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Books
This is the full index under "books", which includes all features and reviews.
Also see: Books > Features (includes photo essays and author interviews).
Also see: Books > Reviews. 
Celebrate the launch of Lauren Beukes' latest novel with a bid on an artwork in a collaborative project designed to generate funds for a very important South African initiative.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 4 August 2010 | View Comments
Category: Books > Features
 Beat the worst of London's underworld at their game. Rescue your sister. Clear your name - and not necessarily in that sequence. A tall order for anyone - but especially for someone being hunted by every military and police agency in the United Kingdom as a suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist....
By: Paul Pregnolato | Posted: 30 July 2010 | View Comments
 Most reviews of this book include the word "inspirational". While this is certainly true, there is far more to William Kamkwamba's story than inspiration, so you won't find that word in this review. Instead, you will find others that are equally glowing.
By: Jase Luttrell | Posted: 27 July 2010 | View Comments
As The Crow Flies is a short novel that explores the individual loves of nameless characters living in urban landscapes and other unidentified locations who are unconnected to each other, yet linked through the themes of love or suffering in a world in which love finds it hard to thrive.
By: Anne Taylor | Posted: 26 July 2010 | View Comments
 On its jacket Ravens is described as a "terrifying, gripping, unique" work of "psychological suspense". Instead, I found an appealing but B-grade narrative with lacklustre characters and a predictable plot.
By: Lenina Rassool | Posted: 2 June 2010 | View Comments
 Girls At War And Other Stories is a collection of short stories written over a period of 20 years that not only celebrates the diversity of African culture but questions and explores the conflict between traditional African beliefs and modernism introduced by British colonialism.
By: Anne Taylor | Posted: 28 May 2010 | View Comments
 I had no idea what I was in for when I picked up this novel. Would it be frustrating? Captivating? Engrossing? Catastrophic? I can definitively say that it was all of these qualities, many more, and certainly far fewer. If you're confused, I am too. But then that's the nature of reading stream-of-consciousness writings, especially from one of Zimbabwe's most unconventional authors.
By: Jase Luttrell | Posted: 24 May 2010 | View Comments
 It's an impressive undertaking: coordinate 24 writers to write 24 stories, each inspired by a different hour of the day and a different city of the world, and use these tales to "reflect on the nature of home", with no restriction on genre, fact, or fiction. The result? Whatever you choose to make of it.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 12 May 2010 | View Comments
In a brainwavez.org (semi) exclusive, we examine the cover design for the South African edition of Lauren Beukes' forthcoming novel Zoo City, which is published by Jacana. We talk to the artist, Joey Hi-Fi, and bring you a behind-the-scenes gallery taken from the concept document that shows the evolution of the design.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 23 March 2010 | View Comments
Ella Minnow Pea was first published in 2001 and it amazes me to think that I have lived nearly a decade without this book. I promise you'll find a nerdy love for words, language, and the processes of language construction in Mark Dunn's beautiful little novel. You'll enjoy every letter (especially the missing ones).
By: Jase Luttrell | Posted: 16 March 2010 | View Comments
The Memory Keeper's Daughter focuses on some rather annoying characters and has some pretty poor editing. However it is a compelling narrative of lies, deception, and intense emotion you won't forget but you'll have to read the review to decide if you want Kim Edwards' novel - and its problems - permanently lodged in your memory.
By: Jase Luttrell | Posted: 9 March 2010 | View Comments
Neighbours: The Story Of A Murder is a novel of tragedy and triumph concerning the history and destabilisation of Mozambique, which teaches us that other cultures and countries can offer a lesson in humanity, perseverance, and the perils of greed, while reaffirming the idea that we can become neighbours through compassion and storytelling.
By: Jase Luttrell | Posted: 27 January 2010 | View Comments
In a relatively short time Simon's Cat has become a much-loved online animated series of shorts but this is not the first time that an Internet meme has tried to cross the divide. Is it possible for a digital sensation to be reinvented successfully in a different medium. Does Simon's Cat translate in book form?
Posted: 15 December 2009
Voted Britain's Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century, Giles' career at the Daily Express and Sunday Express spanned almost fifty years. Giles: The Collection 2010 brings together some of his best loved cartoons in the ideal Yuletide stocking filler... and what Christmas would be complete without Grandma?
Posted: 9 December 2009
Black Hills is a well-written, intriguing modern love story with an underlying plot of suspense. It cleverly weaves itself tighter and tighter until your focus has shifted to looking for a killer instead of rooting for the relationship.
Posted: 9 November 2009
The variety of monsters, called yokai, in Japan is astounding - and many of them are very bizarre. Should you find yourself face to face (or, erm, worse) with one, this fully illustrated, very handy guide will be indispensable: use it to learn how to spot yokai and how to survive the attack. Plus, it's filled with fascinating cultural observations that will astound and delight. You'll never leave home without it! (You may also never want to go to Japan after reading it....)
Posted: 30 October 2009
It seems only fitting that brainwavez.org focuses on zombies, as they have an unnatural (or natural) penchant for braaaiins. With that, we present to you the guts, gore, mayhem, and poetic beauty of Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your... Brains.
Posted: 21 October 2009
Intelligent, well-crafted and multi-layered, Hamilton Wende's latest work manages to straddle both the spy-thriller and psychological genres with a healthy dollop of history, drama, and romance thrown in for good measure.
Posted: 16 October 2009
Your phone is your lifeline but it can also be used to control you, art is (partly) alive, and corporations control (almost) everyone in Moxyland, Lauren Beukes' debut novel in which the lives of four characters intersect in an imagining of Cape Town, 2018, that will make most very uneasy. In this exclusive interview the author talks about her influences, her writing process, and exciting projects that were birthed as the book's release gained momentum.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 31 July 2009 | View Comments
 In the last in our series of photo essays on the 2009 Cape Town Book Fair we highlight some of the interesting discussions that took place during various panel sessions with authors and academics. Visitors to the fair can attend almost all the panel discussions for free, which makes them a popular feature of the fair every year. As a special bonus for this essay we have included video clips from two of the most popular sessions.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 15 July 2009 | View Comments
The opportunity to meet authors - both local and international - and hear them talk about their writing processes and experiences is one of the most exciting aspects of the Cape Town Book Fair. Here is a selection of some of the authors that were manning stands, launching books, and signing autographs for fans at the 2009 fair.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 30 June 2009 | View Comments
Thousands of people braved crazy winter weather over four days to attend the fourth Cape Town Book Fair, which was held earlier this month at the convention centre in Cape Town, South Africa. Here is a showcase of some of the highlights from the stands and exhibition areas, in the first of a few reports we have compiled.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 26 June 2009 | View Comments
In 500 years' time what will the legacy be that we have left on this planet? With wars, clashing religious ideologies, and climate change threatening to decimate the world as we know it Earth - The Comprehensive World Atlas, with its detailed descriptions of countries and cultures as they stand today may become one of the few remaining published records of the time we spent here during one of this planet's most tumultuous periods.
Posted: 15 June 2009
Johnny Golightly Comes Home is an interwoven tale of the stories of two men: an artist buried within multiple identities and a writer tasked with the impossible assignment of getting to the core of these identities in order to write the artist's biography. The result is a riveting, engaging account of frustration and eccentricity that is rich with metaphor and symbolism.
Posted: 10 June 2009
Just how kak is South Africa? Well, ask any citizen about his or her particular issues and you're likely to hear that it's all pretty kak. To combat the problem South African authors Tim Richman and Grant Schreiber keep publishing new books that tackle kakness. Why? Because South Africans don't know how to fix anything but at least they can buy a book, have a laugh, and keep a local publishing company afloat during the recession. Or something. It's all so kak, who can keep track?
Posted: 8 June 2009
Author Sarah Lotz's riveting debut novel is a sensational tale of two British teenagers on the run in Paris that features quirky characters, dark humour, and the seedy side of one of Europe's most glamorous cities.
By: Mandy J Watson | Posted: 4 June 2009 | View Comments
These days we're all being encouraged to "go green" but sometimes it's a bit overwhelming knowing where to start or whether there is any point to your efforts. In Going Green - 365 Ways To Change Our World South African author Simon Gear presents bite-sized pieces of advice to help us transition to a more harmonious lifestyle.
Posted: 2 June 2009
Recently another anthology of Wondermark, the world's only web comic, was published. This hardcover collection features about 120 strips, the eight-page short story Treachery!, and bonus material that is not available anywhere else.
Posted: 8 September 2008
Now that we're over this year's Valentine's euphoria (you know, the five of you that were actually experiencing it) and sugar highs from Easter chocolate, it's back to the business of cynicism. Although most of us at brainwavez.org are skilled practitioners of the art, we're not the only masters. Recently Two Dogs published Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Kak? The Whinger's Guide To South Africa From AA To JZ. We spoke to co-author Tim Richman about aspects of the South African experience that unite us all in a way that even Nelson Mandela couldn't.
Posted: 11 April 2008
To acknowledge Valentine's Day we thought we'd skip all the boring mushy stuff and head straight for the sex, and what better way than with a manual designed to answer all your pressing questions? We recently sat down with Kerry Rogers, author of Women's Bodies: A User's Manual, and asked pressing questions about her new-found career as a sex-manual writer. (Please note that this article is not suitable for minors.)
Posted: 14 February 2007
"Most books concerning Australia spend pages on Sydney, and even more pages on Uluru (better known as Ayer's Rock). Some will even mention Melbourne. Bryson, rather, takes us across the country, through the outback, on the legendary Indian Pacific Railroad. He drives from Darwin in the north of the country straight down to Uluru. He spends a significant amount of time in Adelaide and Canberra, as well as all the way up the northern coastal towns such as Cairns. In effect, he gives a highly comprehensive view of Australia. And he describes it all so well."
Posted: 27 March 2006
"The book features the first 100 Wondermark strips, as well as some extras that you won't find on the site ... The strips, themselves, are the most fascinating items to behold: public-domain turn-of-the-century images reworked for our turn-of-the-century times ... and the sense of humour of more discerning individuals. Some of the illustrations are truly bizarre, and I constantly find myself wondering what they initially were used for."
Posted: 3 March 2006
"The book is so well written that I could actually hear the voice of Comic Book Guy (who is voiced by Hank Azaria) as I read Comic Book Guy's dialogue boxes. His trademark sarcasm and sense of superiority shines through and the illustrations beautifully capture his inner emotions, from the nervous single geek ready for a romantic night out to the frozen-in-awe (occasionally) fanboy experiencing a brush with greatness (Stan Lee, William Shatner and Adam West, amongst others)."
Posted: 27 January 2006
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