The Local Lit Scene

celebrating South African Literature beyond our past

Jan 17

Sweet as candy

by imsonotablogger

I vaguely remember seeing this book at Exclusive Books, and then I found it last week at the library and seeing as though I am a fan of chick lit books it headed home with me.

Saturday afternoon rolled around and with my daughter sleeping I had some spare time and decided to read, but, (and if you read my last post you will know) I am reading Cloud Atlas at the moment – a new to me author- and it was a at a rather hairy part of just being a little difficult to read and I really didn’t feel like concentrating on a different time dialect. So, I picked this up for some light relief.

And I loved it! The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen is magical. Light and fluffy but with a little bit of substance, pretty much like a freshly baked chocolate brownie;-)

This novel is about friendship, love, what we do to not love and the possibilities of a new day. There is a small twist at the end, which one does suspect closer to the end of the book but if you are a very perceptive reader, you could pick it up earlier and just adds to the magical dimension of this story. Not too much that it doesn’t feel real though.

I read it in about 3/4 a day (luckily the man was on hand to play  football with the little one…) and if you are looking for something easy to read but that definitely has a feel good vibe, read this:-)

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Jan 4

Book review – Helen of Troy

by imsonotablogger

I had never read anything by Margaret George until this book and I have to say, I am seriously impressed.

I found this book while I was out searching for something to read at a nearby booksale (three for R100 and this was one of them) and I loved it.

Margaret takes the myth of Helen and weaves it into a story of love, war, passion and forgiveness. It is a stunning novel and I am amazed at how anyone could write anything like it!

We experience young Helen’s discovery of her divine origin and terrifying beauty, all told in her own voice. She remains shielded from the eyes of strangers until she is of marriageable age and then at only 15 kings and princes compete for her hand in marriage. She weds Menelaus and settles into a life of apparent contentment and bears him a daughter. But when she sets eyes on Paris from Troy, she realises the passion and love that has been missing in her own marriage and they elope to Troy. The rest of the novel is how the Trojan War began and how it ended.

It is a beautiful novel and if you are interested in historical novels, I urge you to read this.

(and if any of you, have read it, let me know what you thought!)

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Dec 15

The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follet

by imsonotablogger

I eventually read this book!

It has been on countless best seller lists and when I was in the UK a couple of years back, this was the Next Best Thing. It was huge, had been on the Richard and Judy show aswell as Oprah and when ever there is huge hype over a book, I get pulled in two directions. One – is it as good as they say it is should I read it? or, nah, def cant be as good as they say it is, wont read it.

I did start it two years ago, I booked it out of the library and read the first chapter. I couldn’t really get into it, so abandoned it for another time. That another time was recently, and I couldn’t put it down. I took it out from book club, thinking I really must read this and see what all the hype was about and I am very glad I did.

Hugely enjoyable book, hugely rich in its tapestry of stories of the characters lives, how the lives are intermingled, the violence that abounds still to this day but maybe not quite in the form of the 12th century, and the building of Kingsbridge cathedral, the first Gothic cathedral in England. I have always enjoyed historical novels and this one fit the bill for me.

So, if you haven’t yet read this book for the same reasons I hadn’t, put aside your doubts and just read it for what it is. A really great story.

(and now, time to get my hands on the second book… World without end.)

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Dec 14

The Love Verb – Jane Green and a give away!

by imsonotablogger

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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Dec 13

The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

by imsonotablogger

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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Oct 17

Hope for the flowers

by imsonotablogger

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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Sep 20

Book review – Tea time for the traditionally built

by imsonotablogger

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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Sep 7

Book review – The Host

by imsonotablogger

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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Sep 4

Book review – The Starter Marriage

by imsonotablogger

The Starter Marriage by Kate Harrison is a delightful read!

This novel is all about divorce, friendship and starting over. Pain in bucket loads and emotional upheaval but all intermixed with learning how to get over a divorce and starting over.

The name of the book comes from the ‘divorce group’ which explains that sometimes one’s first marriage is not neccesarily for life and that it is like a starter house.  I know that sounds a bit crude, but in the book it makes sense.

There is a group who for their various reasons go to the ‘divorce recovery group’ and it charts their journey from hurting to healing.

I really enjoyed this book, it was an easy to read book, which I didn’t really want to put down and the ending was happy but not overly sugar coated:-)

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Sep 2

Book Review – The year of living biblically

by imsonotablogger

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J.Jacobs is a great thought provoking read.

It follows one man’s journey of living the bible literally. He takes us through some of the more obscure commandents of the bible as well as the ones we all know. He shows us the different factions of christianity and how some groups take some parts of the bible literally and not others and the various rituals included in the bible.

I found this a fascinating read as I myself am not a Christian, though I have had my foray into it. I think that everyone should read this book as it opens up ones mind to seeing the faith behind the scenes.

I am also looking forward to reading his first book which is how he reads the entire encyclopedia Britanica!

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