Book picks similar to
My Life with a Criminal by John Kiriamiti


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Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria


Noo Saro-Wiwa - 2012
    Then her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was murdered there, and she didn't return for 10 years.Recently, she decided to rediscover and come to terms with the country her father loved. She travelled from the exuberant chaos of Lagos to the calm beauty of the eastern mountains; from the eccentricity of a Nigerian dog show to the empty Transwonderland Amusement Park—Nigeria's decrepit and deserted answer to Disneyland. She explored Nigerian christianity, delved into its history of slavery, examined the corrupting effect of oil, investigated Nollywood. She found the country as exasperating as ever, and frequently despaired at the corruption and inefficiency she encountered.But she also discovered that it was far more beautiful and varied than she had ever imagined, and she was seduced by its thick tropical rainforest and ancient palaces and monuments. Most engagingly of all, she introduces us to the people she meets and gives us hilarious insights into the Nigerian character: its passion, wit, and ingenuity.

Remember Me


Christopher Pike - 1989
    Her friends say she fell but Shari knew she had been murdered. Making a vow to herself to find her killer, Shari spies on her friends, and even enters their dreams. She also comes face-to-face with a nightmare from beyond the grave. The Shadow - a thing more horrible than death itself - is the key to Shari's death, and the only thing that can stop her murderer from murdering again.

Half Torn Hearts


Novoneel Chakraborty - 2019
    But a few weeks before the engagement, he receives a mysterious voice message from someone from Afsana's past. Curious, Shanay plays the voice message and through those many other such messages, a different world from the past opens up about a beautiful relationship that got broken due to a terrible lie. Half Torn Hearts is a coming-of-age tale of three layered individuals coming in terms with their first loss, which bares the devil that we all possess but are scared of encountering and which eventually becomes the cause of our own ruins.

Sleepwalking Land


Mia Couto - 1992
    Among the effects of a dead passenger, they come across a set of notebooks that tell of his life. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, this story and their own develop in tandem. Written in 1992, Mia Couto’s first novel is a powerful indictment of the suffering war brings.

The Bet


Kimberly Joy Villanueva - 2013
    His punishment? Make a girl in school fall for him and then break up with her just as shes fallen for him. But who would be oblivious enough to fall for that? Her.Enter Sophia Taylor - quiet, brainy, and unassuming - the perfect pawn for their game. And for Drake, that's all it is - a game. But is it? Drake finds that Sophia is quite more than he bargained for. Perhaps he has her figured out all wrong. The real question is, will Drake win the bet, or will Sophia win him over instead?

God's Bits of Wood


Ousmane Sembène - 1960
    Sembène Ousmane, in this vivid and moving novel, evinces all of the colour, passion and tragedy of those decisive years in the history of West Africa.'Ever since they left Thiès, the women had not stopped singing. As soon as one group allowed the refrain to die, another picked it up, and new verses were born at the hazard of chance or inspiration, one word leading to another and each finding, in its turn, its rhythm and its place. No one was very sure any longer where the song began, or if it had an ending. It rolled out over its own length, like the movement of a serpent. It was as long as a life.'

The Good Mother


Sue Miller - 1986
    Swept away by happiness and passion, Anna feels she has everything she's ever wanted. Then come the shocking charges that would threaten her new love, her new "family" ... that force her to prove she is a good mother.

जेल-डायरी: तिहाड़ से काबुल-कंधार तक


Sher Singh Rana - 2012
    Rana is the prime accused in the Phoolan Devi murder case.Summary Of The BookJail Diary: Tihar Se Kabul-Kandahar Tak (Hindi) is Sher Singh Rana’s autobiography. Rana is the prime accused in the murder of the Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi. In this book, he gives a personal account of his life, from events in his childhood to the prison break that occurred many years later.It was in the year 2001 that Phoolan Devi, who had just turned politician, was shot near her residence in New Delhi. Of the three persons accused of committing the crime, one was Sher Singh Rana. He had allegedly surrendered to the police in Dehradun and accepted the charge. He said he murdered Phoolan Devi to avenge the killings of 22 persons who died at her hands at Behmai.After confessing to the crime, Rana was arrested and taken to the largest prison complex in South Asia, Tihar jail. He remained there until one day in 2004, he escaped. He visited the grave of Prithviraj Chauhan, the last of the Hindu rulers, and reclaimed his relics from there. He undertook this arduous journey to Afghanistan through Bangladesh. He has ever since maintained that his act of bringing back Prithviraj Chauhan’s remains was an act of honor.In 2006, he was arrested in Kolkata and sent to Delhi, where he was kept in Rohini Jail. He remains in this jail till date, as the case is still under the ambit of law.Jail Diary: Tihar Se Kabul-Kandahar Tak (Hindi) opens with Rana’s breakout from Tihar. He swings between time frames in narrating his story. His childhood days, the birth of his political aspirations when he was in college, his days in Haridwar selling liquor, his introduction to Phoolan through the Eklavya Sena, and his miraculous breakaway from a very secure prison are among the events in Rana’s life that the readers will discover in this gripping autobiography.About Sher Singh RanaSher Singh Rana is the prime accused in the Phoolan Devi murder case.Rana was one among the three men who allegedly murdered Phoolan Devi. He surrendered to the police in Dehradun and confessed to the crime. He was taken to the Tihar jail, from which he escaped in 2004 and fled to Afghanistan to bring back Prithviraj Chauhan’s remains. This act of his created a roar in the media because it was considered a restoration of India’s pride.

Te Amo... I Love You


Rohit Sharma - 2012
    They meet. They fall in love. But soon they realise that love is all about Sacrifices, Efforts and Hope. A sacrifice, which Isabella makes for her family and her love, Aryan. A sacrifice, which compels her to stay with Ethan, the man she hates most, and the man who tortures her everyday ! An effort, which Aryan makes to rescue his love, Isabella, from the dreadful clutches of the extremely powerful Ethan, and his vicious gang. A hope that persistently flares in the hearts of Isabella and Aryan, a hope to stay together, forever. But, will Isabella's selfless sacrifices bring any good to her, or her loved ones? Will Aryan's death-defying efforts be successful? Will Isabella and Aryan's eternal hope eventually come true? Let's unfold together a fascinating saga about passionate love, honest friendships, and ruthless animosity-a story about happiness and togetherness, hatred and revenge, sacrifices and solitude, efforts and hope.

The Hairdresser of Harare


Tendai Huchu - 2010
    Khumalo’s salon, and she is secure in her status until the handsome, smooth-talking Dumisani shows up one day for work. Despite her resistance, the two become friends, and eventually, Vimbai becomes Dumisani’s landlady. He is as charming as he is deft with the scissors, and Vimbai finds that he means more and more to her. Yet, by novel’s end, the pair’s deepening friendship—used or embraced by Dumisani and Vimbai with different futures in mind—collapses in unexpected brutality.The novel is an acute portrayal of a rapidly changing Zimbabwe. In addition to Vimbai and Dumisani’s personal development, the book shows us how social concerns shape the lives of everyday people.

स्वामी


Ranjit Desai - 1962
    1680) against all odds later passed into the hands of the Peshwas (prime minister) who became the supreme lords. The Maratha Empire which stretched across a sizeable portion of Western, Central and Northern India suffered a severe setback when the Marathas lost the (Third) Battle of Panipat in 1761. It was an immense loss of men, money, and material. The then Peshwa Nanasaheb could not bear the brunt of the casualties which included his eldest son and younger brother, and soon passed away.For the sixteen year old Madhavrao who succeeded Nanasaheb, it was not a piece of cake. The coffers were empty, the royal court was fraught with internal dissensions. Madhavrao could not go along with his uncle, Raghunathrao, who wanted to be the Peshwa, and went to any extent including looting his own subjects. The Nizam, Hyder, and the British had set their eyes on the Maratha empire.Swami is based on the life and character of Madhavrao who resurrected the Maratha empire. He revived the lost glory and pride. The extent of the empire was now wider than before. He contained the enemy. Swami sketches the personal life of the Peshwa and specially poignant are the parts covering the discomfort he feels when Raghunathrao is a thorn in his flesh, and his untimely death. The novel throws light on the political, social and cultural history of the mid Peshwa era. The portrayal of the bond between Madhavrao and his wife, Ramabai, is a special feature.Ranjit Desai (1928-1992) tackled the genre of novels with such ease that his collection includes all types of novels: historical, social, mythological, and biographical. He was also a playwright and has to his credit short stories.

Dongri To Dubai : Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia


S. Hussain Zaidi - 2012
    It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police’s own nemesis.The narrative encompasses several milestones in the history of crime in India, from the rise of the Pathans, formation of the Dawood gang, the first ever supari, mafia’s nefarious role in Bollywood, Dawood’s move to Karachi, and Pakistan’s subsequent alleged role in sheltering one of the most wanted persons in the world. This story is primarily about how a boy from Dongri became a don in Dubai, and captures his bravado, focus, ambition, and lust for power in a gripping narrative. The meticulously researched book provides an in-depth and comprehensive account of the mafia’s games of supremacy and internecine warfare.

എന്റെ കഥ | Ente Katha


Kamala Suraiyya Das - 1973
    She is considered one of the outstanding Indian poets writing in English, although her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography. Much of her writing in Malayalam came under the pen name Madhavikkutty. She was born on March 31, 1934 in Malabar in Kerala, India. She is the daughter of V.M. Nair, a former managing editor of the widely-circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and Nalappatt Balamani Amma, a renowned Malayali poetess. In 1984, she was short-listed for the Nobel Prize for Literature along with Marguerite Yourcenar, Doris Lessing, and Nadine Gordimer. Kamala Das is probably the first Hindu woman to openly and honestly talk about sexual desires of Indian woman, which made her an iconoclast of her generation. The fact that the book has run into thirty editions is proof enough to appreciate the popularity of the book

Coconut


Kopano Matlwa - 2007
    Redefining what it means to be young, black and beautiful in the the New South Africa. Winner of the European Union Literary Award.

Flambards


K.M. Peyton - 1967
    Christina discovers a passion for horses and riding but finds herself part of a strange household, divided by emotional undercurrents and cruelty.