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Kin by Tayari Jones

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I’m not even being hyperbolic when I say this is the best book emhlabeni (this year). Kin is a thoughtfully written narrative that follows the lives of Annie and Vernice (Niecy) as they navigate through their lives as black children turned young adults, moving into adulthood in 1950s/60s America. The book is one of friendship, which is precisely what God brought us onto this earth for, if you ask me. Niecy herself, in convincing Annie that there is a God, uses the fact that they were placed in the same cradle as kids as evidence.  Annie and Niecy follow completely different paths after leaving their hometown but their bond, thicker than blood, holds them together no matter how far apart. In one of her letters, Niecy apologises for sharing Annie’s business but explains that she simply could not explain who she was without explaining who Niecy was and that’s — KIN!!!! One of my favourite things about Kin is the unwavering nature of all the characters, no matter the consequence. ...
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September '26: Booked and Busy!

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September has been the busiest month in a while in the SA bookish industry and let me tell you, I am having a time! The first event was Lola Akinmade Akerstrom's evening at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park where we discussed Bitter Honey with the ever so talented Cheeky Natives. I've actually never read any of her books but when an acclaimed international author with credentials from my trusted reviewers is in town, I have no choice but to honour the invite. The event was basically clash of the book clubs, and I love any excuse to see my Prose & Icons girlies. Immediately   on the day after, we sat intimately at Love Books in Melville with Yewande Omotoso launching Krystle Zara Appiah's Half Lives. Krystle is a well of talent and I cannot wait to get into her latest!  My favourite of the three nights has to be Selali Fiamanya's evening at Artistry on the 8th. Dr. Alma and Adv. Letlhogonolo yet again blessed us with a Cheeky eve ning, discussing one of the best debuts I ...
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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  When I think Historical Fiction, I’m afraid my immediate thoughts jump to the  Kirstin Hannahs Rating: 4 🌟  and Kate Quinns of this world, which while I have read a few (heavy on the few), I cannot say I quite enjoy. It then goes without saying that when Homegoing was winning all the awards in the latter half of the 2010s, I did not feel the nudge to engage. Though I must add that my genre of choice was primarily psychological thrillers at the time. Now I’m not sure if it’s age or whatever they say about the cerebral cortex developing, but I’ve been gravitating a lot towards historical fiction lately. Tebs gifted me a copy of Homegoing as a parting gift when I changed jobs and I am rather ashamed to only discover now, how well Yaa Gyasi’s coat of accolades fits - not that I had any doubts before. I also cower when I realise how little I know on African History beyond the little borders of South Africa, so I am grateful for the pieces I can pick up in fiction. (Unrelat...
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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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One of my favourite parts of adulthood is my monthly book club sitting. The Prose & Icons met at Forking Good in Bryanston this month and we discussed Yellowface! Yellowface is a satirical novel by R.F. Kuang, although sometimes the satire left the room with the author’s overt lashings on the industry. We follow the story of June who, when her big-time young author friend dies with an unpublished manuscript by her side, steals her life. [Unrelated, there’s a sanctification that seems to be bestowed amongst those who have passed which I find interesting, probably either in reverence of death and its finality?} June is in anyway as annoying as any entitled mediocre MC can be but oh did we love to hate her! The callousness with which she carries herself throughout her shenanigans would be admirable if it weren’t so haphazard to everyone else around her. I have never engaged with Kuang’s work prior to this but the book feels almost autobiographical where I could not separate the ...
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Because I Love You by Joy Watson

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I first encountered Joy Watson’s writing in her debut novel The Other Me . I’m hardly one to read young adult fiction, particularly due to my protest against attributing a character’s choices to their juvenile minds. On the other hand, an author’s own wiser thoughts can leak out of the younger character with a level of maturity I struggle to believe an 8 year old would possess or articulate in that manner. Nevertheless, The Other Me held a perfect balance between my two conflicts with a level of realness that kept me captivated all the way to five stars at the end and cemented Joy as an auto-read author in my books.   Because I love you similarly impressed me from the first line: “ This is not a book about breakups. It’s a book about erasure. About the quiet violence that can live inside love, the kind that doesn’t leave bruises on your skin but rewires the architecture of your mind. ” The nonfiction anthology shares the stories of three women, Zara, Mira and Thuli, whose lives ar...
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And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

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There’s an insurmountable amount of both joy and devastation in how many books there are in the world and how many great books I am yet to read. And, really, you have to kiss some toads and frogs on the journey to them.  I read Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns in 2017 and The Kite Runner in 2020 and the former immediately cemented him as an auto read author in my books. I cannot give any explanation for the delay in reading And the Mountains Echoed, but I am very happy I didn’t read it until now — I think I can appreciate the skill better.  Khaled doesn’t introduce you to a character or a setting.  There’s no talking stage.  No starter.  You plunge straight into the meat and dessert with the familiarity of a third book in a trilogy, even though you’ve never met any of the characters before. One second you haven’t started the book, the next you’re deep in Shadbagh — an Afghan city that doesn’t even exist! You hardly even know whose pov you’re reading f...
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The Comrade's Wife by Assoc. Prof. Barbara Boswell

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I unintentionally got a spoiler of The Comrade's Wife months ago (granted, it was the spoiler that made me want to read the book in the first place). I was entirely captivated by the first few pages, but my chest was clenched in anxious anticipation. I found chapters are slightly long, but that’s on me and my attention span and not on the author’s writing.  Watching Anita lose so much of her resolve, bit by bit, was heartbreaking. Mind you, this was only three months into the relationship. What stressed me the most was that she has the language for what she’s going through, given her educational background, but seems blinded to it all. I suspect this was done deliberately to show the contrast between her academic and lived experiences.  Also, drawing parallels between this and A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo that I finished recently, the exact same red flags were exhibited: Diminishing her job (in this case, completely disregarding it), minimising any qualms raised b...
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