October 27, 2009
Zugzwang, by Ronan Bennett.
Zugzwang, n.: an obscure move in an
even more obscure game commonly thought to have originated in Persia,
whereby ritual war is conducted between two parties, sometimes
resulting in the loss of bodily fluids, mainly sweat and tears instead
of the more usual blood.
This is a novel that has all the
elements one would wish for in an intelligent thriller: chess, murder,
psychology and revolutionary politics, all set against the backdrop of
St. Petersburg, in the year 1914 A.C.E.
This last mentioned
may be the best part of the book. Bennett seems to have done his
research and his evocation of the time and the place is convincing and,
in parts, quite beautiful. So too the atmosphere of the times, the
closed-in feeling of history holding its breath, the impending world-
altering historical events, all combined with the expectations of the
chess tournament taking place in the city, for the crowning of the
first Grand Master of chess.
Chess may not be your cup of tea, and
the diagrams of the unfolding game between the main protagonist, Dr.
Otto Spethman and his violin virtuoso friend, Reuven Moiseyevich
Kopelzon, difficult to follow, but the intricacies of the game, the
hidden moves and the planning and diabolical cunning involved serve as
perfect metaphor for the revolutionary intrigue of the time and place.
Add
to this some Freudian sexual repression, a murder or three, a dash of
poetry, some snow and vodka and a couple of quite surprisingly steamy
sex scenes (Ronan, you old devil you, who knew?) and you have a quite
intriguing book.
Ronan Bennett has written several screenplays, the most recent of which is Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp.
And
for those of you who imagine novelists to be weedy, uninteresting
types, Bennett was incarcerated twice. Once at age 18 when he was
accused of taking part in an IRA bank robbery during which a policeman
was shot and killed. He was convicted and sent to Long Kesh prison, but
released less than a year later due to the flimsiness of the case
against him. In 1978 he was held in remand for 16 months, accused of
plotting to plant bombs in the UK. He conducted his own defence and was
acquitted.
He also holds a Ph.D. in history from King’s College London.
Best
quote by Bennett: "Writers should be distrustful of authority," he
says. "I think writers should always be in a position of tension in
relation to governments and power and authority." NPR
Posted by meredith kempthorne
September 13, 2009
Postcards of the East Africa Campaign
Sold by us on Http://auctionexplorerbooks.com September, 2009
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Postcards from the East Africa Campaign (World War I) & St. Helena. - One Album
Description : A collection of vintage postcards in one album.
All of the postcards have been loosely inserted (no glue invloved)
48 x Black and white (including one used, colour one), unused postcards, relating to the East Africa Campaign.
Publisher unknown. I am also not sure if this is a complete series or not.
3 x Bl... Continue reading...
Posted by meredith kempthorne. Posted In :
Auction Explorer
September 12, 2009
Tall Stories Makes A Point
We are attending the annual Knifemakers Guild of Southern Africa where we are selling books with a fine edge. As we are honed well, things are going swimmingly.The show takes place over two days every year. This is day two, and we are rearing to go, though tired in manner of canines. Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger
June 17, 2009
 There used to be a vacuum in South African fiction, right there on the border between crime fiction and thrillers with contemporary interest. One that needed to be filled with fast-paced, high tension, relevant stories with recognisable, interesting characters set in the roiling society of post-apartheid SA. That gap has been filled by Deon Meyer. At the outset you will discover that he possesses that vital skill authors in these genres need (and often lack) –... Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger. Posted In :
Crime Fiction
June 9, 2009
The Weirdness
 I have just finished reading Christopher Brookmyre's Be My Enemy and it was hugely enjoyable.He is one of the foremost satirical authors in the UK and writes a kind of crime fiction. I say a kind of because he is very hard to classify and label, much in the same way that Iain Banks is. He is often likened to Carl Hiaasen but to my mind is much funnier and subtler. While he normally starts out in a manner that lulls you into thinking that you are confronted with a run-of-the-mil... Continue reading...
Posted by André Krüger. Posted In :
Crime Fiction
May 30, 2009
 This is one of my favourite poems. Almost every night I drive home, from Pretoria to Johannesburg along the Ben Schoeman and when I reach the Woodmead interchange, I think of the Wally Serotes’ “neon flowers”.
City Johannesburg - Mongane Wally Serote
This way I salute you: My hand pulses to my back trousers pocket Or into my inner jacket pocket For my pass, my life, Jo'burg City. My hand like a starved snake rears my pockets For my thin, ever lean wal...
Posted by meredith kempthorne. Posted In :
South African Poetry
April 23, 2009
Just Unpacked ! Memorandum : a story of painting by Marlene van Niekerk & Adriaan van Zyl
We have just unpacked copies of Memorandum : a story with paintings by Marlene van Niekerk & Adriaan van Zyl. 
In this unique book, the text and visual images offer parallel narratives that resonate poignantly with each other. Adriaan van Zyl's series of more than 20 paintings portrays a patient's experience from waiting room to ward giving a quietly disturbing view of the soullessness of hospitals ... Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger. Posted In :
South African Literature
April 23, 2009
Christopher’s Ghosts, by Charles McCarry
 This fascination with spy novels may pass soon, or it may not. I’m not making any apologies or taking any bets. Not really. I seem to be more powerfully attracted to good spy fiction as time goes by, as I age. (Or decay, depending on your level of compassion or charity). It’s like one of those exercises you would find in a magazine, edited by someone who took one undergraduate course of psychology, where you are asked to share with someone yo... Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger. Posted In :
Spy Stories
April 23, 2009
Devil May Care, a James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, writing as Ian Fleming, read by me.
 As a general rule one wants a book title to be pithy and to the point, the front wrapper to be clean and clear. In this the above book fails. In fact, the cover is, well, covered in writing. However, it needs every word, except of course the bit about me being the reader. That’s just me being facetious, but I think you gathered that already.
It does need all of the title though. If you have seen b... Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger. Posted In :
Spy Stories
April 23, 2009
 Louis de Bernières – Explaining to Humans What They Did
It’s probably true that readers come to expect a certain product from an author, though this may be more true of specific genres like crime fiction and historical romances, built, to a more or lesser extent, on working, known models. Good authors, however, surprise. They are to be identified, as often as not, by the breadth and range of their writing, the diversity of the situations they tackle and the spread of characters they inven...
Continue reading...
Posted by Andre Kruger. Posted In :
Literature
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