The Local Lit Scene

celebrating South African Literature beyond our past

2017 Book Reviews Top 10

Goodness, I have been neglecting this little corner of books. I may not have done much writing in here, but I have done much reading.

2017 was a fabulous reading year. There were not many duds, though if I was reading something I really wasn’t enjoying, I put it down and started something else. There are way too many good books in the world, to spend time on books I am not enjoying. I give them an honest try but if they don’t tickle my tootsies, then I abandon them…

No 10

boundless sublime

The Boundless Sublime – Lili Wilkinson

This was a great a novel about a cult and how easy it is to fall into the trap of words. A superb YA novel.

No 9

caraval

Caraval – Stephanie Garber

Thoroughly enjoyed the magical YA novel. It was a unique story and very well written

NO 8

more than this

More than this – Patrick Ness

Another YA, what makes you think I am a fan? But this was different and engaging and asked the questions, are we real? Do our thoughts define us?  I loved it.

No 7

the jewel

The Lone City Series started with The Jewel

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. Granted it was a little wishy-washy in places, but I thought the storyline was original and fun.  It was also super easy to read and kept me entertained through all three of the books. ( I went through a spate of reading books that my daughter can eventually read, this set has been saved for future reading)

No 6

beautiful

Beautiful broken things – Sara Barnard

Once again, this was not your straightforward YA novel, this one had some meaty bits and showed the power of friendship. Especially when we are young and feel things more intensely. A good read. And save for future reading.

No 5

fever

Deon Meyer – Fever

A South African author mainly known for his thrillers, brought this dystopian novel into the world of books, and thank goodness he did. It was great, and he hit the notes just right. Set in SA, with a wonderful twist in the end. If you are into Dystopian, then this should not be missed

No 4

conception

Ms Conception – Pamela Power

Another great SA author, new to me, but on my list of faves. This was hilarious and managed to tear me out of my reading slump that hit me this year. Her writing is funny, true and loved that I could relate to the book. Read it, its good.

No 3

bear

Beartown – Fredrik Backman

Wow, just wow. This one had me through the ringer. I cried big ploppy tears onto the screen of my kindle in this one. A story about family, life, and gender roles. This book Needs to be read.

N0 2

eleanor

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine – Gail Honeyman

Another Wow. This book was an extremely well-written debut novel. I loved it, I loved the characters and I think Honeyman pulled it off with aplomb.

No 1

music

The Music Shop – Rachel Joyce

One of my all-time favourite authors, Joyce got the balance in this book just right. It was perfect, I loved it and you should read it. A book about life, and how we Don’t live and what happens when we don’t and how the small things are the big things and music plays an important part.

If you would like to see the rest of my book, you can find them on Goodreads. I struggled a little to decide which books to add to this list becuase out of the 50 books I read, at least 30 of them were great.

And now onto 2018. Where, while I am reading (Currently on The Boy with No Shoes, William Horwood’s memoir) I will also be writing the first draft of my book. I have joined a writing course with the author Joanne Fedler and I aim to have the #tragicfirstdraft completed by November. So keep an eye on this page….

Happy Reading!

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Book review – Maggie Rose by Sharlene Mclaren

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Thank you, Cathy for your book review.

This is book 2 in the Daughters of Jacob Kane series… and wow it blew me away.

I loved book 1 (Hannah Grace) but this one… what can I say… it was great…. funny, endearing and heart-tugging beautiful.

You dive straight in a journey along with Maggie Rose as she leaves home in Sandy Shores for the big city of New York and the Sheltering Arms Refuge (orphanage) where she will be working.  Along the way you also meet the children, the others who work in the orphanage and a reporter who has had a tragedy in his life and needs healing.

This was one book I couldn’t put down.

Now comes the long wait for book 3 which only comes out around September 2010.

( We look forward to hearing about the next one in September!)

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Its a Magical World

The beginning of Spring means the sunshine and flowers come out to play. Not quite Summer so the intense heat has not hit just yet, which means its the perfect time to indulge in some light hearted reading.

Reading which reminds us why we are alive and brings smiles and giggles to the face. Reading which relates to that which is true. Reading for pure pleasure’s sake. Its the lighter side of life as we know it, though some of the realities of the less lighter side come out too.

So, to celebrate Spring, I present to you, our loyal readers, The Best Cartoon Books, taken from the library of Imsonotablogger:

CALVIN AND HOBBES!

calvinThis is one of my favourite strips by Bill Waterson. And if we can imagine dancing to classical music at 78rpm at 1 in the morning, then that should be sure enough to bring a smile to our faces!

Here is a list of the books that I own and have read and can vouch for each of them bringing something magical to your day. You know that feeling of, ‘Just don’t have the energy to do anything’ well, this certainly perks up the spirit and sends those frown lines on a bit of a holiday.

Yukon Ho!

Sunday Pages 1985 -1995

The Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversary Book

Its a Magical World

The Days are Just Packed

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes

the Essential Calvin and Hobbes

the Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes

Take your pick and Happy Reading!

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Welcome!

First up, thank you all for your comments and warm welcome, we feel all tingly inside as the excitement begins to grow.

There has been a great response to the online bookclub and this is how it will work.

In order to join you need to submit a review.

We have a submit review tag at the top of our home page, please head along there with the review that you would like to see here. It will be sent through to us, and we will then publish your post.

We do not have any ‘banned’ books but we will decide wether we think the book that you are reviewing is right for this blog space. We are looking for all genres and are hoping to have a wide variety of books ranging from chick lit to murder mysteries, poetry to philosophy, recipes to religion. There is no hard and fast rule as this is meant to be a community and as we all know, any community has diversity, which is what we would like to portray at this book club. Saying that, we are not looking for sleaze:-)

So, pour yourself a glass of vino/cup of coffee/mug of tea, haul out those chocolate biscuits and put finger to keyboard and get reviewing.

(We are also here to help if you need to purchase a book as a gift and require some help in deciding what to buy. Both Shayne and I are well read and can put that knowledge to the test! If we are unable to help, we can ask our readers for their opinion. Gift sorted!)

Please note that we are also hoping to have a ‘second hand bookshop’ within this blog which will allow you to purchase books at a fraction of the cost compared to an IRL bookshop.

So get those reviews in and let’s get this show on the road!

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And here we are!

Our first online bookclub.

So very exciting!  But how on earth did we get here?

A little while ago Imsonotablogger asked me what I thought of the idea of a Book Club Blog, as she had not been able to find one to join in her area.  We chatted about it, but nothing more was done (as far as I know).

Then last week I posted a review on The Help by Kathryn Stockett. And received a few comments about putting a sidebar thingie up with my Recommended Reads.  Then yesterday I posted about my IRL Bookclub and asked my readers if they would be interested in an On-line Bookclub.

The response was overwhelming.

So here we are.  Thanks largely to The Man for setting this site up.  Neither Imsonotablogger or I are familiar with WordPress but I’m sure we’ll find our way around sooner  rather than later. Otherwise we might drive him mad with our continual requests to change this, do that, make this look pretty.  He has been very patient with us (or me) so far.  Thanks G!

The idea is for people to become ‘members’ of our bookclub.  And take it in turns to review books that they loved reading.  That touched them.  That spoke to them.  That made a difference in their lives.  Be it murder mysteries, real life challenges, religion, romance, chick-lit, faith – whatever.  A book that you think is worthy of a review and that is a great read.  Or a crap read too, so that we don’t waste our hard earned cash.

Others can then give their 5c worth.

We have lots of ideas.  But we’re going to start off slow and simple.

Sound like a plan or what?

If you’re interested in becoming a member, please leave a comment in the comment section or mail timeout or imsonotablogger

Keep your eyes peeled for the first book review coming shortly…

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