Monthly Archives: August 2019

The SABC8 may have been vindicated, but the battle continues

Review: Vivien Horler

The SABC8, by Foeta Krige (Penguin Books)

sabc8I’ve never met Foeta Krige, but I’ve worked with people like him, and I have an idea about the way he operated.

He was an old-school reporter and editor. You covered the news without fear or favour, assembled the facts, spoke to analysts and gave your subject the right of reply.

I cannot imagine what it’s like to be called to a meeting – as Krige was in 2014 – and told it had been decided the SABC would give no further coverage to the EFF. When Krige protested to Jimi Matthews, head of TV news, that this sort of order was reminiscent of the years of apartheid censorship, Matthews exploded: “Don’t you talk to me about apartheid. You people, what did you do to change things?” Continue reading

Trendy eating, mindful gastronomy, and simple, inspired writing 

Review: Myrna Robins

GREENFEAST by Nigel Slater (4th Estate)

greenfeastLet’s start with the design of this hardback, which does not resemble a cookbook at all. Shocking pink cover, featuring a swathe of gold, a single brushstroke by artist and calligrapher Tom Kemp which, he points out, are not pictures or representing anything, but a small aside to remind readers about the “nature of nature… where ultimately the food in this book comes from”.

Glued on to this hard cover is a half-page, glossy red,  listing author and title on the front, and a photo and quote from the author on the back.

Unconventional. Intriguing. But as every foodie knows, we can rely on Nigel Slater to produce another title that features his simple prose that is English culinary writing at its brilliant best. Seldom prescriptive yet always thorough, so that beginner cooks are guided unobtrusively to success. An occasional command: “Don’t even think of using horseradish from a jar.” Continue reading

Read more, say group of self-published authors

Fancy meeting a group of self-published South African authors?
John West writes:
A group of self-published South African authors is holding a book fair at Cosmic Comics, 254 Beyers Naude Drive, Blackheath, Johannesburg, on Saturday the 24th of August, from 9:30 to 15:30. Entrance is free.

Our aim is to encourage South Africans – particularly the youth – to read more books, in anticipation of National Book Week in September. We will be selling & signing copies of our own books, with book prices starting from just R50.

A wide variety of genres is represented. Horror, Sci-Fi, Kids Books, YA, Self-Help, Personal Finance, Business, Short Stories, and even Poetry. Truly something for everyone, with many of these stories taking place in and around Johannesburg.


Time: 16th Aug 2019 at 9:34 am
IP Address: 105.4.4.85
Contact Form URL: https://thebookspage.co.za/about/
Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

Mind matters from a modern cricket thinker

Review: Archie Henderson

The Barefoot Coach: Life-Changing Insights from Coaching the World’s Best Cricketers. By Paddy Upton (Self-published).

barefoot coachPaddy Upton worked with two of the best cricket teams in the world, South Africa and India. He was fitness trainer for the former and mental coach to the latter. Was it any wonder, then, that India won a World Cup and South Africa didn’t?

South Africa’s cricket team, the Proteas, one of the fittest teams in the world, are famous for having lost World Cups in their head as well as on the field. At the most recent World Cup, they lost on both, but that is another story. This is about an extraordinary man who delved deeper into sport than most, and discovered that motivating athletes was no different from doing the same with the athletes of business, a path he is now pursuing.

Upton, a pretty good cricketer himself, had ambitions of becoming a sports scientist, which was how he was recruited by Cricket SA in the first place. He worked with the team during Hansie Cronje’s era as captain, then abruptly left to broaden his horizons beyond sport. This entailed backpacking through Asia and joinning an NGO in Cape Town to work with homeless youths. It opened his eyes to life beyond cricket. Continue reading

The day I met an 18-year-old killer

Review: Vivien Horler

Blood on her Hands – South Africa’s most notorious female killers, by Tanya Farber (Jonathan Ball)

blood on her handsOne late afternoon in 1974, when I was 22, I went with my boyfriend to visit his brother Rob in the boarding house where he lived behind St Paul’s Church in Rondebosch.

Rob hadn’t been in the boarding house long, and his initial relationship with his co-residents was bedevilled by the fact that soon after he moved in, someone’s portable radio had been stolen. As he was the newest resident, suspicion fell on him.

Rob, an engineering student, had also been a victim of crime in the boarding house. He had a pistol, which he kept locked in his wardrobe. One day it disappeared.

We hadn’t been in Rob’s room long when a slim young fellow resident called Marlene strolled in. She had shoulder-length hair, lots of eye make-up, and was wearing a Truworths mini-dress. Continue reading