"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: ★★★★★ 5/5 The Gold Diggers Sue Nyathi Pan Macmillan SA, May 2018 Online Price: R190 The Gold Diggers, published in 2018 by Pan Macmillan is Sue Nyathi’s second work of fiction. Her debut The Polygamist, was self-published in 2012. The narration follows the tumultuous journey, by river and road, of […]
Star Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5 Illumination Nthikeng Mohlele Pan Macmillan SA, February 2019 Online Price: R277 The best thing about this book is that the author pays homage to both contemporary and old school musicians, particularly in the jazz genre in a manner that immortalises their contribution to the art fraternity. One cannot […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Thirteen Cents K. Sello Duiker Kwela Books, July 2013 Online Price: R236 In the novel Thirteen Cents Duiker paints a vivid and heart wrenching picture of how, in post-apartheid South Africa, overt and covert marginalization still prevail. Racism, tribalism, exploitation, classism, corruption, crime, violence, violation, starvation, and displacement, […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Rumours Mongane Wally Serote Jacana Media, April 2013 Online Price: R226 Mongane Wally Serote’s Rumours explores a man’s journey to dig deep into himself in an effort to discover what it is that he already knows, but had somehow forgotten along the way. Serote uses South Africa’s post-apartheid […]
Star Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 This Mournable Body Tsitsi Dangarembga Jacana Media, November 2018 Online Price: R246 This Mournable Body is the last of a trilogy that began with Nervous Conditions and was followed by The Book of Not. The reader should be privy to the contents of the first two books, especially […]
Star Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5 Intruders Mohale Mashigo Picador Africa, September 2018 Online Price: R166 If I didn’t know any different, I would say that Mohale Mashigo was one very sassy, savvy, sophisticated and stylish writer. Well I’m not wrong, she is indeed all of those things – but she’s also a sufferer. Anxiety […]
Star Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5 Small Things Nthikeng Mohlele Jacana Media, May 2018 (new edition) Online Price: R206 Small Things: A novel about despair, love, and the elusive nature of inner happiness. This book starts off by introducing us to the anonymous narrator’s first unrequited love, Desiree. We get to experience the all-consuming love […]
Mama’s Tea Biscuits from The Lazy Makoti’s Guide to the Kitchen by Mogau Seshoene Makes 30 biscuits, preparation time: 20 minutes, baking time: 10 – 15 minutes 500 g margarine 1 ½ cups castor sugar 2 tsp vanilla essence 4 eggs 6 cups flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp […]
Star Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Oil on Water Helon Habila Penguin Books, September 2011 Online Price: R206 Helon Habila takes you on a chase through an underworld of investigative journalism in a war-locked country, and his pace is impeccable. Two journalists are recruited to find the kidnapped wife of a British oil engineer. There’s […]
Star Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi Faber & Faber, March 2018 Online Price: R244 A strange debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centres around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves as a result of being born “with one foot on the other […]
