The Mail and Guardian bedside book once again selects the best of the paper's features over the last year to bring you an unparalleled snapshot of South Africa (and Africa) in cross-section - from Happy Sindane to Idi Amin, Ventersdorp to Luanda (via Hollywood), in the company of the best journalists in the country. The paper tackles the burning issues of the day - the Aids debate, the oil scandal, and the question of whatever happened to Jimmy Abbott. It pays tribute to giants of the struggle such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, and visits a big fat Afrikaner wedding.

Celebrating and analyzing a landmark novel that is aberrant, obscene, and blasphemous, ""Naked Lunch"" was banned, ridiculed, and castigated on publication in 1959, and yet fifty years down the line it has lost nothing of its power to astonish and inspire. A lacerating satire, an exorcism of demons, a grotesque cabinet of horrors, and a landmark experiment in linguistic derangement, it is a work of ecstatic, excoriating laughter and great, transcendent beauty. The first book ever to take on William Burroughs' masterpiece, this critical collection brings together an international array of writers, scholars, musicians, scientists, and artists who cast new eyes on the writing and reception of Burroughs' unique work. Tracing its origins from Texas to Tangier, from Mexico City to New York and Paris, crossing time zones and cultures, ""Naked Lunch @ 50"" breaks new ground in understanding this most influential but elusive of texts. ""Naked Lunch @ 50"" includes studies of the text's manuscript and textual history, of its origins in and creative debts to a range of specific locations, of its reception in different societies over time and in relation to broader cultural, artistic, and personal histories. Contributors discuss the novel's existence as a physical object in regard to both design and collectability, the history of its critical reception, its cultural importance in relation to censorship and visionary art, its relationship to literary genres - from science fiction to the horror film - and its significance as a work prophetic of current trends in electronic culture and biology. A series of introductory sections, or 'Dossiers', written by Ian MacFadyen, provide glimpses of further horizons of research and reading, while a set of endpapers by the artist Philip Taaffe offers a visual correlative to Burroughs' extraordinary text.

Pride - Protest and celebration is a history of South Africa's gay pride marches and parades over the last 16 years. It brings together a host of valuable and rare material - pictures, documents and personal testimony of activists, organizers and participants of Pride since 1990. Press clippings are also used in this beautiful collection, to trace how Pride has been reported over the years, helping to form both an historical record and a colourful, enjoyable scrapbook of memories of the most visible face of South Africa's gay and lesbian community. South Africa's first-ever gay Pride march took place in October 1990, just as the liberation movements including the ANC and the PAC were returning home after decades in exile. That year, Pride pushed for the inclusion of gay rights in the human rights for which South Africans were then fighting. That dream was realised in the Constitution, ratified in 1996, which enshrines protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation - a Constitution unique in the world. Since then, Pride has continually evolved. In 1994 it became a "parade", and in later years it came to include a mardi gras and other activities. Its focus moved from its campaigning of the early years to, increasingly, a celebration of freedom and gay/lesbian culture, as much a huge party as anything else. Yet it has been controversial within gay/lesbian circles as well as in the view of the larger society - and there are still rights (such as gay marriage) for which to fight.

On 30 November 2006, South Africa became the world’s fifth country and Africa’s first to legalise marriage for same-sex couples. To Have & To Hold explores the journey to same-sex marriage with a collection of interviews, essays and documents recognising the multiplicity of viewpoints on the topic, as well as the multiple aspects and efforts that shaped the making of same-sex marriage in South Africa.

It seeks to represent those perspectives by drawing on the opinions of a wide range of experts as well as representing those for whom the right to marry holds the most meaning – the people whose marriages can now be legally recognised. The combination of historical documents, personal reflections and academic and activist analyses of same-sex marriage makes this book invaluable for understanding this historic journey and its legal, social, cultural and religious ramifications.

Shaun de Waal's movie reviews are an iconic part of the Mail & Guardian. His short pieces on great (and awful) movies are masterpieces in the genre of reviews, and have become celebrated for their wit and insight. But even more so, his reviews give readers a glimpse into the mind of South Africans when they watch movies about faraway New York, London or Spain, or a familiar District 9. The collection includes almost 100 reviews - of classics and trash, blockbusters and art films - organised by theme. Themes include: Africa on the screen, Stories about love and family, Sex, God and fantasy, Hollywood and the world, and Politics and war. Shaun also includes his lists of top films in various genres (and worst). The defining South African book about close-ups, red carpets and sad endings.