Democratic Republic of the Congo

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1902). This classic, psychologically dense novella follows river boat captain Marlow up the Congo River in his search for the elusive Mr. Kurtz. The book was inspired by Conrad's six-month stay in the Congo in 1890 and descriptions of the landscape ("The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and rip with steam.") are lyrical and majestic.

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (1998). This page-turner of a family tale follows an evangelical Baptist minister as he uproots his family and moves to theBelgian Congo in the 1950s. Kingsolver, whose novels are usually associated with the American Southwest, here tackles with skill and authority the tangled mix of African politics, religion, and colonialism.

*The Ponds of Kalambayi: An African Sojourn, by Mike Tidwell (1990). Tidwell was a wet-behind-the-ears 23-year-old fish-culture expert with the Peace Corps when he was sent to the tribal chiefdom of Kalambayi, in Zaire, to teach the benefits of fish farming. The story this "fish out of water" tells about working and living with locals is both funny and heartwarming.