100 books like What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky

By Lesley Nneka Arimah,

Here are 100 books that What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky fans have personally recommended if you like What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of My Brilliant Friend

Aldo Cernuto Author Of The Curse of Knowing

From my list on women a notch above the rest.

Why am I passionate about this?

Only in my recent life as a reader did I realize that my favorite novels often follow a precise pattern: either the author or the main character is a woman. Or both. So, why this sort of bias from a male reader? I found a plausible answer in my belief that female protagonists, more than male ones, serve as the ideal lever for compelling plot twists—the deae ex machina of contemporary storytelling. No wonder the protagonist of the first novel I wrote is a woman. No wonder she’s gifted (or, rather, cursed) with supernatural powers. As for my choice of topic, could it possibly have turned out differently?

Aldo's book list on women a notch above the rest

Aldo Cernuto Why did Aldo love this book?

Although I have read a number of novels focused on friendship, this one stands out with particular vigor. It started the way I expected: two friends since childhood. The more I advanced into the reading, though, the more I perceived the two main characters—Elena and Lila—as the same person:  a sort of super-protagonist that incorporates not only the psychological traits of the two but their lives as well.

If it’s true that life is often a fight between who we are and who we would like to be, then this novel portrays that conflict masterfully. What I saw in this story, more than the recount of a friendship, is the power that lies hidden within each of us. Whether we annihilate it or let it bloom depends on the choices we make in our lives. 

By Elena Ferrante, Ann Goldstein (translator),

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked My Brilliant Friend as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN ENGLISH WORLDWIDE

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD IN THE UK

OVER 14 MILLION COPIES OF THE NEAPOLITAN QUARTET SOLD WORLDWIDE

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

GUARDIAN 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY

58 WEEKS ON THE BOOKSELLER'S TOP 20 ORIGINAL FICTION BESTSELLERS LIST

SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015

43 INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS DEALS

Now in B-format Paperback

From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, comes this ravishing and generous-hearted novel about a friendship that lasts a lifetime. The story of Elena and Lila begins in the 1950s in a poor but…


Book cover of Rosewater

Chikodili Emelumadu Author Of Dazzling

From my list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a child who was very dissatisfied with the idea that this world, with its rules and routines, is all there is. Sunday school filled me with a fear of hell, and heaven sounded boring, a lot of people wearing white and singing. This forced me into the world of fairy and folktales: spirits, tricksters, masquerades, elves, werecreatures, and merpeople. It was all so exciting and, more than that, comforting. The just were rewarded, and the wicked were punished within the timeframe of the story, not later when they died. 

Chikodili's book list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos

Chikodili Emelumadu Why did Chikodili love this book?

My default stance in life is ‘Meh,’ which infuriates my children, but it's pretty hard to get a rise out of me because I've seen some shit.

Nigeria is such a dysfunctional country full of laughter, sunshine, secrets, and puppeteers; it made everything in this book seem feasible. Like, if you stretch my country out like taffy we'd get to a mad stage that everyone would still shrug off and accept.

It validated the heck out of me, let me tell you. 

By Tade Thompson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Rosewater as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rosewater is the start of an award-winning trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction's most engaging voices.

*Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, winner
*Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel, winner

Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry, and the helpless -- people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.

Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn't care…


Book cover of The Palm-Wine Drinkard

Chikodili Emelumadu Author Of Dazzling

From my list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a child who was very dissatisfied with the idea that this world, with its rules and routines, is all there is. Sunday school filled me with a fear of hell, and heaven sounded boring, a lot of people wearing white and singing. This forced me into the world of fairy and folktales: spirits, tricksters, masquerades, elves, werecreatures, and merpeople. It was all so exciting and, more than that, comforting. The just were rewarded, and the wicked were punished within the timeframe of the story, not later when they died. 

Chikodili's book list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos

Chikodili Emelumadu Why did Chikodili love this book?

Weird AF!

I haven't read it in twenty years, having been introduced to Tutuola's work as part of my undergrad degree. It's a book full of ghosts and the sort of mind that perceives and interacts with them. It basically epitomises the saying, 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,' but is the palm-wine drinkard a fool, brave, desperate, or just very, very drunk when he wanders off on his quest through the spirit world? Or is he all of the above?

Read it and find out.

By Amos Tutuola,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Palm-Wine Drinkard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This classic novel tells the phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings - among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature. Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a 'creepy crawly imagination', The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature.

'Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching.' Dylan Thomas, Observer

'Tutuola's art conceals - or rather clothes - his purpose,…


Book cover of Juju

Chikodili Emelumadu Author Of Dazzling

From my list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a child who was very dissatisfied with the idea that this world, with its rules and routines, is all there is. Sunday school filled me with a fear of hell, and heaven sounded boring, a lot of people wearing white and singing. This forced me into the world of fairy and folktales: spirits, tricksters, masquerades, elves, werecreatures, and merpeople. It was all so exciting and, more than that, comforting. The just were rewarded, and the wicked were punished within the timeframe of the story, not later when they died. 

Chikodili's book list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos

Chikodili Emelumadu Why did Chikodili love this book?

Smutty ghost sex. I had no business reading this book at nine or whatever, but I had an appetite and the aptitude, and my parents were either too trusting or indifferent because SMUTTY GHOST SEX.

I can't remember much else about it, nor can I get a copy, but for nine-year-old me, it was forbidden and titillating. 

Don't tell my mother. 

By Dillibe Onyeama,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Juju as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of The Bottled Leopard

Chikodili Emelumadu Author Of Dazzling

From my list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a child who was very dissatisfied with the idea that this world, with its rules and routines, is all there is. Sunday school filled me with a fear of hell, and heaven sounded boring, a lot of people wearing white and singing. This forced me into the world of fairy and folktales: spirits, tricksters, masquerades, elves, werecreatures, and merpeople. It was all so exciting and, more than that, comforting. The just were rewarded, and the wicked were punished within the timeframe of the story, not later when they died. 

Chikodili's book list on proving Nigerians are secret weirdos

Chikodili Emelumadu Why did Chikodili love this book?

I grew up reading fairy tales from other lands and taking our own oral stories back home for granted. At the very least, our stories belonged to dark, scary places.

This book changed all that. It was magical! It showed me new Igbo mythology and made my culture appealing and heroic. What's not to love? 

By Chukwuemeka Ike,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bottled Leopard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Bottled Leopard by Chuwkuemeka Ike


Book cover of Everything Good Will Come

Ama Asantewa Diaka Author Of Someone Birthed Them Broken: Stories

From my list on the inner lives of women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am invested in how women juxtapose the day-to-day with the bizarre. I am curious about how women balance their lives with the insoluble and how this contributes to the fluidity of their identities. I live with women, I work with women, I shop with them, eat with them, sit next to them on the bus, I am friends with women, laugh with them, I pray with them, I am these women. In whichever format my work takes shape–whether subtle or direct, either as a performer, writer, designer, or community catalyst, I am committed to intentionally making space for womanhood. Please enjoy my book list.

Ama's book list on the inner lives of women

Ama Asantewa Diaka Why did Ama love this book?

I’ve read this book at least twice. The specificity of Sefi Atta's language makes me feel like I can reach into the pages and sit next to the characters as their lives unfold.

Her writing is very immersive, drawing you in and making everything in that world real and imaginable, painful yet livable. In this book, she explores the complexities of womanhood, even with certain privileges and regardless of status. 

By Sefi Atta,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Everything Good Will Come as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Everything Good Will Come introduces an important new voice in contemporary fiction. With insight and a lyrical wisdom, Nigerian-born Sefi Atta has written a powerful and eloquent story set in her African homeland. It is 1971, a year after the Biafran War, and Nigeria is under military rule—though the politics of the state matter less than those of her home to Enitan Taiwo, an eleven-year-old girl tired of waiting for school to start. Will her mother, who has become deeply religious since the death of Enitan’s brother, allow her friendship with the new girl next door, the brash and beautiful…


Book cover of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

Ama Asantewa Diaka Author Of Someone Birthed Them Broken: Stories

From my list on the inner lives of women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am invested in how women juxtapose the day-to-day with the bizarre. I am curious about how women balance their lives with the insoluble and how this contributes to the fluidity of their identities. I live with women, I work with women, I shop with them, eat with them, sit next to them on the bus, I am friends with women, laugh with them, I pray with them, I am these women. In whichever format my work takes shape–whether subtle or direct, either as a performer, writer, designer, or community catalyst, I am committed to intentionally making space for womanhood. Please enjoy my book list.

Ama's book list on the inner lives of women

Ama Asantewa Diaka Why did Ama love this book?

The thing I love most about this book is how Lola weaves the story expertly in a way that you sympathize with each woman.

I loved the women in this book. Each one has its eccentricities, and each woman defines and redefines her autonomy. Only fantastic storytelling can center a patriarch and have the women crowning the day.

By Lola Shoneyin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is a scandalous, engrossing tale of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria. Lola Shoneyin's bestselling novel bursts on to the stage in a vivid adaptat ion by Caine Award-winning playwright Rotimi Babatunde. "Men are like yam, you cut them how you like." Baba Segi has three wives, seven children, and a mansion filled with riches. But now he has his eyes on Bolanle, a young university graduate wise to life's misfortunes. When Bolanle responds to Baba Segi's advances, she unwittingly uncovers a secret which threatens to rock his patriarchal household to…


Book cover of Things They Lost

Ama Asantewa Diaka Author Of Someone Birthed Them Broken: Stories

From my list on the inner lives of women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am invested in how women juxtapose the day-to-day with the bizarre. I am curious about how women balance their lives with the insoluble and how this contributes to the fluidity of their identities. I live with women, I work with women, I shop with them, eat with them, sit next to them on the bus, I am friends with women, laugh with them, I pray with them, I am these women. In whichever format my work takes shape–whether subtle or direct, either as a performer, writer, designer, or community catalyst, I am committed to intentionally making space for womanhood. Please enjoy my book list.

Ama's book list on the inner lives of women

Ama Asantewa Diaka Why did Ama love this book?

If minds were gardens, Okwiri Odour’s would be lush and strange, monochromatic, and with a tinge of color. I loved the absolute tenderness with which she wrote her characters.

I loved that the strangeness of things in this book made me both chuckle and question the possibility of worlds.

By Okwiri Oduor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Things They Lost as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Magical, beguiling... Carries echoes of Toni Morrison's Beloved' Guardian

A Vulture 'Book We Can't Wait to Read in 2022'

They had not lost anyone that year, or the ones they had lost were not worth remembering...

Set in the fictional Kenyan town of Mapeli, Things They Lost tells the story of four generations of women, each haunted by the mysterious curse that hangs over the Brown family. At the heart of the novel is Ayosa Ataraxis Brown, twelve years old and the loneliest girl in the world.

Okwiri Oduor's stunningly original debut novel sings with Kenyan folklore and myth as…


Book cover of By Your Side

Sara Jo Cluff Author Of Daphne's Questionable Bet

From my list on surviving teenage years while living with anxiety.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been living with anxiety since I was a child. I had no idea what it was back then, or how much it controlled my life. I wish I had the numerous resources that we have today, and all the knowledge at our fingertips. For me, the way to really truly understand something is through a story. Seeing a beautifully chaotic life unfold before me, and riding alongside the characters, offers me so much hope and lets me know I’m not alone in this. You are not alone in the anxiety battle. By working together, sharing our stories, we’ll find a way through the darkest times and embrace the light.

Sara's book list on surviving teenage years while living with anxiety

Sara Jo Cluff Why did Sara love this book?

Going through anxiety can be tough and lonesome. I know most of us are stubborn and want to go things alone, just like Autumn does in this book. West paints a picture of how keeping our trials to ourselves can hold us back and keep us from growing. It can damage friendships and relationships. By giving your close friends and family a chance to see the world through your eyes, you’re giving them a way to truly and deeply understand you, which is all anyone really wants.

By Kasie West,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked By Your Side as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

An irresistible story from Kasie West that explores the timeless question: What do you do when you fall for the person you least expect?

When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her.

Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumors about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to…


Book cover of The Wild Ones

Natasha Deen Author Of The Signs and Wonders of Tuna Rashad

From my list on kickbutt heroines.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in the 1980s when there wasn’t consideration for representation or diversity in literature or media. If I wanted to read about a Girl of Color, inevitably, she was a slave. If I wanted to watch a TV show featuring women (of any color), they were inevitably rescued in the climactic moment by a man. As such, I grew into a reader who loves kickbutt girls of all stripes. Give me a chance to cheer on a female who’s looking for her happy ending and not about to let the world dictate how she finds that happiness (and with whom), and boy, you got me!

Natasha's book list on kickbutt heroines

Natasha Deen Why did Natasha love this book?

I love this book so much, I blurbed it! In a world where women are often asked to be quiet, to make themselves small, Nafiza Azad’s unapologetically feminist book is breathtaking. Readers journey with Paheli and her collection of girls—the Wild Ones—helping to save girls from the pain they had to endure. On their journey, they seek Taraana, a boy with stars in his eyes, who once saved Paheli and now needs saving. While The Wild Ones is a fantasy, it is an unflinching look into the #MeToo movement, the tragedies and pain of being female, the saving grace of sisterhood, and the audacious power of resilience and hope.

By Nafiza Azad,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wild Ones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

From William C. Morris Finalist Nafiza Azad comes a thrilling, feminist fantasy about a group of teenage girls endowed with special powers who must band together to save the life of the boy whose magic saved them all.

We are the Wild Ones, and we will not be silenced.

We are girls who have tasted the worst this world can offer. Our story begins with Paheli, who was once betrayed by her mother, sold to a man in exchange for a favor. When Paheli escaped, she ran headlong into Taraana-a boy with stars in his eyes, a boy as battered…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Nigeria, fables, and school?

Nigeria 68 books
Fables 44 books
School 276 books