English books from Africa

Recommended English books (825)
Travel the world without leaving your chair. If you speak English here are some English books from Africa for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
691.

The Stranger by Albert Camus EN

Rating: 4 (160 votes)
Country: Africa / Algeria flag Algeria
Description:
With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, The Stranger—Camus's masterpiece—gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. With an Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie; translated by Matthew Ward. Behind the subterfuge, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and describes the condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion that characterized so much of twentieth-century life. “The Stranger is a strikingly modern text and Matthew Ward’s translation will enable readers to appreciate why Camus’s st... continue


693.

The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me by Calixthe Beyala EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Cameroon flag Cameroon
Description:
Set in the grim world of urban prostitution, this book gives voice to the multitude of women trapped in African ghettos. Ateba is quiet and unassuming, taking care of her aunt's needs. But she craves the mother who abandoned her, and creates imaginary women to talk to. Then her world is shaker: Jean, the lodger forces a relationship on her; and old neighborhood prostitute dies; and her best friend is killed by a botched abortion. Caught between traditional values, male demands, and the need to survive, Ateba seeks to end the tyranny of men, whom she holds responsible for this suffering.
Genre

694.

The Sun Will Soon Shine by Sally Singhateh EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Gambia flag Gambia
Description:
For an intelligent, ambitious girl growing up in a Gambian village, life holds few tempting prospects. Marriage and motherhood, often forced, are the paths assigned to most. Nyima, too, is subject to this fate, as well as having to endure the health-endangering ongoing practice of genital mutilation.But ours is a heroine of immense courage, able to see beyond her situation, despite the bleakness of life. She makes it through her darkest hours, and emerges stronger on the other side, though permanently scarred by her ordeals.It is in education and work that Nyima finds her salvation, and begins... continue

695.

The Sunbird by Wilbur Smith EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Zambia flag Zambia
Description:
In Wilbur Smith's The Sunbird, Dr. Ben Kazin is a brilliant archeologist. Louren Sturvesant is rich, impulsive, and physically imposing, everything Ben is not. Now, the two men--friends, competitors and partners--are searching for the legendary lost city of Opet, built by an Egyptian culture that reached Africa two thousand years ago, then vanished completely. For Ben, the expedition is a chance to prove a controversial thesis. For Louren, it is a chance to spend millions--and make it all back in gold and glory. But what awaits them is an astounding discovery, a siege of terror, and an act of ... continue

696.

The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith EN

Rating: 3 (3 votes)
Country: Africa / Zimbabwe flag Zimbabwe
Description:
ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 1 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction’s most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life’s questions, large and small. In this first installment, Isabel is attending a concert in the Usher Hall when she witnesses a man fall from the upper balcony. Isabel can’t help wondering whether it was the re... continue

697.

The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra EN

Rating: 4 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Algeria flag Algeria
Description:
Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples to offer an unflinching but compassionate insight into a society that violence and hypocrisy have brought to the edge of despair.

698.

The Tears of a Man Flow Inward: Growing Up in the Civil War in Burundi by Pacifique Irankunda EN

Rating: 3 (3 votes)
Country: Africa / Burundi flag Burundi
Description:
A prizewinning young author tells the moving story of growing up during Burundi’s ethnic civil war in this powerful memoir hailed as “a jewel of a book” (Margaret MacMillan). “There’s nothing like a great love song, and Pacifique Irankunda sings a beautiful one here to his homeland and to all those who choose love even in the bleakest of times.”—Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were Pacifique Irankunda’s childhood in Burundi was marked by a thirteen-year civil war—a grueling struggle that destroyed his home, upended his family, and devastated his country’s beauti... continue

699.

The Tears of the Black Man by Alain Mabanckou EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Congo flag Congo
Description:
In The Tears of the Black Man, award-winning author Alain Mabanckou explores what it means to be black in the world today. Mabanckou confronts the long and entangled history of Africa, France, and the United States as it has been shaped by slavery, colonialism, and their legacy today. Without ignoring the injustices and prejudice still facing blacks, he distances himself from resentment and victimhood, arguing that focusing too intensely on the crimes of the past is limiting. Instead, it is time to ask: Now what? Embracing the challenges faced by ethnic minority communities today, The Tears of... continue

700.

The Tennis Partner : A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss by Abraham Verghese EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Ethiopia flag Ethiopia
Description:
In My Own Country, named one of the five best books of 1994 by Time magazine, Abraham Verghese ventured into the valley of the Smokey Mountains, where he bore witness to the arrival of AIDS in a town that had never expected the disease or its terrible consequences. The New York Times Book Review called the book "an account of the plague years in America, beautifully written, fascinating and tragic, by a doctor who was shaped and changed by his patients." As an African-born Indian, Dr. Verghese revealed something essential about our American soul, reminding us, said Washington Post Book World "... continue


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