Would you volonteer to spend one month in a prison? This just what the Belgian journalist Jan de Cock did. He had written a book about prisons on several continents. This book carried the title Hotel Prison. Now he decided to take a different angle to prison life, not to write from the perspective from … Continue reading review DE KELDERS VAN CONGO
review ALFRED & EMILY
The last novel by the Nobelprize winner Doris Lessing (1919-2013) is an attempt at a special kind of biography. She writes a biography about her parents Alfred Tayler and Emily McVeagh that is not a biography, not even two biographies. What does Doris do? She takes away one very important historical event away from the … Continue reading review ALFRED & EMILY
review DIE VROU WAT HAAR VERKYKER VERGEET HET
Marlene van Niekerk is a respected writer from South Africa, who writes in the Afrikaner language, one of the official languages in this country. I was very impressed by her novel Agaat, a story of two women, bound together from different backgrounds and different positions in life.“Die vrou wat haar verkyker vergeet het” (“The woman … Continue reading review DIE VROU WAT HAAR VERKYKER VERGEET HET
review INFINITE RICHES
The Nigerian / British writer Ben Okri has given us, readers, an oeuvre that leaves us with a dazzling mind. ‘Infinite Riches’ is the third novel in a series that started with ‘The Famished Road’ (1991), was followed by ‘Songs of Enchantment’ (1993) and now I have read this book. To be honest with you, … Continue reading review INFINITE RICHES
review THE GHOST RUNNER
This is the third book written by Bilal Parker that I have read. It is also the third book on the adventurers of the private detective Makana. He hails from Sudan where he worked as a detective for the police. After his wife and daughter died at a car crash he left his native country … Continue reading review THE GHOST RUNNER
review CONVERSATIONS WITH MYSELF
Over the years there has been a steady stream of books on the life and times of the South African prisoner and politician Nelson Mandela. In this heavy book Mandela is conversing with himself. But do not forget that he is talking also with other people. During his lifetime he kept notes, not always on … Continue reading review CONVERSATIONS WITH MYSELF