Book Review

In my time in Uganda, and since i've been home, i have had the opportunity to read numerous books- and i just thought i would share a few of my favorites here.

On the subject of Africa:

The State of Africa by Martin Meredith- A really good overview of African history, from colonialism to post independence. Meredith covers all of the major issues, without making the book sound like a textbook. It is extremely informative, and i found i needed to intersperse it with other, less intellectual reads.

Where We Have Hope by Andrew Meldrum- An American journalists memoirs of Zimbabwe in the years since Mugabe took power. After living and working there for 20 years, Meldrum was forced to leave the country because Mugabae saw his articles as damaging to Zimbabwes global image. I found Meldrums account of Zimbabwe's rapid decline fascinating, as he mixed personal stories and memories with larger historical fact, and his own frustrations as a journalist.

The Shadow of the Sun byRyszard Kapuscinski- Memoirs and stories from Polands first African correspondant. Each chapter is a different story, a different experiance in a different country. Kapuscinski's stories range from the day of independance in Uganda, all the way up to modern day, giving a varied point of view, and a lot of perspective on post colonial Africa.

Scribbling the Cat: travels with an African Soldier by Alexandra Fuller- Fuller, a white Zimbabwean writer residing in the states, returns home to her family farm in Zim, where she meets X, a former soldier for Ian Smiths Rhodesian Government. As Fuller embarks on a road trip with X, she challenges her own memories of her country, her childhood and her very understanding of who she is. "A haunting tale of love, godliness, hate, war and survival."

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin- More memories of growing up white in Africa, as Godwin, a foreign correspondant for an American paper returns to Zimbabwe for his fathers heart attack, his sisters wedding, and other experiances as he watches his country unravel as an outsider.

Rules of the Wild by Francesca Marciano- One of my favorite books that i have read, it is the fictional account of a white community living in Nairobi. Told from the view point of Esme, an Italian woman who comes to Africa lost, it is a love story, of a women for two different men, of a woman and two countries, of one man and Africa, one man and suffering, and above all, a population and its love affair with a certain lifestyle. Esmes points of view, and her struggles with being white in a black country, her efforts to understand those around her as well as her self echoed many sentiments i myself had in Uganda.

The Darling by Russel Banks- A fictitious account of a white American woman who rebels against the American government in the era of the vietnam war, and who eventually finds herself in Liberia, on the coast of Western Africa, married to a government minister, and intimately involved in Liberia's devastating civil war, and close friends with warlord Charles Taylor.


Other Fictional Works:

Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austen
A History of Love by Nicole Krauss * READ THIS*
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer *READ THIS*
Memories of my Melancholy Whores- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Book of Lost Things- John Connolly *READ THIS*
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen *READ THIS*
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Other Non- fictional works:

Reading Lolita in Tehran- Azar Nafisi
Me Talk Pretty Some Day- David Sedaris *READ THIS*
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA- Louis J. Rodriguez *READ THIS*
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Emergency Sex :and Other Desperate Measures by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postelwait and Andrew Thompson

This of course, does not include the trashy books i read by the hundreds. Enjoy! and if you would like any further thoughts or comments on any of the books, or have your own to share, i would love to hear them. Of course, i always welcome further recommendations as well!

I have to say that the experiences i had reading these books, living in Uganda will doubtless be different than if i had read them in the States, or any other country, or at a different point in my life. This is a list of the most notable books i read, that i wanted to share, because in their own way, each of these books doubtless had an impact on my experience, whether it was to give me some perspective, or simply to help me relax, de-stress and laugh a bit.