Is it Coz I’m Black debuts in SA stores

It is election day in South Africa and I thought it was fitting to highlight the following book and "meet the author" event organised by Exclusive Books.

We invite you to celebrate the launch of Is it Coz I’m Black; a unique opportunity to meet and talk to the author.

VENUE: Exclusive Books, The Zone
DATE: Tuesday, 5 May 2009
TIME: 6 for 6:30pm
RSVP: Exclusive Books on: 011 327 5736

About the Book
The much-anticipated follow-up to Ndumiso Ngcobo’s best-selling Some Of My Best Friends Are White sees the urban Zulu warrior returning to aim his streetwise eye at a fresh range of typically South African characters and social issues. With chapters titles such as "Jou Ma Se Passion Gap", "Come Off It! You’d Kill For Julius Malema" and "The Afrikaner-Americans Of The East Rand", his range of targets this time around includes various incantations of his coloured cousins, the mind-bogglingly awful South African driver, personal-security paranoia that sees us living in Amish-style complex enclosures, black men with condom troubles, the notion that our "xenophobia" is actually xenophobia, the ludicrous mammal-sacrificing ceremonies of traditional African weddings, general government incompetence and very very scary angry-white-male syndrome.

About the Editor
Ndumiso Ngcobo was born in Mpumalanga Township in KwaZulu-Natal. Raised on a rural diet of conservative Catholicism and Zulu traditionalism, he managed to successfully incorporate writing and beer drinking into his daily corporate life. His first book, Some Of My Best Friends Are White, was shortlisted for the Neilsen Bookseller’s Choice Award 2008. He has subsequently been widely published in various South African media, and has become one of the most widely read bloggers on the Mail & Guardian-hosted site www.thoughtleader.co.za. He was the first blogger to receive official media accreditation for an ANC conference (in Polokwane).

Bestsellers

As usual on a Sunday we review the online retailers to find out what books are hot and what's not:

Exclusive Books:
1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Breaking Dawn
4. Assegai
5. Eclipse
6. Slumdog Millionaire
7. The Shack
8. 8th Confession
9. Paths of Glory
10. Eat, Pray, Love

CNA:
1. A good woman
2. A new earth
3. Eat, pray, love
4. Obama: From promise to power
5. Rich dad, poor dad
6. Scarpetta
7. The secret
8. The Shack
9. The story of Edgar Sawtelle

Take2
1. Breaking Dawn - Meyer, Stephenie
2. Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
3. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
4. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
5. The Immortal Hunter - Sands, Lynsay
6. You're So Vein - Warren, Christine
7. Eclipse - Meyer, Stephenie
8. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
9. Nauti Intentions - Leigh, Lora
10. Burning Wild - Feehan, Christine

Kalahari.net
1. New moon - Stephanie Meyer
2. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer (HC)
3. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
4. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
5. The Shack - William P. Young
6. Assegai - Wilbur Smith
7. Jane’s delicious garden: An organic guide to growing your own food - Jane Griffiths
8. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
9. The Love Dare - Stephen Kendrick; Alex Kendrick
10. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Amazon.com
1. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin
2. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) by Stephenie Meyer
4. The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen
5. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano
6. The Twilight Saga Collection by Stephenie Meyer
7. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) by Stephenie Meyer
8. The Shack by William P. Young
9. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer
10. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

Alexander McCall Smith's - "Tea Time for the Traditionally Built" is a new release by Penguin Books SA and I thought it might be an interesting title for local readers.

The book is available from online retailer Loot for R156 (a 34% discount to the retail list price) - see banner right.

Synopsis reads as follows:
Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi agree: there are things that men know and ladies do not, and vice versa. When the glamorous Violet Sephotho sets her sights on Mma Makutsi's unsuspecting fiancé, it becomes exasperatingly clear that some men do not know how to recognise a ruthless Jezebel even when she is bouncing up and down on the best bed in the Double Comfort Furniture Shop. In her attempt to foster understanding between the sexes and find the traitor on Mr Football's team, Mma Ramotswe ventures into new territory, drinks tea in unfamiliar kitchens and learns to trust in the observational powers of small boys.

Faye Kellerman - Cold Case

Cold Case is the latest from Faye Kellerman in her series with Peter Decker and I must confess that trying to work my way through this book gave me something of a headache.

In a nutshell - a music producer is found executed in the boot of his hijacked car. The case bears striking resemblance to a murder that occurred 15 years earlier which involved a local guidance counsellor.

The older case has remained unsolved and the news of the music producers death has prompted a local billionaire, who's life was shaped by the guidance counsellor, to offer a lot of money to reopen the cold case.

My problem with the story was that it seemed to make impossible leaps to try and keep the story hanging together.

- Murders that have crossed 15 years with similarities just takes it too far
- Links from lines in a rap song that serve as a clue
- All in all too many characters to keep track of with tentative links across the story

As an aside - the Chris Donatti character - who readers will know from previous books, could be an interesting one to continue with... but not if he is going to be used to randomly drop clues in when the story is looking for a new link.

Author: Faye Kellerman
Title: Cold Case
ISBN-13: 978-0-00-724325-9

The book is available from online retailer Loot for R101.00 - follow the banner on the right hand side of the blog.

Rated the book a 3 out of 5.

Fat Tuesday - Sandra Brown

I haven't read too many of Sandra Brown's books so this was an interesting read.

The synopsis for Fat Tuesday is as follows:
Burke Basile is the hard-bitten cop whose world shattered when a fellow officer died from a bullet fired from Burke's own handgun. When his unhappy marriage crumbles, and he has nothing left to lose, Burke focuses his rage on his nemesis: Pinkie Duvall, a sinister, flamboyant defense attorney who has just helped a known killer get away with another murder. Determined to bring the powerful Duvall down, Burke strikes at the attorney's most vulnerable spot: the gorgeous wife Duvall pampers but keeps prisoner, a woman whose love Pinkie will never have.

-------------------

I enjoyed the read - it moved fast and the characters while simple were easy enough to sympathise with and relate to. The gung-ho (read indestructable) character of Basile is maybe a little far-fetched at times but if you enjoy that kind of character then it's not too shabby.

The book moved fast and made for good reading - not a hugely complicated story with some subtle twists without any major leaps of faith.

Title: Fat Tuesday
Author: Sandra Brown
ISBN: 978-0-446-60558-8

We scored the book a 3 and a half out of 5.

Hot games

It's Sunday again and as usual we review the most popular games from the various online retailers:

Take2.co.za
1. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (PC DVD-ROM)
2. Empire: Total War (PC DVD)
3. Sam & Max - Season 1 (PC)
4. Tom Clancy's HAWX (PC DVD-ROM)
5. Time Crisis 4 (with Gun) (PS3)
6. Resident Evil 5 (PS3)
7. World of Warcraft - European Server Version (PC/Mac)
8. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack (PC)
9. Sid Meier's Civilization IV Complete Collection (PC DVD-ROM)
10. RaceDriver GRID (PS3)

Kalahari.net
1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - PS3
2. Race Driver GRID - PS3
3. Resident Evil 5 - PS3
4. Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty - PS3
5. EyeToy Play 3 (Platinum with camera) - PS2
6. Avatar: Into the Ferno - PS2
7. Resident Evil 5 - Xbox360
8. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition - PS3
9. Time Crisis 4 (Includes Gun) - PS3
10. Tom Clancy's Hawx - PS3

Amazon.com
1.. Wii Fit - Nintendo Wii
2. You're in the Movies - Xbox360
3. Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel - Nintendo Wii
4. Pokemon Platinum - Nintendo DS
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Nintendo DS
6. My Fitness Coach - Nintendo DS
7. Wii Music - Nintendo Wii
8. Guitar Hero Metallica - Xbox360
9. Wii Play with Wii Remote - Nintendo Wii
10. Rhythm Heaven - Nintendo DS

Nintendo Wii continues to rock on Amazon!

Bestsellers

It's Sunday again and as usual we review the bestsellers from the various online retailers:

Exclusive Books
1. Assegai
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Twilight
4. New Moon
5. Eclipse
6. Breaking Dawn
7. The Shack
8. The Girl who Played with Fire
9. Eat, Pray, Love
10. Songs of the Humpback Whale

CNA (For some reason they only have 9 this week)
1. A good woman
2. A new earth
3. Eat, Pray, Love
4. Obama: From promise to power
5. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
6. Scarpetta
7. The Secret
8. The Shack
9. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Take2.co.za
1. Breaking Dawn - Meyer, Stephenie
2. Twilight - Meyer, Stephenie
3. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
4. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
5. Assegai - Smith, Wilbur
6. Watchmen - Moore, Alan
7. Eclipse - Meyer, Stephenie
8. New Moon - Meyer, Stephenie
9. Maverick - Leigh, Lora
10. Nauti Intentions - Leigh, Lora

Kalahari.net
1. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
2. The Shack - William P. Young
3. Assegai - Wilbur Smith
4. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
5. 'n Vurk in die Pad - Andre P. Brink
6. BabyGym - Melodie de Jager
7. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
8. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
9. No Choice But Seduction - Johanna Lindsey
10. Jane’s delicious garden: An organic guide to growing your own food - Jane Griffiths

Amazon.com
1.. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin
2. The Twilight Saga Collection by Stephenie Meyer
3. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) by Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer
5. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) by Stephenie Meyer
6. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer
7. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey
8. The Shack by William P. Young
9. The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen
10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen

Hahahahahhaha I have to have a look at the Jane Austen book - looks like something really whacky!

Wild Fire - Nelson Demille

Hell this was a fun read.

I've really started enjoying Nelson Demille - in particular his wise-cracking John Corey character. The one-liners that he comes with are absolute pearlers and I think the ability to make your characters fun, means that readers will keep coming back.

Wild Fire was a good read. Basically a US oil billionaire has decided he is going to explode two suitcase nuclear bombs in the US as a way to start nuclear armageddon that will wipe out the middle-east and its terrorist elements.

Corey and his wife Kate are alerted to the problems when a fellow-agent goes missing while investigating a mysterious lodge where a number of high-powered political figures have been gathering.

All the while there is this nagging concern that somebody at head-office or at the CIA isn't all that excited about this case being solved.

It becomes a real race against time as Corey needs to investigate without knowing who he can actually trust. I enjoyed the book because it was a simple to read, fast page turning book which kept me interested right to the end.

Title: Wild Fire
Author: Nelson Demille
ISBN: 978-0-7515-3827-4

Rated the book a 3 and half out of 5 - good fun!