With only one week left to go until we’re up & away to South Africa, plans are in motion to build my Kindle and Paper Fortress for my 15 hours in-flight readathon.
However, and learning from past mistakes, I’m only packing 2 South African books on this readathon. (I’ll have some extra up my sleeve, anyway..)
Drum-rolls.. Here they are:
Born a Crime
Because it’s written by Trevor Noah.
I was very intrigued when Jon Stewart named Trevor Noah as his successor on The Daily Show. Like most of us, I was expecting someone.. with a more familiar face maybe..?
But of course Jon Stewart would think long and well before entrusting this role to someone unfit to fill them shoes.
Trevor grew on my really fast. And I recently found that he’s from South Africa. And he’s written a book too. Obviously, I looked it up and added it to our readathon, hoping I get some good laughs too, between all the seriousness.
Trevor’s path from from the South African apartheid to the Daily Show started with an unlikely criminal act: his birth.
Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was not supposed to exist.
The book collects 18 personal essays, a mix of turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting stories, which will definitely make us look at the Daily Show host with different eyes.
Tales of the Metric System
Initially because of the title, really.
What do you mean, Tales of the Metric System? Caught my attention pretty fast.. Now, that’s marketing done right!
A fresh new book by Imraan Coovadia, Tales of the Metric System has been featured in the nota benes of the WorldLiteratureToday magazine.
“Using the transition to the metric system as both the catalyst and symbol for radical change, Coovadia places his characters in a historical context that explains their triumphs and shortcomings without offering excuses.” – World Literature Today
parses South Africa across the decades, from 1970 into the present times, taking the country’s transition from imperial to metric measurements as his catalyst.
Tales of the Metric System takes 10 days in the life of South Africa and spreads them over the last four decades, each day with its own personal story.
And according to Goodreads, it’s apparently offering new and interesting personal perspectives on the apartheid.
Sounds like a good read, indeed!
So.. that’s it ! Only two 📖 📖 this time, but I’ll come back with details soon, wanderlusters 😉