who built her. Yep, they're replacing OverDrive with Libby!

So What's the difference between OverDrive & Libby?

You get all of the same basic functionality you've learned to love with OverDrive, but a far better experience with Libby. Libby has a cleaner user interface & is less confusing. Since she's more streamlined than OverDrive, she's also quicker to use. In addition, you can easily toggle between libraries if you hold cards from multiple institutions & Libby even allows for different cardholders within the same family. She's also pretty d*mn cute! Even the name "Libby" is sweet since it's also short for library.

Like any new product, there is some room for improvement such as more sophisticated formatting options. However, I loved Libby so much that she has replaced OverDrive on my phone & my computer.

Happy reading!

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Is It Really a "Fun" Quiz If You Get All the Answers Wrong?

I never seem to do well at the literary quizzes. Most of the time, they seem to focus on books I haven't read or details that just didn't seem important enough for me to remember.

Can real people actually remember the opening or closing lines of books?

I swear I'm well read, but I seem prefer books which aren't often hugely popular with my peers. No Jane Austen or Kafka for me. I love Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn & Isaac Asimov!

So it was a huge relief to take a basic literature test & just get a single question wrong.

Do you do well at these literary quizzes? Take this quick quiz & tell me how you did. 

Adventuring by Book to North Korea in August

It's likely this will be the only way we see North Korea...through the eyes of someone else. 

Our next book was written by someone who has been called "North Korea’s Solzhenitsyn" comparing the author to the Russian Nobel laureate whose writing helped raise global awareness of the Soviet regime's injustices.

The parallels with North Korea are obvious.

The Accusation is thought to be the first fiction published abroad by someone still living in North Korea. In fact, this is the only fiction we found written by a North Korean author period. Smuggled out of the country in 2013, this work of fiction is a dystopian thriller. But the book is no fantasy. It’s the reality for 25 million people living out unparalleled human rights abuses in North Korea today.

"The Accusation is a deeply moving and eye-opening work of fiction that paints a powerful portrait of life under the North Korean regime. Set during the period of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il’s leadership, the seven stories that make up The Accusation give voice to people living under this most bizarre and horrifying of dictatorships. The characters of these compelling stories come from a wide variety of backgrounds, from a young mother living among the elite in Pyongyang whose son misbehaves during a political rally, to a former Communist war hero who is deeply disillusioned with the intrusion of the Party into everything he holds dear, to a husband and father who is denied a travel permit and sneaks onto a train in order to visit his critically ill mother. Written with deep emotion and writing talent, The Accusation is a vivid depiction of life in a closed-off one-party state, and also a hopeful testament to the humanity and rich internal life that persists even in such inhumane conditions."

Note: The author of this book is anonymous, but it's believed that he was born in China. Usually, the author's birth in another country would exclude this book from our list of North Korean suggestions. We made an exception because:

1. This work of fiction is unique & we found no other genres aside from memoirs.
2. The author was born of North Korean parents.
3. It seems likely that the author moved to North Korea as a baby. 

A special thank you to book club member, Aisha Esbhani for the suggestion and Yeonsang Cho, who lives in South Korea, for her impassioned plea to include this important work.

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Soothing Music...for Reading?

A friend of mine swears that playing spa music in the background while she reads helps her delve deeper into her book. That it not only soothes her, but adds some white noise blocking out everything else happening in her house.

I'm not one of those people who can easily listen to music & do other things at the same time. However, I must admit that Pandora's New Age Spa Music station wasn't as distracting as I thought it would be. I don't think I'll be listening to music when I read in the future (sorry, Denise), but it's still fun to try new things.

How about you? Do you listen to music when you read?

VOTE: Which Book Should We Read From North Korea?

North Korea has always fascinated me because of it's isolation & the scary articles/photos I've seen about escapees. But inflammatory news articles can be very different from books.

We were only able to find memoirs from North Korea which exactly match our requirements for the types of books we read. However, we made an exception & included a single work of fiction in the list of books. The reasoning as to why is noted in this particular book's description.

A special thank you to book club members, Elke Richelsen & Aisha Esbhani for making North Korean suggestions as well as Yeonsang Cho (who lives in South Korea) for her impassioned plea to include a specific book. I'd also like to give a shout out to gold star member, Ivor Watkins who was kind enough to test a large number of back-end changes on our web site. 

You can vote until Thurs., July 20. To participate:

1. Review the books.

2. Vote by ranking each book in order from most want to read to least want to read.

We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the book in advance.

13 More Reasons You'll Love an eReader/Kindle

I've offered 12 reasons you'll love an eReader/Kindle, but below are 13 more which are bound to convince you if haven't yet made up your mind.

1. Book reviews & suggestions available from your device. No need to look them up separately. 

2. More comfortable to hold in your hand than a book.

3. You can loan eBooks out on many eReaders.

4. No lugging around heavy books. Store hundreds on your eReader. 

5. It's one click to add your book to Goodreads.

6. The Kindle & many other eReaders recognize how fast you are reading so at a glance you can understand how long it will take you to finish a chapter or the book. 

7. Depending upon the eReader, you can save special pages throughout the book, make notes & highlight passages...& export these as a simple file for book club. If you ever re-read a book, everything remains available.

8. Some eReaders have a glare-free screen & automatically adjust your screen brightness to your current light condition so your eReader can go from full sunlight to dusk to nighttime with the screen showing the correct brightness for your eyes automatically.

9. With a Kindle & many other eReaders, words you look up in the dictionary are automatically added to a Vocabulary Builder which you can review to reinforce retention. 

10. Your eReader will automatically save your place in the book.

11. Many eReaders also have apps which allow you to pick up where you left off on your eReader & snatch a few minutes of reading on your phone.

12. With some eReaders, you can lookup word definitions, characters, settings, footnotes & many translations without losing your place in the book. 

13. Less clutter around your home. No more books stuffed everywhere or boxes hidden away. Keep only a smattering of special books on your bookshelf & coffee table.

I went from an eBook hater to a huge proponent. Try out an eReader & I'm sure you'll become an instant convert too.

Final note: I cherish my current Kindle Voyager & I loved my previous Kindle Paperwhite. Don't be snookered into the expensive Kindle Oasis. The Paperwhite? Delightful. The Voyage? A bit nicer, but pricier.

Want to Suggest a Book for Next Month's Country?

Mia & I decided to choose our next country to read because it has been in the news of late for very scary reasons. They've recently performed a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) & there have been implications of a possible nuclear threat.

<shudder>

As a last bastion of undiluted communism, North Korea is a unique country in isolation & one we think we should delve into further. Initially, we worried that few books would be available since North Korea doesn't promote freethinking & people don't often escape. But we managed to find enough books that we'll be able to provide a nice selection. One caveat: We won't have as large a variety of genres to choose from since every book we found with the exception of one was a memoir. However, all the North Korean books seem fascinating to us & we think you'll agree.

Book club members will vote on which book to read on July 15 from a list of 6 books. Before then, if you have any North Korean books to suggest, please let us know. Just remember that we are specific in the books we read. They must:

- Largely occur in North Korea unless the world described is an alternate reality
- Be written by an author born there who has spent a good portion of their life there
- Exist in paperback & ebook available on both Amazon & Kindle at least in the US & hopefully elsewhere

Until then, the questions on my mind are: Do the North Koreans really believe what they're told & do they truly revere their "Dear Leader"? We shall soon find out.

Easy Ways You Can Help #SaveTheBees (Action Book Club)

Bees are dying around the world. But as a part of the Action Book Club Program, we've compiled 10 easy ways you can help #SaveTheBees.

The Finnish book we read (The Blood of Angels) we read for our online book club spotlighted a future world where bee deaths created global food shortages. Our current world is not that far away from such devastation since bees are responsible for about 1/3 of the food we eat & horrifying bee losses are being reported with 33% of domesticated bees & 23% of wild bees dead in the US!

These same problems are occurring everywhere across the globe, but you can help #SaveTheBees:

1. Share this post.
Make your social network aware of the issue by sharing this post with the tag #SaveTheBees.

2. Sign a petition.
Make your voice heard using the largest global web movement calling on decision makers to save the bees & the global food supply.

3. Give thirsty bees a free drink.
Bees die of thirst, but you can make a difference by putting a shallow dish of fresh water outside with mini "islands" of marbles/rocks/cork. (Bees can drown so don't forget to include the islands!)

4. Buy local, raw honey.
Supermarket honey is a blend of honeys from many different countries & floral origins (& sometimes includes corn syrup!). There’s no way for you to know it's origins or composition. It's also processed, heated & filtered so that it has a color & translucence that we have mistakenly come to know as "honey." Real honey is locally-produced, raw honey which you can buy at farmer's markets, specialty grocery stores, local apiaries & even online from companies like Bee Raw. You’ve heard of wine flights where you try different wines? Bee Raw even offers a honey flight packaged in beautiful glass vials.

5. Use eco-friendly honey instead of highly-processed sugar.
Instead of unhealthy sugar in your recipes, use local, raw honey which is better for you & the environment. Here are some delicious honey recipes to try.

6. Avoid using garden & lawn chemicals.
Pesticides, insecticides & many fertilizers are not only decimating bee & other wildlife populations, but are linked to cancer in people. Switch to a strategy of integrated pest management or opt for organic fertilizers & biological controls. Better for your family & the bees.

7. Plant native, bee-friendly flowers & flowering herbs.
Bees are suffering from malnutrition. Any person who has even a postage-stamp yard (or a windowsill!) can put in native bee-friendly plants & leave some wild areas to give bees a place to nourish themselves & their hive. Butterflies & hummingbirds will love these areas as much as the bees do! Here are guides on which native plants are best: US | Canada | UK

8. Let clover, dandelions & other useful "weeds" bloom.
Before mowing your lawn, allow these useful "weeds" to bloom so bees can benefit from these important nectar & pollen sources. 

9. Encourage schools to promote bee-friendly programs.
Help expose students to new ideas about food, wildlife & plants through bee-friendly programs & school garden kits: US | Canada | UK

10. Donate (even small amounts help!)
Donate to an organization dedicated to helping protect/promote bees & other pollinators. We love The Pollinator Partnership which was given the highest rating (4 stars) from Charity Navigator.

To learn more about bees

Check out this great article on bees from DIY Garden! (Their site is also chock full of creative gardening tips you'll love as well.)

Have You Ever Contacted an Author of a Book?

When I was very young, I wrote to Steven Spielberg as a part of a class project. All the other kids heard back from the people they contacted. Some received a form letter. Others received personal hand written letters & gifts!

I was the only one who didn't hear back at all & it crushed me. :(

Up until recently, this was my only experience in reaching out to someone in the public eye.

Then, I wrote to Douglas Rogers, the author of the May book our book club read called, The Last Resort. He responded back almost immediately & the little girl in me squealed with delight. 

I contacted him after our last book club discussion where we discussed the memoir piquing everyone's curiosity.  Was the resort (Drifters) still open & how were the author's parents doing? I thought Drifters was open pointing to a couple of links I found online. Club member Judy Shenk believed the links referenced a tour group instead.

So to find out the truth, I decided to ask the author directly & here is his response:

It was gratifying to hear back from Douglas, but even more so to know what actually happened to Drifters as well as Douglas' parents. (Special thanks to Judy whose discussion point made me curious enough to reach out to our Zimbabwean book author.)

So have you contacted an author you love or hate? If so, what drove you to send a message & what was the response?

Our Guatemalan July book is...

Thank you to all who voted! All votes have now been tallied. I'm excited to read Guatemala & support an author from a country with such a low literacy rate.

I hope that you'll be excited as I am to read this book, but I also want to note for all our new members that we want reading to be fun. We hope you to read the book & participate in the discussion. However, if this doesn't happen, that's ok. Mia & I will love you anyway. :)

So without further ado, the winning book chosen by our book club members for July is...

"'Right from the start I picked her for a thief, although that day she didn’t take anything. . . . I knew she’d be back,' the narrator/bookseller of Severina recalls in this novel’s opening pages. Imagine a dark-haired book thief as alluring as she is dangerous. Imagine the mesmerized bookseller secretly tracking the volumes she steals, hoping for insight into her character, her motives, her love life. In Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s hands, this tale of obsessive love is told with almost breathless precision and economy. The bookstore owner is soon entangled in Severina’s mystery: seductive and peripatetic, of uncertain nationality, she steals books to actually read them and to share with her purported grandfather, Señor Blanco.
 
In this unsettling exploration of the alienating and simultaneously liberating power of love, the bookseller’s monotonous existence is rocked by the enigmatic Severina. As in a dream, the disoriented man finds that the thin border between rational and irrational is no longer reliable. Severina confirms Rey Rosa’s privileged place in contemporary world literature."

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VOTE: Which Book Should We Read From Guatemala?

It was difficult to discover book suggestions for Guatemala. Many of the books found weren't written by Guatemalan authors, weren't available in both electronic & paper format, were only in Spanish, or were from authors who left Guatemala as young children. However, we persevered & together came up with 6 wonderful Guatemalan books.

But before I get into the books, I'd like to introduce the book club member who made a Guatemalan book suggestion this month which fit all of the criteria, Aisha Esbhani. We have a wide variety of passionate book club members, but Aisha is pretty special. Just like Mia & I, she realized that her book shelf was filled almost entirely with books by North American & British authors so she set out to change this by reading the world. But her story is a bit different from ours in that she made this decision when she was just 12 years old last year. Here's her full story if you want to find out more. We're happy to have Aisha as a book club member & pleased that she helped us craft our list of Guatemalan books this month!

You have a number of genres to choose from for our Guatemala book: nonfiction, literature, history, poetry & testimonio (the latter of which is described in more detail in that book's description).

You can vote until Tues., June 20. To participate:

1. Review the books.

2. Vote by ranking each book in order from most want to read to least want to read.

We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the book in advance.

Our New Book Suggestion Method & New Country

With our book club growing, we're adjusting how we compile the monthly book list. We'll now create a list of 6 books per month as follows:

• I will suggest 2 books
• Mia will suggest 2 books
• We'll use 2 suggestions from members*

(This list is later voted on by members & the most popular book becomes the book we'll then read.) 

*Notes:

• If more than 2 books are suggested, the entire list of suggestions will be entered into a lottery with 2 randomly chosen.
• If fewer than 2 books are suggested, than Mia/I will add to the list to ensure a total of 6 books is compiled.
• If more than 1 suggestion is provided by a single member, Mia & I will choose the book we feel will work best for the book club.

With all of this in mind, we'd love to hear book suggestions from you. Just let us know by Wed., June 14 11:59PM US ET. Also, please note we're specific in the books we read, they must: 

• Largely occur in the country specified unless the world described is an alternate universe
• Be written by an author born there who has spent a good portion of their life there
• Exist in paperback & ebook available on both Amazon & Kindle at least in the US & hopefully elsewhere

But what country will we be reading?

We'll be adventuring to a place we haven't been before as a club: Central America. Known for its volcanoes, ancient Mayan ruins, coffee & crazy bus rides, we'll be reading Guatemala!

Voting Is "Finnished" ;) & Here's Our June Book

When your votes were tallied, there was a tie for 1st place: The Summer Book & The Blood of Angels. Because of this, we created a new rule: Mia & I will break any tie by choosing the novel we think is best for the book club.

Both books were suggested by club members & looked fantastic, but we chose The Blood of Angels because it's science fiction which we haven't read much of & it's an eco-thriller (with a hint of magic) which we haven't read at all.

"Another novel from the award-winning author of Troll & a powerhouse of the Finnish science fiction & fantasy scene.

It is claimed Einstein said that if bees disappear from the earth, mankind has four years left. When bee-vanishings of unprecedented scale hit the U.S., Orvo, a Finnish beekeeper, knows where it will lead. And when he sees the queen dead in his hives, it's clear the epidemic has spread to Europe, & the world is coming to an end. Orvo's knowledge of bees just may enable him to glimpse a solution to catastrophe: he takes a desperate step onto a path where only he & the bees know the way but it propels him into conflict with his estranged, but much-loved son, a committed animal activist. A magical plunge into the myth of death & immortality, this is a tale of human blindness in the face of devastation—& the inevitable."

(A special thank you to book club member, Caity Greig for the suggestion.)

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VOTE: Which Finnish Book Should We Read in June?

In June, we're adventuring by book to a very different place this month's Zimbabwe book: Finland, a stable country with cold winters, thousands of lakes & a view of the Northern Lights.

Including our suggestions as well as those from book club members (thanks Caity, Ivor & Stéphanie G.!), we have sci fi, short stories, literature & satire for you to choose from for our Finland book.

You can vote until Sat., May 20. To participate:

1. Review the books.

2. Vote by ranking each book in order from most want to read to least want to read.

We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the Finnish book in advance.

Curious What Country We'll Read in June or Have a Book Suggestion?

Well, this candy is made there. Apparently, you can make a "medicine" from it which is a "cure for all ailments" by crushing 2 bags & combining it with 1.5 liters of vodka. :o At least, that's what it says on Amazon.

Just knowing this makes me want to read...

...FINLAND all the more. Yep, we're going to a place quite different from May's Zimbabwe book.

We'll vote on which book to read on May 15 from a list of at least 6 books across genres. Before then, if you have any Finnish books to suggest, let us know. Just remember that we are specific in the books we read. They must:

- Largely occur in Finland unless the world described is an alternate universe
- Be written by an author born there who has spent a good portion of their life there
- Exist in paperback & ebook available on both Amazon & Kindle at least in the US & hopefully elsewhere

You Voted & May's Zimbabwean Book is...

Mia & I are excited to take this trip to read a new continent & hope you are as well. As you'll see at the end of this post, the top 3 books scored close to one another & we had a 3-way tie for 4th place! This has never happened before since the algorithm used when you rank each book weights each selection. 

The winner is...

"Thrilling, heartbreaking, and, at times, absurdly funny, The Last Resort is a remarkable true story about one family in a country under siege and a testament to the love, perseverance, and resilience of the human spirit. 

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Douglas Rogers is the son of white farmers living through that country’s long and tense transition from postcolonial rule. He escaped the dull future mapped out for him by his parents for one of adventure and excitement in Europe and the United States. But when Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe launched his violent program to reclaim white-owned land and Rogers’s parents were caught in the cross fire, everything changed. Lyn and Ros, the owners of Drifters–a famous game farm and backpacker lodge in the eastern mountains that was one of the most popular budget resorts in the country–found their home and resort under siege, their friends and neighbors expelled, and their lives in danger. But instead of leaving, as their son pleads with them to do, they haul out a shotgun and decide to stay. 

On returning to the country of his birth, Rogers finds his once orderly and progressive home transformed into something resembling a Marx Brothers romp crossed with Heart of Darkness: pot has supplanted maize in the fields; hookers have replaced college kids as guests; and soldiers, spies, and teenage diamond dealers guzzle beer at the bar. 

And yet, in spite of it all, Rogers’s parents–with the help of friends, farmworkers, lodge guests, and residents–among them black political dissidents and white refugee farmers–continue to hold on. But can they survive to the end? 

In the midst of a nation stuck between its stubborn past and an impatient future, Rogers soon begins to see his parents in a new light: unbowed, with passions and purpose renewed, even heroic. And, in the process, he learns that the "big story" he had relentlessly pursued his entire adult life as a roving journalist and travel writer was actually happening in his own backyard. 

Evoking elements of The Tender Bar and Absurdistan, The Last Resort is an inspiring, coming-of-age tale about home, love, hope, responsibility, and redemption. An edgy, roller-coaster adventure, it is also a deeply moving story about how to survive a corrupt Third World dictatorship with a little innovation, humor, bribery, and brothel management."

View on Amazon (US) | (UK) | (Canada)

---

VOTE: Which Zimbabwean Book Should We Read in May?

Mia picked an interesting country for May & I think the choice of books reflects this. We found many "Zimbabwean" books which were written about the country, but not by someone born there. Or books like the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which are immensely popular & written by someone born in Zimbabwe, but take place in another African country instead. However, we're quite pleased by the literature, memoirs, short stories & historical fiction included in the list of books for you to vote on along with a book of essays kindly suggested by book club member, Ivor Watkins. All of the books are written by authors born in Zimbabwe, living a good portion of their life in Zimbabwe & about Zimbabwe. (Ok, now "Zimbabwe" sounds strange to me since I've written it more times in this article than I've probably said it in my entire life.)

It's all up to you now:

1. Review the books.

2. Vote by ranking each book in order from most want to read to least want to read.

Voting ends on Thurs., 4/20. We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the Zimbabwean book ahead of time.

Curious About the Unique Flag of the Country We'll Be Reading in May?

Before 1980, Zimbabwe was alternately known as Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia & Zimbabwe Rhodesia before becoming the Republic of Zimbabwe as it's known today (after the historical stone structures called "Great Zimbabwe", the largest in Africa after the pyramids of Egypt). And this flag was adopted.

• The red stripes represent the blood shed for independence. 
• The yellow stripes represent the country's mineral wealth.
• The green stripes symbolize Zimbabwe's agriculture & land.
• The black stripe represents the African people.
• The bird is a national symbol & represents a soapstone statuette of the bird found at the Great Zimbabwe archaeological site.
• The red star behind the bird represents socialism.
• The white triangle behind the red star stands for peace.

Weird fact: Zimbabwe has banned the use of its own flag.