South African Literature
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Stargazer - Jan van Tonder
Both funny and terrible, magical and grimly realistic, this is a coming of age novel about a young boy living in a railway settlement in Durban in the mid-sixties.
Its narrator, thirteen-year-old Timus, is part of a large family who struggles to make ends meet, and where the father's obsession with the church has distressing consequences.
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Blind Faith - Barbara Folscher
In North Oxford, where South African born Elena has been living for the past seven years, the morning paper brings shocking news about allegations made at the Truth Commission in South Africa and a criminal case against Dr Leonard Bresler, the anaesthetist (22 Med Corps) who bought her Debussy painting and made it possible for her to live in England.
In addition, the newspaper mentions an ex-prisoner of Robben Island who gave evidence at the TRC. Could that be Vulani? And could the stranger who came to her friends Nina and Jacques in Cape Town to enquire after her, really have been Vulani?
Elena relives the time seven years previously, in the turbulent South Africa of 1989, when she found an escaped prisoner on the beach in front of her house in Cape Town during the last months of the apartheid government's rule in South Africa.
They undertook a journey together that would challenge everything that had formed Elena: her understanding of her own identity, her relationship with her father, her work as an artist.
The slow burn of the relationship between two people from opposite worlds is at the heart of the novel. An intelligent and enjoyable political thriller with strong psychological undertones.
Eminently readable.
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Captain in the Cauldron: The John Smit Story
The longest serving captain in Springbok Rugby history gives a revealing account of the simultaneous joys and travails of one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs in this much anticipated autobiography.
The genial, jovial and witty Rugby World Cup winning captain explains how a tubby kid from Pietersburg with dreams of winning Wimbledon grew into his country's most successful rugby captain.
Smit, renowned for his honesty and humility, gives an eyebrow-raising account of the ambushes awaiting rugby celebrities in this country and offers the secret to his longevity in a sport that eats the naive and gullible for breakfast.
List Price: R230.00
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Available from the 14th November 2009 |
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| The Elephant Whisperer
Learning About Life, Loyalty and Freedom From a Remarkable Herd of Elephants by Lawrence Anthony
When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of 'rogue' elephants on his reserve at Thula Thula, his commonsense told him to refuse.
But he was the herd's last chance of survival - notorious escape artists, they would all be killed if Lawrence wouldn't take them.
He agreed, but before arrangements for the move could be completed the animals broke out again and the matriarch and her baby were shot.
The remaining elephants were traumatised and very angry.
As soon as they arrived at Thula Thula they started planning their escape...As Lawrence battled to create a bond with the elephants and save them from execution, he came to realise that they had a lot to teach him about love, loyalty and freedom.
Set against the background of life on the reserve, with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, this is a delightful book that will appeal to animal lovers everywhere.
List Price: R200.00
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| The Architects of Povety: Why Africa's Capitalism needs Changing by Moeletsi Mbeki
Moeletsi Mbeki is a political economist and the deputy chairman of the SAIIA (South African Institute of International Affairs), an independent think tank based at the University of the Witwatersrand.
He is the younger brother of former President Thabo Mbeki and son of ANC leader Govan Mbeki.
He has been called President Mbeki's most strident critic.
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Madam and Eve - Strike While The Iron Is Hot
Madam, Eve, Thandi and Mother Anderson are back to delight us with their antics this Christmas.
With their dry outlook on daily events and politics, they never fail to elicit a laugh.
The 2009 Madam and Eve will be available from October 2009.
List Price: R155.00
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Zaprio - Don't Mess With The President's Head
Will this annual equal last year's record of 5 weeks in a row at no.1 on the SA bestseller list?
"Zapiro's cartoons pack a punch that lands in your solar plexus...rushes up to your intellect, and bounds back down to your funny bone in an instant." - Annie Lennox
"One of the most brilliant political cartoonists in the world." - John Pilger
List Price: R145.00
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Headline Murders : Slayings which took South Africa
Headline Murders is a collection of stories about ten of South Africa's most notorious murder cases.
The death of former First Lady Marike de Klerk spawned rumours of a political killing and dissension in the family; the story of Casper Greeff, respected dentist and dedicated husband found guilty of paying to have his lovely wife murdered, is one steeped in envy and intrigue; the Bain's Kloof murder is an unsettling account of how poverty and abuse conspired to create human killing machines.
These and seven other alarming real-life tales of murder that shocked South Africa are retold with gritty details that were unknown at the time when they made headlines. With photographs of killers and victims.
The stories lend a human face to people, victims and perpetrators, who in a time of violent crime often become mere statistics.
List Price: R145.00
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Killer Women : Fatal South African Females
Ten headline-grabbing real-life tales of murder involving women.
The Marico was the backdrop to the stories of Herman Charles Bosman. It hits the headlines again when a grandmother sprinkles "rat poison" over her lover's sandwiches. Sultry Nina Oliver relentlessly stalks and eventually kills an attorney from George. Dina Rodrigues hires four men to kill her lover's baby, and the "Baby Jordan" case generates unprecedented publicity.
And, for the first time, the full story of the tragic killing of Oscar winner Charlize Theron's father is told. Riveting reading.
Chris Karsten once again follows the often bizarre twists and turns in the story behind the headline crime, masterfully creating the suspense and action.
He gets inside the minds of the main characters and puts a human face to these perplexing crimes.
List Price: R145.00
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| Romance to Remember - South Africans in love
"All the world loves a lover" and perhaps it loves a love story even more.
When the romance in question is real, not fictional, it's all the more powerful.
Every love affair has its unique dynamic, which is what makes them so endlessly fascinating. Romances to remember is a charmingly varied compilation of memorable South African unions.
There are the deeply spiritual unions of people such as Desmond and Leah Tutu and Beyers and Ilse Naudé, powerful politicians and their partners such as Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela and Albie Sachs's 'late life love' for the much younger Vanessa September; the grand historical unions, including those of Koos and Nonnie de la Rey and Jan and Isie Smuts.
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| Apetown - Sven Eick
Lars thinks he's found a foolproof, virtually legal plan to earn money from pool clubs without having to do much work.
But what starts out as a simple plan soon puts him on the wrong side of Costas, a Greek club owner whose wrong side you just don't want to be on, and a man who happens to have a special plan of his own.
Hampered by a single digit bank balance, an unpronounceable name and a habitually dysfunctional and distant family, Lars must now rely on his friends.
Frankie (an ex-SADF soldier with homicidal tendencies), Croccy (a dope-addled Australian who hasn't taken his shoes of since he was eighteen) and Marvin (an itinerant barman who rarely gets out of bed) to help him out of the mess.
With time running out, Lars sets out to appease Costas. To succeed he'll need Croccy to keep his boots on, Marvin to stay sober and Frankie to avoid killing anyone unless it's absolutely neccessary.
And if Lars survives, he may finally convince his on-off girlfriend Nadine to abandon her attempts to drag him kicking and screaming up the slopes of Cape Town's class pyramid.
Addressing the timeless themes of love, betrayal, death, and incurable stupidity, Apetown will take you on an edgy, unforgettable romp through the clubs, back-streets and intricate social tangles of a modern South African postcard paradise.
List Price: R155.00
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| What Kind of Child - Ken Barris
Bernal Diaz del Castillo is a tattoo artist who is five hundred years old, or believes he is five hundred years old.
His mind is filled with images of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. He lives in Cape Town, working out of a tiny studio in Long Street.
He is dying, and feels the need to chronicle his remarkable experiences.
What Kind of Child weaves a startling, fascinating tale as the lives of these three characters intersect and contrast with each other within a city that is, in reality, a different world for each of them.
List Price: R175.00
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| Are you with us? The Story of the PAC Activist
On 21 March, 1960, the sixteen-year-old Ace Mgxashe was among a dozen Langa High students whose curiosity led them to an anti-pass rally at the Langa Flats bus terminus.
Within minutes he was caught up in a deadly barrage of police bullets, teargas and baton charges.
The Langa killings were to be a turning point in his life, which henceforth would be dedicated to the Pan-Africanist Congress.
Mgxashe became deeply embroiled in the underground, was captured and sent to Robben Island, where he served with the likes of Robert Sobukwe and Nelson Mandela.
In Are you with us? he provides a rare insider account of the PAC, which is also the story of a colourful youth in turbulent times.
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| Behind the Curtain : A Journey to Sobriety
This is a well-written, poignant memoir of a woman's unhappy childhood and a brave and gripping account of her triumph over alcoholism.
The details of Jean's personal anguish and the obvious authenticity of her report on a life very nearly gone amiss demonstrate the kind of clout that only an honest personal account can have.
The frank way the book addresses the sensitive issues of alcoholism and domestic violence, and the vivid recall and dramatic impact with which some scenes are described, make this a powerful testament.
Both inspirational and informative, also about the role the AA played in her life once she admitted she had a problem.
The author stopped drinking 28 years ago and after achieving sobriety her career flourished and she opened her own business in 1985. She is now in her seventies and semi-retired, and has grandchildren who regard her as a "cool gran", something that would not have been possible if she hadn't stopped drinking.
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Spud 3 - Learning to Fly by John van de Ruit
Return to boarding school for Spuds third year of Wickedly Splendid Fun!
Spud - Learning to Fly
Spud Milton is back! Following on the success of the bestsellers Spud and Spud: The madness continues?
John van de Ruit returns with more adventures from the Crazy Eight.
In this eagerly anticipated third installment of the quadrilogy, Spud takes on one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
List Price: R125.00
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Spud 1 and 2 also available at our store. |
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| Gem squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok
Faith leads an isolated existence on her family's drought stricken farm in the Northern Transvaal.
When the rain stopped, her father took to the road as a travelling salesman, returning only at weekends.
Until one day, when he stops coming, and now Faith lives with her mother Bella and dog Boesman alone on the farm. Bella's health deteriorates rapidly.
Fifteen years later Bella dies incarcerated in the Sterkfontein asylum for the criminally insane, Faith inherits the farm and must return to confront the dark mysteries of the past...
Available at R30.00
Recommended retail price R152.00 |
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