Book picks similar to
Flying Above the Sky by Lebogang Mashile


africa
african-perspectives
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poetry

The Songbird


Valerie Wood - 2005
    Her lovely singing voice and good looks lead her to her great ambition - to go on the stage and see her name top of the bill. She becomes a music hall star both in her native town and in the south, after an appearance in the theatre at Brighton - she even performs in Paris, to tremendous acclaim. But when her first love, an ambitious shoemaker in her home town, becomes engaged to someone else Poppy is devastated. She disappears, believing that she will never return to her life of stardom. But her fame cannot be kep a secret...

मेरी श्रेष्ठ कविताएँ


Harivansh Rai Bachchan - 2009
    An anthology of some the best poems written by Harivansh Rai Bachchan,which have been selected specially for this anthology by himself.

Satan's Choice


Lorne Campbell - 2013
    Lorne Campbell was an officer and enforcer for the outlaw biker club Satan's Choice for over thirty years, before patching over to the Hells Angels. The product of a violent childhood, with a hair-trigger temper and fearless nature, he just wanted a place to belong. He found brotherhood with his fellow one per centers, and a code he has lived his life by. In his time he's seen club life slip further into the criminal underworld and be transformed by cocaine dealing. He killed a rival biker to save his brothers and has been imprisoned for assault and drug trafficking. He's faced off police out to get him, taken revenge on men who betrayed him, and gone to extreme lengths to protect his honour and his club. Written with dark humour and raw honesty, and filled with unforgettable characters living life on their own terms, Satan's Choice is a unique insight into an outlaw world seen through the eyes of one proud and unrepentant biker.

Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East


Reza Aslan - 2010
    Yet the literary landscape of this dynamic part of the world has been bound together not by borders and nationalities, but by a common experience of Western imperialism. Keenly aware of the collected scars left by a legacy of colonial rule, the acclaimed writer Reza Aslan, with a team of four regional editors and seventy-seven translators, cogently demonstrates with Tablet and Pen how literature can, in fact, be used to form identity and serve as an extraordinary chronicle of the disrupted histories of the region.Acting with Words Without Borders, which fosters international exchange through translation and publication of the world’s finest literature, Aslan has purposefully situated this volume in the twentieth century, beyond the familiar confines of the Ottoman past, believing that the writers who have emerged in the last hundred years have not received their full due. This monumental collection, therefore, of nearly two hundred pieces, including short stories, novels, memoirs, essays and works of drama—many of them presented in English for the first time—features translated works from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Turkish. Organized chronologically, the volume spans a century of literature—from the famed Arab poet Khalil Gibran to the Nobel laureates Naguib Mahfouz and Orhan Pamuk, from the great Syrian-Lebanese poet Adonis to the grand dame of Urdu fiction, Ismat Chughtai—connected by the extraordinarily rich tradition of resplendent cultures that have been all too often ignored by the Western canon.By shifting America’s perception of the Middle Eastern world away from religion and politics, Tablet and Pen evokes the splendors of a region through the voices of its writers and poets, whose literature tells an urgent and liberating story. With a wealth of contextual information that places the writing within the historical, political, and cultural breadth of the region, Tablet Pen is transcendent, a book to be devoured as a single sustained narrative, from the first page to the last. Creating a vital bridge between two estranged cultures, "this is that rare anthology: cohesive, affecting, and informing" (Publishers Weekly).

Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush. An anthology of Poems and Conversations (From Outside).


Tim Key - 2021
    This new book takes place in Lockdown Three. This time Key can make Government-sanctioned expeditions out onto the streets of London (remember?). And it is there that the inaction takes place. Phone calls to his mother, promenades with his loyal friend, bubble-negotiations, sitting his fat arse down on benches, drinking mocha. Another three months of mind-freezing inertia. This time on the move. Conversations interspersed with poetry.

Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires


Tim Mackintosh-Smith - 2019
    Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia. Mackintosh-Smith reveals how linguistic developments—from pre-Islamic poetry to the growth of script, Muhammad’s use of writing, and the later problems of printing Arabic—have helped and hindered the progress of Arab history, and investigates how, even in today’s politically fractured post–Arab Spring environment, Arabic itself is still a source of unity and disunity.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head: Poems


Warsan Shire - 2022
    Drawing from her own life and the lives of loved ones, as well as pop culture and news headlines, Shire finds vivid, unique details in the experiences of refugees and immigrants, mothers and daughters, Black women, and teenage girls. In Shire's hands, lives spring into fullness. This is noisy life: full of music and weeping and surahs and sirens and birds. This is fragrant life: full of blood and perfume and shisha smoke and jasmine and incense. This is polychrome life: full of henna and moonlight and lipstick and turmeric and kohl.The long-awaited collection from one of our most exciting contemporary poets, this book is a blessing, an incantatory celebration of resilience and survival. Each reader will come away changed.

Collected Poems


Chinua Achebe - 2004
    A collection of poetry spanning the full range of the African-born author's acclaimed career has been updated to include seven never-before-published works, as well as much of his early poetry that explores such themes as the African consciousness, the tragedy of Biafra, and the mysteries of human relationships.

William Shakespeare: Selected Poems


William Shakespeare - 2010
    William Shakespeare: Selected Poems

Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa 1880-91


Charles Nicholl - 1997
    In this compelling biography, Charles Nicholl pieces together the shadowy story of Rimbaud's life as a trader, explorer, and gunrunner in Africa. Following his fascinating journey, Nicholl shows how Rimbaud lived out that mysterious pronouncement of his teenage years: "Je est un autre"—I is somebody else."Rimbaud's fear of stasis never left him. 'I should like to wander over the face of the whole world,' he told his sister, Isobelle, 'then perhaps I'd find a place that would please me a little.' The tragedy of Rimbaud's later life, superbly chronicled by Nicholl, is that he never really did."—London Guardian"Nicholl has excavated a mosaic of semi-legendary anecdotes to show that they were an essential part of the poet's journey to become 'somebody else.' Not quite biography, not quite travel book, in the end Somebody Else transcends both genres."—Sara Wheeler, Daily Telegraph"At the end of Somebody Else Rimbaud is more interesting and more various than before: he is not less mysterious, but he is more real."—Susannah Clapp, Observer Review

Ministry of Crime: An Underworld Explored


Mandy Wiener - 2018
    It features new revelations about high-profile, unsolved hits and the intricate relationships between known criminals and police officers at all levels. It delves into the current power struggle between opposing factions in Cape Town's security industry and the suspected involvement of state operatives in the bloody standoff.Wiener has gained exclusive access to and on-the-record interviews with key underworld characters and police generals accused of colluding with criminals. These have helped her track the parallel narrative of the capture of law-enforcement agencies and unravel how players with inexplicable political backing have been able to pillage secret slush funds and abuse organs of state for their own benefit.Against this backdrop, prominent underworld figures - Radovan Krejcir key among them - have been able to thrive, setting up elaborate networks with the assistance of police. While crime is flourishing, the top echelons of the police and prosecution have been at war with themselves.The proximity of politics, law enforcement and organised crime over the past decade is frighteningly intertwined. The story of the rise and reign of the Ministry of Crime winds its way from the depths of the underworld, via multiple mysterious unsolved murders, to senior politicians and the very top ranks of the country's police force.

Thamizhukku Niram Undu


Vairamuthu - 2014
    Some of the movie songs from Amarkalam, Poovellam un vasam are taken from this collection. Good treat for Vairamuthu fans.

The Book of Craw: A Hobo's Testament (Companion Volume to "The Dirty Parts of the Bible")


Sam Torode - 2013
    The Book of Craw -- comprised of poems and proverbs from Craw's own notebook -- is the companion volume to The Dirty Parts of the Bible: A Novel.

My Life in My Words


Rabindranath Tagore - 2008
    Though known primarily as a poet and writer, Tagore was a painter, composer and philosopher, an educationist and rural reformer. My Life in My Words is, quite literally, Tagore on Tagore. Uma Das Gupta draws upon the vast repertoire of Tagore's writings - his autobiographical works, speeches, letters and poems - to create a vivid portrait of the life and times of one of India's most influential cultural icons. The result is a rare glimpse into the world of Rabindranath Tagore: his family of pioneering entrepreneurs, saints, poets and composers who shaped his world view; the personal tragedies that influenced some of his most eloquent verse; his ground-breaking work in education and social reform; his constant endeavour to bring about a synthesis of the East and the West and his humanitarian approach to politics; and his rise to the status of an international poet. Meticulously researched and sensitively edited, this unique autobiography provides an incomparable insight into the mind of a genius.

Baby Bible: A Guide to Taking Care of Your Bump, Your Baby and Yourself


Bec Judd - 2018
    From carrying a baby, delivering it, feeding it and raising it, Bec has experienced almost everything motherhood can throw at you and she wants to share the secrets and stories that she has learned along the way. Not to mention all those things about pregnancy, birth and motherhood that often come as a complete surprise. Join Bec and her dream team of experts (an obstetrician, a midwife, an ultrasound specialist, a women's health physio and a paediatric sleep specialist) as they take you month by month through your pregnancy. They will share their insider advice on the best ways to eat for two (or three!), stay in shape and get you and your baby sleeping well. This gorgeous, comprehensive handbook contains a wealth of honest, practical and sometimes hilarious advice to prepare you and your baby for life after birth.