Volgens PG du Plessis het Pirow Bekker ʼn “benydenswaardig-heldere pen”. In hierdie, Bekker se 23ste publikasie sedert 1965, word die leser meegevoer deur sy herinneringsreise na plekke van herkoms en vroeëre verblyf, sowel as die verlede in sy eie gedagtes. Daar is juwele in hierdie teks.

’n Belangrike bydrae van die boek is die beligting van demensie en Alzheimer. Beurtelinge se stralende eerlikheid maak dit ʼn waardevolle werk.

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.

These Potatoes Look Like Humans offers a unique understanding of the intersection between land, labour, dispossession and violence experienced by Black South Africans from the apartheid period to the present.

In this ground-breaking book, uMbuso weNkosi criticises the historical framing of this debate within narrow materialist and legalistic arguments. His assertion is that for most Black South Africans the meaning of land cannot be separated from one’s spiritual and ancestral connection to it, and this results in him seeing the dispossession of land in South Africa with a perspective not yet explored.

Nkosi takes as his starting point the historic 1959 potato boycott in South Africa, which came about as a result of startling rumours that potatoes dug out of the soil from the farms in the Bethal district of Mpumalanga were in fact human heads. Journalists such as Ruth First and Henry Nxumalo went to Bethal to uncover these stories and revealed horrific accounts of abuse and routine killings of farmworkers by white Afrikaners. The workers were disenfranchised Black people who were forced to work on these farms for alleged ‘crimes’ against National Party state laws, such as the failure to carry passbooks.

In reading this violence from the perspectives of both the Black worker and the white farmer, Nkosi deploys the device of the eye to look at his research subjects and make sense of how the past informs the present. His argument is that the violence against Black farmworkers was not only on the exploitation of cheap labour, but also an anxiety white farmers felt about their settler-colonial appropriation of land. This anxiety, Nkosi argues, is pervasive in current heated public debates on the land question and calls for ‘land expropriation without compensation’. Furthermore, the dispossession of Black people from their land cannot be overcome until there is a recognition of the dead and restless spirits of the land, and a spiritual return to home for Black people’s ancestors. Until such time, the cycles of violence will persist.

This book will be of interest to academics and scholars working in the area of land and workers’ struggles but also to the general reader who wants to gain a deeper understanding of redress and social justice on multiple levels.

Gebed vir elke geleentheid bevat 100 gebede vir elke geleentheid om gelowiges se gebedslewe te versterk en aan te vul.

Somtyds wil ons graag ons harte na God wend maar ons kan nie die regte woorde vind om ons gevoelens aan die Here oor te dra nie. In hierdie boek het Hennie Maartens 100 hartsgebede saamgevoeg in ’n unieke bundel waarin die Here se kinders riglyne vir gebed kan vind om na die hemelse Vader uit te reik te midde van elke seisoen, situasie, lewensgebeurtenis of beproewing.

Hierdie is nie net die perfekte boek om ’n persoonlike gebedslewe te verryk nie, maar ook die ideale boek vir mense wat vir groepe moet bid, soos onderwysers, skoolhoofde, predikers, ouderlinge, selgroep-leiers en jeugleiers.

Heinz en Aletté Winckler, een van Suid-Afrikas se mees glansryke paartjies, is passievol daaroor om te sien dat huwelike nie net oorleef nie, maar floreer. Hierdie boek probeer paartjies bemagtig en bemoedig om hul ware identiteit in God te ontdek, om sodoende die beste moontlike huweliksmaat te kan word en wees.

Heinz en Aletté praat reguit, sonder om doekies om te draai oor die volgende onderwerpe: fondasies, bagasie, kommunikasie, seks en intimiteit, ouerskap, skoonouers en finansies.

Hulle deel ook grepe uit hulle eie verhaal om te verduidelik dat daar vir almal hoop is.

In Gode van Papier poog die digter om gestalte te gee aan die moderne mens se gode: gode (ook buite die tradisionele sin van die woord) met voete van klei wat op hul plek gesit en gehou word.

Hoewel die woord "gode" dikwels in die bundel gebruik word, dui dit baie keer nie op gode in die tradisionele sin van die woord nie.

Allerlei dinge, tot die gedigte self, word gode in hierdie bundel.

Tuesday 15 December 2020. Mum diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer.

SHOULD I GO BE WITH MUM?

From across the seas that divided us, over the next seven months, that question would twist inside me, helplessly, desperately. I had understood, but not in the truest way of knowing, that this, right here, was the beginning of sorrow. I began writing letters to my mother. I knew I was taking notes of the end.

Bring us Home from Sorrow is an intimate portrait of losing a mother and the ways we are kept apart from those we love by distance, disease and death.

It is also a celebration of the salvation of ocean swimming through bereavement and the slow return to a world forever changed by the loss.

This South African story is an invitation to enrich conversations that could lead to social transformation and social cohesion in racially polarized world.

The book implicitly acknowledges that many white people have sought to be part of the journey towards racial harmony, but in most cases, it has been done without a paradigm shift on the part of white compatriots. It has been done with very limited understanding of the black world and with many assumptions.

The author is honest and raw, without placing judgements on his childhood experiences, simply telling it like it was. There are moments of brilliant humor, one can be laughing aloud, and minutes later, are hit like a punch in the gut by something unjust that happened or was observed. The art and power of effective and excellent storytelling is on display in this book. The storytelling is masterful.

The book leaves one with a feeling of challenge, a dose of hope-filled reality -- not just reality, and not false 'peace' talk -- but a discussion of hope-filled reality.

Every decision we make is a decision about the future. We constantly make choices that affect the next week, year or decade, but get blinded by what we want or expect the future to be. Cognitive traps lie everywhere: failing to question our assumptions; believing in greater certainty and personal control than life allows; or missing signals because we’re distracted by the noise.

The post-2020 world demands a revolutionary way of looking ahead, and in these unpredictable times, the key to good futures thinking is good thinking. The goal of constructive futurism is not to forecast specific events, but to plot a series of scenarios that show what could happen. Consequently, we can work towards the future we want, avoid the ones we don’t, and be prepared to manage the risks and opportunities no matter what.

In Thinking the Future, scenario specialists Clem Sunter and Mitch Ilbury teach us the futurist’s art of decision-making, where the flexibility of thinking like a fox plays a key role in adapting to a complex and interconnected world. The book rejects the appealing but misleading self-help narrative that you can decide your future through sheer determination in pursuit of your goals and replaces it with a more dynamic approach.

Isaac Newton said: ‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ By reimagining seminal concepts thought up by some of history’s greatest thinkers, the authors detail the dos and don’ts for thinking the future and handling its uncertainty in a constructive way.

Connect: Writing For Online Audiences is a timeous guide for South Africans working in the digital space. It encapsulates the current digital landscape in South Africa, with its constraints and opportunities for reaching audiences via social media platforms, websites, blogs, apps and email. And it is designed to help students as well as industry decision-makers connect with audiences, whether as social media managers, search engine writers, digital analysts, copywriters, content marketing strategists or digital public relations executives.

Primarily, these are all online storytellers and this book aims to assist them in achieving their goals.

The book draws on reputable brands for best-practice examples. It uses South African examples of online campaigns alongside international names to provide a relevant yet globally situated experience for the South African reader. The contributing authors are all well-respected experts in their fields who share their invaluable experience in this book. Connect: Writing for Online Audiences is a must-have on the bookshelf (digital or physical) of every individual reaching out to an online readership.

After matriculating from a top Jewish school, Nikki Munitz finds herself in the clutches of a heroin addiction. She's sent to a remote rehab, run by a pastor who brandishes a tattoo of Satan. There she meets the handsome son of a wealthy Afrikaans family. Lured by the illusion of her ‘happy-ever-after’ she marries him. But the facade soon crumbles.

Money is in short supply. Nikki takes on a job at a reputable law firm. Encrypted passwords are entrusted to her. She begins to siphon small, undetectable amounts from trust funds of loyal clients. The amounts increase. Caught red-handed, she's fired. By the time the law catches up with her, Nikki is clean and sober. On the advice of her lawyer who reassures her she will never go to jail, she pleads guilty to all 37 counts of fraud. After a gruelling 2-year court battle, she's found guilty.

Fraud is a powerful memoir about a young woman who is forced to face her life of deceit in a prison cell where she ultimately finds her freedom to fly.

Dear Waheed: A mother’s legacy of love and wisdom in thirty unforgettable letters is a poignant collection of letters written by a mother to her son over the course of thirty days against the backdrop of Ramadaan during the pandemic lockdown.

The author found herself vulnerable and alone; her son in one city, and she in another. During her solitude, she embraced the opportunity to delve deep into her spirit and found that, as she wrote, a new pathway to healing appeared. The period was a pivotal experience for Farhana Yunnus, as it was for many. A transformative journey to reflect, heal, and restore. She discovered that her letters were bridging the gap between hearts and cities, silence and uncertainty, and the past and present.

Through her poetic and reflective prose, Yunnus navigates the trials of emotional and spiritual growth during a time when connection and comfort were hard to find. She compassionately explores themes such as faith, mental health, resilience, individuality, family, love, and the powerful bond between a mother and child.

A hybrid narrative, blending memoir with social commentary and political analysis.

Always in search of "home", the book tracks Ismail Lagardien's vast experiences of a deeply lived life, always against a backdrop of "unbelonging" - first as a reporter in the turbulent 80s, to studying economics at the LSE, then achieving a doctorate at the University of Wales, to working as a speechwriter at the World Bank in Washington.

A unique and brilliant read.

The book Fertility SOS by Daminda Senekal-Griessel is for anyone who may be frustrated, at a loss and feeling unsure if having children is a realistic option. If you desire to start a family, but experience unexplained infertility, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), recurrent miscarriages, secondary infertility, or male factor infertility, then this book will give you a unique insight into understanding why this may be happening and how to solve it.

Infertility is not uncommon nowadays, with up to 20% of couples having difficulty conceiving. Male infertility is at an all-time high, with a 35 to 50 percent share of overall cases. Over-the-counter drugs, chronic medications, inadvertent exposure to dangerous pollutants, epigenetics, blood types and nutrition deficiencies, are some of the causes of infertility. Infertility also has significant negative social consequences for women who face social humiliation, mental anguish, sadness, anxiety, and low self-esteem because of their infertility. As a result, many of these women will go on to develop mental health problems. Increasing maternal age is linked to a higher incidence of miscarriage, which is assumed to be caused by low egg quality, which leads to chromosomal (genetic) abnormalities. In certain cases, the mother or father may have a minor genetic abnormality, but the baby may be more seriously damaged, resulting in miscarriage.

Assisted reproduction like IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) for example continues to remain inaccessible and unaffordable for most couples, especially in the current economic conditions we experience. Thus, people are increasingly turning towards more affordable, natural yet effective therapeutic assistance. It all starts with understanding your own health, what factors may be affecting your ability to conceive, and taking the appropriate steps to ensure a successful pregnancy. Following the guidance provided, will result in optimum fertility, fertilisation and optimal preparation of the uterus for implantation.

Not only do genes play a large role, but some medications can cause infertility and increase the risk of miscarriage. Couples will learn how to increase the health of eggs and sperm, and understand other variables such blood types, PH levels, mucous, hidden PCOS, and many other factors, influencing chances of procreating. Male infertility is also on the rise, so it is important to consider both partners potential influencing factors.

In addition to the book, FertilitySOS is launching Fertility Health Coaching sessions to offer guidance to couples struggling with infertility. By making use of the fertility coaching sessions, couples will achieve their goal to get their bodies into optimal reproductive health, with a tailored personal plan. The Fertility Health coach will uncover the possible root causes of individual cases of infertility.All sessions are available online www.fertilitysos.com

This isn’t a how-to-build-your-business book, but rather one that offers insights into the thinking and experiences of people who have built businesses, have seen them fail, and have seen them shoot the lights out.

Gil Oved, Lebo Gunguluza, Polo Leteka, Vinny Lingham and Vusi Thembekwayo were once in the same position in which all entrepreneurs find themselves before they take that deep breath and dive in. They know how it feels – the excitement, the passion, the sense of making a difference through offering something original, complex or simple. They know the disappointments when things don’t go according to plan, when funding is not forthcoming, and when a business fails dismally despite every best effort. They have walked the road and fallen into the potholes. They took the knocks and learnt from the lessons.

Key is that they learnt from their mistakes and were undeterred. They tried again. And again. And, sometimes, yet again. They persevered until they did it. And they’re still doing it.

In Pillage, Krog develops her familiar themes of family, body and land but this time in the harsh light of pillaging, whether being done by nature, humans, or old age.

The poems reveal a painful fragility and yet also finding comfort, a nourishment in remarkable moments of beauty: the delight of an egret in a vlei, watching over a young child who is discovering the world around him, and remembering the raptures of love.

Pillage is translated by poet and translator, Karen Press.

Renowned South African photographer Ranjith Kally captured iconic scenes throughout his career, such as his portrait Umkumbane, which has come to symbolise the shimmering jazz age of African townships in the 1950s.

When Miriam Makeba returned to Maseru, Lesotho, for a concert for black South Africans at the height of apartheid, Ranjith, too ventured to Lesotho and returned home with a remarkable image of an exiled singer poised between joy and heartbreak. And in a series of unflinching portraits, he documented with probity the horror of the forced removals in Natal.

As one of our country’s most prolific photojournalists, Ranjith’s pictures provide us with a glimpse into the tensions of the past and the events that shaped our future.

As a child, Thabo Abram Molefe, along with his family, is impelled into the apartheid era tradition of rural to urban transition. Moving from a farm to a multi ethnic and vibrant township in the heart of Heidelberg, the birthplace of Eugene Terre’ Blanche’s AWB, proves to be both a challenge and an adventure as he works to evade the nickname that has followed him as a result: "maplazini", Sotho for a dumb country bumpkin.

Native Boy explores a young man’s complex relationship with identity and race, seen through the lens of township life. Moreover, it is about his journey to escape the socio economic trap of the apartheid regime to forever limit the black man to a life of hardship.

Mo & Phindi Grootboom believe that God created marriage primarily for the purposes of restoring the totality of the His image in the human race, as well as reflecting His relationship with His bride, the church.

They share the 13 things they wished they knew before they got married:

1. Marriage is a divine mystery with a spiritual purpose, it is more than an emotional connection
2. Marriage today is different from marriage back then, but God’s original design and purpose for marriage does not change
3. Achieving oneness in marriage is 100% possible, prioritise and relentlessly pursue your spouse in total transparency
4. Being “in love” is not enough to marry someone. You won’t feel “in love” every day
5. The worst and unexpected does happen in marriage. It’s important to understand what you mean when you vow to love someone “for better or worse”
6. Never sweat the small stuff, not every conflict in marriage is worth resolving
7. Unbroken soul ties will ruin marriages, you cannot be fully joined to your spouse while you’re still emotionally entangled to unhealthy previous attachments
8. Forgiveness is a lifestyle, when you run out of forgiveness in your marriage you run out of relationship and you run out of you
9. Marriage isn’t primarily designed to make you happy, when you expect that your spouse makes you happy, not only are you placing an unfair expectation on them, but you’re also making them an idol
10. Great sex is neither constant nor automatic, it is cultivated
11. It’s possible to lose yourself in marriage, and it is quickest and most painful way to kill your marriage
12. We marry the in-laws and the rest of the family too
13. Being on the same page financially can save your marriage, it’s about being joint-stewards over resources trusted to us irrespective of the type of our marriage contract

This practical book can possibly help to save your marriage.

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.

Based on interviews in schools, workplaces and homes, this book tells the story of an epidemic of unkindness, uncovering the stories of bullies all around us. The online environment has given bullies a much wider range of tools to use to abuse their targets. Marion Scher tracks the links between bullying and mental health issues.

As Marion says: ‘I had to brace myself to hear the often heartbreaking and vicious stories from those who encountered torturous relationships. The big question I kept asking myself was, “How could you get involved with such a person?” But just who is that kind of person, and is it even possible to spot them?’

She calls on the advice of a range of experts to help make sense of the bullies and their victims, with a range of advice to help manage the bully boss, the bully in school and the bully in a relationship. The book has stories, statistics, advice and lots of help to understand how bullies work.

It is time for victims to call bullies to account and for schools, workplaces and society as a whole to put a stop to the tormentors.

An update of the award winning Low Carb Solution For Diabetes.

With over 40,000 copies sold worldwide, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes, helping reduce or avoid the need for diabetes medication. Children and Adults diagnosed with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome will also greatly benefit from the recipes to help reverse the disease progression into full blown diabetes. Contains the most effective systems and day-to day strategies for practically dealing with diabetes.

Using this book will help you:

• reduce or avoid the need for diabetes medication
• get better control of glucose
• get more freedom to live a normal life
• improve concentration & performance
• increase long term health
• reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes & high blood pressure
• help manage extreme activity

Seks, skoonma’s en skuld is ‘n blik op eietydse verhoudings se grootste uitdagings en oplossings deur iemand wat die seerder kant van die lewe en die liefde ken.

Elize Parker kyk met wysheid en insig na die tipiese uitdagings wat in briewe aan haar troostantekolom sowel as in navorsing en onderhoude vir verhoudingsartikels na vore gekom het. Seks, skoonma’s en skuld is van die grootste brandpunte en sy spreek die fynere detail hiervan aan.

Lees oor:

• Verhoudings met ekse en hoe om na die opbreek van verhoudings te herstel
• Die invloed van tegnologie op verhoudings soos Facebookaffairs
• Hoe om familiekrisisse af te weer en skoonfamilies te hanteer
• Hoe om ouers en kinders se soms stormagtige verhoudings te navigeer
• Hoe om veilig uit die greep van verslawings te kom
• Hoe om te maak as dinge in die slaapkamer verkeerd loop

Hoe leer jy skryf?

Loer oor die skouers van ambagsmense. Dis die maklikste en lekkerste manier.

Hier’s ’n boek in Afrikaans om jou daarmee te help.

Emma Bekker se debuutpundel Skryn (poësie) is goed ontvang en die eerste druk het uitverkoop. Hierdie bundel kortverhale getuig van dieselfde fyn waarneming, musikaliteit, verbeeldingrykeid en sensualiteit. Dit gaan hier oor struktuur, oor lae van betekenis en gevoel, oor die skelette van stories wat met vel oorgetrek word. Die verhale is soms donker, soms humoristies, altyd vreesloos en eroties gelaai. Die onderwerpe strek van ’n porn-ster se hartseer oor sy ma se dood tot ’n uitbundige relaas van ’n skoolkonsert.