The Local Lit Scene

I was searching Bargain Books for a book for me to read and a present for a friend as it was her birthday this last Friday. They had a ‘buy two for R99’ and my purchase was The Elephant in the Room and Jasmyn by Alex Bell (which was for the gift).

Maya Fowler was born in Cape Town and grew up in Stellenbosch.  Her novel The Elephant in the Room (2009) was shortlisted for the Herman Charles Bosman Prize.

From Wikipedia:

“Elephant in the room” is an English metaphorical idiom  for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.

It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.

and that is exactly what this book does. I found it rather horrifying that a parent can so very blatantly ignore her daughter’s eating issues. Lily Fields is the main character in this novel and starts as a young girl and her passage growing up into a young adult. Her mother is apathetic and the grandmother is domineering, not the most wonderful combination for ones role models. Lily decides that she needs to lose weight because she feels her legs are too squat and her hips are too wide. The nasty comments from the girls at school do not help to  give her confidence and so she stops eating. Well as much as she can possibly stop eating, but then discovers that if she does eat, she can just purge it after stuffing herself. This is Lily’s story of addiction, of the circles and lies the mind consistently weaves.

It is also the story of how, if as a parent you are not present, you can ignore the obvious truth of what  is happening right in front of you.

For me, this was a poignant, sad but beautifully written novel of a young girls eating disorder, set in Kalk Bay, Plumstead and The Karoo Farm, it encapsulates thoughts of a girl growing up.

It made me vow to always be present in my daughter’s life, to notice and to never ignore anything.

or over the last week and a half to be precise.

The Old Kingdom series or otherwise known as the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix.

Garth Nix is an Australian author and this is a fantasy series for young adults. Considering that I have been delving into the fantasy genre of late, this fit in perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed all three books and to be honest, I couldn’t put them down and I remember one day last week I was desperate to carry on reading to find out what happened next but did not have the chance until bedtime! Believe me, it was a long day!

So, what are they about?

A magical fantastic world where the main character is a necromancer. But one who returns the living dead to death and not vice versa. The magical instruments used for such are bells, who all have names and as you read further into the story, you find out what those names mean. The world of Garth Nix is completely believable for a fantasty series and the descriptions between life and death are awesome!

The characters are hard core but likeable, I only had a little trouble with the last books main character who was just a little to self pitying for my liking, but by the end of the book she had changed dramatically, in a good way and I was quite sad to say goodbye to the characters. They definitely left an imprint in the reading space of my mind, my favourite must be the Disreputable Dog, who is one of the main character in the third instalment of the series. A dog, who is not a dog, but is a dog. Full of magic and dog like devotion.

All three books had me hooked, as you read, they only took me a week and  a half to read and the last one, because it was a Sunday, only a day and morning;-) I had to find out how it ended!

Thoroughly enjoyable, in fact, I think this may be my niece’s next Christmas present!

Have you read it, or anything else by Garth Nix? Is his other writing as good as this series?

Review sent in by Sasha Wyatt-Minter. Thank you so much, and I, for one, will definitely read this novel.

Available through Kalahari.net for R142

Sam Manty’s debut novel Finger Dancing explores mother-daughter relationships, sex in the city and following your dreams – all set in gorgeous Cape Town. Finger Dancing is a slice of life story about a Jewish family in Sea Point Roxi, like many young South African women, is trying to find a job that fuels her passions and makes her happy (and satisfies her mother Rosa at the same time).

Rosa, like many moms of daughters approaching 30, also stresses about Roxi’s single status, her bohemian lifestyle and everything else that ambitious Jewish mamas fret about. Roxi does meet a gorgeous man and thinks she’s finally found a job that she’s good at – and loves to do. But will this be enough for Mama Rosa and is Gary her soulmate after all?

It takes a wise and beautiful soul (Granny Bella) to teach Roxi that she needs to look within herself and follow her heart – and not the dreams and plans that others have for her life.

Attention to detail is what makes Finger Dancing so real Tiny details made the characters in the novel real: Roxi pulling her stretched elastic band to free her hair in the bathroom of the restaurant before she meets her lover, is a small detail, but shows the author’s efforts to make her character a real, live person. Roxi is vulnerable, and sensitive to her mother’s demands, but like many young women in complex mother-daughter relationships, loves her mother deeply and has a huge respect for the sacrifices Rosa’s made for Roxi and her brother.

Finger Dancing is about the strength of family ties and following dreams This is a beautifully written novel about family love, and the need to love unconditionally and non-judgementally and finding the courage within to follow your dreams to find your true passion in life.

I loved Finger Dancing and read the book in one day, because I HAD to find out if Roxi’s story had a happy ending. Sam Manty has proved to be a very talented novelist and I’m waiting in anticipation for the next one.

About the author Sam Manty is an established poet with published work in several poetry anthologies, journals and poetry websites. Her blogsite, “not another blogging poet” can be viewed at http://sammanty-poet.blogspot.com. This is her first novel. Order your copy of Finger Dancing here Publisher: Austin & Macauley Publishers

Has any one else read this book?

Ever since I read a Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami, I fell in love with his surreal and slightly bizarre writing. I have read most of his books and when Kafka on the shore came out a couple of years ago, I wolfed it down, it was definitely one of my favourites.

Then I found this one in one my favourite book shops where they were having a massive sale, couldn’t remember if I had read it or not so decided to purchase it nonetheless. My thinking being that if I had already read it, I could give it as a Christmas present to someone. And, I hadn’t read it!

Murakami has a talent of writing about the world beyond our own world. Where strange things happen, that could make no sense whatsoever but wrapped together in a story in the real world somehow just does.

In The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, our main character begins to experience things which are slightly off character beginning with the cat that dissapeared, and then his wife dissapears. The story is about how he tries to find his wife and the rather strange characters he comes into contact with during his search.

I love how he connects even the most random story-well, one might feel it is random as one reads, in with the main story. How ones fate is written in stone, and no matter what decision is taken, it still leads back to where they are supposed to be.

I really enjoyed this book and if you are a Murakami fan, you should definitely enjoy it too.

Have you read any Murakami? Do you enjoy his writing?

I received this book through the book swap that was done here at The Book Club Blog and my person who sent it to me, Cat, told me it is her favourite Love Story of all time, and one of  her favourite books sitting at no 3.

I have never read him before, so when I found this book in my parcel, I did feel a little daunted but also pleased, because if there was any one reason why I would read this book, it would be because I received it as a gift. And I did read it, it took me longer to read than normal, but I put that down to an extremely hectic last month and severe lack of reading time (about 20minutes at bed time each night) and I enjoyed it.

It definitely is not my usual genre and as I said, felt a bit daunted by it, but it had an interesting story, I did find it a bit bizarre – for those of you who have read it- about how one man can ‘not’ live his life  because of one day getting the love of his life. But I think that is probably just my pessimistic side coming out. The ending was lovely and sad at the same time and just makes you realise how short life really is.  And compare it to my favourite love story ever Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins it is a world apart but yet quite similar. The theme being trying to find eternal life in order to love for longer. You would have to read the books and come to your own conclusions.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed Love in the time of Cholera but it doesn’t beat Jitterbug Perfume in the love story department!

Have you read both, what did you think?

I have had a good run of books lately, which is a little surprising as sometimes, I just can’t get into a book or a book is readable, but nothing fantastic, but recently read three books which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

The Housekeeper and the professor – Yoko Ogawa

This is a lovely book, it is an easy read though full of mathematical equations which I have to admit to having gone slightly over my head.  A maths professor with a short term memory of only 80 minutes. A young housekeeper and her ten year old son. And the blossoming friendship between the three. The peculiarities of having to reintroduce themselves each morning, the maths riddles based on her shoe size or her birthday, and the numbers, which forges a bond which is more mysterious than imaginary numbers but runs deeper than memory.

A beautiful story!

Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Wow, this is a phenomenal book! It has been on  my list of books to read for about 2 years, and by chance I found it in a bookshop which was having a clear out sale and bought it for R10! A very well worth R10 spend! A dystopian novel about how in a distant future, books are burnt and life is lived via 4 walls of television. It is a scary look at a technical age where books have no place, and life has no place in life. I recommend any one to read this, who has any sort of love for books. Truly, I could not put it down.

A life in pieces – Richard K Baer

Oh my goodness, this was a harrowing read. It was incredible, amazing, fascinating and horrific. A true story about a woman with 17 multiple personalities due to severe trauma and abuse as a child. And I swear, every mother should read this book, just to make sure that they are aware of what is out there, so we don’t get complacent. So we make sure that we keep an eye out for changes in personalities. I really was horrified by what happened to this woman as a child, that people could actually be as monstrous as they were. Awful, but in the end , amazing how even though she has different personalities, she is still wanting to heal herself and this book takes us through what happened, over ten years! Truly incredible. ( I stayed up until 12.30am one night because I was absolutely fascinated…)

Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them?

I thoroughly enjoyed Eat Pray Love and have been wanting to read Committed for a while now. Even though listening to other peoples opinions of the book, saying its nothing like her bestseller and not as good, I still wanted to read it. And now I have.

And even though, other peoples opinions were correct in saying that it was nothing like her bestseller, I enjoyed it. I am not a huge marriage person. I have never coveted the big white wedding, the whole idea of marriage just makes me squirm so it was almost revelatory that someone else was even more squirmish of marriage than I was!

It was interesting in that she really delves into the history of the institute of marriage. How it came about and at the end how she makes peace with it and marries for the second time. I think if you are in any way interested in the whole marriage thing, you will enjoy this book though bear in mind, that it is nothing like Eat Pray Love! Even I could possibly, get married, after reading this book.

And now, what next to read, I really do need some recommendations, please!