Travel the world this summer with our Adult Summer Reading Program, Novel Destinations.
AFRICA:
FICTION
The African Queen by C.S. Forester
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin (Rwanda)
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton (Kenya)
The Crocodile’s Last Embrace: A Jade del Cameron Mystery by Suzanne Arruda (Kenya)
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (South Africa)
Djibouti by Elmore Leonard (Djibouti)
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson (Kenya)
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (Nigeria)
The Impostor by Damon Galgut (South Africa)
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (Libya)
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji (Kenya)
Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn (South Africa)
Links by Nuruddin Farah (Somalia)
The Lovers of Algeria by Anouar Benmalek (Algeria)
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (Sudan)
The Madonna of Excelsior by Zakes Mda (South Africa)
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Congo)
Salamander Cotton by Richard Kunzmann (South Africa)
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith (Botswana)
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner (Namibia)
The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu by Michael Stanley (Botswana)
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria)
The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya (Morocco)
The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien (South Africa)
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer (South Africa)
True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway (Kenya)
Unconfessed by Yvette Christiansë (South Africa)
Wife of the Gods by Kwei J. Quartey (Ghana)
NON-FICTION
African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe by Doris Lessing (Zimbabwe)
Africa’s Animal Kingdom: A Visual Celebration by Kit Coppard
Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo by Pagan Kennedy (Congo)
The Black Nile: One Man’s Amazing Journey Through Peace and War on the World’s Longest River by Dan Morrison (The Nile)
Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher (Congo)
Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo by Vanessa Woods (Congo)
Born Wild: The Extraordinary Story of One Man’s Passion for Africa by Tony Fitzjohn (Kenya)
Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life by J.M. Coetzee (South Africa)
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller (Zimbabwe)
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley (Kenya)
The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa by Alexander McCall Smith
God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation by Joseph Sebarenzi (Rwanda)
In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall (Tanzania)
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone by Martin Dugard
Journey Without Maps by Graham Greene (Liberia)
Kenya: A Country in the Making, 1880-1940 by Nigel Pavitt (Kenya)
Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda by Rosamond Halsey Carr (Rwanda)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone)
Love in the Driest Season: A Family Memoir by Neely Tucker (Zimbabwe)
Notes from the Hyena’s Belly: An Ethiopian Boyhood by Nega Mezlekia (Ethiopia)
The Orphan Girl: And Other Stories, West African Folk Tales retold by Buchi Offodile
The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri (Uganda)
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King (The Sahara)
The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson
There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children by Melissa Fay Greene (Ethiopia)
The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari (Sudan)
Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean by Fran Sandham
Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai (Kenya)
West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Kenya)
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin (Zimbabwe)
FILMS
Blood Diamond (Sierra Leone)
Changing Times (Morocco)
The Constant Gardener (Kenya)
Days of Glory (Algeria)
Disgrace (South Africa)
Dreams of Dust (Burkina Faso)
Hotel Rwanda (Rwanda)
Invictus (South Africa)
The Last King of Scotland (Uganda)
Moolaade (Burkina Faso)
Nowhere in Africa (Kenya)
Out of Africa (Kenya)
Raja (Morocco)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Xala (Senegal)