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Original poster

Books set in Africa?

58 replies

gastrognome · 15/04/2011 12:59

Hello,

Can anybody recommend any good books set in Africa? Could be fiction, travel writing or biographical/memoir, set anywhere on the continent.

Have read various Alexander McCall Smith, Wilbur Smith (but getting a bit tired of the whole "great white hunter" thing), JM Coetzee, Paul Theroux (Dark Star Safari)...

I particularly like books with a wildlife theme. Read and enjoyed a book a few years ago about a couple setting up a wildlife reserve in Zambia, but can't remember who it was by.

TIA for any and all recommendations!

OP posts:
lemonpoppyseed · 15/04/2011 20:59

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller is one of my all-time favourite books. A great memoir, set in Zimbabwe/Zambia.

BikeRunSki · 15/04/2011 21:03

Travels with My Aunt - Graham Greene
Out of Africa - Karen Blixen

PotPourri · 15/04/2011 21:05

A woman of cairo, Danielle Steele- not just set in Africa, but is during the second world war. Good for giving a different perspective to the history

PotPourri · 15/04/2011 21:06

Yes, and Out of Africa. Makes lovely reading that one - gorgeous prose

backjustforaminute · 15/04/2011 21:07

The Yacoubian building - Alaa al Aswany. Set in Cairo.

2to3 · 15/04/2011 21:14

poisonwood Bible and half of a yellow sun, deffo.

Ponders · 15/04/2011 21:23

oooh yes, forgot Graham Greene! there is The Heart of the Matter as well & I think another, but I read them 30-odd years ago & can't remember now...

MsScarlett · 15/04/2011 21:27

Roald Dahl's autobiography -Going Solo. Loved reading it as a teenager. He was posted in Kenya for a time when in the RAF if I remember rightly...

midnightexpress · 15/04/2011 21:30

The English Patient? Michael Ondaatje
The Famished Road (and some of Ben Okri's other stuff too - the short stories are good iirc).
Nadime Gordimer's short stories too - I enjoyed Not for Publication
And I'd second Things Fall Apart and Half of a Yellow Sun.

None of which have a wildlife theme. Oh well.

midnightexpress · 15/04/2011 21:31

Oh and Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad.

For non-fiction, Congo Journey by Redmond O'Hanlon is good

Ponders · 15/04/2011 21:35

oh, forgot about wildlife - has anyone said \link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Free-Trilogy-Joy-Adamson/dp/0330391909\Born Free?}

Only available second hand but still pretty cheap

MyLittleOwls · 15/04/2011 22:29

Casting with a Fragile Thread - Wendy Kann, really good read but can't find my copy!

Selks · 15/04/2011 22:30

Cameroon with Egbert - Dervla Murphy

A fantastic piece of travel writing with the indomitable and only slightly nutty Murphy and her young daughter Rachel...and a horse named Egbert

Selks · 15/04/2011 22:33

Also Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart by Tim Butcher.

Poor title, but a good book nonetheless (not fiction - travel / adventure)

Francagoestohollywood · 15/04/2011 22:41

Russell Banks "The Darling", quite terrifying though.

sungirltan · 15/04/2011 22:53

the power of one - bryce courtenay

Limelight · 15/04/2011 23:22

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Unquestionably one of the best books I've ever read and not very well known.

hockeyforjockeys · 17/04/2011 21:30

Both made into really good films - The Constant Gardner by John Le Carre and The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden (who has written several good bbooks set in Africa - Zanzibar, Ladysmith and Mimi and Totou go Forth).

A couple of non-fiction books on the history/politics of Africa that I have liked are Africa: A Biography of a Continent by John Reader and Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden

A really light but enjoyable travel book is Swahili for the Brokenhearted by Peter Moore

ThisIsANiceCage · 17/04/2011 21:57

Second Tsitsi Dangarembga.

More Zimbabwean writers:
Yvonne Vera
? Why Don't you Carve Other Animals (short stories)
? Under the Tongue (novel)
? Butterfly Burning (novel)
? Nehanda (novel)

Dambudzo Marechara, the baaad boy of Zim lit.
? Scrapiron Blues (short pieces)

Masaemura Zimunya, intense lyrical poetry, often political.

And a Mozambican:
Mia Couto
? The Last Flight of the Flamingo.
How can anyone not like a book which opens: "To put it crudely and rudely, here's what happened: a severed penis was found right there on the trunk road just outside Tizangara. A large organ on the loose. Folk turned up from all around."

SouthernB · 03/04/2012 15:25

Books by Deon Meyer:

Trackers.

Thirteen Hours

Blood Safari

Have a look at his other books here: www.deonmeyer.com/

LulaPalooza · 03/04/2012 15:34

An additional vote from me for The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, along with the sequel Tandia and also Whitethorn by the same author. All 3 books are a great read, although quite upsetting in parts.

IreadthereforeIam · 03/04/2012 16:01

Has anyone said Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche yet? I've read Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. I couldn't read anything else for a week after the latter - which is saying something for me! It was amazing!

maisie215 · 03/04/2012 21:58

If you are interested in wildlife also have you read Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fosse or any of Jane Goodall's books about the chimpanzees at Gombe? Not fiction but Fossey in particular is very readable and her story is interesting.

MirandaGoshawk · 03/04/2012 22:03

I really enjoyed Prester John by John Buchan (who wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps). It's boys-adventure stuff and set in the early 20th Century when there were lots of animals around - amazing and v. atmospheric.

countryandkids · 04/04/2012 18:55

My DS has just finished a book based in Ethiopia called The Garbadge King by Elizabeth Laird. It has won numerous awards and he really enjoyed it. I think it is more than just a childs book