This past Thursday marked World Book Day in the UK and Ireland (everywhere else World Book Day, organized by UNESCO, takes place on April 23rd). To celebrate, we asked our readers to share the "one book they'd recommend the ENTIRE world read." We kept track and recorded the responses below. With six nominations, Chinua Achebe's seminal Things Fall Apart was the most recommended book. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was the most nominated author (for Americanah, Purple Hibiscus, and Half Of A Yellow Sun). Take a look at the full list of recommendations below.
Since it's #WorldBookDay, book you'd recommend the ENTIRE world read...— okayafrica (@okayafrica) March 5, 2015
@okayafrica The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Epic tale,filled with all the feels one needs. Classism. Love. Loss. — Zanta. (@Zion_SD) March 5, 2015
@okayafrica A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil McGregor. We'\e always been cultural hybrids, there's no such thing as authenticity.— I Observe (@ITooObserve) March 5, 2015
A History of the World In 100 Objects, Neil McGregor
A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid
All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City, Naigzy Gebremedhin
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
Beneath the Lion's Gaze, Maaza Mengiste
Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century
Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa, Antjie Krog
Crossing the River, Caryl Phillips
Davita's Harp, Chaim Potok
Forest of A Thousand Daemons: A Hunter's Saga, D.O. Fagunwa
Graceland, Chris Abani
Half Of A Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (anything by him)
Hotel Greed Grab and Grumble - Hollywood, Omoyemi O. A Ojo
Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili), Italo Calvino
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Kmt: In The House Of Life, Ayi Kwei Armah
Life and Times of Michael K., J.M. Coetzee
Man Of The People, Chinua Achebe
Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
Nikki Giovanni's Autobiography
Nobody Knows My Name, James Baldwin
Oh, The Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss
One Day I Will Write About This Place, Binyavanga Wainaina
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Marquez
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey: Or, Africa for the Africans, Marcus Garvey
Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy, Jostein Gaarder
The 50th Law, 50 Cent & Robert Greene
The Adventures of August Winter and the Blackstone Academy, CS Robadue
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
The Art Of War, Sun Tzu
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Book of Secrets, Osho
The Coming of Aahba Yei, Nii Attaa Oko
The Darkest Child, Delores Phillips
The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander
The Outsider, Albert Camus
The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life, Piero Ferrucci
The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, Lola Shoneyin
The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety, Alan Watts
The Wretched Of The Earth, Frantz Fanon
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Unbowed: A Memoir, Wangari Maathi
UnPoverty, Mark Lutz
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor