"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
Star Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5 Swing Time Zadie Smith Hamish Hamilton, November 2016 Online Price: R313.00 I have recently discovered Zadie Smith and I have to say — Why didn’t anyone put me on to her sooner? This has not been an easy read, however: Swing Time does a difficult dance. It doesn’t quite mesh […]
Star Rating: ★★★ 3/5 Period Pain Kopano Matlwa Jacana Media, November 2016 Online Price: R200 The only books worth reading are books written in blood – Frederick Buechner Period Pain is a raw, hard-hitting and an intensely personal account of a young woman’s struggle to find her place in contemporary South Africa. […]
Star Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives Lola Shoneyin Serpent’s Tail, January 2011 Online Price: R209 Lola Shoneyin evokes an extraordinary Nigerian family in splashes of vibrant colour. — from the blurb of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives I have never read such an odd book in my […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 The Book of Memory Petina Gappah Faber & Faber, September 2015 Online Price: R302 The Book of Memory is the second work of fiction by Petina Gappah, a work that underscores why she won the Guardian First Book Award for her first, the short story collection An Elegy for Easterly. This […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi Penguin Random House, June 2016 Online Price: R313 You can learn anything when you have to learn it. You could learn to fly if it meant you would live another day. Homegoing is a fresh new voice in African literature – one that it is imperative you […]
It is rare that debut work is this exquisitely polished – more often than not, debut authors are well within the vicinity of great work, but lack either the editorial resources or distance from their own work to give it that final, lustrous sheen. The Miniaturist has a plot filled with splendid characters and superb […]
Very informative account of the collapse of the Rand during 2001. This book not only looks at the effect this phenomenon had on our economy but also how whistleblowers who are brave enough to stand up face the responsibility of whistleblowing after the dust has settled. Barry Sergeant is not afraid to name and shame, […]
Dracula has risen and the agents of Department 19 are in danger of being hunted by the very forces they swore to protect humanity from. A countdown has begun and once zero hour hits Dracula will be at full power and once his pinnacle is reached he will be an unstoppable force. Already vampire activity […]
Sihle Khumalo is my new hero. This man went from Cape to Cairo by public transport only. Look I’m going to sound mean but Africa isn’t known for its excellent public transport so I say kudos or give that man a bells for actually leaving a young child and his wife behind to follow his […]
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick is one of the best young adult books around. It’s a mix of espionage, action, peer pressure and swear words. Look, I know, I know: how can you compliment a book that has foul language? But sometimes authors need it to make a book or situations more authentic. Sometimes for me […]
