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 -

The Last Flight of the Flamingo by Mia Couto

In Mozambique after the end of the civil war, local soldiers have been unaccountably blown up. When it begins to happen to UN peacekeepers, a high-level delegation visits the village of Tizangara to initiate an investigation. As the UN investigation unfolds, Mia Couto brilliantly shows how the perceptions of events both inside and outside the country are altered when interpreted from an African perspective.

Unbowed by Wangari Maathai

Hugely charismatic, humble, and possessed of preternatural luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and a single mother of three, recounts her extraordinary life as a political activist, feminist, and environmentalist in Kenya. Born in a rural village in 1940, Wangari Maathai was already an iconoclast as a child, determined to get an education even though most girls were uneducated. We see her studying with Catholic missionaries, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the United States, and becoming the first woman both to earn a PhD in East and Central Africa and to head a university department in Kenya.

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.

The Settlers Cookbook

This is a warm, personal memoir from one of Britain's most high-profile and vocal immigrants - a mouth-watering exploration of the author's East African Indian roots through the shared experience of cooking.Through the personal story of Yasmin's family and the food and recipes they've shared together, "The Settler's Cookbook" will tell the history of the Indian migration to the UK, via East Africa. Her family was part of the mass exodus from India to East Africa during the height of British expansion, fleeing famine and lured by the prospect of prosperity under the imperial regime. In 1972, they were one of the many families expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin who moved to the UK, where Yasmin has made her home with an Englishman. The food she cooks now, in one of the world's most ethnically-diverse cities, combines the traditions and tastes of her family's hybrid history. Here you'll discover how Shepherd's Pie is much enhanced by sprinkling in some chilli, Victoria sponge can be wonderfully enlivened by saffron and lime juice, and the addition of ketchup to a curry can be life-changing...

Measuring Time by Helon Habila

Twins, quadratures and syzygies have long been part of Nigerian literature and myth, usually as a challenge to views of society based on the primacy of the individual. Given the way the country has gone, Nigeria now being a byword for scheming selfishness and corruption, it seems no accident that twins should play such a big role in the late renaissance of the Nigerian novel, as illuminated by Helon Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Helen Oyeyemi.

Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja

The story of Fauziya Kassindja, who fled her African homeland to escape female genital mutilation and forced polygamy. Fauziya's progressive father had shielded her from the tribal practice of polygamy and female genital mutilation in Togo, Africa, but when he died in 1993, everything changed. At the age of 17, she was forced to marry a much older man who already had three wives, and to undergo preparation for female genital mutilation without any painkillers or antibiotics.

Red Tape & White Knuckles by Lois Pryce

To most thirty-something women, walking across the street to get a skinny latte and the latest copy of heat in excruciating high heels is an all-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.

Heat, Dust & Dreams by Mary Rice and Craig Gibson

An exploration of people and environment in Namibia's Kaokoland and Damaraland.

Swahili Chic The Feng Shui of Africa Bibi Jordan

Bring serenity, sensuality and spirituality into your home! Style book, travel guide and architectural portfolio, Swahili Chic unveils the world's first true fusion style, a blend of East and West and Africa and Arabia that, like feng shui, promotes peace and prosperity in any home ... be it in Zanzibar or San Francisco

Swahili For The Broken Hearted by Peter Moore

This book was fantastic. It was perfect for me to read wile traveling in Africa. Admittedly, I didn't go all the way from Capetown to Cairo, but I certainly traveled by a variety of transportation choices (some questionable) in several of the countries he passed through. His descriptions as a Westerner - mostly of his first impressions of Africa - are hilarious, and really appreciated by this first timer to the continent. I think going on an epic journey is one of the best ways to over