This book is hard and strange. This is not an indictment on the writing as it is an intrinsically well-crafted work of art. It is well written but the strangeness is primarily due to the second-person narration. A curious choice. Its hardness is due to the emotionally and socially evocative nature of the story as Tambudzai spirals from one pain and dehumanizing condition to another.
31. The Mixer
The English Premier League is the mixer whose exotic components are sourced from around the globe. The output is the most publicized and diverse football feast in the world. The Mixer is a history of Premier League tactics from the start of the league in 19992 till around 2016 when the book was published. It uses football anecdotes to trace the changes and metamorphosis of tactics in the league.
30. Sometimes there is a void
I have a mental block where pages of books are concerned. I am easily turned off by any book that reaches the 500-page mark. I make a conscious effort to avoid any such book. Life is relatively too short to be bogged down by any book that large and it is made worse by the fact that I am a slow reader and also by the fact that I have an alarmingly long TBR list. Sometimes there is a void falls into this category and considering that I have quite a few of such sized books, you have to wonder for my sanity at times. However, despite this book inching close to 600 pages, I came to the conclusion after reading it that it was a very good choice.
29. Protestants : The Radicals Who Made the Modern World
For a movement that is rooted in a love affair, Protestantism’s history is littered with violence, sharp disagreement and endless isolations. This sweeping book takes an extensive and historical look at the dominant form of Christianity which was kick-started by Martin Luther’s protest letter in 1517 and metamorphosed over the centuries into seemingly unrelated and unagreeable family members – diverse and quarrelsome.
28. MISBEHAVING
I had a professor who taught me a course in Decision Making in graduate school almost a decade ago. While I am not sure my decision making skills are vastly improved (based on my current career trajectory at least) but my interest in behavioural economics was surely piqued by the course (and I gained a friend in the lecturer as we are still in touch almost a decade later).
27. London Cape Town Joburg
This book starts with a bang, afterwards crawls along for a long while, then ends with a reverberation of the earlier bang. London Cape Town Joburg is primarily a family tale that is set in each of the three cities depicted in its title that spans a period of 17 years. It follows the lives of Germaine and Martin O’Malley.
26. PHOEBE
This is a very odd book. Odd but not in a bad way, at all. It is a well written and imaginative book that does not fit any box. After reading it, my best description is that it is historical fiction. The author, Paula Gooder insists that it is not a novel, that is easy to agree. It is a well-crafted story anchored on imagination, theology and well-researched history.
25. Prisoners of Geography
While my taste in books is fairly static, the routes that lead to my book purchases are fairly fluid and dynamic – random searches on Amazon, recommendations on twitter and even quick readings of blurbs in crowded shelves of bookshops. These deliberately random choices exciting when you finish a book and feel rewarded by a good read.
24. Easy Motion Tourist
If you look well enough, you will find a recent increase in the number of crime fiction books set in African locations. This is one of the more popular ones released in the last two years.
23. The Lonely Polygamist
If dysfunctional fiction were a sub-genre of literature, Brady Udall would be its leading light. In his two novels to date, his characterisation of functional people has been spot-on. This book is full of dysfunctional characters whose dysfunctionalities litter the pages of this very well written book.