Do you like to read on holiday? Here are a couple of recommendations. But if your favourite book is not on the list, then please send us your recommendation! We shall be glad to enlarge our list of recommendations.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Adan und Eva
This is the story of Eva, a young Jewish girl of 12, growing up in Amsterdam. She lives with her beloved but absent father Isaac, and her wealthy stepmother Julia. She is lonely and awkward, and the void left by her mother’s death is not filled by the cold, status-conscious Julia. Her life intersects with that of Adan, a poor Muslim boy whose family has emigrated from Morocco. Thanks to the school-quota program, he is bussed in to Eva’s school from the wrong side of town along with his older sister, Jamila.
Neither Eva nor Adan fit in with the other Dutch children. Intrigued by one another, the two outcasts strike up an unlikely friendship. Along the way, Eva learns about the realities of Muslim life, with its beauty, colors and scents, the warmth and the laughter, as well as the helplessness and marginalization of Muslim women and girls. Her curiosity leads her to the madrassah, Koran school, with Adan and Jamila. Totally unaware of the customs of this unfamiliar place, she narrowly escapes punishment from the Imam, thanks to the brave intervention of Adan.
The very next week, Adan unwittingly attends Shabbat dinner with Eva’s family. He is terrified, but his fears of an untimely death at the hands of Jews are unfounded. Nonetheless, the punishment doled out by his father for having sat at their table, drunk their wine, and brought their daughter into the madrassah is harsh. Thrown out in a fit of anger, Adan surprises upon Eva, who has snuck out of her home.
They set off on one final adventure to visit the cemetery where Eva’s mother is buried, before being separated by their families. Throughout the story, the innocence of the two curious 12 year olds casts a simple but revealing light on the nature of discrimination and cultural indoctrination as it is passed from one generation to the next.
The story of Adan and Eva is one of love and acceptance between two pure souls caught up in a world of hatred and fear, a world which threatens to extinguish the brightness of those spirits which rebel against racism and intolerance.
Waris Dirie
Desert Flowers
Biographies & LettersInspirational, dramatic and extraordinary – the autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 5, sold in marriage at 13, who became an American model and is now at the young age of 30, the UN spokeswoman against circumcision
Henning Mankell
Chronicler of the Winds
In the hot African night a single gunshot cracks the silence. José Antonio traces the sound to the stage of the local theatre company, where he finds Nelio, the young prophetical leader of the city’s street kids, crumpled in blood. Nelio refuses to be taken to the hospital but instead tells Jose his life’s story: how bandits raided his village, his daring escape, and his struggle to survive on the streets. José is irrevocably changed. He becomes the Chronicler of the Winds, revealing Nelios’s magical tale to all who will listen.
Henning Mankell
The Eye of the Leopard
Hans Olofson is the son of a Swedish lumberjack. His early life is isolated and difficult, overshadowed by the disappearance of his mother. When he loses his best friend and his girlfriend in tragic circumstances, his only desire is to fulfil her dream of visiting the grave of a legendary missionary, deep in the remote hills of Northern Za
Henning Mankell
Tea-Bag
Tea-Bag is a young Nigerian refugee looking for a new life. Tania has made a long and dangerous journey to escape the horrors of human trafficking. Leila has come with her family from Iran. All of them face challenges in their new home. Meanwhile, celebrated poet Jesper Humlin is looking for inspiration, and a chance encounter with Tea-Bag leads him into the shadow world of the immigrant experience in Sweden. This is the incredible tale of a self-obsessed writer who finds himself caught up in the stories of three young women determined to take control of their lives.
Henning Mankell
Daniel
Hans Bengler, a young entomologist, leaves Sweden for the Kalahari Desert, determined to find a previously undiscovered insect to name after himself and advance his career. Instead, he finds a young boy, whose tribe has been decimated by European raiders.
Henning Mankell
The Shadow Girls
Jesper Humlin is a poet of middling acclaim who is saddled by his underwhelming book sales, an exasperated girlfriend, a demanding mother, and a rapidly fading tan. His boy-wonder stockbroker has squandered Humlin’s investments, and his editor, who says he must write a crime novel to survive, begins to pitch and promote the nonexistent book despite Humlin’s emphatic refusals. Then, when he travels to Gothenburg to give a reading, he finds himself thrust into an entirely different world, where names shift, stories overlap, and histories are both deeply secret and in profound need of retelling. Leyla from Iran, Tanya from Russia, and Tea-Bag, who is from Africa but claims to be from Kurdistan (because Kurds might receive preferential treatment as refugees) – these are the shadow girls who become Humlin’s unlikely pupils in impromptu writing workshops. Though he had imagined their stories as fodder for his own book, soon their intertwining lives require him to play a much different role.
African Collection
George Lilanga
George Lilanga was one of the most significant African contemporary artists. His playful sculptures and figures are models for the individual character of the Ma-konde. A Tanzanian tribe, which to this day lives isolated on the very difficult to ac-cess Makonde mountain plateau in the south east of Tanzania. George Lilanga, him-self a member of the Makonde tribe, had a great reputation worldwide through his art. He was no typical “political artist”, much more an attentive observer and satirical social critic, who documented contemporary developments in modern Tanzanian society. His works are full of wise advice and challenges to his fellow countrymen not to forget traditional values. In this art book more than 100 works are reproduced in large format and in colour. In addition this is one of the only books containing an ex-tensive interview with the deceased artist. The text is written in Italian and English.
Rangi Ya Maisha
George Lilanga
This book is a catalogue of a selection of works from the complete works by George Lilanga, the important African artist who dealt with the contemporary themes of his Makonde tribe. The social themes reproduced in this book always inspired George Lilanga afresh. With his art he wanted to remind his people not to forget their traditional values despite modernisation. This he did not attempt through moralising but with great wit and irony. The accompanying texts are in German and English. The book was published by the “Hamburg Mawingu Collection”, a non-commercial private collection engaged in strongly supporting African artists and the treasures of the continent.
Cesare Pipi
Gli Shetani di George Lilanga
George Lilanga is counted among the most outstanding artists of contemporary African art. One of the greatest admirers and collectors of George Lilanga’s works is Cesare Pippi. George Lilanga fascinated Cesare Pippi in particular through his infectious love of life and the witty manner with which he illustrated the social themes of his Makonde tribe. This love for Lilanga’s art can be recognised in his art books. In the art book “Gli Shetani di George Lilanga” mainly Lilanga’s wood sculptures are reproduced. The texts are in two languages, Italian and English.
Cesare Pipi
George Lilanga il “Picasso Africano”
This art book fascinates through its colour photographs of George Lilanga’s art works. For the most part, they are pictures of his paintings. You recognise and understand the social themes depicted at once. It is not without reason that George Lilanga was one of the most famous artists in the contemporary African art world. With self-irony and wit, Lilanga was able to successfully appeal to his Makonde tribe in his works of art. This was also what fascinated Cesare Pippi most about the art of Lilanga. He became Lilanga’s greatest fan and collector and also publisher of this book. Besides the beautiful large pictures there are texts in Italian and English.
Yves Goscinny
Tinga Tinga the popular paintings from Tanzania
The Tingatinga paintings derive originally from the self-taught Edward Saidi-Tingatinga. This colourful and shapely art form came into existence mainly by accident, when in the 1960’s the Tingatinga painted everything they could put their hands on with bicycle paint and so infected their environment. Today the art form is entirely inseparable from Tanzania. This book shows portraits of various Tingatinga artists. There are texts in English and Kiswahili as well as brilliant pictures of African plant and animal life.
Pascal Bogaert
David Mzuguno – The last days of the master
David Mzuguno was a famous Tingatinga artists. Tingatinga is a highly coloured art form, which documents principally the world of the African animals and plants as well as rituals and social themes. This book is an homage to David Mzuguno. In an affectionate manner, Pascal Bogaert describes Mzuguno’s artistic work and his life. Once this book is in your hands, you never want to put it down. The texts are in English.