No little thorn in the flesh or irritating fly in the ointment, Zapiro just cannot be ignored.

It’s been another helluva year, and who better to make sense of it than Zapiro, political analyst, cartoonist and agent provocateur? He can knock the air out of us, rock us back in our seats and force us to bolt upright with a 1000-watt jolt of electrifying shock. He makes us angry, he makes us laugh, and he makes us think. He shines a light on the elephant in the room, presenting the emperor in all his naked glory. Impossible to brush off, he is determined to provoke a response.

When all around is crumbling, when fake news and zipped lips conceal the truth, Zapiro comes to the rescue; with the dissecting eye of a surgeon, the rapier-like point of his pen exposes flimflam and reveals with a line what lies behind the action.

Bafana Republic And Other Satires is a selection of monologues from a series of one-person satirical revues. Using the 2010 FIFA World Cup as an entry point for satirical commentary, the sketches focus on various issues facing democratic South Africa: state 'vanity' projects, land issues, abuse of women and state capture.

In any deeply polarised society, satire provides an effective means for challenging audiences. Van Graan's potent mix of comedy, poetry and drama compels audiences to reflect on controversial topics in a non-alienating, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining way. The collection tackles themes of corruption, colonialism, violence against women, AIDS denialism, violent crime, racism and inequality head on. Readers or audience members cannot remain unaffected by the use of humour, exaggeration, irony and ridicule in the sketches to highlight social and political issues and human foibles. They will laugh and cringe and sometimes cry, but ultimately they will appreciate more deeply the beauty and humanity of their country, and perhaps feel recharged with hope.

The sketches in the collection come from six one-person revues:

• Bafana Republic (2007),
• Bafana Republic: Extra Time (2008),
• Bafana Republic: Penalty Shootout (2009),
• Pay Back the Curry (2016),
• State Fracture (2017)
• Land Acts (2018)

The compilation can be used as monologues for exam purposes or as acting exercises for drama students, or selections can be made from the sketches to make up one-person shows of varying lengths.

After 32 years, Madam & Eve is still going strong and is back with more hilarious cartoons, looking back at another year of the crazy rollercoaster of daily life and politics in South Africa.

Madam & Eve cartoons appear regularly in the Mail & Guardian, The Star, The Saturday Star, Herald, Mercury, Witness, Daily Dispatch, Cape Times, Pretoria News, Diamond Fields Advertiser, Die Volksblad, EC Today, Kokstad Advertiser and The Namibian.

Madam & Eve is South Africa’s best reminder that we must laugh at ourselves as a society. The perfect gift for anyone wanting to understand South African politics.

An outrageous miscellany of lies, myths, untruths, fibs and fabrications that tell the woeful history of South Africa. Aimed at offending and entertaining everyone in equal measure, this will have South Africans sniggering and spluttering into their cornflakes. It will also pique their curiosity.

The lies come thick and fast, like a burst sewerage pipe. Way, way back the Europeans ‘discovered’ southern Africa and found a land that was largely uninhabited. Um, no. On the other hand, Africa was a paradise before the settlers pulled in. Not quite!

Back in the darkest of ages (the 1970s), citizens were told that there were Satanic messages if you played Beatles songs backwards. During the civil war in Angola, there were no South African troops in that country. National icon Hansie Cronje was a paragon of virtue and integrity … until he wasn’t. President Nelson Mandela told us that we, as a nation, were ‘special’.

Turns out we aren’t.

No little thorn in the flesh or irritating fly in the ointment, Zapiro just cannot be ignored.

It’s been another helluva year, and who better to make sense of it than Zapiro, political analyst, cartoonist and agent provocateur. He has the ability to knock the air out of us, to rock us back in our seats, to force us bolt upright with a 1000-watt jolt of electrifying shock. He makes us angry, he makes us laugh and he makes us think. He shines a light on the elephant in the room, presents the emperor in all his naked glory.

Impossible to brush off, he is determined to provoke a response.

When all around is crumbling, when fake news and zipped lips conceal the truth, Zapiro comes to the rescue. With the dissecting eye of a surgeon, the rapier-like point of his pen exposes flimflam, and reveals with a line what lies behind the action.

With her signature candor and wit, New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Moran attempts to answer society’s weirdly unasked question: What About Men?

Like anyone who discusses the problems of girls and women in public, Caitlin Moran has often been confronted with the question: “But what about men?” And at first, tbh, she dgaf. Boys, and men, are fine, right? Feminism doesn’t need to worry about them.

However, around the time she heard an angry young man saying he was “boycotting” International Women’ Day because “It's easier to be a woman than a man these days,” she started to wonder: are unhappy boys, and men, also making unhappy women? The statistics on male misery are grim: boys are falling behind in school, are at greater risk of depression, greater risk of suicide, and, most pertinently, are increasingly at risk from online misogynist radicalization. Will the Sixth Wave of feminism need to fix the men, if it wants to fix the women?

Moran began to investigate—talking to her husband, close male friends, and her daughters' friends: bringing up very difficult and candid topics, and receiving vulnerable and honest responses. So: what about men? Why do they only go to the doctor if their partner makes them? Why do they never discuss their penises with each other—but make endless jokes about their balls? What is porn doing for young men? Is sexual strangling a good hobby for young people to have? Are men ever allowed to be sad? Are they ever allowed to lose? Have Men's Rights Activists confused “power” with “empowerment”? Are Mid-Life Crises actually quite cool? And what’s the deal with Jordan Peterson’s lobster?

In this thoughtful, warm, provocative book, Moran opens a genuinely new debate about how to reboot masculinity for the twenty-first century, so that “straight white man” doesn’t automatically mean bad news—but also uses the opportunity to make a lot of jokes about testicles, and trousers. Because if men have neither learned to mine their deepest anxieties about masculinity for comedy, nor answered the question “What About Men?,” then it’s up to a busy woman to do it.

This oft-quoted all-time favorite of the medical community will gladden--and strengthen--the hearts of patients, doctors, and anyone entering medical study, internship, or practice. With unassailable logic and rapier wit, the sage Dr. Oscar London muses on the challenges and joys of doctoring, and imparts timeless truths, reality checks, and poignant insights gleaned from 30 years of general practice--while never taking himself (or his profession) too seriously.

The classic book on the art and humor of practicing medicine, celebrating its 20th anniversary in a new gift edition with updates throughout. Previous editions have sold more than 200,000 copies.

The perfect gift for med students and grads as well as new and practicing physicians.

After 31 years, Madam & Eve are still going strong and are back with more hilarious cartoons looking back at another year of the crazy rollercoaster that is daily life and politics in South Africa.

Madam & Eve is South Africa’s best reminder that we need to laugh at ourselves as a society.

The perfect gift for anyone wanting to understand South African politics.

Fingers crossed that Marian has a new novel out soon but until then why not laugh your socks off with this hilarious collection of tales, observations and flights of fancy from the funniest woman in print.

Welcome to the magnificent Making It Up As I Go Along - aka the World According to Marian Keyes(TM) - A bold and brilliant collection of Marian's hilarious and often heartfelt observations on modern life, love and everything in between. From a guide to breaking up with your hairdresser to entering the fifties-zone, the joys of her nail varnish museum to singing her way through insomnia, Marian will have you laughing with delight and gasping with recognition throughout - because at the end of the day, each and every one of us is clearly making it up as we go along.

Another year on the Diddly Squat Farm and Jeremy is still knee-deep in mud and endless challenges . . .

Welcome back to Clarkson's Farm. Since taking the wheel three years ago Jeremy's had his work cut out. And it's now clear from hard-won experience that, when it comes to farming, there's only one golden rule: Whatever you hope will happen, won't.

Enthusiastic and inventive schemes to diversify have met with stubborn opposition from the red trouser brigade, defeat at the hands of Council Planning department, and predictable derision from Kaleb - although, to be fair, even Lisa had doubts about Jeremy's brilliant plan to build a business empire founded on rewilding and nettle soup. And only Cheerful Charlie's still smiling about the stifling amount of red tape that's incoming. But he charges by the hour.

Then there are the animals: the sheep are gone; the cows have been joined by a rented bull called Break-Heart Maestro;. the pigs are making piglets; and the goats have turned out to be psychopaths.

But despite the naysayers and (sometimes self-inflicted) setbacks, Jeremy remains irrepressibly optimistic about life at Diddly Squat. Because It's hard not to be when you get to harvest blackberries with a vacuum cleaner.

And, after all, it shouldn't just be Break-heart Maestro who gets to enjoy a happy ending ....

This is a hilarious, eye-opening tour of the new romantic landscape, from one of America's sharpest comic voices and one of its leading sociologists.

In the old days, most people would find a decent person who lived in their village or neighbourhood, and after deciding they weren't a murderer, get married and have kids - all by the age of 22. Now we spend years of our lives searching for our perfect soul mate and, thanks to dating apps, mobile phones and social media, we have more romantic options than ever before in human history. Yet we also have to confront strange new dilemmas, such as what to think when someone is too busy to reply to a text but has time to post a photo of their breakfast on Instagram. And if we have so many more options, why aren't people any less frustrated? For years, American comedian Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at dating and relationships, and in Modern Romance, he teams up with award-winning sociologist Eric Klinenberg to investigate love in the age of technology. They enlisted some of the world's leading social scientists, conducted hundreds of interviews, analyzed the behavioural data, and researched dating cultures from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to New York City.

The result is an unforgettable picture of modern love, combining Ansari's irreverent humour with cutting-edge social science.

Buckle up for a tour of South Africa – your guide the inimitable Sihle Khumalo.

Born in South Africa, and having lived here for almost fifty years, Khumalo reflects on the past and ponders the future of this captivating yet complex country. He delves into the history of the names given to our towns and cities (from Graaff-Reinet to Schweizer-Reneke to Zastron) and in the process raises issues we might not have interrogated fully.

This is a thought-provoking account by a South African who asks uncomfortable questions and forces his compatriots to contemplate what the future of this country (or cowntry) might hold. Why ‘cowntry’, Sihle? Consider the shady characters who’ve been milking this piece of land for centuries. And the fact that some politicians mispronounce the word ‘country’. But who knows? Maybe it is not mispronunciation – perhaps they’re giving us a message: the people in power are milking this country and it’s all just a game…

After an exceptionally wild Mother’s Day where she danced like there was no tomorrow, picked a fight with a stranger and collided with the floor, Johannesburg scriptwriter and author Pamela Power is forced to take a hard look at her drinking habits. She realises that although she does not need to find an AA group immediately, she might be a serial binge drinker and needs to take back control.

In this honest yet humorous account of her year of not getting sh*tfaced, Pamela examines her long, complicated relationship with alcohol. She is shocked to realise just how much of a crutch alcohol has been for her. There is always a bottle of wine or Prosecco around to her to help her manage the many demands of life as a freelancer and as a parent.

Pamela starts her journey to sobriety at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as her family faces financial troubles, and life in the suburban Parks of Johannesburg isn’t so blissful anymore. Through her, we experience all the frustration, irritation and surprising benefits of going dry. In dealing with her dependence on alcohol, Pamela also confronts her troubled relationship with her parents.

While many other sober curious books portray sobriety as the only answer, Pamela has found a sweet spot between total sobriety and binge drinking: moderation.

What’s Scorpio like in bed? How does a female Gemini differ from a male? How do you seduce a Leo? What gets a Libran’s attention?

Find out all this and more from renowned astrologer Linda Shaw’s fun-to-read exploration of our secret love lives.

Horoscope Hotties helps us understand our lovers’ needs, as we explore our own sexual options. Each sign is stimulated by different energies – and unexpected emotions. And there’s no better way to become a fabulous lover than to understand your partner’s hidden desires. You’ll learn why you feel the way you do – and why you’re not always compatible with the one you love. But with a little extra awareness, every romance can be improved.

Don’t miss your chance.

A baby record journal for parents with a sense of humour.

Parenthood is filled with heart-warming milestone moments that you’ll want to hold onto forever. But in the years to come, the memories that make you laugh will more likely be the time your child cut their own hair or when you wrapped their butt in a tea towel on an emergency trip to the supermarket because you forgot to buy nappies (just me?).

The First Time You Smiled offers a cool, inclusive, non-pastel-hued place for you to record the things you don’t want to forget. It’s proof that you were nailing this parenting lark, even when it felt like you were dropping all the balls, telling a story that has both you and your child in the starring roles. Because whatever your story looks like, it starts right here with you – and that is spectacular.

They’re back, and better than ever!

This year sees the release of the twenty-second Madam & Eve, and it is another winner from this sharp and witty creative team.

Featuring the humour South Africans have come to know and love, this Madam & Eve promises to be a laugh a minute, and it is sure to be a family favourite and welcome addition to any bookshelf.

Rebecca Davis has been described as one of the funniest writers in South Africa today. Her razor-sharp wit combines with her acute powers of observation to produce social and political commentary that will have you in stitches even as it informs and provokes you to think seriously about the topics she discusses.

In Best White And Other Anxious Delusions, Davis offers advice on life's tricky issues; discusses the perils of being a 'Best white'; laments the fact that society does not have a universally adopted form of greeting, such as the high-five; explores the intricacies of social media and internet dating; considers the future of reading and tackles a range of controversial topics in between.

The perfect gift book for the power hungry (and who doesn't want power?) at an excellent price. The Concise Edition of an international bestseller. At work, in relationships, on the street or on the 6 o'clock news: the 48 Laws apply everywhere. For anyone with an interest in conquest, self-defence, wealth, power or simply being an educated spectator, The 48 Laws of Power is one of the most useful and entertaining books ever. This book 'teaches you how to cheat, dissemble, feign, fight and advance your cause in the modern world.' (Independent on Sunday) The distilled wisdom of the masters - illustrated through the tactics, triumphs and failures from Elizabeth I to Henry Kissinger on how to get to the top and stay there. Wry, ironic and clever this is an indispensable and witty guide to power. The laws are now famous:- Law 1: Never outshine the master Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends; learn how to use enemies Law 3: Conceal your intentions Law 4: Always say less than necessary

The perfect gift for those who like a good read and a slice of good cake, Scone with the Wind features 75 delicious literary inspired recipes. Beautifully packaged with bespoke line illustrations throughout, it really is the most novel way to get to grips with the classics! 'Funny and useable present for bakers AND non-bakers!' -- ***** Reader review 'Literally perfect!' -- ***** Reader review 'Super super cute' -- ***** Reader review 'The ideal gift for a book loving baker' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************************************************* Bake your way through the classics from Jane Eclair to Tart of Darkness, Banana Karenina and On the Rocky Road, Flapjack and the Beanstalk, Nineteen-eighty Petit Fours and many more! Arranged by genre, enjoy biscuits and cakes, puddings and pies from romance and comedy through to horror and science fiction, and discover fun, edible versions of your favourite books. Includes witty introductions and amusing illustrations throughout, baking essentials and themed menus for book clubs, parties and afternoon teas. The ultimate treat for book (and cake) lovers! Recipes include: Breakfast at Tiffins Key Lime and Punishment, Captain Corelli's Madeleines, To Kill a Battenberg, Vanity Fairy Cakes, Middlemarshmallows, The War of the Viennese Whirls, Much Ado About Muffins, Scone with the Wind and more!

Bettina is wyd bekend vir haar weeklikse rubrieke vir LitNet en as iemand wat opstaan vir reg en geregtigheid.

Sy het haar 50 gunsteling-meningstukke gekies en sê: “My rubrieke is nie bedoel om net nog 'n eggokamer te wees waar mense nét dit weerspieël sien waarin hulle glo nie. Juis nie. Wat ek hoop om elke week te doen is om mense aan die dink en aan die gesels te kry.”

Welcome to the story of Sami – entrepreneur, blêrie influencer and social media content creator. Throughout her time on Earth she has constantly asked herself what she believes to be the most important question in her life: ‘Why do these things always happen to me?’

From almost manslaughtering her teacher’s unborn baby, shattering her dad’s dream of an athlete spawn and almost being murdered by a goose, she certainly has some stories to tell.

In The Memoirs of a Clumsy Potato Sami Hall takes you through some of the life events – tough and challenging events – that changed her forever and shaped her into the weird, clumsy, constantly tired potato that we know and love. The road hasn’t always been easy and there have been several obstacles along the way, but as Sami herself would tell you, it was all part of the journey and that her story is far from finished.

Enjoy the funny, sad, weird and outlandish stories of Sami’s life and take a glimpse into her mind while we explore the million things that cause her to break into lengthy and passionate rants – loadshedding, potholes, and cell signal to name a few, and also get some answers to the internet’s most burning questions.