Read Around Africa Challenge

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

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Recommended Challenge Books (344)
51.

Told by Starlight in Chad by Joseph Brahim Seid EN

Rating: 2     2 Votes
Country: Africa / Chad flag Chad
Description:
Romanticised scenes from Seid's boyhood as well as stories from the golden age of empires and other timeless tales in this collection evoke positive images of Chad and Africa more generally. African readers, young and old, regardless of locality, will hear echoes of the folktales, fables and legends narrated by their grandmothers of an evening by the fire under the stars.
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

52.

The Kaffir of Karthala by Mohamed A. Toihiri EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Comoros flag Comoros
Description:
Though Mazamba knows he only has a few days left to extract most out of the world, and though he is married, Mazamba "embarks on an affair with a French woman, Aubéri, and comes to look at the world around him with new eyes." He is met with a society of racism, a nation of corruption and a globe of preconceived notions. But he still undertakes the quest to "challenge the status quo while he still can." Toihiri is a courageous and fearless writer. He looks and writes about the world with a different eye; an eye more clear and vivid an eye more brave. From the descriptions of 'a neighborhood whe... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

53.

Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Comoros flag Comoros
Description:
Anguille is a 17-year-old girl who leaves her rock on the archipelago of Comoros to lose herself at sea. She drifts between two states of mind and between two islands 'in a hollow maze', evoking her memories so as to forget nothing and so as to delay the inevitable outcome. Confronted with the pressing immediacy of imminent death, Anguille recounts the story of her whole life in one long, sustained breath, in a series of brief couplets. But what Anguille recounts, in an assured voice which heralds a shipwreck, is also something other than her life - something much deeper below the ground, or r... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

54.

Johnny Mad Dog : A Novel by Emmanuel Dongala EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
Life During Wartime, As Seen Through the Eyes of Two Congolese Teenagers Set amid the chaos of West Africa's civil wars, Emmanuel Dongala's striking novel tells the story of two teenagers growing up while rival ethnic groups fight for control of their country. At age sixteen, Johnny is a member of the Death Dealers, a rebel faction bent on seizing power. Even as he is drawn into the rebels' program of terror, Johnny Mad Dog, as he calls himself, retains his youthful exuberance--searching for girls, good times, and adventure. Sixteen-year-old Laokolé, for her part, dreams of finishing high scho... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

55.

Little Boys Come from the Stars by Emmanuel Boundzéki Dongala EN

Rating: 4.5     3 Votes
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
Sardonic, subtle, and sweetly scathing, Little Boys Come from the Stars is satire at its best. Set in an unnamed country in equatorial Africa, it tells the story of Michel, a precocious teen dubbed Matapari (“trouble”) because of his extraordinary birth. Though his father is a reclusive scholar, his mother a pious though confused Catholic, and his uncle a shameless opportunist determined to gain power in the shifting politics of their post-colonial nation, Matapari remains an unsullied child who wears Reeboks, drinks Coke, reads Japanese comics, and watches Rambo. But when his family becomes t... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

56.

Letter to Jimmy by Alain Mabanckou EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
Written on the twentieth anniversary of James Baldwin’s death, Letter to Jimmy is African writer Alain Mabanckou’s ode to his literary hero and an effort to place Baldwin’s life in context within the greater African diaspora. Beginning with a chance encounter with a beggar wandering along a Santa Monica beach—a man whose ragged clothes and unsteady gait remind the author of a character out of one of James Baldwin’s novels— Mabanckou uses his own experiences as an African living in the US as a launching pad to take readers on a fascinating tour of James Baldwin’s life. As Mabanckou reads Baldwi... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022

57.

Black Moses : A Novel by Alain Mabanckou EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
The "heart-breaking" (New York Times Book Review), rollicking, award-winning novel that has been described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles) "One of the most compelling books you'll read in any language this year." —Rolling Stone Winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize Shortlisted for the Albertine Prize Shortlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize Greeted with wildly enthusiastic reviews on publication, Alain Mabanckou's riotous novel begins in an orphanage in 1970s Congo-Brazza... continue
Genre
Recommended: 07 Sep 2022

58.
Broken Glass

Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou EN

Rating: 2     1 Vote
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
Set in a Congolese bar called Credit Gone West, tells the story of a former teacher who is charged with documenting the stories of the bar's partrons.
Tags: Set in CONGO
Recommended: 09 Apr 2023

59.

African Psycho : A Novel by Alain Mabanckou EN

Rating: 2.5     4 Votes
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
Gregoire Nakobomayo has decided to kill his girlfriend Germaine. However, the act of murder requires a bit of psychological and logistical preparation. Luckily, he has a mentor to call on, the far more accomplished serial killer Angoualima. The fact that he is dead doesn't prevent Gregoire from talking with him.
Genre Crime
Recommended: 28 Aug 2023

60.

Full Circle by Frederick Yamusangie EN

Rating: 2     1 Vote
Description:
'"C'est l'arrivee," someone said. These were the first words the boy heard when the lorry on which he and the others had been travelling at last turned into the parking lodge at Bulungu, their final destination after a two-day journey from Kinshasa. The boy was impatient to find out more about this place, which might soon become his permanent home. With his little brain he had imagined that people everywhere lived like the people at his birthplace.' The idea of clashes or differences between cultures didn't make sense to the young boy who is sent by his international parents to a country villa... continue
Genre
Recommended: 20 Feb 2022


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