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Today’s Sunday Independent features a survey of a few dozen writers’ “books of the year” - mine among them. Here are the links for subscribers:

• Writers’ Books of the Year (Sunday Independent - click on any of the articles marked 2006-12-24)

Only three of the titles I submitted actually made it into print - here’s the full list:

New books (all South African)

Mandela’s Ego by Lewis Nkosi (Fiction, Umuzi). Wicked satire that rivals Nkosi’s first novel, Mating Birds, as a surgical dismemberment of cherished beliefs - pure jazz to read. (Click title for review in Boswestblog.)

The Follower by Damon Galgut (Fiction, Paris Review no. 174). Published in 2005, but only available in SA in 2006. Galgut’s best work to date: an intense, novella-length tale of a man and his walking companion caught in a strange dance as they travel, first through Greece, and then through the high mountains of Lesotho. (Click title for review in Boswestblog.)

Touch My Blood by Fred Khumalo (Biography, Umuzi). A fascinating memoir by an increasingly important literary figure in South Africa, which includes a look back at the “unofficial war” between Inkatha and the ANC in the early 1990s.

Dubious Delights of Ageing and Other Follies by Gus Ferguson (Poetry, Unpublished Manuscript Press). Our own James Thurber is back in action, and at his “meta-poetic” best.

Other books (all published before 2006)

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Fiction, Faber & Faber). The epic tale of two tailors’ journey from an Indian village to the city - and a preview of life on Earth in ultra-urbanized landscapes everywhere.

Dust Bowl Diary by Ann-Marie Low (Biography, Univ. of Nebraska Press). Great Depression-era diary written by a young girl in the US midwest, similar in tone and charm to The Diary of Iris Vaughan, but growing bleaker with every turn of the page.

Democracy by Joan Didion (Fiction,Pan Books). Brilliant novel set in the wake of US politicians’ lives as Saigon prepares to fall; required reading for anyone who wants to glean insight into the brick-laying of contemporary empire.

War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (Non-Fiction, Public Affairs New York). Profoundly affecting work by one of the most prominent front-line journalists in the US, whose classical education enables a limpidly clear interpretation of the hold that war has on the modern world.

Cat: The Review

Tags: A Fine Balance, Ann Marie Low, Ben Oswest, Chris Hedges, Damon Galgut, Democracy, Dust Bowl Diary, Fred Khumalo, Iris Vaughan, James Thurber, Joan Didion, Lewis Nkosi, Mandelas Ego, Rohinton Mistry, South Africa, South African Literature, Sunday Independent, The Diary of Iris Vaughan, The Follower, The Review, Touch My Blood, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 24th, 2006.