Ten Books to read this month

1. The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

The Book of Phoenix is that near-perfect book where science fiction and magical realism overlap. Science, for better or for worse, drives the narrative. While "The Book of Phoenix" is certainly a pulse-pounding sci-fi novel, it also tackles colonialism and non-consensual medical experimentation, and is laced with acute moments of both human innocence and human cruelty.

2. The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

This book was the only African book selected for the Man Booker Prize long list. Fishermen tells the story of a disintegrating family in Nigeria, it combines classic African Story telling with contemporary fiction which tries to illuminate Nigeria in all its historical, political and cultural complexity.

3. In the Country by Mia Alvar

This is a book of fantastic and interesting short stories. There is not a single weak spot in this collection. Each story has characters with complex inner lives and at least one serious moral dilemma. Many of them have gut-punching plot twists.

4. The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North

This is definitely one book you should judge by its title. Sophie’s life is told with perfect flow changing from point-of-view between the various people she affected. From broken childhoods to broken adulthoods Sophie carries the burden of being misunderstood and unconnected, while somehow being gifted with the ability to create movies and see people’s vulnerable core.

5. So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ

In So Long a Letter  the late Mariama Bâ offers a sensitive portrayal of women’s struggle in her native Senegal on the dawn of independence. Neither a polemic nor an advice manual, Bâ explores the complex difficulties facing two Muslim women as they wrestle with their husbands’ second marriages. The pain and tribulation women go through is enough a moral lesson to show the world that denial of women education is nothing but a mere attempt to retard the society form progressing.

6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel, a little girl who is taken to a new home because her mother can't afford to take care of her and so many things happen from there. According to the Guardian "This book is perched between grown-up and young-adult fiction, and it is loaded with librarian appeal. It deplores human misery. It celebrates the power of language. It may encourage adolescents to read. It has an element of the fanciful. And it's a book that bestows a self-congratulatory glow upon anyone willing to grapple with it."

7. Burma Boy by Biyi Bandele

Have you ever read a book that you could never put down because you feel this weird obligation to finish it? To relive that experience, you should definitely read Biyi Bandele’s book Burma Boy.  This book is a brilliant and bright idea of dramatising the role of the African soldiers who fought for the British in Burma during the second world war.

8. One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

This is the memoir of a book addict. In this vivid and compelling debut memoir, Wainaina takes us through his school days, his mother's religious period, his failed attempt to study in South Africa as a computer programmer, a moving family reunion in Uganda, and his travels around Kenya. The landscape in front of him always claims his main attention, but he also evokes the shifting political scene that unsettles his views on family, tribe, and nationhood.

Resolutely avoiding stereotype and cliché, Wainaina paints every scene inOne Day I Will Write About This Place with a highly distinctive and hugely memorable brush.

9. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

This is a book about a ballerina ghost story set mostly in prison, it is a magical book, one that stirred up questions and had me thinking about connectedness and consequences and guilt and revenge.

10. Go Set a Watchman (To Kill a Mockingbird) by Harper Lee

This is probably the most hyped book of all time, it took the author 55 years to write a sequel to 'To Kill a mocking bird'  one of the best novels ever written. One of the primary themes explored in the novel is racism, but unlike its predecessor, Watchman explores other themes, even as racial prejudice is the underlying thread weaving the issues into a narrative.