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Books for Ethiopia

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  • 17-08-2012 11:00pm
    #1
    cailinoBAC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,113 ✭✭✭


    So....I'm going to Ethiopia in a few months. Can anybody recommend any books to read either before or for while I'm there (for the latter preferably small print and long!). Novels, travelogues etc...just want to open my eyes!


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    #2
    ThirdMan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,700 ✭✭✭ThirdMan


    I can't think of anything myself, but a quick Amazon search brought me to this. Scroll down to the customer reviews. They seem very positive.


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    #3
    muckisluck
    Registered Users Posts: 318 ✭✭muckisluck


    Cutting for Stone creates great images of Ethiopia (well to me it did but can't say I've actually been) has sold very well and is very popular. An easy read too. It is fiction though rather than fact.


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    #4
    cailinoBAC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,113 ✭✭✭cailinoBAC


    Thanks, those both look great and I can see that there are other suggestions on Amazon for people who bought those, so I'll probably find myself a mini library!


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    #5
    Roselm
    Registered Users Posts: 753 ✭✭✭Roselm


    muckisluck wrote: »
    Cutting for Stone creates great images of Ethiopia (well to me it did but can't say I've actually been) has sold very well and is very popular. An easy read too. It is fiction though rather than fact.

    Just my two cents, I found Cutting for Stone incredibly boring...I couldn't finish it. I'm in a bookclub and half the people loved it and half hated it. Two of us couldn't finish it. People did say the end of the book really made it so perhaps I didn't give it enough of a chance... I couldn't care about the characters though and I found it very slow paced.


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    #6
    Toby Take a Bow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Toby Take a Bow


    The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a brilliant read, although very short. Charts the downfall of Haile Sallaise (sp?) and a little bit about the government/regime that followed (if I remember correctly).


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    #7
    cailinoBAC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,113 ✭✭✭cailinoBAC


    Cool. i actually ordered 'The Shadow of the Sun' by Ryszard Kapuscinski just last week.


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    #8
    Toby Take a Bow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Toby Take a Bow


    cailinoBAC wrote: »
    Cool. i actually ordered 'The Shadow of the Sun' by Ryszard Kapuscinski just last week.

    Another great book. Maybe try that and see if you like his style.


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    #9
    bullpost
    Registered Users Posts: 4,231 ✭✭✭bullpost


    Philip Marsdens books on Ethiopa are excellent:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Barefoot-Emperor-Ethiopian-Tragedy/dp/0007173458

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chains-Heaven-Ethiopian-Romance-non-fiction/dp/0007173482


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    #10
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Sorry, Op, your thread title reminded me of this. :D

    2010-11-18-21-23-581921223553.jpg


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    #11
    two wheels good
    Registered Users Posts: 1,996 ✭✭✭two wheels good


    Dervla Murphy's travel book about Ethiopia.
    Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari" - about revisiting Africa generally, not specifically Ethiopia.


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    #12
    LiamMc
    Registered Users Posts: 906 ✭✭✭LiamMc


    The Sign and The Seal - Graham Hancock
    http://www.grahamhancock.com/library/sats/default.htm

    Actual real-life search for the Ark of The Covenant which Hancock heard was rumoured to be in the Holy of Holies in one of the churches in N. Ethiopia, Axum or Gondor.
    Starts in Ethiopia but takes a wide trip around Gothic Europe churches (incld. Chartes),Knights Templars and the search for the Holy Grail (Parcival).
    It's pre-The Da Vinci Code but very much in the same clue is in the detail that that book may convey (I've never read The Da Vinci Code)

    Honest reason given he was in Ethiopia to hear these rumours. He was writing text, his wife was taking pictures for a Mengistu Government coffee-table book of Ethiopia in the early 1980's.(that may be a book for your reading list.)


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    #13
    goose2005
    Registered Users Posts: 4,798 ✭✭✭goose2005


    Evelyn Waugh wrote a short book about the coronation of Haile Selassie, http://www.amazon.com/Coronation-Haile-Selassie-Evelyn-Waugh/dp/0141022442 it's very good.
    LiamMc wrote: »
    The Sign and The Seal - Graham Hancock
    http://www.grahamhancock.com/library/sats/default.htm

    Actual real-life search for the Ark of The Covenant which Hancock heard was rumoured to be in the Holy of Holies in one of the churches in N. Ethiopia, Axum or Gondor.
    Starts in Ethiopia but takes a wide trip around Gothic Europe churches (incld. Chartes),Knights Templars and the search for the Holy Grail (Parcival).
    It's pre-The Da Vinci Code but very much in the same clue is in the detail that that book may convey (I've never read The Da Vinci Code)

    Honest reason given he was in Ethiopia to hear these rumours. He was writing text, his wife was taking pictures for a Mengistu Government coffee-table book of Ethiopia in the early 1980's.(that may be a book for your reading list.)
    Sounds a bit Dan Brownish but I'm sure it'd be fun.


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