Recommended reading list of literary fiction on development
NB/ All books are English-language or translations. Different and other language editions of these works may exist.
- Achebe, C., (1958), Things Fall Apart, London: Heinemann.
- Ali, M., (2003), Brick Lane, London: Doubleday.
- Amado, J., (1965 [1943]), The Violent Land, New York: Knopf.
- Ballard, J. G., (1994), Rushing to Paradise, London: Harper Collins.
- Ballard, J. G., (1987), The Day of Creation, London: Victor Gollancz.
- Borges, J. L., (2000 [1964]), Labyrinths: Selected Short Stories and Other Writings, London: Penguin Books.
- Boyd, W., (1982), A Good Man in Africa, London: Penguin.
- Boyd, W., (1991), Brazzaville Beach, London: Penguin.
- Brunner, J., (1968), Stand on Zanzibar, New York: Ballantine.
- Buck, P. S., (2004 [1931]), The Good Earth, New York: Simon & Schuster.
- Camus, A., (1994 [1948]), The Plague, New York: First Vintage International.
- Carpentier, A., (1989 [1957]), The Kingdom of This World, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- Cohen, A., (1996 [1968]), Belle du Seigneur: A Novel, New York: Viking.
- Condé, M., (1996 [1984]) Segu, New York: Penguin.
- Conrad, J., (1990 [1902]), Heart of Darkness, New York: Dover Publications.
- Conrad, J. (1983 [1904], Nostromo, London: Penguin.
- Darko, A., (1995), Beyond the Horizon, London: Heinemann.
- de Bernières, L., (1990), The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts, London: Secker & Warburg.
- Desai, A., (2000), Diamond Dust and Other Stories, London: Chatto & Windus.
- Farrell, J. G., (1973), The Siege of Krishnapur, London: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
- Fielding, H., (1994), Cause Celeb, London: Picador.
- Forster, E. M., (2000 [1924]), A Passage to India, London: Penguin.
- Frisch, M., (1959 [1957]), Homo Faber, New York: Harcourt.
- Fuentes, C., (1989 [1987]), Christopher Unborn, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- Galgut, D., (2004), The Good Doctor, London: Atlantic Books.
- Garcia Marquez, G., (1997 [1985[), Love in the Time of Cholera, New York: Knopf.
- Garcia Marquez, G., (1995 [1967]), One Hundred Years of Solitude, New York: Knopf.
- Genet, J., (1988 [1958]), The Blacks: A Clown Show, New York: Grove Press.
- Gordimer, N., (1978), The Conservationist, London: Penguin.
- Green, G., (1991 [1955]), The Quiet American, London: Penguin.
- Kadaré, I., (2005 [1981]), The Palace of Dreams, London: Harvill Press.
- Kingsolver, B., (1998), The Poisonwood Bible, New York: Harper Collins.
- Kipling, R., (1987 [1901]), Kim, London: Penguin.
- Kourouma, A., (1997 [1970]), The Suns of Independence, Teaneck: Holmes & Meier Publishers.
- Kourouma, A., (2001 [1998]), Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
- Kourouma, A., (2005 [2000]), Allah is not obliged, London: Heinemann.
- Lahiri, J., (1999), Interpreter of Maladies, New York: Houghton Mifflin.
- Lapierre, D., (1985), The City of Joy, New York: Warner Books.
- Le Carré, J., (2000), The Constant Gardener, New York: Scribner.
- Maalouf, A., ([1983]), The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, London: Saqi Books.
- Mahfouz, N., (1993 [1966]), Adrift on the Nile, New York: Anchor Books.
- Mahjoub, J., (1989), Navigation of a Rainmaker, London: Heinemann.
- Mahjoub, J., (1994), Wings of Dust, London: Heinemann.
- Mistry, R., (1996), A Fine Balance, London: Faber and Faber.
- Molteno, M., (1992), A Shield of Coolest Air, London: Shola Books.
- Mwangi, M., (1976), Going Down River Road, London: Heinemann.
- Naipaul, V. S., (2001 [1961]), A House for Mr. Biswas, New York: First Vintage International.
- Narayan, R. K., (1993 [1976]), The Painter of Signs, London: Penguin.
- Neruda, P., (2003 [1947]), Residence on Earth, London: Souvenir Press.
- Neruda, P., (1993 [1950]), Canto General, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Okri, B., ([1991]), The Famished Road, New York: Anchor Books
- Ondaatje, M., (2000), Anil’s Ghost, London: Bloomsbury.
- Ousmane, S., (1972), The Money Order, London: Heinemann.
- Rush, N., (1992), Mating, New York: Vintage.
- Rushdie, S., (1981), Midnight's Children, London: Picador.
- Saith, V., (1993), A Suitable Boy, London: Phoenix.
- Sepulveda, L., (1993 [1989]), The Old Man who read Love Stories, New York: Harcourt.
- Shukla, S., (1992 [1968]), Raag Darbari, New Delhi: Penguin India.
- Soueif, A., (1999), The Map of Love, London: Bloomsbury.
- Soyinka, W., (1963), A Dance of the Forests, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Tweedie, J., (1987), Internal Affairs, London: Penguin.
- Vargas Llosa, M., (1975 [1969]), Conversations in the Cathedral, New York: Harper & Row.
- Walcott, D., (1990), Omeros, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- wa Thiong’o, Ngugi, (1977), Petals of Blood, London: Penguin.
- wa Thiong’o, Ngugi, (1989), Matigari, London: Heinemann.
- Xingjian, G., (2000 [1990]), Soul Mountain, New York: Harper Collins.
If you would like to suggest a book not included in this list you can do so by going to the fiction of development forum, where you can also comment on books and browse the suggestions made by others.
Also, anybody wishing to comment on these books might like to do so via Magic Man’s "Fiction of Development" Amazon.com Listmania! list, here.