Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

It sounds like the opening of a joke: marine biologist, soldier and famous rapper are all on a beach… These three strangers are all walking on a Bar Beach in Lagos, Nigeria when they are interrupted by the sound of an explosion followed by a rising wall of water from the ocean.  The three are sucked out to sea and miraculously, re-deposited on the sand later unharmed.  Then, the unthinkable happens: the representative of an alien race makes first contact with Earth. 

The story of the three strangers picks up pace as we meet the alien envoy herself: a being who can change her appearance at will; a “woman” the biologist names Ayodele.  Soon, everyone is trying to meet the alien and use her for their own ends: young men hoping for money, priests who want to “convert” the entire alien race, crazies who are convinced the world is ending.  Panic engulfs the masses and we see the three strangers and Ayodele fighting to convince people that the aliens are here because they love the potential of Nigeria and they want to live among humans. 

Okorafor does a great job of describing the invisible anxiety that lies underneath all of Lagos in these new, uncertain times.  She describes people from all walks of life who are just living their lives and then have to figure out how to live now that everything has suddenly changed.  The pages of this book are charged with superstition and old-world magic; with the unknown and unknowable.  This is an examination of contemporary society under the guise of a science fiction novel.

Lagoon is available now.  

Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom

A baobab tree is an enormous species of tree native to, among other places, South Africa. In Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom, an unnamed slave woman in an unspecified time (the Dutch began importing slaves into South Africa in 1658) is forced to take shelter in the hollow trunk of a baobab tree after she finds herself alone in the African bush. When her master and his wealthy friend had set out on an expedition to find a mysterious inland city, she accompanied them. The unknown territory they ventured into proved to be more dangerous than thought. One by one the members of the party die or disappear, eventually leaving the woman alone. Unfamiliar with the veldt, she does not venture far from the baobab tree. Knowing little about living off the land, she uses her time to scrounge for food and water. While sheltering within the tree, she recalls her past life in a series of non-chronological flashbacks, ending with her childhood abduction by slave traders. A beautiful woman, she was used as a sex slave, purchased by one wealthy man after another. Her life was not as physically difficult as some slaves’, but nevertheless, it was slavery.  Her time and her body were not her own and her children were sold. A South African poet, Wilma Stockenstrom is able to describe the dehumanizing horrors of slavery in a measured tone. Expedition to the Boabab Tree tells a harsh story with gentle language. 

Check out Expedition to the Boabab Tree @ the library!

Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the world thanks to a benevolent benefactor who wants nothing more than your company, and for you to experience new things? Comedian Chelsea Handler might be a friend you want to make. In Uganda Be Kidding Me Chelsea shares her adventures on an African Safari, European ski trip, state-side ski trip among other stories. She always takes along with her family and friends to both be there for her, and to have the experience whether they want to or not.

Fans familiar with Chelsea's brand of comedy will not be disappointed in the things she does, forces others to do, and in all honesty her generosity. This is a fun fast read that might just have you booking your next trip somewhere a bit more exotic. Adding a bit of extra fun are travel tips as only Chelsea Handler give. This may not be the travelogue you are used to, but you will be laughing.

Check out Uganda Be Kidding Me @ the library!

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawyo

Darling is a ten year old girl living in an unnamed African country, probably based on Zimbabwe. She spends her days with a group of friends, children like her who have had their homes, schools and families destroyed by poverty and political violence. Unsupervised, they spend their days playing rough games, vandalizing property and stealing fruit from the trees in a wealthy neighborhood. Despite these activities, the essential innocence of the children is apparent in Darling’s telling of the story. Darling likes to brag to her friends that she will one day be joining her Aunt Fostalina in America and enjoy the all the benefits of life in that country. As a teenager, Darling does join her aunt in “Destroyed,” Michigan but the benefits she envisioned elude her. She misses the companionship of close friends because Americans choose isolation in their homes and apartments in front of televisions and computers. They don’t face hunger, but Americans either gorge themselves into obesity or starve themselves in order to be thin. School is not challenging and available jobs are menial and low-paying. Higher education is financially out of reach. Eventually Darling does make some American friends, but in place of running wild through the countryside, they watch pornography on the internet, drive illegally and hang out at the local mall.   Darling misses the family and friends she left behind in Africa but is unable to return and probably would no longer fit in if she could. Between two cultures, she faces a future of loneliness and dreams denied.  

Check out We Need New Names @ the library!

Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Atxaga

George Orwell has observed that colonialism is destructive to the imperialists as well as the native population of the colonized country. This maxim would appear to be proved in SEVEN HOUSES IN FRANCE except that the reader cannot imagine the Belgian officers in this book any less cruel and avaricious had they never left Belgium. As members of King Leopold’s Force Publique in the Congo Free State, they are charged with fighting the rebels and forcing the local people to harvest rubber from the jungle. However, they spend most of their time amusing themselves in cruel and debauched activities. The commander of the outpost, Captain Biran, is also, through poaching mahogany and ivory, amassing a fortune so his beautiful wife can own seven fashionable houses in France. The camaraderie of the officer corps is disturbed in August, 1904, when a new soldier, Chrysostome Liege, arrives. He is a mystery to his fellow officers, telling them little about his himself. He provokes jealousy and resentment by proving to be the best marksman at the outpost. And he is an enigma and threat to them because he is a devout Christian who refuses to join in their sport of raping native women. When these officers become aware that Chrysostome has become sincerely fond of a native woman, they seize the opportunity to torment him. The resulting tragedy has a domino effect of successive acts of violence as the Belgians turn on one another.

The pervasive cruelty in this book is not graphically described, but the Belgians’ casual attitude toward it is revealing. The Congo Free State was the site of an unprecedented man-made human disaster in which King Leopold enriched himself by exploiting the local people and natural resources of the area. KING LEOPOLD’S GHOST by Adam Hochschild is a well-researched book on this subject.         

Check out Seven Houses in France @ the library!    

A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Margaret and Patrick set off on a Kenyan adventure.  He’s a doctor who will be doing research and running clinics.  Margaret is a photographer who ends up getting a job with the local paper.  Their friends suggest a trip up Mount Kenya and the couple agree even though Margaret has doubts about her abilities.  She ends up being the slowest member of the group and when a tragedy occurs she is blamed by all, even her husband.  Their marriage will never be the same.    They avoid talking about it and Margaret develops an attraction for her coworker.  Anita Shreve delves into human emotion and uses her personal experiences in Kenya to bring the country to life.  Check out A Change in Altitude @ the library!

The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig

On the eve of the 21st century, Clementine Evans's life is falling apart.  Her engagement has just been broken off, her very proper and conventional mother is horrified, her step-cousin, the irksome Jon, is back in town, she's a slave to her law firm in a desperate race to make partner, and her beloved Granny Addie is seriously ill.  When Addie confusedly calls Clemmie by the name Bea, a whole closet full of skeletons and dark family secrets is cracked open.

In 1926 Africa, Addie is taking the train to see her once-favorite cousin Bea at her coffee farm in Kenya.  Engaged to be engaged, Addie isn't even sure why she has come all the way to the sun-soaked African savanna from the foggy streets of London to see Bea, who she hasn't seen or spoken to in years.  Cut off from the aristocratic family that took her in as an orphaned, poor cousin after the epic scandal of Bea's marriage to Frederick Desborough, Addie knows she must see the woman who was once her best friend before she marries the scholarly (and, quite frankly, boring) David.  And, even though she has quite firmly told herself otherwise, she knows she has really come to see Frederick again - Frederick, who once held all her hopes and her heart, and is now her cousin's husband.

From the author of the Pink Carnation spy novels comes this lavish period drama that fans of Downton Abbey will love to while away a weekend with!  Clemmie and Addie's stories are a tangled web of secrets, lies, and family drama that unfold in chapters alternating between 1999 New York and London and the champagne-soaked 1920s London and colonial Kenya.  With a dash of humor and quick wit, star-crossed romance that's absolutely worth the wait, and a generous dose of crazy family, anyone who loves a good generational saga will want to add The Ashford Affair to their spring reading list!

The Ashford Affair will be published on April 9, 2013.  The library received its advanced reader's copy from the publisher.  Watch CountyCat for this great read to be added so you can place a hold!