Flattering curves

"As a contemporary designer I try to meet the needs of the whole human being by designing furniture that is simultaneously meaningful for the spirit, beautiful for the soul, and nurturing for the body.” - Haldane Martin


As the world’s attention is still very much locked on South Africa so we continue our focus on South African book related themes. One of my favorite SA designers, Haldane Martin who is based in Cape Town, created the most beautiful and visually pleasing shelving system I have had the pleasure to lay my eyes on, New Slant Shelves. It has been the object of desire of many of my interior/perfect home library/aspiring bookshop fantasies.



At first glance its curves seems like an optical illusion but a closer look reveals each individual modular slanted shelf can be moved, adjusted and organized on the whim and creativity of its owner through its clever magnetic system. It is a piece of design that is as alive with movement and flow as the text and contents of the books and items that would love to be housed and showcased within it, all in unison speaking against what was once perceived as static forms. And its boldest statement: that it is proudly and sustainably made in South Africa.



(images: Haldane Martin, Apartment Therapy, Elle Deco SA)

Updated Jozi Skyline shelf

New Moon Africa's Jozi Icons floating shelf has made a timely appearance with its updated Johannesburg skyline which now includes Soccer City and the Soweto. It is made out of brushed stainless steel and bamboo and designed by Angus Wing.

Keeping it local: Jozi bookends

For the duration of the Soccer World Cup we are turning our attention to all things local and book related. These beautiful brushed stainless steel Jozi bookends by Fanie van Zyl are a wonderful ode to the city that is alive with gees, ayoba-ness and of course books.




On order at Batch R395

Orange Prize for Fiction

The winner of the Orange prize for fiction for 2010 has been awarded to acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver for her latest book titled The Lacuna.



Publisher: Faber And Faber
ISBN: 9780571252640
Publication date: November 2009
RRP: R219.95

The Orange prize for fiction is awarded each year to a female writer from any nationality for the best novel written in English. The prize money is £30 000

This looks like another stellar epic from Kingsolver which must be added to my 'must read' list. I love the exotic cover. If anyone has read it please send me you thoughts or a review on it.

Sandton, Soccer Fever and the Sunday Times Literary Awards

Image via Beeld

World Cup fever has taken our minds,bodies, streets and country hostage (rightfully so) and will continue to do so for the next month. After the scenes from yesterday’s procession in Sandton and gatherings around the country, my heart beats yellow and green with a new sense of patriotism. It made me think that when on the precipice of crisis we retreat in a state of passiveness but when presented with the opportunity to unite and fire up spirits rather than arms we charge with new found purpose and for some brief moments declare ours a state of greatness. I hope that every visitor and even the mzanzi’s will indulge in all things home grown and brewed that our wonderful country has to offer. And perhaps some of them will pop into a bookshop and take home a new literary discovery.

The shortlist for the Sunday Times Literary awards is not a bad place to start looking for that treasure. They were announced this last weekend and feature some our finest writers who will compete for our most prestigious English literary prize. They are as follow:

Shortlist for Alan Paton (non-fiction) Award


Ways of Staying by Kevin Bloom (Picador Africa)

A Fork in the Road by André Brink (Harvill Secker)

Begging to be Black by Antjie Krog (Random House Struik)

The Honour to Serve by James Ngculu (David Phillip)

The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law by Albie Sachs (Oxford University Press).

Shortlist for the Fiction Prize


Summertime by JM Coetzee (Harvill Secker)

High Low In-between by Imraan Coovadia (Umuzi)

Saracen at the Gates by Zinaid Meeran (Jacana)

The Book of the Dead by Kgebetli Moele (Kwela Books)

Small Moving Parts by Sally-Ann Murray (Kwela Books).

The winners will be announced on the 24th of July

Local Hidden Treasure Trove: Bibliophile Clarens

Every time I visit Clarens and the Golden Gate area in the eastern Free State I fall in love with it all over again. Visiting it at different times of the year is like a private viewing of nature’s perfect seasonal colour palette, as if discovering the different personality traits and facets of someone you love but will never fully know. It has unmistakably become one of my favourite spots to visit in South Africa and lucky for me I have uncovered that its beauty does not only run skin deep .



Only a 2,5 hours drive from Johannesburg this coined little artist town nestled in the Maluti mountains is not only for gallery browsers and outdoor activity lovers but it comes equipped with its own little bookshop aptly named Bibliophile, for those days when the muscles need to recuperate and your thoughts seek their own adventure and deviation. The shop is situated just of the main street on a little dirt road and is packed with charm, character and above all a great selection of reads.

Friday Forecast

The SA weather service is predicting some cold weather coming our way this weekend and as murphy would have it I am going hiking in the Free State during this cold onslaught. This is probably going to be the first of many as winter is officially due within a couple of days. If I am to survive this weekend I am particularly excited about snuggling up with some of my favourite men and their long awaited novels during the next couple of months. So winter do your worst as I come armed with some serious (and not so serious) recommendations not only to wither the cold but to make you a winter to remember not only as the time when the Soccer World Cup came to South Africa

Solar by Ian McEwan


Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
ISBN: 9780224090506
RRP: R220

Solar by Ian McEwan.
Solar has just won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. Not bad for a first time venture into comedy but then again this is Ian McEwan we are talking about, the same Man Booker winner who has decided to try his hand at writing an opera based in his novel Atonement. I was skeptical when this master of contemporary fiction announced that his latest novel would be a comedic effort centered around climate change but halfway through it I have discovered that the author who has an uncanny knack for stripping a human being to only his darkest impulses is equally talented when it comes to comedic timing. His Nobel prize winning protagonist has managed to make me laugh out loud at his antics at the same time as he has brought about the impulse to throttle him. A book about the warming earth should indeed be acquired for the forthcoming cooler days.

Another Man Booker prize winner as well as a former shortlisted finalist got me equally excited about their latest releases

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel


Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
ISBN: 9781847677662
RRP R190

'Fate takes many forms. When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled further into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey - named Beatrice and Virgil - and the epic journey they undertake together. With all the spirit and originality that made Life of Pi so treasured, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey. On the way Martel asks profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.'

via Penguin. Click on the Penguin link for the chance to win a signed copy of the long awaited new novel from Yann Martel who brought us the unforgettable Life of Pi

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell


Publisher: Sceptre
ISBN: 9780340921579
RRP 190

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by enigmatic David Mitchell adds to what is already an amazing collection of titles that never seize to excite his readers and it would seem critics alike. He is the darling of British postmodern fiction and his latest novel tells the story of a turning point in history on a tiny island attached to mainland Japan, David Mitchell’s tale of power, passion and integrity transports us to a world that is at once exotic and familiar: an extraordinary place and an era when news from abroad took months to arrive, yet when people behaved as they always do - loving, lusting and yearning, cheating, fighting and killing.

'Bringing to vivid life a tectonic shift between East and West, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is dramatic, funny, heartbreaking, enlightening and thought-provoking. Reading it is an unforgettable experience'. Amazon.co.uk

Happy reading this winter and keep me informed of your winter literary finds, pleasures , wish list as well as your reviews on the above mentioned titles. And as a final tip I would reccommend that a bottle of good homegrown South African red would be a perfect companion to these international men and their writing, as indulging in their brilliance is sure to fire up the coldest of winter days.