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Best African and African diaspora books

Members: 3 participating members (show all)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
17,420 members, 307 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (1), Dilara86 (23)

Score: 5.83

Explanations:

Dilara86 (23): African-American author

2
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
18,036 members, 393 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (2), Dilara86 (19)

Score: 5.28

Explanations:

Dilara86 (19): Nigerian author

3
The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas père
18,883 members, 228 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (1)

Score: 4

Explanations:

Dilara86 (1): French author (His paternal grandmother was a slave in Saint-Domingue/Haiti.)

4
Eugene Onegin
by Alexander Pushkin
3,995 members, 59 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (2)

Score: 3.36

Explanations:

Dilara86 (2): Russian author (His great-grandfather was Abram Gannibal, an African slave who became a Russian aristocrat.)

5
The Famished Road
by Ben Okri
2,146 members, 37 reviews
3.65 stars (3.65 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (3)

Score: 3.04

Explanations:

Dilara86 (3): Nigerian author

6
Texaco
by Patrick Chamoiseau
554 members, 10 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (4)

Score: 2.83

Explanations:

Dilara86 (4): French author from Martinique

7
Dhalgren
by Samuel R. Delany
3,316 members, 71 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (5)

Score: 2.68

Explanations:

Dilara86 (5): African-American author

8
Lilith's Brood
by Octavia E. Butler
2,253 members, 51 reviews
4.25 stars (4.25 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (6)

Score: 2.56

Explanations:

Dilara86 (6): African-American author

9
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
6,150 members, 181 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (7)

Score: 2.46

Explanations:

Dilara86 (7): African-American author

10
Segu
by Maryse Condé
107 members, 1 review
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (8)

Score: 2.38

Explanations:

Dilara86 (8): French author from Guadeloupe

11
The Poor Christ of Bomba
by Mongo Beti
105 members, 3 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (9)

Score: 2.31

Explanations:

Dilara86 (9): Cameroonian author

12
The Return
by Dany Laferrière
140 members, 6 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (10)

Score: 2.25

Explanations:

Dilara86 (10): Canadian/Haitian author and member of the Académie française

13
So Long a Letter
by Mariama Bâ
1,156 members, 39 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (11)

Score: 2.2

Explanations:

Dilara86 (11): Senegalese author

14
Notebook of a Return to My Native Land
by Aime Cesaire
474 members, 7 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (12)

Score: 2.15

Explanations:

Dilara86 (12): French author from Martinique

15
Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
by D. T. Niane
594 members, 3 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (13)

Score: 2.11

Explanations:

Dilara86 (13): Guinean author

16
The Heart of Redness
by Zakes Mda
320 members, 4 reviews
3.55 stars (3.55 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (14)

Score: 2.07

Explanations:

Dilara86 (14): South-African author

17
Maps
by Nuruddin Farah
302 members, 4 reviews
3.73 stars (3.73 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (15)

Score: 2.03

Explanations:

Dilara86 (15): Somali author

18
Black Shack Alley
by Joseph Zobel
96 members, 0 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (16)

Score: 2

Explanations:

Dilara86 (16): French author from Martinique

19
The Dark Child
by Camara Laye
619 members, 20 reviews
3.37 stars (3.37 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (17)

Score: 1.97

Explanations:

Dilara86 (17): Guinean author

20
Black Boy
by Richard Wright
4,607 members, 61 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (18)

Score: 1.94

Explanations:

Dilara86 (18): African-American author

21
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas père
22,100 members, 386 reviews
4.32 stars (4.32 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (20)

Score: 1.89

Explanations:

Dilara86 (20): French author (His paternal grandmother was a slave in Saint-Domingue/Haiti.)

22
The Captain's Daughter
by Alexander Pushkin
866 members, 13 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (21)

Score: 1.87

Explanations:

Dilara86 (21): Russian author (His great-grandfather was Abram Gannibal, an African slave who became a Russian aristocrat.)

23
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
11,558 members, 204 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (22)

Score: 1.85

Explanations:

Dilara86 (22): African-American author

24
Omeros
by Derek Walcott
1,020 members, 19 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (24)

Score: 1.81

Explanations:

Dilara86 (24): Saint Lucian author

25
Annie John
by Jamaica Kincaid
1,353 members, 29 reviews
3.58 stars (3.58 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (25)

Score: 1.79

Explanations:

Dilara86 (25): Antiguan-American author

26
The New Moon's Arms
by Nalo Hopkinson
282 members, 15 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (26)

Score: 1.77

Explanations:

Dilara86 (26): Jamaican author

27
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
by Maryse Condé
716 members, 10 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (27)

Score: 1.76

Explanations:

Dilara86 (27): French author from Guadeloupe

28
Breath, Eyes, Memory
by Edwidge Danticat
2,625 members, 62 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (28)

Score: 1.74

Explanations:

Dilara86 (28): Haitian-American author

29
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
16,934 members, 314 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (29)

Score: 1.72

Explanations:

Dilara86 (29): African-American author

30
Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty
by Alain Mabanckou
65 members, 4 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (30)

Score: 1.71

Explanations:

Dilara86 (30): French/Congolese author

31
The Life of Olaudah Equiano
by Olaudah Equiano
980 members, 10 reviews
3.51 stars (3.51 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (31)

Score: 1.7

Explanations:

Dilara86 (31): British author born in what is now Nigeria (Igbo territory)

32
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
by Frederick Douglass
7,907 members, 109 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (32)

Score: 1.68

Explanations:

Dilara86 (32): African-American author

33
Passing
by Nella Larsen
2,085 members, 72 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (33)

Score: 1.67

Explanations:

Dilara86 (33): African-American author

34
The Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
3,491 members, 22 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (34)

Score: 1.66

Explanations:

Dilara86 (34): French author from Martinique who took the Algerian nationality

35
Ambiguous Adventure
by Cheikh Hamidou Kane
272 members, 5 reviews
3.57 stars (3.57 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (35)

Score: 1.65

Explanations:

Dilara86 (35): Senegalese author

36
The Suns of Independence
by Ahmadou Kourouma
139 members, 1 review
3.5 stars (3.5 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (36)

Score: 1.63

Explanations:

Dilara86 (36): Ivorian author

37
God's Bits of Wood
by Ousmane Sembene
603 members, 9 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (37)

Score: 1.62

Explanations:

Dilara86 (37): Senegalese author

38
Amkoullel, l'enfant Peul
by Amadou Hampate Ba
127 members, 5 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (38)

Score: 1.61

Explanations:

Dilara86 (38): Malian author

39
Interpreters
by Wole Soyinka
288 members, 5 reviews
3.29 stars (3.29 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (39)

Score: 1.6

Explanations:

Dilara86 (39): Nigerian author

40
Black Docker
by Ousmane Sembène
33 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (40)

Score: 1.59

Explanations:

Dilara86 (40): Senegalese author

41
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
by Ayi Kwei Armah
434 members, 2 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (41)

Score: 1.58

Explanations:

Dilara86 (41): Ghanaian author

42
Season of Migration to the North
by Tayeb Salih
1,409 members, 43 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (42)

Score: 1.57

Explanations:

Dilara86 (42): Sudanese writer

43
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6,025 members, 280 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (43)

Score: 1.56

Explanations:

Dilara86 (43): Nigerian author

44
No Longer at Ease
by Chinua Achebe
1,322 members, 19 reviews
3.72 stars (3.72 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (44)

Score: 1.55

Explanations:

Dilara86 (44): Nigerian author

45
Mr. Fox
by Helen Oyeyemi
908 members, 39 reviews
3.64 stars (3.64 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (45)

Score: 1.54

Explanations:

Dilara86 (45): British author born in Nigeria

46
Wizard of the Crow
by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
807 members, 17 reviews
4.23 stars (4.23 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (46)

Score: 1.54

Explanations:

Dilara86 (46): Kenyan author

47
In the United States of Africa
by Abdourahman A. Waberi
83 members, 8 reviews
3.06 stars (3.06 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (48)

Score: 1.52

Explanations:

Dilara86 (48): French-Djiboutian author

48
Bicentenaire
by Lyonel Trouillot
17 members, 0 reviews
4.5 stars (4.5 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (49)

Score: 1.51

Explanations:

Dilara86 (49): Haitian author

49
The Kingdom of Gods
by N. K. Jemisin
1,142 members, 66 reviews
3.94 stars (3.94 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (50)

Score: 1.5

Explanations:

Dilara86 (50): African-American author

50
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
by N. K. Jemisin
3,598 members, 257 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (51)

Score: 1.5

Explanations:

Dilara86 (51): African-American author

51
The Broken Kingdoms
by N. K. Jemisin
1,537 members, 73 reviews
4.03 stars (4.03 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (52)

Score: 1.49

Explanations:

Dilara86 (52): African-American author

52
Brother, I'm Dying
by Edwidge Danticat
808 members, 26 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (53)

Score: 1.48

Explanations:

Dilara86 (53): Haitian-American author

53
The Book of Chameleons
by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
426 members, 25 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (54)

Score: 1.48

Explanations:

Dilara86 (54): Angolan author

54
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
by James Weldon Johnson
1,318 members, 24 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (55)

Score: 1.47

Explanations:

Dilara86 (55): African-American author

55
Clotel: Or, The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States
by William Wells Brown
258 members, 6 reviews
3.49 stars (3.49 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (56)

Score: 1.46

Explanations:

Dilara86 (56): African-American author

56
La condition noire : Essai sur une minorité française
by Pap Ndiaye
11 members, 2 reviews
5 stars (5 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (57)

Score: 1.46

Explanations:

Dilara86 (57): French author (Senegalese father)

57
Three Strong Women
by Marie NDiaye
565 members, 30 reviews
3.25 stars (3.25 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (58)

Score: 1.45

Explanations:

Dilara86 (58): French author (Senegalese father)

58
Toiles d'araignées
by Ibrahima Ly
5 members, 1 review
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (59)

Score: 1.44

59
Efuru
by Flora Nwapa
146 members, 1 review
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (60)

Score: 1.44

Explanations:

Dilara86 (60): Nigerian author

60
The Barefoot Woman
by Scholastique Mukasonga
91 members, 8 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (61)

Score: 1.43

Explanations:

Dilara86 (61): Rwandan author

61
Memoirs of a Porcupine
by Alain Mabanckou
162 members, 11 reviews
3.5 stars (3.5 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (62)

Score: 1.43

Explanations:

Dilara86 (62): Congolese author

62
The Lights of Pointe-Noire
by Alain Mabanckou
60 members, 2 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (63)

Score: 1.42

Explanations:

Dilara86 (63): Congolese author

63
NW
by Zadie Smith
2,138 members, 90 reviews
3.49 stars (3.49 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (64)

Score: 1.41

Explanations:

Dilara86 (64): British author with a Jamaican mother and a white British father

64
Congo Inc : Le testament de Bismarck
by In Koli Jean Bofane
43 members, 4 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (65)

Score: 1.41

Explanations:

Dilara86 (65): Kino-congolese author

65
Petroleum
by Bessora
7 members, 0 reviews
2.75 stars (2.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (66)

Score: 1.4

Explanations:

Dilara86 (66): Born in Belgium, Swiss mother, Gabonese father

66
Who Fears Death
by Nnedi Okorafor
1,832 members, 95 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (67)

Score: 1.4

Explanations:

Dilara86 (67): African-american of Nigerian descent

67
Selected Poems
by Léopold Sédar Senghor
11 members, 0 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (68)

Score: 1.39

Explanations:

Dilara86 (68): Senegalese author

68
The Bridge of Beyond
by Simone Schwarz-Bart
286 members, 9 reviews
4.25 stars (4.25 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (69)

Score: 1.39

Explanations:

Dilara86 (69): French author with roots in Guadeloupe

69
Changes: a Love Story
by Ama Ata Aidoo
268 members, 9 reviews
3.49 stars (3.49 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (70)

Score: 1.38

Explanations:

Dilara86 (70): Ghanaian author

70
Of Chameleons and Gods
by Jack Mapanje
24 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (71)

Score: 1.38

Explanations:

Dilara86 (71): Malawian author

71
Far from My Father (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature translated from the French)
by Véronique Tadjo
13 members, 0 reviews
2.75 stars (2.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (72)

Score: 1.37

Explanations:

Dilara86 (72): Ivorian (and possibly French) author

72
The Belly of the Atlantic
by Fatou Diome
142 members, 6 reviews
3.68 stars (3.68 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (73)

Score: 1.37

Explanations:

Dilara86 (73): Senegalese author

73
La Charte du Manden
by Anonyme
1 member, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (74)

Score: 1.36

Explanations:

Dilara86 (74): Old Malian Empire

74
Batouala
by René Maran
108 members, 4 reviews
3.55 stars (3.55 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (75)

Score: 1.36

75
Our Lady of the Nile
by Scholastique Mukasonga
225 members, 10 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (76)

Score: 1.36

Explanations:

Dilara86 (76): Rwandan author

76
La route des clameurs
by Ousmane Diarra
5 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (77)

Score: 1.35

77
Please Take Photographs
by Sindiwe Magona
3 members, 1 review
3 stars (3 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (78)

Score: 1.35

78
When Rain Clouds Gather
by Bessie Head
315 members, 5 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (79)

Score: 1.34

79
Lament for Kofifi Macu
by Angifi Dladla
1 member, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (80)

Score: 1.34

81
Aime Cesaire, The Collected Poetry
by Aimé Césaire
127 members, 2 reviews
4.5 stars (4.5 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (82)

Score: 1.33

82
On Beauty
by Zadie Smith
8,767 members, 217 reviews
3.64 stars (3.64 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (83)

Score: 1.33

Explanations:

Dilara86 (83): British author (Jamaican mother)

83
Season of the shadow
by Léonora Miano
43 members, 2 reviews
4.63 stars (4.63 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (84)

Score: 1.32

84
Queen Pokou: Concerto for a Sacrifice
by Véronique Tadjo
15 members, 2 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (85)

Score: 1.32

85
Shadows of Your Black Memory
by Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo Makina
21 members, 3 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (86)

Score: 1.31

Explanations:

Dilara86 (86): Author from Equatorial Guinea

86
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6,340 members, 270 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (87)

Score: 1.31

87
A Woman Named Solitude
by André Schwarz-Bart
122 members, 3 reviews
3.41 stars (3.41 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (88)

Score: 1.31

88
Kaveena (Global African Voices)
by Boubacar Boris Diop
14 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (89)

Score: 1.3

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date

About this list

Started by: Dilara86 (October 2013)

Type: Numbered and unnumbered

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