Archive for the ‘Book Excerpts’ Category
by Amy on Feb 25th, 2013
Jacana Media has shared a flipping preview of Liesl Jobson’s new collection of longer short stories, Ride the Tortoise.
In the preview, you get to read the first two stories in the collection. “The Edge of the Pot” is set at a police station in Diepkloof, Soweto. In “Still Life in the Art Room”, the art teacher, Dalila tries to makes sense of her history as a child of activists as she grieves her mother’s death.
This book has been published by the Jacana Literary Foundation (JLF), which seeks to promote and foster excellent writing from South and southern Africa, and to advance the writing of fiction in the region. This has been enabled by generous funding from the Multi-Agency Grants Initiative (MAGI)
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Feb 20th, 2013
Jacana Media has shared a flipping preview of Freedom Rider: 10 000km by Mountain Bike across South Africa by Kevin Davie.
The preview comprises the foreword by David Waddilove, the founder of the Freedom Challenge, the prologue by Davie and part of the first chapter, which includes photographs showing the diverse riding conditions that Davie encountered during his journey across South Africa.
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Feb 8th, 2013
The Mail & Guardian has published an extract from Freedom Rider: 10 000km by Mountain Bike across South Africa by Kevin Davie. In the extract, Davie lists the people who he admires when it comes to endurance sports, and discusses why they do what they do. He talks about finding out why the ability to run, or endure extreme physical conditions, was actually a basic building block of humanity:
Some years ago I read about The Great Dance, Craig and Damon Foster’s documentary, which filmed Karoha, a Kalahari Bushman, as he ran down his prey. I tried to track it down, and made enquiries on and off, but without success. Then I found it on YouTube and was fascinated by this exploration into another age. I have run 11 Comrades marathons and wondered whether I could claim to have run down that many kudus.
In the meantime, Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run popularised the idea that the ability to run, sometimes covering great distances over many hours of exertion, is one of the basic building blocks of humanity. McDougall writes that distance running gave us the ability to run down our prey; it ensured that we both survived and thrived. “We were born to run; we were born because we run.”
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Jan 17th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to share a preview of the book Spearheading Debate: Culture Wars & Uneasy Truces. The preview contains the contents page, acknowledgements and introduction, as well as the first chapter, which deals with a globalised view of “culture wars”.
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Jan 16th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to share a preview of Bill Nasson’s South Africa at War, 1939-1945: A Jacana Pocket History.
Read the first chapter of Nasson’s examination of South Africa’s role in World War Two, which gives a general perspective of the efforts of the country and its place in the international community:
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Jan 14th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to share a book preview of the German book, Afropolis: City/Media/Art, which has now been translated into English.
The flipping preview contains an entire contents page, which delineates the five different cities (Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Johannesburg). The preface, foreword, and the three first chapters from the Cairo section make up the bulk of the preview of the book, which takes a fascinating look at the African metropolis.
Book details
eBook options – Download now!
» read article
by Luso on Jan 11th, 2013
Roger Lucey recently launched his book Back in from the Anger at The Book Lounge, where he read from the memoir and performed some of his songs. His wife, Karen Glynn, was there to support him and blogged about the event, calling it “a lovely, warm Cape Town reception”.
The Book Lounge launch in Cape Town last night kind of felt like parties at 1014 Alabama Ave–great food, plentiful drinks and a boisterous welcome-back-Roger vibe. Extra chairs were needed to accommodate the crowd which fell silent as Roger began reading from chapter 8 describing the bike ride to the Durban rickshaw sheds to buy dagga.
Also read an extract from Back in from the Anger:
Book details
eBook options – Download now!
» read article
by Amy on Jan 8th, 2013
Getaway magazine recently published the fourth book in their Funny Signs series. Best of Getaway Funny Signs encapsulates the cream of the hilarious signs their readers have sent in over the years.
On the Getaway blog, Tyson Jopson writes about Best of Getaway Funny Signs, and also selects his top 16 images from the book:
What makes a classic funny sign picture? According to our ed, it’s an exotic blend of innovative English grammar, plain and simple innocence and a dash of classic irony. It’s a wild cocktail that has brought countless laughs to our readers on their travels and readers have been sending us their favourite roadside howlers ever since the first issue of Getaway in 1989.
A preview of the giggle-provoking book is also available on Jacana Media’s website:
Book details
eBook options – Download now!
» read article
by Amy on Jan 7th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to share a preview of The Idea of the ANC by Anthony Butler.
The preview is the entirety of the book’s introduction, which is used to extrapolate meaning from the ANC’s centenary, how the party looks today and what led up to its 2012 Bloemfontein gathering to celebrate that milestone.
Book details
» read article
by Amy on Jan 4th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to share a preview of Ingrid Jonker: A Jacana Pocket Biography by Louise Viljoen.
In the first chapter Viljoen examines why there is such a fascination with Ingrid Jonker, who produced a relatively small amount of work in her 31 years. The second chapter looks at Jonker’s life, including a photograph of the poet as a young girl.
Book details
» read article
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
Download this eBook at LittleWhiteBakkie.com
