feburary book report: baking cakes in kigali

Last Sunday I was at the local pool with some friends and I brought my “Baking Cakes in Kigali” book. I told my roommate that it was moving a bit slow and wasn’t keep my interest.

And then, with the literal turning of a page, the story came together and I couldn’t put it down.

I first spotted this book on a shelf in the apartment I moved into. Assuming from the title that it was a book about how to bake cakes in Africa, I mentally noted that I would need to check it out since I enjoy baking. A few days later, it came to light that it is not in fact about how to bake cakes…

I recommend this book to someone who enjoys other cultures. Enjoys their history and culture. To someone who understands the fellowship that happens over sharing a cup of coffee, over having people around a dinner table, or for baking with or for them.

If you decide to read this book, you’ll get a taste of what life is like here in Africa. Angel, the main character and cake baker, introduces you chapter by chapter, to people she meets who have ordered cakes from her. Their stories take you to the Rwandan genocide (1994; over the course of 100 days appx 500,000 people were killed), AIDS, assumptions of American women, family bonds and the plight of women. And this book is a love story.

It is a delicious book, and one that I was not familiar with back in the states. Check this book out if you’re looking for something different. You’ll probably want to have cupcakes nearby as you get into this book.