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.

Why a Book-Club link?

Everybody loves to compare what they do, the books they are reading and what they have loved or hated. The Africa-beat book club allows readers from all around the world to tell each other about themselves and what they are reading.

Previous Weeks

The Top 10 Best Sellers - Africa Beat Book Club

Devil May Care - Sebastian Faulks

A variety of authors have written 007 novels since the death of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming -- and the results have been mixed, to say the least. As 'Robert Markham', Kingsley Amis penned the very first post-Fleming Bond, and this attempt by a novelist better known for his 'literary' work was judged a success. Now, after a decade of less successful entries by such writers as John Gardener, we have another serious writer, Sebastian Faulks (author of such acclaimed novels as Birdsong), taking up the challenge. Devil May Care has already collected a jaw-dropping amount of publicity, with even the Royal Navy helping to put the book firmly at the top of the best-seller charts (Bond is, of course, a naval commander), and few books have had such wind under their sails (the relaunch of the movie franchise with the re-make of Casino Royale and Daniel Craig's second Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is all part of the ever-accelerating momentum). Of course, this also gives the book farther to fall if it misses the mark.

The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton

A lost child: On the eve of the First World War, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but has disappeared without a trace. A terrible secret: On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell Andrews learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.A mysterious inheritance: On Nell's death, her granddaughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.

Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisberger

THE HOTLY AWAITED NOVEL FROM THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. How far would you go to change your life in a year? Emmy finds herself single for the first time in years. She vows to find a man on every continent for some pure no-strings-attached fun. Adriana is stunning and can have any man she desires.Yet she wants an eligible bachelor who'll slip a five-carat Harry Winston diamond on her finger. Leigh has a doting boyfriend that most girls would kill for. But when literary bad boy Jesse Chapman asks to work with her, she just can't refuse. Knocking back raspberry mojitos one night, the three friends make a pact - to change one thing in their lives by the end of the year. Game On.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a short work - perhaps straying into the novella category - that takes the form of one side of a conversation over a Pakistani café table between a man, Changez, and an unvoiced American stranger. Changez recites his life story - brought up in a family of fading wealth in Pakistan, studying with a prestigious scholarship at Princeton University, and working for a high-paying financial services company - Underwood Samson - in New York. Changez receives praise and opportunity as a reward for his brilliance until world events - the attacks on the World Trade Center and subsequent was and tension in Afghanistan and Pakistan lead him to disillusionment with the west. All this is juxtaposed with advice to the American stranger on menu choices and assurances of good intentions.

A History of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr

This is easy to read, general history for the average person in the street like me who has a broad interest in the life of the country but who hasn't got the background to read the "proper" histories. I love this because I can dip in and out, or I can read it in linear chunks. I love the style which is chatty and friendly. And the period interests me because it is really before I was around, so I see the echoes of it but never experienced these things for myself. A lot changed in Britain post war, and I didn't really appreciate how much until I read this.

An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’ Farrell

Many of us were put off history by the dry and dreary way it was taught at school. Back then 'The Origins of the Industrial Revolution' somehow seemed less compelling than the chance to test the bold claim on Timothy Johnson's 'Shatterproof' ruler. But here at last is a chance to have a good laugh and learn all that stuff you feel you really ought to know by now...In this "Horrible History for Grown Ups" you can read how Anglo-Saxon liberals struggled to be positive about immigration; 'Look I think we have to try and respect the religious customs of our new Viking friends - oi, he's nicked my bloody ox!' Discover how England's peculiar class system was established by some snobby French nobles whose posh descendents still have wine cellars and second homes in the Dordogne today.And explore the complex socio-economic reasons why Britain's kings were the first in Europe to be brought to heel; (because the Stuarts were such a useless bunch of untalented, incompetent, arrogant, upper-class thickoes that Parliament didn't have much choice.) A book about then that is also incisive and illuminating about now, "2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge", is a hilarious, informative and cantankerous journey through Britain' fascinating and bizarre history. As entertaining as a witch burning, and a lot more laughs.

Engleby - Sebastian Faulks

Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, he rises without trace in Thatcher's England and scorches through the blandscape of New Labour. In the course of his brief, incandescent career, he and the reader encounter many famous people - actors, writers, politicians, household names - but by far the most memorable is Engleby himself. This work is a lament for a generation and the country it failed. It is also a meditation on the limits of science, the curse of human consciousness and on the lyrics of 1970s rock music. And beneath this highly disturbing surface lies an unfolding mystery of gripping narrative power. For when one of Mike's contemporaries unaccountably disappears the reader has to ask: is even the shameless Engleby capable of telling the whole truth?

On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

It is June 1962. In a hotel on the Dorset coast, overlooking Chesil Beach, Edward and Florence, who got married that morning, are sitting down to dinner in their room. Neither is entirely able to suppress their anxieties about the wedding night to come..."On Chesil Beach" is another masterwork from Ian McEwan - a story about how the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

Shakespeare - Bill Byrson

This is a very entertaining and informative account of the life and works of William Shakespere. Although the book is short, there is much fascinating information packed into it. I found it particularly fascinating to read about the huge contribution Shakespeare made to the development of the English language, and the large number of words now in common usage that were originally coined by him. Many myths about Shakespeare are cheeerfuly debunked by Mr Bryson, like the one about his work as an author never being mentioned in his lifetime, and the one about less being known about him than other contemporary dramatists (apparently more is known about Shakespeare than any of the others). The final chapter, in which Mr Bryson cheerfuly disposes of the fantasies of those who claim that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare, is particularly entertaining. The only complaint I have about this book is that I wish it had been longer, since Bill Bryson writes about his subject so entertainingly. However, Mr Bryson has evidentl taken to heart Shakespeare's own aphorism "brevity is the soul of wit."

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end, it is love that triumphs over death and destruction. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is an unforgettable portrait of a wounded country and a deeply moving story of family and friendship. It is a beautiful, heart-wrenching story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond and an indestructible love.