Read Around Africa Challenge

Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.

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Best books from Africa (603)
181.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese EN

Rating: 5 (8 votes)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined. This sweeping, emotionall... continue

182.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste EN

Rating: 3 (8 votes)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
A gripping novel set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record. With the threat of Mussolini’s army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid in Kidane and his wife Aster’s household. Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie’s army, rushes to mobilize his strongest men before the Italians invade. His initial kindness to Hirut shifts into a flinty cruelty when she resists his advances, and Hirut finds... continue

183.

Yes, Chef : A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson, Veronica Chambers EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the great culinary stories of our time.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Yes, Chef chr... continue

184.

The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
Seventeen years after fleeing the Ethiopian revolution, Sepha Stephanos runs a grocery store in a poor African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where he reflects on his past and the differences between his prospects and the life he imagined.

185.

Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom EN

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
Read the story that has inspired millions The desert, I remember. The shrieking hyenas, I remember....I remember playing soccer with rocks, and a strange man telling me and my brother Tewolde that we had to go on a trip and Tewolde refusing to go. The man took out a piece of gum and Tewolde happily traded it for his homeland.... So begins the remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father's a... continue

186.

The Wife's Tale : A Personal History by Aida Edemariam EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
A Finalist for The Governor General’s Award for Nonfiction in Canada In this indelible memoir that recalls the life of her remarkable ninety-five-year old grandmother, Guardian journalist Aida Edemariam tells the story of modern Ethiopia—a nation that would undergo a tumultuous transformation from feudalism to monarchy to Marxist revolution to democracy, over the course of one century. Born in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar in about 1916, Yetemegnu was married and had given birth before she turned fifteen. As the daughter of a socially prominent man, she also offered her husband, a poor... continue

187.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese EN

Rating: 5 (3 votes)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on So... continue

188.

Notes from the Hyena's Belly : An Ethiopian Boyhood by Nega Mezlekia EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
The author recalls his childhood in Ethiopia interspersed with information about the customs and everyday life in his hometown of Jijiga.

189.

Beneath the Lion's Gaze: A Novel : A Novel by Maaza Mengiste EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
"An important novel, rich in compassion for its anguished characters."—The New York Times Book Review This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother’s prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture to die. And Dawit, Hailu’s youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement—a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed... continue

190.

Der Schattenkönig by Maaza Mengiste DE

Rating: 3 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
Ein Buch über den Wiedestand der Frauen in Äthiopien während des Einfalls Italiens 1935