7 great books about Africa
I am fascinated by Africa. I lived there from 1980 until 1996. Sixteen of the most formative years of my life were spent in South Africa during the height of the Apartheid era. I attended a small-town Afrikaans school and I enjoyed all the privileges of white, middle-class society. The day Nelson Mandela was released, I was a student of 19 who stood together with thousands of South Africans next to the road that brought him from his jail cell in Paarl to the town square in Cape Town for his first public speech. I voted in the first democratic election in the country’s history. I grew up with prejudice, intolerance and fear. I witnessed violence that one-one should ever have to witness. But I also saw heart-breaking beauty, courage and kindness that few people will ever have the privilege to witness. How can that not leave it’s legacy on me?
My passion for Africa also extends to the books I read. Here a list of books about Africa that I think are well worth reading:
1. Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee
2. My traitor’s Heart – Riaan Malan
3. Another Africa – Robert Lyons & Chinua Achebe
4. Hold my hand I’m dying – John Gordon Davis
5. The true confessions of an Albino Terrorist – Breyten Breytenbach
6. A dry white season – Andre Brink
7. Die siel van die Mier (The soul of the ant) – Eugene Marais
This list is only a fraction of the great literature available by African authors. You can find more great books here.
Een boek waar ik geweldig van genoten heb: de poisonwood bible van Barbara Kingsolver, over een amerikaanse missionaris familie die naar – in het verhaal nog Belgisch – Congo trekt. Als er 21 onderbroeken meekunnen, kan er ook nog wel een boek mee, toch ?
Ah! The Poisonwood Bible! Inderdaad! Ik voeg het toe!