Top Ten Tuesday for August 16th!!

Upon first reading this week's topic, I didn't think I could come up with a list of ten books I have read all set within the same locale, but then it occurred to me...

Of course I could--AFRICA!

I love to read about Africa and novels set in Africa...

always will, I guess!
Top Ten Books Set in Africa
This weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Perhaps I was able to make this connection because I just 

read West With the Night, Beryl Markham's autobiography. 

I am in the midst of composing the review to post, and there is 

so much that I want to quote directly from the text!

I agree with Hemingway:

Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? 

...She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed 

of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, 

picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together

and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl, who is to my knowledge

very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings 

around all of us who consider ourselves to be writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."

It was, in fact, this praise that brought the book back into the limelight and 

reissued this 1946 release in 1983 when Markham was 80 years old.

I read Markham's autobiography as a direct result 

of having read Paula McLain's 

Circling the Sun, a historical fiction 

novel depicting Markham's 

childhood and early adulthood, 

including, of course, all her 

"first female" achievements!

This woman was a go-getter, to say the least!

I venture to say there was nothing much she wouldn't try...

and after all, if you never try, you never achieve.

I am glad to have read Nadine Gordimer's My Son's Story. 

I felt it was rather depressing, though authentic and 

I definitely appreciated Gordimer's writing skill. 

I guess I'd not read much of anything before that dealt

with the children of activist parents and their sense of

abandonment and neglect. I felt so badly for both Will and Baby.

Then to realize his mother was also leading a duplicitous life!

In fact I immediately started researching and have decided I 

really want to read her novel The Conservationist.

One of the first books I ever read that was set in Africa was 

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith! 

I absolutely love this series and feel as if I am there...in Africa, as I read each installation. Book #17, Precious and Grace, is due to be released October 11, 2016. I need to catch up before that time and then post a review on this blog, though I have mentioned McCall Smith and this series, as well as others of his (e.g. Corduroy Mansions and Isabel Dalhousie), 

I have yet to post a review here. 

Heart-wrenching, yet I feel this is 

a very necessary story 

that should make each of us think about 

every single gallon of gas we consume...

Little Bee by Chris Cleave. 

From my Goodreads review: 

This story depicts the ultimate in loving sacrifice. 

And not just once... 

I cannot purchase gas without thinking of this one...

and regretting that I cannot do more.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 

by Ishmael Beah 

These children! 

Such abuse and terror they suffer, 

and through no fault of their own 

other than being alive! 

All these people displaced from 

their homes and villages, 

living in the wild and trying 

to obtain food just to survive, 

never knowing when they may be attacked yet again! 

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild 

My Goodreads review posted January 25, 2013:

Read this about 2 years ago for book club and 

I can't remember when I have absolutely loathed and 

despised a historical figure as much as I 

now do King Leopold II. 

I realize it was a very different age with attitudes and 

beliefs that were very different, at least among the 

majority of people, but I can't stand it. 

The exploitation of others for purely monetary gain, 

power, and prestige sickens me. 

I equate this with the present-day corporations that 

exploit workers outside the U.S. because they can 

get by with paying a small pittance for labor and 

thereby greatly increase their 'profit margins.' 

Another huge advantage for companies 

in this global production enslavement--no need 

to provide safe work environments, decent living wages, 

and FORGET any benefits or protections on the job! 

Why we allow this, I will never understand, except that I guess 

the white guys who make up the 1% really DO control the world! 

It is beyond reprehensible, in my opinion! Anyway, I apologize for my rant! 

This book gives an excellent history of the invasion of Africa and literal and figurative 

enslavement of the people living there and is well worth the read 

to gain this knowledge, though it literally makes me nauseous to even think of 

this historical genocide. The stats will blow you away...

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Cross-Cultural Book Club I founded at Borders read this at the same time as 

King Leopold's Ghost to get a more comprehensive picture of the invasion of Africa 

by greedy self-serving white men. 

My Goodreads review:

This was one remarkably illuminating fictional work!

 This work depicts how well-meaning yet ignorant self-centered 

narrow-minded "conservative" people 

(typical "white folk," in my opinion) can destroy so much 

while intending to "convert" others (especially "savages") 

to their belief system. This "preacher"/white "American" 

was extremely disrespectful of the people whose country and 

village he had "invaded" and disrupted! Not only that, 

but he drags his family out to a very primitive 

(in comparison to the U.S.) society with absolutely 

no preparation or research to determine what they might need most to survive, let alone thrive. This was an extremely powerful and intense read; enlightening, to say the least! Lesson: meaning well is not enough! Be smart! Research! The fact that you have white skin does not make you smarter than anyone else, 

and especially doesn't mean you know what is best for anyone else!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

My Goodreads review:

For me, this book was quite reminiscent of the 

writing style of African authors I have read, 

so no surprise to learn the author was 

born and raised in Ethiopia. 

This book was quite intense and dramatic, 

yet in an understated way at times. 

The characters were authentically true to 

themselves throughout the book which created 

a very stable foundation for the story. 

My only hesitation with this lengthy saga was 

the Sister's mysterious/unknown impregnation. 

I found the medical details fascinating, as well as the characters, and I thrive on characterization!

What is your favorite setting for a book?

Happy reading!

                                                                         --Lynn