"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."
~ Dr. Suess
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
~ Douglas Adams
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."
~ Anton Chekhov
Imagine my delight when a publisher heading a large international publishing house confided that he woke up every morning around four thirty, brushed his teeth, slipped his feet into slippers if it was winter, wrapped himself up in his dressing gown, made himself a cup of tea and settled down in a chair and began […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 The Terrible Yrsa Daley-Ward Penguin, April 2018 Online Price: R198 Poet, model and actor Yrsa Daley-Ward, best known for her debut poetry collection, Bone, and her spoken-word performances, has written a heartbreaking memoir in The Terrible, where she talks readers through a tale of a dark-skinned girl growing up […]
Barack Obama does them frequently. Bill Clinton occasionally does as well. And to my great delight Michael Jordaan (former highly innovative head of FNB and now involved in launching an online bank, wine and so much more) decided to announce his winter holiday one. Yes: we’re talking about reading lists, usually coinciding with a longish […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 The Fatuous State of Severity Phumlani Pikoli Pan Macmillan SA, January 2018 Online Price: R177 Phumlani Pikoli is one of the ascending young literary voices. The Fatuous State of Severity, a series of short stories and illustrations, marks his debut in the literature landscape. The author made a brave […]
So there we are. It’s done and it’s dusted and a great deal of bubbly has been consumed. Of course, I am talking (finally) about the Sunday Times Literary Awards. In case you haven’t heard, the prestigious Alan Paton Award went to Bongani Ngqulunga for The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 The Ones with Purpose Nozizwe Cynthia Jele Kwela Books, April 2018 Online Price: R244 The writing in this heartbreaking novel is nothing short of impeccable. Nozizwe Cynthia Jele, author of Happiness is a Four-Letter Word, awards us with her second offering – it is as if we didn’t wait […]
It’s not a late night – the Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlist announcements. The room, in an eyrie above Empire Road, was abuzz, though, because it’s an evening that rocks. And she saw me before I saw her. There’s no mistaking Yewande Omotoso. She is over six foot and she towers over me. “I haven’t […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward Bloomsbury, November 2017 Online Price: R188 Sing, Unburied, Sing is the fourth novel by bestselling and multi-award-winning author, Jesmyn Ward. It is a poignant tale that explores the dynamics of an African American family trying to survive while navigating racism, drugs, abuse and death. […]
It’s a fact: from the end of April on it is the time for book awards, book festivals and a glory of books falling off presses with such rapidity they become a blur. This marks the beginning of my Christmas reading pile, for there is no way anyone on this planet can read everything. Right […]
We have a delicious glut of public holidays ahead. They stretch from Easter right through until 1st May and each of them holds the promise of carefully contrived long weekends sandwiched around most of them. But which books does one choose to go with the wine that goes with the friends that go with the […]
