The Africa-Beat Book Club in association with A Novel Idea. All book titles can be purchased at A Novel Idea, see Business Directory for list of outlets.

Africa-Beat Book Club

What is Book-Club?

This section of the site is for booklovers, offering introductions and reviews on the latest in literary contemporary fiction/non-fiction. In conjunction with A Novel Idea we feature the Top 10 best selling books as well as new releases on fiction, non-fiction and photographic books on Africa.

Previous Weeks

The Top 10 Best Sellers - Africa Beat Book Club April

Swahili Chic by Bibi Jordan

Swahili Chic: the Feng Shui of Africa, a book by author and photographer Bibi Jordan, who is a great friend of Kenya, provides an extraordinary look into the architecture, design, and décor of Kenya’s coastal communities. With magnificent photographs and prefaces to Kenya’s history and culture, this beautiful book is a work of art that captures the magical beauty and sophistication of the Swahili coastal culture and brings it to your home.

Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote

This is the epic tale of Koyaga, despotic president of the fictional Republic of the Gulf. Narrated by Bingo – poet and chronicler – with the help of his apprentice, the "king's fool" Tiécora, it is a lavish praise-song that nevertheless condemns its hero. In a series of ritual gatherings, Koyaga is being honoured and his exploits recounted, each section introduced and closed by appropriate proverbs: "When words fail, it is through proverbs that we find them again."

Safari Journeys Through Wild Africa by Bailey, Keene -Young

After too many gung-ho rangers, sweaty tourists and Big Five safaris in noisy 4x4s, the authors decided it was time to see what else the African wild had to offer. Based on their African ecosystems series in Getaway magazine, Safari - Journeys through Wild Africa chronicles their journey from the Serengeti grasslands through the continent's diverse biomes. The couple traipse the Bwindi rainforest in search of gorillas, snorkel the Okavango Delta and canoe the Zambezi River at the mercy of crocodiles, get on their bellies with the beetles and lizards of the Namib Desert, then stop to smell the fynbos on Cape Town's famous mountain. Written in a personal style, each chapter records Getting There and Being There. The former showcases the delights and trials of travel to the destination, while Being There celebrates their time spent in each unique ecosystem.

Last Stand at Majuba Hill by John Wilcox

It is 1881, and General George Pomeroy-Colley, commander of the British forces in Natal, is planning to stamp out a rebellion. He is convinced the Transvaal Boers can pose no serious threat, but he needs reliable information. He calls on former army captain Simon Fonthill. A veteran of the recent Zulu and Sekukuni campaigns, Fonthill knows to never underestimate the enemy. He and his servant, ‘352’ Jenkins, agree to carry out a covert diplomatic assignment. But the greatest test is yet to come. As the two armies converge on the heights of Majuba Hill, Fonthill and Jenkins are first into the fray. If they are to break the enemy, Colley’s men must hold the summit at all costs…

Kaffir Boy, An Autobiography by Mark Mathabane

The Classic Story of Life in Apartheid South Africa. The true story of a black youth’s coming of age in apartheid South Africa. Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa’s most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university. This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. For Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered “Kaffir” from the rat-infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do – he escaped to tell about it.

The Life & Death of Lord Erroll

In January, 1941, the residents of the Wanjohi Valley, (known to posterity as Happy Valley), north of Nairobi, in Kenya, were shocked by the murder of Captain the Hon. Josslyn Victor Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll, Hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland. Lord Erroll had been shot and his body dumped in the footwell of his hired Buick car. The grim discovery was made at the crossroads on the Ngong-Nairobi road. The twice-married Erroll had been having a very public affair with Diana Broughton, the new young wife of Sir Henry John Delves Broughton. Delves Broughton was subsequently arrested for the murder, and what followed was a sensational trial which became one of the cause-celebres of the 20th century.

The Best of East African Wildlife

East Africa is home to a vast diversity of wildlife, which abounds in a landscape of haunting beauty. "The Best of East African Wildlife" skillfully portrays this abundance of creatures against the backdrop of the region's famous parks and reserves.Featuring images by Africa's most highly acclaimed nature photographers, it carries informative captions by wildlife specialist Dave Richards. This superb collection will serve as a lasting memento for visitors to the region and as inspiration to nature photographers. About the Author The introduction and captions are written by Dave Richards, well-known wildlife authority. A range of top photographers have supplied images, among them Anup and Manoj Shah, Daryl Balfour, Ariadne van Zandbergen and Dave Richards.

Swahili for The Broken Hearted by Peter Moore

A week after breaking up with the girl next door - his girlfriend and travelling companion through Central America - Peter Moore heads off to Africa to lose himself for a while. In the grand tradition of 19th-century scoundrels, explorers and romantics, Africa strikes him as the ideal place to find solitude and anonymity in the face of a personal crisis. What follows is Peter's journey from one end of the Dark Continent to the other. Travelling the fabled Cape Town to Cairo route by any means of transport he can blag (or if he must, pay) his way onto, it's an epic trek that sees our intrepid Antipodean experience everything from the southernmost city in Africa to the Pyramids, vast game parks and thundering falls, cosmopolitan cities and tiny villages, as he journeys through the very heart of Africa. And travelling on his own, it's inevitable that Peter falls in with a motley cast of characters and has myriad misadventures: including coming face to face with a wild hyena with very bad breath, crossing the treacherous Sani Pass, the highest in Africa, narrowly escaping a riot by hiding in a coffin shop, saving oil-covered penguins in South Africa, and acting as an extra in a World War II epic, not to mention dodging 20,000 single woman trying to catch the eye of the king of Swaziland during the annual Reed Dance. Oh yes, and then there was the time when he was kicked out of Robert Mugabe's birthday bash at gunpoint.

Red Tape & White Knuckles: One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure Through Africa by Lois Pryce

To most thirty-something women, walking across the street to get a skinny latte and the latest copy of heat in excrutiating high heels is an al- terrain task in itself. But Lois Pryce isn't just any woman - nine to five and post-work white wine spritzers have never been her thing. Unafraid of a challenge - having already ridden her motorbike from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America - she decided she could never be one to settle for a last minute package holiday in Viva Espana. So, she began the kind of adventure most of us could only ever dream of. Donning her sparkly crash helmet and armed with her trusty maps and a baffling array of visas, Lois got on her bike once more to make an impressive international journey. Alone. No support vehicles, no fancy GPS and no satellite phone Leaving from London, finishing in Cape Town - and the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola and the Congo Basin along the way - this feisty independent woman's grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure.It was certainly never going to be easy but, equipped with a formidable strength of character and an immense passion for life, Lois Pryce's astonishing achievement is an inspiration to us all. She paints a vivid picture of travelling through the vast African landscape. Colourful and hilarious, Red Tape and White Knuckles is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags and jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it. .

Where in The World is Osama Bin Laden by Morgan Spurlock

Keynote One man's hunt for Osama bin Laden: brilliant, funny, intelligent – and accompanied by a simultaneous nationwide film release. Description With a baby on the way and a need to make the world safe for infant-kind, an unassuming film-maker from West Virginia employs his complete lack of experience, knowledge and expertise to find the most wanted and dangerous man on earth. Beginning his epic quest in New York City, he zigzags the globe in search of the bearded man: to Britain, France, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, drawing ever closer to the heart of darkness in the tribal regions of Pakistan. Along the way he interviews experts and imams, breaks the Ramadan fast with Muslim families, identifies the surprising similarities between Osama bin Laden and Keyser Soze, helps disarm bombs with an Israeli squad, accompanies the British and US Armies in Afghanistan, and much, much more ... all in an attempt to understand the Muslim world and the roots of the conflict overshadowing the globe today. He emerges with a much deeper knowledge of the world into which his child will be born, and of the roots of fundamentalism and the ‘war on terror’. Where In The World Is Osama bin Laden? is both universal and personal, and a hugely entertaining guide to our times.