How late is it?" Con asked.
"Late, late," said the taxi driver. "Listen."
A newsreader was speaking to them. A million things were happening out there in the world: scandals and calamities, old lovers reunited, murders foul, great works of art and business. A lioness was moving through the city, she had been spotted in Strand, in Rondebosch, in Gugulethu.
They were seated at the old kitchen table in Woodstock. He'd taken a taxi that morning straight from the airport and found his mother sitting there, reading. It was a quiet scene, and he was visited by equal desires to wake her from her reverie and to keep it intact. Perhaps just sit quietly beside her, pick a book for himself from the shelf. He was intrigued; she'd never been a big reader.
From the bar one could look down and see the cars speeding home along De Waal Drive, and sometimes even a quagga or two romping alongside the wildebeest on the slopes above the highway There was one below them now, standing very still, its stripy zebra half staring out to sea and its pale rump mooning the drinkers at the bar.
"Bloody quaggas," said Amina. "Get all the good press."
pickMy dad passed on his love of coffee table books to me, especially the ones about food, homes, and travel. This one beautifully sums up all three.
This is on my to-buy list now! 🥙
I can‘t believe I‘m the first to post about this book! Im not a huge nonfiction reader but I‘m a third of the way through and it‘s been fascinating stuff we don‘t learn in school. There is a BBC mini series on YouTube too. #firstlinefridays
pick3/4⭐️ (Very Good) Read for January #bookspin number 17.
I still love the characters and the setting. The writing is not full of itself and fussy. I was a little disappointed that some storylines from the third book seemed to have been dropped. Hopefully they will get picked up later. Mma Ramotswe‘s cases weren‘t as interesting, but I appreciated getting to know more about Mma Makutsi.
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
6/20
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#20Covers
pickWith only one mystery to solve, most of this book 5 in the series is about Mma Ramotswe‘s feelings about her fiance Mr JLB Matekoni‘s failing to set a wedding date and his inability to stand up for himself. He faces the biggest fear of his life when he fails to say no when the orphan farm manager Mma Potokwane tells him he must jump from a plane with a parachute for a fundraiser. And it makes headline news in the Gabarone newspaper! ⬇️
pickA strange story of a boy growing up in late 1970s Somalia, and after being passed from his adopted mother to his wealthier aunt and uncle, must choose between the university and fighting in the insurgency against Ethiopia. His mother is originally from Ethiopia, making for some interesting dynamics where the person he is closest to is identified as 'the enemy'. Weirder still is how the close quarters of their housing affects their relationship 👇
