If you follow my twitter you’ll know that I like to run, but I am by no means a competitive runner. Just the opposite, in fact. I run because it makes me feel good and it lets me eat what I want without getting too porky. I started off running for 1 minute at a time, working my way up to twenty, and right now I’m doing 10km runs in a bit over an hour, but not because I want to ‘beat my last time’. I do it because the fitter I get, the longer I can run, and that means even more enjoyment.
I loved Born To Run because it’s all about running longer rather than faster. It also raises some controversial topics, namely the fancy running shoe debate. McDougall says the rise in running injuries has strangely coincided with the invention of the expensive running shoe. He maintains the best way to run is as close to bare foot as possible, or in your oldest, most beat up trainers. There is a rough plot – the author was told he could never run again due to a running injury, so he embarks on a journey to find out why these random running injuries occur, and in the process ends up researching ultra marathon runners, the least injured group of runners in the sports world (even though most of them have terrible diets and run for 5 days at a time). I found Born To Run super inspiring, and made me reconsider what my limits are.
Read this book if:
- you want to start exercising but can’t bear the thought of ‘punishing yourself’
- you already run but struggle to stay motivated
- you like exercise because of how it makes you feel
- you already run but are struggling to get better at it
- you suffer from some form of running injury
Did you know that running is the only sport at which you constantly improve? Every other sport sees your abilities deteriorate with age, while it’s the exact opposite with running. Fascinating hey? Get Born To Run here.
When you tire of the chick lit, and you have read all the Harry Potters (twice), and you’re long over His Dark Materials, and you’re also thinking Murakami’s on some other tip right now, then pick up this volume, written by local author Lauren Beukes. And think this: it’s Hillbrow, Joburg. In Zoo City world, when you commit a cardinal sin, your sin appears as an animal that never leaves your side. And Hillbrow is filled with cardinal committers and their animals, hence the name Zoo City. I loved this book. It had that magic feeling that all those novels above have, except it felt very familiar with the South African context. The best part? The author doesn’t go on and on about ‘establishing a uniquely South African voice’. She just tells the story. A wild, magical, twisty story about good people doing bad things to get by. I won’t go into story details – I personally never read reviews that pick apart the plot, because they never manage to do it justice. I will say it involves 9/11 scams, a giant freaking crocodile and a lot of suspense. Just pick up a copy next time you’re at Exclusives, you won’t regret it.
Visual diaries – for those who are ‘not creative’ (what that really means is that you are ‘denying being creative’, because we are ALL creative – please – let’s take a moment here) are books filled with mementos, inspirational pictures, ideas and scribblings that keep a ‘theme’ or ‘thought process’ going for an artist / writer / fashion designer / photographer, and photographer Cecil Beaton’s has just been published.
Who is Cecil Beaton? Why, he had the honour of photographing Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Queen Elizabeth, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn… I could go on. Here’s some of his work:
More of the visual diary:
Amazing right? Perfect for summer reading by the poolside, or if you love a picture of a beautiful woman. Popping it on my christmas list.
I’m starting the runup to Christmas kids! And without further ado let’s go straight into it. We’d quite like this book . 20 years on and Karl Lagerfeld has a million photos of his favourite muse, Claudia Schiffer, so he’s put together a book. I can feel the fashion photography goodness already, hitting my veins like sweet fashiony heroine. Buy it.
If you are wondering about what to read poolside this summer
I have a great suggestion;)
The Jimmy Choo Story
by Lauren Goldstein Crowe & Sagra Maceira de Rosen.
It tells the story of how Jimmy Choo shoes made it into the world of LVHM, Gucci, Prada etc
Without being more than 5 decades old through amazing PR stunts
How a humble Malaysian called Jimmy started making shoes for Princess Diana and hooked up with London ‘It girl’ Tamara Yeardye
I usually prefer non-fiction and CTG and LA often tease me about my strange taste in books, but this one I think is a great combo of
Love, scandal, fashion, seeding, celebrity, power, intrigue and, above all, a never give up attitude.
But I must give a WARNING with this book
You will want to buy….drumroll a sexy pair of JIMMY CHOO’s
I have my eye on a pair that will only end up in my possession if Venus, Mars and the Sun all align under the Xmas star
I remember my Sweet Valley High days as if they were yesterday. I was about 10 years old. Prime SVH-hooking age. I’d go to my school library, beg the librarian to let me check out 10 books at once (it took about 30 minutes to read one Sweet Valley volume), she wouldn’t let me. I would offer her my lunch, she would say ‘that’s unethical’, then we’d come to an agreement where I could check out as many Sweet Valley High books as I liked provided I read a ‘real’ book in between. So I would end up with 20 books – 10 Sweet Valley High, and 10 others. Think Suskind, Nietzsche and Dante. Ja, I reeeeeeally had to overcompensate (via fear of ‘becoming stupid’, which is what my mom said would happen if I read SVH at the same time as the wind changed direction). But this, my friends, is how I got an education. Via Sweet Valley High alternate-bribery.
Just read Pride & Prejudice so I could read this. Wish Pride & Prejudice was set in LA and all the characters drove Jeeps and were blonde, too.
Of course, it was a WHOLE OTHER STORY when it came to getting gold stars for my reading chart. My teacher was simply having none of SVH, and she would actually DEDUCT 5 points from my reading chart for every Sweet Valley High book I read. I did work out a system whereby I could double my points for reading a book published before 1950 (think F Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, Jane Freaking Austen …etc). Sheesh. When I look back things seemed awfully complicated for the simple benefit of reading a series of such simple books. Sing with me now…
“Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield were identical blonde twins who lived in a split-level house…”
Soooooooo bad. Not sure I’ll be reading SVC again. I think ‘life might be too short’. But it was nice to take this little trip down memory lane.
One must read up on them, too! And possibly bake one’s own. And arm oneself with the kind of knowledge that is necessary these days, considering how many bakeries are jumping on the whole Macaron bandwagon (ahem Spar). Thanks to natalie for alerting me to the existence of ‘I Love Macarons’ by Hisako Ogita. Buy yourself (and me) a copy here.
Speaking of macarons, you could win a whole BUNCH of them from Cassis if you pose with CTG in this competition. Go!
We’ve been waiting with baited breath for SA literary cool kid Lauren Beukes to launch her follow-up to Moxyland, Zoo City, and on Tuesday it finally happened! The Book Lounge was packed for the event, people were literally squeezing into the venue and passive-aggressively jostling for space alongside the black zoo biscuits and the Witchdoctor popcorn.
Lauren and her very proud Dad
Lauren was interviewed by another local lit hipster Sarah Lotz (who wrote Exhibit A, Pompidou Posse) which was a nice touch to the usual reading proceedings. I can’t wait to get into Zoo City. Will have to turn the pages VERY CAREFULLY so can preserve pristine nature of my signed first edition.
Priceless. If you're wondering about the Kendra/Lerato reference, you clearly have not read Moxyland. And yes, I need to 'finish my fucking book'. Sigh. Thanks Lauren! x
Curious? Zoo City is set in Joburg. It’s about a young girl with a sloth on her back and murder in her past. And if you’re not convinced yet, THE William Gibson had this to say about it:
“Lauren Beukes is very, *very& good… it feels effortless, utterly accomplished”
Ja – can you handle! I’ll be starting it this evening. Read more on the launch here. You can buy the book in all bookstores. If you turn to the back page you’ll see that it also comes with an album and instructions on how to download it. Freaking awesome! Go get it!
14 Apr 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in book club, 2 Comments
Have any of you read this? It was thrust unto my arms by my mother, who believes it should be read ‘by any young girl of marrying age‘. It’s written by the chick who wrote Eat, Pray, Love, and it’s totally different in that it is quite researchy about the history of marriage which is, quite frankly, depressing.
So far I have learnt that as soon as society started marrying for love, and not for economic sense, divorces started happening. Which makes sense because if you can want to marry someone, you can want to not be married to them anymore.
She also talks about how tragic divorce is, and how it nearly destroyed her.
Uplifting stuff huh? Haven’t made up my mind yet. Perhaps it will get better. Eat, Pray, Love was at least of happyish disposition. Plus it was about food and an inner journey. Just not convinced that marriage makes as a good a subject matter for a book as pasta and sex. To be continued.
Being shot by O Mag at Sinn’s this morning. Miss Beukes has a new book coming out on 10 May called Zoo City which is in a similar vein to her first book Moxyland, only set in Joburg. I can’t wait to read it!
