Read Around Africa Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.
Best books from Africa (804)
441.
Eleganţa ariciului by Muriel Barbery RO
MoroccoDescription:
In Eleganta Ariciului „sunt doua eroine: o fetita precoce si o portareasa care-si ascunde bine jocul, incearcand sa lase impresia ca e doar o portareasa, ea fiind de fapt foarte citita, foarte erudita si foarte fina.
Sunt doua singuratati care, pe masura ce in cladirea in care locuiesc se petrec anumite evenimente, ies incetul cu incetul din singuratate, se schimba, se transforma, renasc. Vor trai o gramada de transformari interioare. De indata ce am spus asta, mi se pare un pic superficial. De fapt, cand scriu, nu o fac ca sa spun o poveste, chiar daca, la capat, ea insasi se poveste... continue
442.
Dreams Of Trespass : Tales Of A Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi EN
Description:
This "wonderful and enchanting" memoir tells the revelatory true story of one Muslim girl's life in her family's French Moroccan harem, set against the backdrop of World War II (The New York Times Book Review). "I was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez, Morocco..." So begins Fatima Mernissi in this illuminating narrative of a childhood behind the iron gates of a domestic harem. In Dreams of Trespass, Mernissi weaves her own memories with the dreams and memories of the women who surrounded her in the courtyard of her youth -- women who, without access to the world outside, recreated it from sheer i... continue
443.
EL ULTIMO AMIGO by Tahar Ben Jelloun ES
Description:
La novela es la historia de una amistad de adolescencia y su prolongación durante la vida de los dos protagonistas, narrada por cada uno de ellos, y finalmente por un tercer amigo. Más allá de algunos clichés y situaciones previsibles, un buen trasfondo de Tánger (y las menciones de la historia de Fez) y una excelente narración que me atrapó hasta el final.
444.
Canción dulce by Leïla Slimani ES
Description:
Myriam, madre de dos niños, decide reemprender su actividad laboral en un bufete de abogados a pesar de las reticencias de su marido. Tras un minucioso proceso de selección para encontrar una niñera, se deciden por Louise, que rápidamente conquista el corazón de los niños y se convierte en una figura imprescindible en el hogar. Pero poco a poco la trampa de la interdependencia va a convertirse en un drama.
446.
Watch Us Dance by Leila Slimani EN
Description:
Morocco, 1968. The air is electric. Anything feels possible, and Mathilde is determined to celebrate it. Doesn't she have the right to enjoy life, after dedicating her best years to the war and then to this farm?
Looking out at her elegant garden, Mathilde reflects on all she has achieved. Now in a newly independent country intoxicated by its own sense of freedom, she yearns for a radiant future.
But her babies are now grown up, and Mathilde is about to learn that life can take wild and unexpected turns.
447.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery EN
Description:
The lives of fifty-four-year-old concierge Rene Michel and extremely bright, suicidal twelve-year-old Paloma Josse are transformed by the arrival of a new tenant, Kakuro Ozu.
448.
Secret Son : A Novel by Laila Lalami EN
Description:
In the spirit of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," Lalami's powerful first novel explores the struggle for identity, the need for family, and the desperation that overtakes ordinary lives in a country divided by class, politics, and religion.
449.
The Perfect Nanny : A Novel by Leila Slimani EN
Description:
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her. One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book Review, by the author of Adèle, Sex and Lies, and In the Country of Others “A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger “One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition When Myriam decides to return to ... continue
450.
The Hospital by Ahmed Bouanani EN
Description:
A tour de force: an utterly singular modern Moroccan classic “When I walked through the large iron gate of the hospital, I must have still been alive…” So begins Ahmed Bouanani’s arresting, hallucinatory 1989 novel The Hospital, appearing for the first time in English translation. Based on Bouanani’s own experiences as a tuberculosis patient, the hospital begins to feel increasingly like a prison or a strange nightmare: the living resemble the dead; bureaucratic angels of death descend to direct traffic, claiming the lives of a motley cast of inmates one by one; childhood memories and fantasie... continue