The Local Lit Scene

celebrating South African Literature beyond our past

The Love Verb – Jane Green and a give away!

This book was on my Christmas Wish List but last week I was in my favourite second hand book store purchasing some books as gifts, when I found it. ( I always do a mandatory check for which ever book I am currently on the look out for) and was very pleasantly surprised to find this one. Of course, I bought it, it was literally half price, which is a bargain!

My verdict?

It is a beautiful heart wrenching book, it had me in tears in one section and I literally could not put it down. In fact, I read it in one day.  I shirked all duties to finish it and loved it. It made me ponder on real life stuff, relationships, love, you know all the usual things one gets from a ‘chick lit’ author but it truly was an extremely sad, but uplifting book. Full of serious stuff but also the lighthearted, it really has a great balance.

The blurb-

Love is not an abstract idea. It is not saying ‘I’m here for you, let me know if you need me’. It’s making the decision, when someone close to you is in trouble, about what you will DO to fix as much as you can for them. It’s a ‘doing’ thing. A verb. For Callie, love is about looking after her family – her husband and two children – and their beautiful home. For Steff, Callie’s younger sister, love is about experiencing all that life has to offer without having to ever settle down. For Lila, Callie’s best friend, love is about finding a soulmate. And when she meets divorced father-of-two Eddie, she knows her search is over. For Walter and Honor, Callie and Steff’s divorced parents, love is about caring for the daughters they share. Then Callie gets some life-changing news. And suddenly the whole family is about to understand what ‘love’ really, really means….

This book was dedicated to one of Jane Greens friends who passed away recently and if I were her friend, I would of been seriously impressed with this book.

One of her best, for sure!

So, in keeping with the festivities of this time of year, I have one copy of this book to giveaway.  Open to anywhere in South Africa and all you need to do is leave a comment. Random.org will choose the winner on Monday 20th of December. Just think , you  may receive another Chrismas gift that you weren’t expecting!

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The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

As most of you know, I received this book through The Book Blogger Holiday Swop and was seriously looking forward to getting stuck in.

It only took me  a couple of days to read, due to it being a smaller book than his usual fare. It probably would of taken less time to read if I had had uninterrupted reading time, but alas, that was not to be.

I really enjoyed this, it was short, sweet and had the characteristic Jasper Fforde characters. If you haven’t read him before, this is not a bad one to start off with.

The storyline:

‘Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers, but work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.

So, it’s a surprise when the visions start.Not only do the predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a Dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming. Big Magic…’

This is an easy to read book, with a twist and a turn that isn’t expected. It has the greedy power mongers vs the caring dragonslayer, and it doesn’t fail to deliver.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and I think it would make a great gift for Christmas especially a young adult, or someone who enjoys a bit of fantasy (but not too much and more tongue in cheek, than the usual fantasy fare0.

Go on, give it a go and then let me know what you think…

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My gift from my Secret Santa arrived!

I received my Secret Santa gift this morning!

So very excited, I had to hold back on opening my gift until I arrived home from the post office and as I had a guest waiting for me on my arrival, I then had to prolong it even more for after I had made coffee and got the biscuits out.

But, then I did, and this is what I received…

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde.

He is one of my favourite authors and this is his latest book which has just recently been published. His writing is humorous and I love his books.

So, thank you so much Ana from thingsmeanalot, you have made my day!

(expect a review soon as I will be getting stuck into it asap!)

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Christmas Book Wish List

Ooh, books I am hoping to receive underneath the Christmas tree this year, lets hope Santa thinks I have been good enough;-)

The Castle in the Pyrenees – Jostein Gaarder

The last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

The Classical Pilates Method – Lynne Robbinson

The Cello Suites – Eric Siblin

The Love Verb – Jane Green

And for all my foodie wishes, head on over here.

What books are you hoping to find in your stocking this year?

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Book Blogger’s Holiday Swop

It is that time of year again, yay!

I joined in for the first time last year for the Book Blogger Holiday Swop and I really enjoyed shopping and looking for a gift aswell as receiving mine in the post so I decided to join in again this year.

If any of you are interested, head on over here for all the details, you need to have signed up by the 14th November so there isn’t much time.

Let me know if you sign up, it would be great to hear your experience.

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Hope for the flowers

Hope for the flowers by Trina Paulus is a beautiful, simple and classic book which I was given at least 10 years ago by a special friend of mine.

My first copy I gave to my niece and at the beginning of this year, I purchased another copy for my daughter to have. Recently, we have started reading it at bedtime and it is a lovely story.

It is a simple yet inspiring allegory about following and realizing one’s destiny but told through Stripe and Yellow, two caterpillars.  They struggle to ‘climb to the top’ until they realise that they are meant to fly.

It is a beautiful story and as the name suggests, full of hope. It is one of my favourites when I am feeling in need of  a pick me up and now, it is one of my daughter’s favourites.

The drawings evoke images and feelings and though it is a fairly thick book, it doesn’t take long to read at all as well as the cover being a cheerful yellow, it is a lovely addition to ones library.

If you are in need of a little hope right now, or even just looking for a gift this festive season, I highly recommend, Hope for the Flowers

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How cool are we?

I received an email in my Inbox this morning with wonderful news.

It was telling me that our Book Club Blog has been nominated for the ‘Top 50 Book Blogs to inspire and learn from’ on the Masters in Education website.

The fact that out of hundreds and thousands of book blogs on the internet, we were chosen makes me feel really happy and proud of the fact that we can offer something that many of the overseas blogs dont offer. South African authors and book reviews.

So, head on over here, to check it out as well as to discover the other 49 blogs that have been included.

I also just want to say thank you to all of you who read us, who send in book reviews and for reading the books we review.

On another note, check out this website Tops and Tales for a unique Book Club experience.

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Book review – Tea time for the traditionally built

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built is the tenth book in the series from Alexander McCall Smith.

Now, if you are anything like me and completely addicted to this series, it doesn’t dissapoint. This is trademark McCall Smith and continues telling us about the lives of Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and the rest of the cast from The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Simple storytelling with great moral truths is the typical style of these books. They show us that the simple pleasures of life are the great (and small) kindnesses in people’s hearts, no matter how much one has to search to find them.

I love his books for his easy reading style and simple pleasures. As good as having a cup of tea!

Keep your eyes open for his next offering ‘The Double Comfort Safari Club’.

Have any of you seen the television series?

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Reader Book Review – Abbie Ann

This review of Abbie Ann by Sharlene Maclaren was sent in by one of our readers, Cathy.

Abbie Ann is the third in the Daughters of Jacob Kane trilogy…and it was a super book to read.

Abbie Ann is the youngest of the three sisters and is very much Miss Independent. She is president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, likes to walk every where by herself and doesn’t need a man in her life. She also likes to tell jokes…not very good ones but they made me giggle and definitely were a hit with my 8 year old son!

Any good “love story” needs a hero…and the hero in this book is called Noah and he is a boat builder…such a good play on the famous builder from the bible but so not like his namesake at all when it comes to faith issues.

This book is a journey of two people and how they come to know and trust God for their friendship and themselves. Plus add in an extra mystery or two and this is a brilliant read.

Thanks Cathy! And sorry for the roundabout way you had to get it to us, the page has been sorted for next time.

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Book review – The Host

Stephenie Meyer does it again!

How on earth she manages to write such extremely readable books, I have no idea.

The Host is her first book, but I have to admit to not wanting to read it because I thought that after her Twilight series, her first book couldn’t be half as good.  I admit, I was wrong. In fact, if I had read this first, I probably wouldn’t have taken so long to read the Twilight books;-)

The story is far from vampires, but it  does contain aliens on earth. The souls are brought to earth and implanted into a host body, which are humans to you and I, and the host body is then subdued by the soul. The reason why they are doing this implantation is because of the violence on earth and it is now a peaceful place where there is no competition and murder and killing.

Melanie is the host body to a soul called Wanderer, but when Wanderer wakes up in Melanie’s body, she is not so easy to subdue. And here starts the story of two different souls in one body. Melanie’s dreams are vivid for Wanderer and slowly she becomes enmeshed between the emotions and desires of Melanie and goes off track from her ‘mission’ on earth.

The premise of this book is quite interesting and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you enjoyed the Twilight series (the books not the movies) then head on over to your local book shop and get yourself a copy. i don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I sure wasn’t!

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