General

by Keigo Higashino (Little Brown) ISBN 978 1408 703 250 I don’t know if this book is good. Let’s examine the facts. It is written well. And this is almost always good but there’s not much to say about well written books. The plot is interesting if a bit rehashed and threadbare for a murder mystery. […]

Anatomy of South Africa’s World Cup by Richard Culland, Lawson Naidoo and Andrew Whaley (Jacana) ISBN 978-1-77009-971-5

by Andy Colquhoun (Pearson Education) ISBN: 978-1-775781493 This is Bokkies Official Guide to rugby in South Africa. It is aimed at the young rugby player who is learning to take his first steps on the rugby field. The layout is colourful with interesting pictures, photos. The biographies of popular Springboks like John Smit, Bryan Habana

by Harlan Coben (Orion) ISBN 978-1-4091-1253-2 First off, let me admit that I adore Harlan Coben and his books… and this one is no exception. I feel like I know Myron Bolitar, the quirky sports agent and all-round defender of his clients.  Perhaps because this is the 20th book in the series! This story takes

by Lesley Lokko (Orion) ISBN 978-1-4091-0173-4 I thoroughly enjoyed this book about girls married to army officers, whose lives are ruled by the dictates of the army. The wives can be alone for months on end and the men have to keep quiet about top secret affairs when they come home. Samantha is desperate to

by Rebecca Skloot (Pan) ISBN: 9780330533447 Hardly anyone knows Henrietta Lacks, but we have all profited from her cells: the so-called HeLa cells were significant in the medical breakthrough of the polio vaccine. They have been growing for almost sixty years. They have been on the moon and they have been exposed to nuclear testing.

by Roslund and Hellström (Quercus) ISBN: 978-1-84916-151-0 When selecting this book, two things jump out as possible risks to a good read. One, a novel that has been co-authored can sometimes result in a stumbling story. Two, Scandinavian books translated to English are often infused with a grey undertone that is not to everyone’s liking.

by Liz McGregor (Jonathan Ball ) ISBN: 978-1-868-423095 Liz McGregor is one of the few female writers to have written a book about South African rugby. McGregor does not disappoint. She shows the heart of rugby: the passion, the triumphs and the disappointments in Touch, Pause, Engage! McGregor has walked next to muddy school fields

by Laura Harrington (Pan Macmillan) ISBN 978-0-330-54417-7 This is one of the nicest and most poignant books I have read in a long time. Alice Bliss, a fifteen-year-old girl, is growing up and finding herself in a family faced with change. Alice loves her father and shares many special times with him. But he enlists and