Read Around Africa Challenge

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

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Girl reading Read Around The World Challenge book
Best books from Africa (893)
391.

The Man Who Walked on Water : A Novel by Jacob Beaver EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Kenya flag Kenya
Description:
A trip to Appalachia to investigate a religious "miracle" becomes a transformational spiritual journey for one unsuspecting Londoner in this modern tale that touches on the mysterious questions in our lives—a poignant, wry novel infused with the humor and warm skepticism of Nick Hornby’s How to Be Good. Dumped, depressed, and bored with his dead-end job, Londoner John Mallory decides to shake up his life. He accepts his journalist brother’s offer to help him on a documentary film investigating a pastor in rural Tennessee who claims he can walk on water. Locals are convinced it’s the Lord’s wor... continue

392.

Through the Leopard's Gaze by Njambi McGrath EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Kenya flag Kenya
Description:
In her captivating memoir Through the Leopard's Gaze, Njambi McGrath details the harrowing circumstances of her life as a young girl in Kenya, who one fateful night was beaten to a pulp and left for dead. Thirteen-year-old Njambi, fearing her assailant would return to finish her, courageously escaped, walking through the night in the Kenyan countryside, risking wild animals, robbers and murderers, before being picked up by two shabbily dressed but safe men. She buries the memories of that fateful day and night, and years later ends up in London with a British husband and children. Then one day... continue

393.

Chaka by Thomas Mofolo EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Lesotho flag Lesotho
Description:
This novel is the first of many works of literature that takes the great Zulu leader, king, and emperor as its subject.
Genre

394.

Singing Away the Hunger : The Autobiography of an African Woman by Mpho ‘M’atsepo Nthunya EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Lesotho flag Lesotho
Description:
A compelling and unique autobiography by an African woman with little formal education, less privilege, and almost no experience of books or writing. Mpho's voice is a voice almost never heard in literature or history, a voice from within the struggle of ""ordinary"" African women to negotiate a world which incorporates ancient pastoral ways and the congestion, brutality, and racist violence of city life. It is also the voice of a born storyteller who has a subject worthy of her gifts - a story for all the world to hear.


396.

How We Buried Puso by Morabo Morojele EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Lesotho flag Lesotho
Description:
Tackling a barrage of relations and eccentrics while dealing with the devastation of war and politics, this poignant narrative explores a country's recent history in a pervasive poetic style. This lyrical account of veiled truths and panoramic splendor--where the true nature of change is revealed in a detailed narrative collage--saturates the senses, shifting masterfully through postcolonial identity, spirituality, and African-ness.

397.

Three Egg Dilemma by Morabo Morojele EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Lesotho flag Lesotho
Description:
From the best-selling author of How We Buried Puso, Three Egg Dilemma is a haunting and beautiful book. This is the story of Ex (Example), who lives in a township on the outskirts of a Lesotho town. He stays in his dead parents’ house, decorated with all his mother’s things, where he subsists by renting out back rooms. He drinks – too much – at Mada’s down the road, and has two friends: Sticks, who sells eggs on the street, and Latrine, so called because of his meagre digestion. Although Ex used to have broad horizons, his life now is limited by the street he lives on. Once he had a meaningful... continue

398.

She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Liberia flag Liberia
Description:
Wayetu Moore is an inspiration . . . her book is a gift Imbolo Mbue The book is unforgettable . . . irresistibly evocative and fierce. She Would Be King is a masterfully wrought alternate history of magical black resistance Star Tribune This novel dazzles with beauty and transcendent, transformative humanity Sarah Jessica Parker In the west African village of Lai, red-haired Gbessa is cursed at birth and exiled on suspicion of being a witch. Bitten by a viper and left for dead, she survives to discover a new life with a group of African American settlers in the colony of Monrovia. Then Gbessa ... continue

399.

His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie EN

Rating: 4 (6 votes)
Country: Africa / Liberia flag Liberia
Description:
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A Must-Read Novel: The New York Times Book Review * BuzzFeed * Time * Marie Claire * Parade * Travel + Leisure * Ms. * Bustle * The Millions * Book Riot * PopSugar * HelloGiggles * Kirkus Reviews* Good Morning America “[A] mesmerizing debut novel.” —The New York Times Book Review “A story that kept me tied to the page, told in masterful, seamless prose.” —BuzzFeed “I love this book so much I turned the pages so fast . . . It’s all about the search for independence and being true to yourself and who yo... continue

400.

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayetu Moore EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Liberia flag Liberia
Description:
An engrossing memoir of escaping the First Liberian Civil War and building a life in the United States When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across ... continue