Musings of a South African Bookworm

sharing my love of books with a special focus on SA literature

May 29

Jackie Cameron Cooks at Home – my opinion

by musingsofasouthafricanbookworm

I Love Cookbooks.

I am not ashamed to admit that at all. I love how different chefs have different takes on a meal, and the addition or subtraction of an ingredient can change a meal in an instance.

I received this book from Penguin Books SA and what a delightful cook book this is, in a sea of cook books, one can always ask, ‘what is unique about this one’? Why should I buy another cookbook? What is it going to teach me about cooking?

Well, for me, the uniqueness of this particular book is in its honest and easy approach to food. The photography is purely delicious as are the recipes – the ones I have tried so far – and the ones I plan to try this week. Yes, I admit it, I have meal planned out of it since I received it a week ago.

Last week we tried the corn fritters, easy and tasty and a nice addition to tomato soup for our Meat Free Mondays. This week I have tuna fishcakes, wasabi baby potatoes and chocolate chip cookies to try out. The chocolate chip cookies will be given as a thank you gift (and some for me, of course) and considering I am a Huge wasabi fan, I am looking forward to trying out a new spin on an old favorite. One of the few things my daughter eats with relish is fish so I am going to try my hand at the tuna fishcakes, much healthier and I am positive, much tastier than shop bought ones!

So, if you are asking Why should I buy another cook book? Well, my answer is this: the recipes are easy, food delicious and if you are in a cooking rut, making the same meals week in and week out, this is a fabulous book to try new things!

Just, be sure to let me know what you try out and we can compare our results;-)

Jackie Cameron Cooks at Home retails from Kalahari for R225 and Exclusives for R212 at the time of this post.

Happy Cooking!

R225

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May 26

The Shining Girls – Lauren Beukes

by musingsofasouthafricanbookworm

The review you have all been waiting for!

So, before we get down to the nitty gritty part of this review, I have to first admit to not having read any of her other books. I tried Moxieland but could not get into it and abandoned it not very far in. So, it was with slight trepidation that I picked this one up to check it out. I read the back cover –

The girl who wouldn’t die.

Hunting a killer who shouldn’t exist.

(Those first two sentences already had me intrigued)

Chicago, 1931. Violent drifter Harper Curtis stumbles upon a house that hides a secret as shocking as his own twisted nature: it opens onto other times. Harper uses it to stalk his ‘shining girls’ across decades – and cut the fire out of them.

He’s the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. Until one of his victims survives and turns the hunt around.

Chicago, 1992. Kirby Mazrachi’s determination to find the man who tried to kill her has taken over her life. The cops no longer return her calls. Her mother copes by writing morbid children’s books. Her only ally is Dan, the burnt-out ex-homicide reporter who covered her case.

As Kirby closes in on her would-be killer, what she finds is…impossible. Murders scattered across the decades along with evidence that makes no sense.

Meanwhile Harper is closing in on her too.

The premise of this book is what intrigued me. The idea of a time travel thriller was a unique and novel one. So, I started to read it in the bookshop. I always like to read a few pages before I buy a book (I’m sure I am not the only person to do this??) and Lauren Beukes writing gripped me from page one. Unlike her previous novels.

It was creepy and gripping and unputdownable. I was a bit concerned that I would not be able to read this book at night time ( I am not a fan of going to sleep with gruesome images in my head) but I didn’t have to worry. Yes, the murders were gruesome and completely unsympathetic to the victim but the writing was compelling. Saying that, I did manage to read most of this in a couple of days so didn’t have to contend with much night time reading…

This novel is weird, very well written, slightly macabre and rather disturbing. This violent man, Harper, stumbles on this house which draws on his inner nature to  kill woman for their ‘shine’.And through many decades through time travel via this very house. What I did find rather disappointing is that you never really find out  the ‘why’ of this . (I like to know the why of the weirdness, does that make sense?)

Kirby, the victim who survives her attack is  sarcastic(her coping mechanism for her trauma) and determined to track down her would be killer. I liked the portrayal of her and especially when Dan comes onto the scene. I enjoyed the sceptism of Dan as Kirby discovers the impossible, his growing feelings for Kirby and when is disbelief is suspended when they work together to catch Harper.

The ending was not sufficient for me, I was a tad disappointed but yet, I can also see the full circle effect and well, you will have to read it as I don’t want to give too much away, the creepiness of the ending.

Lauren Beukes has definitely entered the world of not just a South African author, if her other work has not put her on the world map already, this certainly will!

Read it if you dare….

 

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May 16

Around Madagascar on my kayak – a review

by musingsofasouthafricanbookworm

Riaan Manser does it again!

I am sure that he must have some sort of crazy in him in order to do these adventures! There is no way, you would find me kayaking around an island all by my lonesome…

but what an awesome book and story. The only thing that I can say negatively about it is that it just ends far to quickly! You get completely caught up in the adventure, this is truly armchair travel at its best, and before you know it, Riaan has made it to his finish point and the reader is left adrift.

So, what to tell you about this book? Firstly, if you enjoy true stories, adventure ones at that, then this is a must read. Secondly, he does what it says on the cover, goes around Madagascar on a Kayak and thirdly, Riaan’s writing is wonderful. Sucks you in and gushes you right back out at the end. The experiences that he has, some not so lekker and others awe inspiring really do just make you realise that most of us, like our creature comforts a little too much to go off adventuring like that;-)

I am very glad that I still have one more book of his left to read, Around Iceland on Inspiration. Thank goodness for that!

(Keep an eye out for an exclusive interview with the man himself..!)

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May 9

Requiem – Lauren Oliver (the last installment of the Delirium series)

by musingsofasouthafricanbookworm

I have been keeping an eye on my local Exclusive Books for the elusive copy of this book and after eventually deciding to ask the sales person WHEN it would be arriving in store, was told that only the hard cover would be available and they would need to order it in. Then she came back to me to say hold on a minute she may have a copy and well, luckily she did, soft back and not to dear on the wallet either thank goodness…

For my reviews on the first two books go here and here

I was really looking forward to reading this!  But I have to admit to being a little disappointed in the ending. Maybe she has ended it this way so there is possibility for more sequels but I think it could of had a little more oomph in the ending and not leave it ‘hanging’ per se.

I definitely preferred the first two books in the series, the last one was interesting and I still had the ‘want to read’ feeling but I just felt like it didn’t deliver, but saying that, I did enjoy it and though I was expecting a little more from the love triangle in which she ended Pandemonium it was still a fun read and I would recommend reading the entire series. If only for the premise of the book. It really does make some sort of sense in a weird sort of way.

Have you read it? What did you think?

 

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May 5

Around Africa on my Bicycle – Riaan Manser – a review

by musingsofasouthafricanbookworm

I am sure that if you follow me on FB or twitter, you know that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Let me tell you a bit more about it…

I went book shopping a little while ago in one of my favourite second hand bookshops and I found it in the travel section, i often look in the travel because though I don’t do much of it myself, I do enjoy reading about others that have. Not all of them mind you, I like the quirky and interesting travel books, I remember one that I read a good many years ago called Around Ireland with a fridge, again I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, when I discovered this tome of a book, it was a given that it was coming home with me!

What I didn’t realise was that Riaan Manser was the very same man who went around Iceland on a Kayak, imagine my delight when I found out it was! I fell further in love with this intrepid traveller…

Firstly, I have to say, that I could never travel around Africa on a bicycle, the main reason being is that I cannot ride a bicycle, well, not very well and definitely not through terrain like Riaan had to traverse. So, why did I enjoy this book so much, that it even inspired me to go searching google and find him so that I could request an interview?

My first and foremost reason, is that he travelled Africa. Yes, I am born and bred South African but I have not travelled further than the Eastern Cape. I have not had the pleasure of meeting ‘real African wild life’ (bar from the animals that I see on the game farm on the way to and from my daughter’s school – including a zebra which seems to have come out of hiding and elephants at Addo), I haven’t experienced ‘African Food’ and the people of Africa are of such a wide array, I can honestly see why we are called the Rainbow Nation.

but he did, and on a bicycle no less!

36 500 kilometers and 34 countries,with experiences that most of us would cringe at.  I have the utmost respect and admiration for someone who can put away the creature comforts of our Western civilisation, go it alone and appreciate each and every one of his experiences. And experiences he had, many of them, which personally I think could shape ones internal life, spiritual and physical.

“Here I seemed to understand things about myself and the world itself that I had never understood or even thought of before. Like finding the places to put difficult puzzle pieces of a giant puzzle. nothing flashy happens but inside you know and understand that the puzzle is nearly completed. I don’t think it could have happened anywhere else on the planet.” – Riaan Manser.

Travelling from the V&A waterfront all along the coast line and coming back into Cape Town again, Riaan met many people on his journey, both good and bad and what I really enjoyed about this book is that he doesn’t hold back on spilling the beans on the ‘bad’ people. Both sides are mentioned but it is refreshing to see that usually kindness wins out on the most part. With a good few terrifying experiences, Riaan faces many of his fears in his determination to circumnavigate Africa.

It is a truly inspirational read and I urge to find yourself a copy and get stuck into its 700 pages, for South Africans and non South Africans alike, this will open your eyes to our country and its vast array of different people who inhabit it.

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