I read quite a lot of different types of books, though I readily admit to a weakness for mysteries/crime/thrillers.
But I do also live in Ghana, and have always felt the desire to read books written by Ghanaians – both living here and in the diaspora – and also books about Ghana. To a lesser extent that has also applied to books by Africans and about Africa.
Out of a total of 68 books completed during 2013, 29 (approx 43%) were either with a Ghana or an Africa focus, as detailed below:
Ghana fiction
- Mr Happy and the hammer of God and other stories, by Martin Egblewogbe
- Ghana must go, by Taiye Selasi [one of my favourite reads of the year]
- Children of the street, by Kwei Quartey [a Ghana mystery]
- Akosua and Osman, by Manu Herbstein [a winner of the Burt prize]
- The deliverer, by Kwabena Ankomah-Kwakye [another Burt prize winner, not sure whether this is really fiction though]
Ghana non-fiction
- Pilgrims of the night: development challenges and opportunities in Africa, edited by Ivor Agyeman-Duah
- Bright lights, no city, by Max Alexander [very entertaining view of a social enterprise based in the Eastern Region of Ghana]
- Interventions: a life in war and peace, by Kofi Annan with nader Mousavizadeh [illuminating]
- Lose your mother, by Saidiya Hartman [on the slave trade, but also the story of one African-American’s journey to understand some of its legacies. Very personal]
- No worries, 5th ed, NAWA [great guidebook to Accra]
- Defeating dictators, by George B N Ayittey
- The library tree, by Deborah Cowley
Africa fiction
- Open city, by Teju Cole [even though it takes place mostly in the US]
- Chicago, by Alaa al Aswany [again takes place in the US]
- Nairobi heat, by Mukoma wa Ngugi [another African crime story!]
- Broken glass, by Alain Mabanckou
- No time like the present, by Nadine Gordimer
- Every day is for the thief, by Teju Cole [actually written before Open City]
- Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [another of my favourite reads of the year]
- Waiting for the barbarians, by J M Coetzee [the author is South African]
Africa non-fiction
- Yes, Chef – a memoir, by Marcus Samuelsson
- This child will be great, by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Of Africa, by Wole Soyinka
- Chocolate nations – Living and dying for cocoa in West Africa, by Orla Ryan
- The boy who harnessed the wind, by William Kamkwamba and Brian Mealer
- There was a country – A personal history of Biafra, by Chinua Achebe
- Birds of our land, by Virginia Dike
- The beautiful tree, by James Tooley [one of my favourite non-fiction books of the year]
- One day I will write about this place, by Binyavanga Wainaina
I hope these lists give a flavour of some of the range of books I’ve read.
Any chance of buying some of the books off you? Pretty please???
Amazing list btw 🙂
Thanks for asking, but I have to say no…. Even lending is an issue for me, as over the years several key tomes have walked!
What’s your opinion of Broken Glass, please? I have been seeking to find out more about Alain Mabanckou’s writing. Thanks.
Not the easiest of reads. No punctuation forces a kind of concentration on the reader which not all of us may like. Worth persevering though.
Looove the list!
‘Americanah’ and ‘One Day I Will Write About this place’ are golden books of course.
Currently reading Teju Cole’s ‘Every Day is for the thief’ and loving it. I’m interested in Marcus Samuelsson’s ‘Yes, Chef’… I must look into that soon!