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 - February 4th Book List

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Imagine drifting off every night knowing that your memories will be wiped away by morning. That's the fate of Christine Lucas, whose bewildering internal world is rendered with chilling intimacy in this debut literary thriller. . . . You'll stay up late reading until you know."--

Daughters in Law by Joanna Trollope

Can a mother ever hand over her son to another woman?

Sing You Home by Joid Picoult

Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and just when she's about to get her heart's desire, tragedy destroys her world. In the aftermath of loss and divorce, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist. Working with Vanessa, she finds their relationship moving from business, to friendship, and then - to Zoe's surprise - blossoming into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of children again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that she and her husband never used. But Max, having sought peace at the bottom of a bottle, has found redemption in an evangelical church, and Zoe needs his permission to take his unborn child . . .

Live Wire by Harlan Coben

A Facebook posting sets out destructive claims about who the father of a child yet to be born. On the receiving end of the questionable revelations are ex-tennis champion Suzze T and her retired rock star partner Lex. Lex deserts his pregnant lover, and the distressed Suzze calls on private eye-cum-sports agent Myron Bolitar, hoping he can retrieve her relationship. More is, in fact, at stake – including, it seems, the life of the errant Lex. And Myron’s private life is in its customary jumbled state. He runs into his sister-in-law Kitty (married to a brother who has broken off contact with Myron) and the couple’s teenage son Micky. The boy rages at Myron, who he considers responsible for his parents’ estrangement. So Myron has multiple problems: sorting out the chaos caused by the unpleasant Facebook posting, saving the life of Lex and curing his own headaches over his warring relatives. From this busy premise, Live Wire goes off at a surprising tangent, with Myron even confronting an existential question: his own shifting identity.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves.

Private London by James Patterson and Mark Pearson

A detective agency investigates Londno abductions.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Carer to a young paraplegic tries to persuade him life is worth living.

My Horse Warrior by General Jack Seely

December 2011 saw the premier of Steven Spielberg's much anticipated film, 'War Horse', which is the most popular piece of fiction ever written about horses in war. 'My Horse Warrior', first published in 1934 is equally wondrous fact. It is told by Winston Churchill's great heroic friend, Jack Seely, about the thoroughbred horse he took to France in 1914 surviving five years of bombs and bullets to lead a cavalry charge in 1918 before returning home where they rode on together until 1938, their combined ages (70 + 30) totalling 100. The book tells the whole history of Warrior from his birth in an Isle of Wight field, to his amazing life as a famous war horse and how a combination of both the horse's extraordinary character and some unbelievable twists of fate, helped him survive a war which claimed the lives of 8 million horses. This new edition is introduced by Jack Seely's grandson Brough Scott, a well-known broadcaster and journalist. It includes the original illustrations which equine and war artist Sir Alfred Munnings drew especially for Jack Seely both during the war and at home afterwards.

An Idiot Abroad by Kart Pilkington

Presenting the Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington: Adventurer. Philosopher. Idiot. Karl Pilkington isn't keen on travelling. Given the choice, he'll go on holiday to Devon or Wales or, at a push, eat English food on a package holiday in Majorca. Which isn't exactly Michael Palin, is it? So what happened when he was convinced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to go on an epic adventure to see the Seven Wonders of the World? Travel broadens the mind, right? You'd think so...Find out in Karl Pilkington's hilarious travel diaries. 'He is a moron. A completely round, empty-headed, part-chimp Manc.' RICKY GERVAIS 'He'd have been happier in medieval times in a village where you didn't travel beyond the local community

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Journalist's adventure in the world of madness. 'The belly laughs come thick and fast my God, he is funny... Ronson's new book is provocative and interesting, and you will, I guarantee, zip merrily through it' --Rachel Cooke, Observer