Memoir books from South Africa
Recommended memoir books (10)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into memoir here are some memoir books from South Africa for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
2.
Gem Squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
Faith struggles to make sense of the complex world in which she lives and come to terms with the beliefs her society and upbringing have inculcated in her. This tale of courage, set against the backdrop of a chaotically divided country, recreates the voice of a young girl growing up during the height of apartheid unrest in South Africa.
3.
Going to the Mountain : Life Lessons from My Grandfather, Nelson Mandela by Ndaba Mandela EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
The first-ever book to tell Nelson Mandela's life through the eyes of the grandson who was raised by him, chronicling Ndaba Mandela's life living with, and learning from, one of the greatest leaders and humanitarians the world has ever known. To the rest of the world, Nelson Mandela was a giant: an anti-apartheid revolutionary, a world-renowned humanitarian, and South Africa's first black president. To Ndaba Mandela, he was simply "Granddad." In Going to the Mountain, Ndaba tells how he came to live with Mandela shortly after he turned eleven--having met each other only once, years before, whe... continue
5.
Kaffir Boy : The True Story Of A Black Youths Coming Of Age In Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A Black writer describes his childhood in South Africa under apartheid and recounts how Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith helped him leave for America on a tennis scholarship
6.
Long Walk to Freedom : The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. 'Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity ... Unforgettable' Andre Brink 'Enthralling ... Mandela emulates the few great political leaders such as L... continue
7.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years : A Novel by Shubnum Khan EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
“A dark and heady dream of a book” (Alix E. Harrow) about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, ho... continue
8.
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
She does not know how, but has a sabi from her earliest memory that she was different. What she does know is that 'difference' had currency in the past, and it certainly still has currency today. The Sabi will have an effect on you - have no doubt about that. In her debut novel, Diane Brown takes a scenic and open-eyed walk down memory lane to the 1960's when apartheid was in full swing to the early 1990's when South Africa was beginning to sense freedom. She ventures further back in time to help solve the puzzle of the current time, how did South Africa become so angry and so violent? Writing... continue
9.
Things I Don't Want to Know : On Writing by Deborah Levy EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A shimmering jewel of a book about writing from two-time Booker Prize finalist Deborah Levy, to publish alongside her new work of nonfiction, The Cost of Living. Blending personal history, gender politics, philosophy, and literary theory into a luminescent treatise on writing, love, and loss, Things I Don't Want to Know is Deborah Levy's witty response to George Orwell's influential essay "Why I Write." Orwell identified four reasons he was driven to hammer at his typewriter--political purpose, historical impulse, sheer egoism, and aesthetic enthusiasm--and Levy's newest work riffs on these sa... continue
10.
Things I Don't Want to Know : A Response to George Orwell's 1946 Essay 'Why I Write' by Deborah Levy EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory and shape it to her need. It is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succour, from one of our most vital contemporary writers. This first volume of the trilogy focuses on the writer as a young woman - the confusion and turbulence of youth, and the uncertainties of carving an identity as a writer. The second volume, The Co... continue