June 2024
Soekmekaar deur Dana Snyman
Boekresensie deur Karen N Brits
Soekmekaar by Dana Snyman | Goodreads
Soekmekaar deur Dana Snyman
Soekmekaar by Dana Snyman | Goodreads
“Ek voel nie meer geborge in my huis op Jacobsbaai nie. Miskien suig ‘n huis se mure en dak jou verdriet en verwildering op nes ‘n spons water opsuig. My huis treur saam met my. Oor Anette se weggaan. Oor ou sekerhede wat onsekerhede geword het. My huis soek lig. Ek soek lig. Ek moet die binneland in …” In hierdie boek vertel Dana Snyman van begrafnisse, troues en ‘n skoolreünie, van sy ma en Katrina en van die Bogosi-familie wat ook sy familie word; stories van hoe ons oor grense heen na mekaar probeer uitreik. Hoe ons mekaar soek maar nie altyd vind nie.
Dana Snyman vertel van ‘n verskeidenheid plekke in Suidelike Afrika: sy grootwordjare in Danielskuil en Grootfontein in Namibie, koshuisjare op Modimolle en Ventersdorp, waar sy pa AWB-kapelaan was.
Die gebeure rondom sy geboorte in Stellenbosch herroep hy via ‘n plakboek en skryf aangrypend dat sy pa wat ‘n Vrystaatse passer-en-draaier was, Grieks en Hebreeus studeer het om ‘n NG-predikant te word.
Verskeie kunstenaars word in die bundel belig: Karel (Ntate) Schoeman se laaste dae en dood uit die oogpunt van Jemina Meko, Willem Pretorius wat foto’s neem om die verval in Suid-Afrika te dokumenteer, en Walter Meyer, ‘n skilder wat as ‘n hedendaagse Van Gogh bestempel is en in 2017 vermoor is.
My gunstelingstorie is oor Dana Snyman se besoek aan die Louis Trichardt-monument en gedenktuin wat in Avenida Josina Machel in Maputo gelee is.
“Soekmekaar is ‘n bundel stories oor hoe ons na mekaar probeer uitreik, maar nie altyd vind nie,” in die skrywer se eie woorde.
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith | Goodreads
Botswana PI Precious Ramotswe investigates the alleged poisoning of the brother of an important government official, and the moral character of four beauty contestants. When her business has money trouble, and problems arise at at her reliable fiance Mr J.L.B. Matekoni’s Speedy Motors, she finds he is more complicated then he seems.
Always a delight to read. Even though the second main character’s name is cumbersome (Mr J. L. B. Matekoni) the story is gripping in a quiet way, and you cannot put it down.
Although it was published in 2001, you feel as if there cannot be a place in the world where all children are welcome in an orphanage and the organiser of a beauty pageant is concerned about the morality of the entrants. The cases Mma Ramotswe deals with are secondary to her husband-to-be’s illness and life in general in Botswana.
Really a feel-good story.
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
Review done by Karen N Brits
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble | Goodreads
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble | Goodreads
The Reading Group follows the trials and tribulations of a group of women who meet regularly to read and discuss books. Over the course of a year, each of these women’s lives becomes intertwined, both through the books they read and the real-life stories they tell.
Inspired by a shared desire for conversation, a good book and a glass of wine, Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly and Susan undergo startling revelations and transformations despite their difference in background, age and respective dilemmas.
In The Reading Group, Noble reveals the many complicated paths in life we all face as well as the power and importance of friendship.
At first I was very confused with the twelve characters dropped onto the reader in the prologue, but I kept on reading and I am glad I did. A kind of a family tree at the beginning would be very helpful.
It is the usual kind of crises every woman can face: a childless marriage, an unfaithful husband, a pregnant teenager, an elderly mum who had several strokes and an old family feud. But the characters’ evolution is mirrored in the “book of the month” which the reading group reads.
I did not read any of their books but did not need to in order to understand this story.
A good read. Even through the 547 pages.