New book in the library: Joonie by Rayda Jacobs

Qurasha Rajkumar reviews "Joonie" by Rayda Jacobs

Strongly recommended: The Shipping News / E. Annie Proulx

"I'd set myself a task, so I squared my shoulders and, with grim determination, started reading. One of the best decisions I ever made, for I quickly found myself immersed in one of the best, most engaging works of fiction I've ever read."

"The protagonist of The Shipping News (for he could assuredly not be called a "hero") is Quoyle, a big man with a huge chin who is an established loser. Unappealing in appearance and uninspiring in personality, Quoyle is pegged as a wretch from day one by everybody, including his parents. At 36, he's a college dropout and a third-rate newspaperman who is caught in an endless cycle of firing and rehiring, forced to take demeaning temporary jobs at his editor's whim. He is married to an unashamedly philandering woman who has borne him two children she almost never sees, a heartless bawd who never misses work but brings her boyfriends home to have sex with them in the living room while Quoyle listens, silently weeping, in their bedroom. At the head of Chapter One, Proulx defines "quoyle" as "a coil of rope," and proceeds to quote The Ashley Book of Knots:

"A Flemish flake is a spiral coil of one layer only. It is made on deck, so that it may be walked on if necessary."
It it the perfect introduction to Quoyle; he is, in more familiar terms, a doormat.
"Quoyle's life is suddenly and forever changed by a rapid succession of momentous events. His parents, both diagnosed with cancer, commit suicide -- his father leaves a final announcement of the decision on Quoyle's answering machine in his last conscious moments. Quoyle's editor again informs him that he is fired, but that this time it is likely permanent. His wife, after taking and selling their two girls, dies in a car crash while running away to Florida with her latest boyfriend. And Quoyle finally meets his Aunt Agnis, who convinces him that the best thing would be to relocate to his family's ancestral home in Newfoundland. An old (and only) friend of Quoyle's secures him a job writing the shipping news for a paper there, and Quoyle packs up his recovered daughters, his aunt and her dog, and leaves New York for Newfoundland". (From: www.curledup.com)

Aanbeveel: De souffleur / D. Carrisi [vertaal uit het Italiaans door Els van der Pluijm]

"Agente Mila Vasquez is gespecialiseerd in het opsporen van vermiste kinderen. Zij wordt toegevoegd aan een rechercheteam dat achter een seriemoordenaar aan zit, een ongrijpbare tegenstander die de politie steeds een stap voor is. Mila zet alles op alles om hem te doorgronden, maar ze heeft niet in de gaten dat zijn duistere geest ook leden van het rechercheteam aantast. En ondertussen begint de tijd te dringen, want een van de verdwenen slachtoffers is mogelijk nog in leven..." (From www.bol.com)

Recommended: The Solitude of Prime Numbers / Paolo Giordano

"A prime number can only be divided by itself or by one—it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia, both "primes," are misfits who seem destined to be alone. Haunted by childhood tragedies that mark their lives, they cannot reach out to anyone else. When Alice and Mattia meet as teenagers, they recognize in each other a kindred, damaged spirit.

But the mathematically gifted Mattia accepts a research position that takes him thousands of miles away, and the two are forced to separate. Then a chance occurrence reunites them and forces a lifetime of concealed emotion to the surface.

Like Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, this is a stunning meditation on loneliness, love, and the weight of childhood experience that is set to become a universal classic." (From: http://www.bookbrowse.com/)

New SA fiction in the library catalogue

EVE by Sandra Charles (Kwela Books) "Searing, sad and beautifullly triumphant - this novel will stay with me long after many other stories have disappeared from memory" - Chris van Wyk

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LOST GROUND by Michiel Heyns (Jonathan Ball) [Discussion excerpt below by Janet van Eeden, published on Litnet]:

"Lost Ground is yet another compelling novel from the pen of Michiel Heyns, who made his debut with one of my favourite books, The Children’s Day. Lost Ground revisits the South African dorp of Heyns’s childhood. This time it’s a fictional place called Alfredville which embodies all the intrigues that make small towns such fascinating microcosms. In this particular dorp there are villagers gossiping about one another, a few outrageous characters making their presence felt, the unflinching prejudice of the past and, for good measure, the murder of a beautiful young woman.

The narrator, Peter Jacobs, is drawn back to the town in which he grew up to investigate the details behind his cousin Desiree’s murder. He’s left an ex-partner, James, behind in London. He hopes to make a new beginning by reviving his freelance writing career with a story which will reflect the racial conflicts which led to the murder of his cousin in the small South African town. His motives are totally mercenary, as he clinically digs into the seeping wounds of the inhabitants of Alfredville while hoping to write something worthy of the New York Times."

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BROERS deur Bart Moeyaert, vertaal deur Daniel Hugo (Protea)

“Een keer per jaar gaan ons pa onderaan die trap staan en roep hy ons name in een asem boontoe, asof ons één broer met ’n lang naam is.”

'Bart Moeyaert is die jongste van sewe broers op ’n ry. Daarom is die Belgiese koning sy peetpa en het hy ’n geskenk van die koninklike paleis ontvang: ’n goue beker en ’n goue lepel met ’n kroon en die letter B daarin gegraveer. Hy wonder nog steeds of die B vir Boudewijn of vir Bart staan.

In hierdie versameling sketse vertel hy van al die avonture wat sewe broers kan beleef. Deur die verwonderde oë van die jongste word selfs die mees alledaagse gebeurtenis iets buitengewoons. Die broers bly deurgaans naamloos en word net aangedui as die oudste, stilste, opregste, verste, liefste, vinnigste en “ek”. Die vertellings, waarin sy ma, pa en ouma ook figureer, is tegelyk fantasieryk én lewensgetrou. Dit is ’n boek wat oud en jonk sal geniet: van tieners tot tagtigers.' (Uittreksel afkomstig van bookslive.co.za).

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HELSE MANIER VAN KOEBAAI Sê deur Francois Bloemhof (Human & Rousseau)

"Die vierde (en laaste) aflewering in die reeks oor Mark Steyn, die Luiperd, een van Die Fabriek se topagente. Mark Steyn en sy mede-agent Lana Dubois is steeds aangetrokke tot mekaar, maar het onoplosbare verskille. Nou moet hulle noodgedwonge weer saamwerk aan 'n nuwe saak en word nie slegs fisieke nie, maar ook groot sielkundige eise aan hulle gestel. Wie vertrou jy? Wie is vriend en wie is vyand? Die spioenasiebedryf is immers bekend vir sy verskuiwende alliansies: Gister se vyand is vandag se "vriend", maar dalk ook net vir vandag. Dit is 'n losstaande verhaal, maar knoop ook verskeie drade uit die vorige drie saam. Helse manier van koebaai se is propvol intrige, spanning, aksie en gevaar – en selfs sake van die hart!" (Opsomming afkomstig van Kalahari.com). Die biblioteek het die hele reeks.

Nuut in die biblioteek: 'n Vrou gaan dokter toe

Francois Smith se Afrikaanse vertaling van Ray Kluun se 2003-blitsverkoper, "Komt een vrouw bij de dokter" is nou beskikbaar. Fassinerend en hartverskeurend, dié kyk na 'n man se (gebrekkige) vermoë om die realiteit van sy vrou se borskanker te aanvaar en te hanteer. Die biblioteek het ook die Nederlandse filmweergawe, met Engelse onderskrifte. Niemand kan hierdie verhaal meemaak en onaangeraak bly nie! Verbreed gerus jou verwysingsraamwerk, jou begrip en insig in die menslike kondisie; lees Kluun se verhaal of kyk die film.

Fransi Phillips se "Net 'n lewe" die moeite werd

"Fransi se jongste roman, Net ’n lewe, word in 2011 bekroon met die eerste prys in LAPA Uitgewers se Roman-kompetisie. Fransi het R100 000 ontvang, wat dit die grootste prysgeld nog in ’n Afrikaanse romankompetisie maak. In haar bedankingstoespraak sê Fransi dat sy soms skuldig voel, “omdat skryf so lekker is”. Sy het Net ’n lewe geskryf terwyl sy by die Tsjeggiese ambassade in Pretoria gewerk het. Hier het sy onder meer “die ambassadeur se toesprake en briewe van simpatie aan die ambassades van afgestorwe staatshoofde” geskryf.

“Omdat Net ’n lewe in die sosiopolitieke arena van die laaste 50 jaar afspeel, is dit enersyds ’n politieke satire met ’n sterk feministiese inslag, maar dit preek nooit. Hiervoor is die skrywer se stem te soepel en ervare,” het die beoordelaarsverslag gelui." [Litnet]

Lees ook Louis Viljoen en Thys Human se resensies van die novelle.