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76 popular south african 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 South Africa. 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.

61.

The Madonna of Excelsior : A Novel by Zakes Mda EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"A generous, patient, wry and intelligent voice...[that] suggests not just a writer who can seduce us through beautiful language and unfailing humor. We also encounter a writer who has the power to shock and frighten us, to astound and anger and unsettle us...In short, his is a voice for which one should feel not only affection but admiration." --Neil Gordon, New York Times Book Review Selection, Summer Reading, New York Times Book Review In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior in South Africa's white-ruled Free State were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sex bet... continue

62.

The Museum Murder : An Utterly Unputdownable Cozy Mystery by Katie Gayle EN

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Description:
Dastardly deeds, daring deceptions and a dress to die for… Epiphany Bloom is back on the case! Epiphany ‘Pip’ Bloom, would-be detective and London’s unluckiest woman, finds herself in a real costume drama when she unearths a theft at a fashion museum. The missing dress is a proper piece of Hollywood history, worth a fortune. And as Pip investigates, she finds the museum staff all had reasons to want the garment gone. From fancy boutiques to sketchy back alleys, Pip discovers the fashion world is not all glitz and glamour as she hunts down her prize. As if she ... continue

63.

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times “Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives ... continue

64.

The Promise by Damon Galgut EN

Rating: 4 (5 votes)
Description:
"Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa: Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life's unfulfilled promises; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt. Reunited by four funerals over three decades, the dwindling family reflects the atmosphere of its country-- an atmosphere of resentment, renewal, and ultimately hope"--Publisher marketing.
Genre

65.

The Return of the King : The Lord of the Rings #3 by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
Concluding the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the final part of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien's own design, the definitive text, and a detailed map of Middle-earth. The armies of the Dark Lord are massing as his evil shadow spreads ever wider. Men, Dwarves, Elves and Ents unite forces to do battle agains the Dark. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle further into Mordor in their heroic quest to destroy the One Ring. Impossible to describe in a few words, JRR Tolkien's great work of imaginative fiction has been labelled bot... continue

66.

The Two Towers : The Lord of the Rings #2 by J. R. R. Tolkien EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
The Company of the Ring is sundered. Frodo and Sam continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin - alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go. Thus continues the classic tale begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its awesome climax in The Return of the King.

67.

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Description:
From the author of Never Never, co-written with Colleen Hoover! #1 New York Times bestselling author Tarryn Fisher delivers a pulse-pounding, fast-paced suspense novel that will leave you breathless—an instant bestselling thriller you won’t be able to put down! Imagine that your husband has two other wives. You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself. But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you fi... continue

68.

Them : An Extreme Horror Novella by Mique Watson EN

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Description:
Jeanette thought she'd get to enjoy the cozy, rainy evening after the hellacious week she'd just endured. Snuggled up on her couch with her Labrador, Nico, everything seemed perfect. Rest couldn't come sooner. Then it happened. The program on the television cut to black. EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM. Jeanette's heart stops. The signal is choppy, yet the message is clear: "They look like people." And then the power goes out. Someone knocks on the door. It is soon made clear to Jeanette that the world she once knew has ended. The place she once called home is now anything but. The world beyond the... continue

69.

Things I Don't Want to Know : On Writing by Deborah Levy EN

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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

70.

Things I Don't Want to Know : A Response to George Orwell's 1946 Essay 'Why I Write' by Deborah Levy EN

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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


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