The TIA 100 – Best Books, 2010-2014

At the prompting of Lydia Namubiru, a TIA reader, our team of four contributors went to work, jointly suggesting the top 100 titles for the 2010-2014 period in TIA’s context. We considered five years because this is the first such TIA list but in future we shall compile such a list on an annual basis. Like any other list, this one is subjective. There are several other lists in the world that show the subjectivities of their authors and publishers, including those that include reader surveys. This one reveals TIA’s own subjectivity, and is thus as valid as any other. We have a larger number of fiction titles, followed by non-fiction and memoir and fewer poetry titles on the list. We hope to improve many aspects of the list in the coming years. For now, despite the short period in which it was compiled, we loved working on this list and look forward to working on 2015’s. [Please note: the titles are numbered, but not ranked]

FICTION

1. Bom Boy by Yewande Omotoso
Adoption, race, migration, culture and class are all themes woven into this cleverly written debut novel by one of the continent’s most promising contemporary writers. This novel illuminates in a thought-provoking manner.

2. The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzu
An enjoyable read about the friendship and burgeoning romance between a privileged teenager and a street hawker. This book makes one think deeply about the various circumstances that lead to people living off the streets.

3. Harare North by Brian Chikwava
Chikwava addresses politics, immigration and tradition in this debut novel of promise. Potent.

4. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
For anyone who loves a good ‘ol mystery this is the book for you. You will be left wondering whodunit in this narrative featuring a Ghanaian Detective aiming to solve a murder case CSI style.

5. Powder Necklace by Nana Brew Hammond
For those who attended boarding school in Ghana (or whose parents in the Diaspora threatened to send them to school in Ghana) this story will take you right back in time – to water shortages, school ‘jams’ and ‘Inter-Co’.

6. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
The relationship between a Nigerian couple and their travels to the U.K., U.S. and return home forms the backdrop to this story which highlights the complexities of race, privilege and, yes, hair.

7. Diplomatic Pounds and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo
A delightful collection of short stories told in Ama Ata Aidoo’s inimitable style, which is always vivid and wonderfully detailed, with a strong sense of social oratory.

8. A Bit of Difference by Sefi Atta
A refreshing tale of a contemporary single Nigerian woman. The details of her life open a window into the intimate lives of the country’s middle class population.

9. The Justice by Boakyewaa Glover
A fast-paced political thriller with sex, murder and intrigue. Those familiar with Ghana’s politics will especially enjoy the very realistic descriptions of the two political parties wrangling for power.

10. The Ghost of Sani Abacha by Chuma Nwokolo
A collection of short stories set in Nigeria, succinctly told with great skill, humour and verve.

11. Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
A tour de force of a novel that inspired the book blogger Kinna Likimani to say, “Everything Ngugi wrote before was to prepare him for this book”. Read and decide for yourself.

12. Mr Happy And The Hammer of God & Other Stories by Martin Egblewogbe
In many ways this collection of short stories can be described as alternative in its geographic non-specificity, yet like all the best collections each story is complete in its succinctness.

13. Summoning the Rains edited by Hilda Twongyeirwe and Ellen Bandu-Aaku
This collection of stories produced out of FEMRITE’s 3rd residency for African women writers presents a cohort of fresh voices who prove that the future of African writing is indeed bright.

14. Africa Hot: West African Stories of Sex and Love by Nnenna Marcia
A sizzling hotpot of sex and all things erotic with Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon as geographic settings, this collection titillates and entertains in equal measure.

15. Black Widow Society by Angela Mahkolwa
The story of women taking down unruly men, a triumvirate of women who help victims of abuse deal with their tormentors, permanently. A crime thriller that looks at the issue of domestic disturbances and sorting them out in an ‘organised way’.

16. Short Sharp Story: Adults Only Anthology
An anthology of erotic tales with stories from writers hailing from many countries but residing in South Africa. The stories are are as eclectic as their authors, with subjects ranging from knife play to masturbation, polyamory to some good ol’ rekindling of the flame there is in everyone.

17. Rachel’s Blue by Zakes Mda
This book seeks to start a conversation around the matter of rape and the visitation rights of the rapist. ‘Mda weaves in the thorny issue of visitation and custody rights for rapists when a child is conceived during the crime.’ Some have critiqued the idea of a story of this nature being tackled by a man but at the end of the day it brings to light an important issue.

18. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin
Great awesome book! Everyone loves it! Everyone. Told from the point of view of the wives, it looks at how running a polygamous household can be taxing and strange and full of untold dynamics. Sometimes hilarious and strangely relatable, the story comes to quite the climax.

19. Bad Sex by Leon de Kock
de Kock takes a look at masculinity as played out in the modern South African context and writes in a sustained and concentrated way about sex. Bad Sex is sometimes gritty but fairly gripping.

20. Dying in New York by Ekow Duker
A book that charts the life and times of a young woman from Johannesburg as she journeys from the streets of South Africa to the United States, looking at the effect of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, all charted out in a therapy session. The story is told in such a way that it keeps you invested in her fate.

21, 22 and 23. Girl Walks into a Bar/Wedding/ Blind Date by Helen S Paige
This trilogy of collaborations between a South African based author and international authors allows you to pick your own ending, make the story your own and chart your own path. Perfect for those easy holiday reads or if you just want to have some fun with words.

24. Foreign Gods Inc. by Okey Ndibe
A heist story involving traditional gods, family fueds and an art gallery. A dark comedy that looks at hope, greed, taking chances and the failure of the American dream.

25. Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
There is a lot of poetry in the telling of the story of a splintered family in Kenya. Power, deceit, unrequited love, survival and sacrifice are some of the themes covered in this highly acclaimed debut by a Caine prize winner.

26. The Reactive by Masande Ntshanga
This book makes the list because it goes against the grain of what was described by a bookshop owner as “older stuffy South African writing.” Dealing with micro issues it looks at the life and experiences of young people in Cape Town. The writing feels new and fresh, and doesn’t aim at “lofty higher mind ideals”, and as such certainly represents a larger shift from older ways of South African writing.

27. Tales of The Metric System by Imran Coovadia
Recommended by many who stand around in bookstores, including bookstore owners, the story brings together the lives of an eclectic group of characters in a historical novel that tracks all the way to modern day South Africa. It documents the country from “high apartheid” to the hosting of the World Cup, covering the social conditions and changes in the artistic, political, and intellectual life of South Africa.

28. Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
When people must “race through Lagos” to save the world you know its a novel you have to read, purely because we are not rushing through the United States. An african sci-fi novel that includes a meteorite and a visitor from out of space.

29. Shadows by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
A collection of short stories and a novella, all set in the ghettos of Bulawayo and Johannesburg. Shadows is a story of a young artist, Mpho, and his love for his mother, whose prostitution he despises, and Nomsa, a daughter to his mother’s prostitute friend whom he loves because they are both damaged.

30. Do not go gentle by Futhi Ntshingila
A mosaic of South African history that shows that the only certainties are birth and death. Futhi tells stories of those at the margins, on those that are “forgotten and ignored by society,” and looks at issues such as teen pregnancy, HIV and generally living in dire conditions. It focuses on two main characters, Mvelo and her mother Zola, and the characters are “fighting for their poor lives”.

31. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
The 2011 Caine Prize winner proves that she indeed can bend the English language to tell the story of Zimbabweans living under a dysfunctional system, and those who get away to America, where they discover things for the marginalised may be different but not very. NoViolet is a queen of language. You may be forgiven for thinking you’re reading the first part of the book in Ndebele, only using English words, that is how brilliant her use of language is.

32. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
The winner of the 2013 Kwani Manuscript Prize opens Uganda and Buganda to the world with a luscious historical novel that deals with contemporary Ugandan society.

33. Night Dancer by Chika Unigwe
Chika Unigwe follows a relationship between a single mother and her daughter, and along the way reminds us of the Kano riots that broke out in protest against the holding of Miss World in the country.

34. The Whispering Trees by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
The only continent-published story on the 2013 Caine Prize shortlist was Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s The Whispering Trees, the title story to the collection of brilliantly written stories that remind us of Garcia Marquez.

35. Happiness like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
Happiness like Water is Chinelo’s debut collection of short stories that deal with the lives of Nigerians at home and abroad. “A couple struggling to conceive; two women isolated in different ways seeks comfort with each other; and a young woman struggles with a dilemma to save her mother’s life.”

36. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
It may have been over-hyped before it was released. The author may not believe in African Literature as a way of categorising any writing but we love the book for its jazzy sentences even though some have said that stories are more than just pretty sentences.

37. A Killing in the Sun by Dilman Dila
African science fiction is the new big thing in African fiction and Dilman Dila’s collection of short stories, including the title story, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story prize, is a sign of things to come.

38. Mukoma’s Marriage and other Stories by Emmanuel Sigauke
Emmanuel Sigauke, the founder of Munyori Literary Journal, is also a fine writer. In this collection, he brings us a character we can’t forget. Bizzare, comic and tragic, each story leaves a mark on the reader.

39. Indigo by Molara Wood
Molara Wood’s stories are miniature pieces of control. Mysticism, questions of home, marriage and many other themes manage to leave the reader with unforgettable images.

40. Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen
A novel in three parts, no contemporary Nigerian novel deals with the 90s university life as Fine Boys does. Yet its true achievement is in its use of the Nigerian pidgin. No book comes close to Fine Boys in the rendering of a Nigerian life in the language understood by Nigeria’s high and low.

41. Love Is Power, Or Something Like That by Igoni Barrett
From Nairobi to Lagos, from sex with an expat to a man with a smelly mouth problem, this collection of short stories will make you laugh, and cry.

42. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
Set in the 1970s, Mengiste’s novel deals with torture, and recovery, from the angle of a father and son.

43. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
African science-fiction is slowly emerging and Zoo City is a fine example. Johannesburg is re-imagined in this ambitious work that beautifully stretches the reader’s imagination.

44. Sister Sister by Rachel Zadok
As is advised elsewhere, and we agree wholeheartedly, Rachel’s prose is the type you need to read with full lights on.

45. Oil on Water by Helon Habila
The kidnap of a European in the Niger Delta, two journalists and a great story that teaches us a lot about what happens when disillusionment and idealism clash.

46. The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu
Two hairdressers in Zimbabwe’s capital entertain in a rivalry that explores the effects of Mugabe’s regime on ordinary lives.

47. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Beautiful, important, ambitious, intelligent and passionate are among the adjectives that have been used to express the brilliance of Aminatta’s second major work.

48. The Granta Book of the African Short Story by Helon Habila (Ed)
Almost every prominent writer of the post-nationalist phase in African writing has a story in this anthology. The editor’s ideological bent is visible in the selection of writers and stories, so do not trust his disclaimer that writers chose their own stories. And so we have a Dambudzo Marechera story, a Yvonne Vera story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Doreen Baingana and more.

49. Open City by Teju Cole
Some have had problems reading this book, but those who have enjoyed it swear to its quality and ambition, despite its plotless nature. Sebald is written all over it. If you loved his writing, you will love Julius.

50. All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
Mengestu’s third novel engages rootlessness in fresh pleasant ways.

51. Eyes of a Goddess by Ukamaka Olisakwe
Ukamaka has a way with words that touches the stoniest of hearts. Set in Eastern Nigeria, the mystical is very present in this original work.

52. Dream Chasers by Okwiri Oduor
Long before the Caine Prize win, Okwiri wrote this novella in which mother and daughter tear each other apart.

53. Daughters Who Walk This Path by Yejide Kilanko
What happens when innocence is lost and silence enforced in its place? Set in Ibadan, faces of oppression come alive in this tale.

54. Finding Soutbek by Karen Jennings
Welcome to a small town’s kindness, troubles, sense of community, hardships and corruption as brought to you by Jennings’ series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships.

55. Fairytales for Lost Children by Diriye Osman
Diriye’s collection of short stories uses fairy tales to explore displacement, family, stability, love and home.

56. Sarah House by Ifeanyi Ajaegbo
No book about human trafficking and prostitution and the consequent dangers could be as engrossing as Sarah House.

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