Khwezi:
The remarkable story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo
By Redi Thlabi
Jonathan Ball Publishers
This book is a must read for anyone and everyone who is concerned about justice and the future of our country.
As one reviewer said, Redi Thlabi has done a great service to the country in highlighting the deep sense of frustration and anger of millions of women when the new broke that Jacob Zuma was acquitted in the rape case of Khwezi.
Rape victim Khwezi was maligned, vilified and ridiculed by Zuma's supporters and forced to flee the country and died a decade after his acquittal in 2006, but heroically still in time to have met talented author Thlabi who reveals her life; the terrible humility she underwent during her lengthy trial not only by Zuma's lawyer but under the harsh eye of the media.
But at the end of the day Thlabi's book breathes life into a woman that has come to represent "every woman" in this country and speak out for all those who are abused and their plight ignored.
Rapid Fire:
Remarkable Miscellany
By John Maytham
Tafelberg Publishers
Cape Talk afternoon drive time host John Maytham has an encyclopaedic knowledge, as demonstrated when he fires off answers to listeners who test his knowledge of anything and everything.
You may call it useless information but if you've ever wondered why there are no snakes in Ireland it's not as Maytham wryly says because St Patrick drove them out ...
One of the all-time most famous questions is Who actually said "Let them eat cake" and for those under the false impression that it was Marie Antoinette — it was not!
This book will take you on a weird and wonderful journey of the strangest, most arcane and most surprising of questions.
The Education of Kevin Powell:
A Boy's Journey into Manhood
By Kevin Powell
Atria Books
Writer and activist Kevin Powell's poignant memoir vividly tells about the poverty of his youth and the writer's immense struggles to overcome a legacy of anger, violence, and self-hatred.
Powell survived abuse, abandonment by his father, debilitating low self-esteem, a police beating, and years of constant relocation - from school to school, neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
The book is a striking account and powerful chronicle of life from a child of post-civil rights America to healing and growth, survival and redemption.