Books from Benin
10 popular beninese books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Africa Challenge" were written by authors from Benin.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
1.
As She Was Discovering Tigony by Olympe Bhely-Quenum EN
Description:
Dorcas Keurléonan-Moricet is a brilliant white geophysicist posted on assignment in Africa. She falls in love with a young African man, Ségué n’Di, and enters into an extramarital affair with him. In her professional work, she discovers deposits of minerals of inestimable worth. Reading the current age of globalization and neoliberalism as one in which the riches of Africa are again being cynically exploited by multinational companies—including her own—Keurléonan-Moricet’s views and her life gradually change. As the popular resistance against the dictatorial regime in power grows, she comes to... continue
2.
Autobiography of the Lower East Side : A Novel in Short Stories by Rashidah Ismaili EN
Description:
"This well established poet makes a brilliant debut in fiction with these complex, poetically detailed, interrelated stories of Blacks from Africa, the Caribbean and the USA who converge and form an artistic community in the early 1960s in the most easterly regions of Alphabet City ." -David Henderson, author of 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky "Ismaili charts the lower East side just prior to the turbulent, revolutionary Sixties, when the influence of Leroi Jones and the Black Arts Movement signaled a cultural sea-change. Her characters persevere through desertion, loss, abandonment and betraya... continue
3.
Eté utú (cuentos de tradición oral) : del por qué en África las cosas son lo que son by Agnès Agboton ES
Description:
Del continuo escarbar de las gallinas a la imposibilidad de que el sol y la luna convivan en el mismo cielo … Una selección de narraciones etiológicas africanas, por las que fluye un modo distinto de entender el mundo y la frágil espontaneidad de la tradición oral.
Oscilando entre el África que la vio nacer y la Europa donde vive desde hace muchos años, Agnes Agboton tiende en sus libros (Na Miton. La mujer en los cuentos y leyendas africanas, 2004; Más allá del mar de arena, 2005 o Canciones del poblado y del exilio, 2006), cuent... continue
4.
Historical Dictionary of Benin by Mathurin C. Houngnikpo, Samuel Decalo EN
Description:
Benin is now perceived of as a model of democracy in Africa because it has successfully established a democratic political system based on consensus and regular and fair elections, and it continues to improve its electoral and parliamentary systems. Since its democracy it has taken important steps towards laying the foundation for the rule of law by establishing stable political institutions that can withstand the test of time. It has also engaged in an important legal, institutional, and regulatory reform to establish a more favorable environment for private initiative. The fourth edition of ... continue
5.
Je chemine avec Angélique Kidjo by Angélique Kidjo FR
Description:
« Avant d’être femme, avant d’être noire, je suis un être humain. Née dans une famille de dix enfants, au Bénin, j’ai reçu une éducation atypique. Mes parents étaient féministes : filles comme garçons, nous allions tous à l’école et participions équitablement aux tâches ménagères. Ils ne nous dictaient jamais notre conduite mais nous incitaient à nous remettre en question. Nous avons appris à associer la tête et le cœur à nos réflexions. Cela me définit bien : je suis cette personne à qui on a enseigné la tolérance. Et la musique, bien sûr, est inscrite au cœur de ma personnalité. Mon père jou... continue
6.
Liaison d'un été by Olympe Bhély-Quénum FR
Description:
« C’est une folie que d’être à la fois un Nègre et le propriétaire d’un journal de qualité : j’ai vu beaucoup de portes se fermer devant moi et je me suis ruiné ; mais je suis heureux d’avoir tenté cette entreprise », répète-t-il en souriant. Dans le monde littéraire, tant africain qu’européen. Olympe Bhêly-Quénum n’est pas un inconnu. « Un piège sans fin », salué par la quasi-totalité de la presse parisienne et européenne en 1960, a révélé son talent de romancier. « Le chant du lac » paru en 1965, lui valut le Grand Prix Littérature d’Afrique Noire. L’ouvrage fut très rapidement adapté par Dr... continue
7.
Missing in Action and Presumed Dead : Poems by Rashidah Ismaili EN
Description:
Poems that tell the pain of being enslaved and displaced
8.
Snares Without End by Olympe Bhêly-Quénum EN
Description:
A novel, also a philosophical tale in which destiny entraps the innocent protagonist and holds him fast. Some readers have found an affinity in it with Camus' notion of the absurd, while others have preferred to dwell on its evocation of country life in northern Dahomey and the importance of music in the farmers' daily life. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
9.
Spirit Rising : My Life, My Music by Angelique Kidjo, Rachel Wenrick EN
Description:
“Spinning a dramatic soulful mix of text, photos, song lyrics, and even family recipes, Grammy-winning West African-born Angelique Kidjo ... takes us from her first vocal performance ... to her current life as a world-pop-chart-topping singer-songwriter, humanitarian activist, and UNICEF goodwill ambassador.” — Elle “This inspiring memoir is as much about the author’s love for family and homeland as it is about music ... readers will be enamored of this beautifully told tale of courage and determination, revealing an expansive life that proves ‘music has no color, no language, no boundaries.’ ... continue
10.
Why Goats Smell Bad by Raouf Mama EN
Description:
A collection of twenty folk stories from the Fon people of Benin, about orphans and twins with magical associations, spirits, animals, royalty, and farmers.