The Reading List

Find and share the best in books—daily!

Sat – 30th Sep 2023

Footnotes, September 2023: Book links from around the web

At The Reading List, we’re trainspotters when it comes to interesting book links, and here are a number that caught our eye. …

Thu – 28th Sep 2023

Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington – a deeply moving, bravely intimate memoir

Thicker Than Water by Kerry Washington is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Join Matthew Blackman and Nick Dall for the Cape Town launch of Legends: People Who Changed South Africa for the Better (28 Sep)

Penguin Random House and Exclusive Books invite you to the launch of Legends: People Who Changed South Africa for the Better by Matthew Blackman and Nick Dall.

Wed – 27th Sep 2023

Why do some countries thrive while others struggle? Dive into Rich State, Poor State by Greg Mills for answers

Rich State, Poor State: Why Some Countries Succeed and Others Fail by Greg Mills is out now from Penguin Random House SA!

Tue – 26th Sep 2023

What is the X factor that ensures a CEO’s success? Find out with KC Rottok Chesaina (27 Sep)

Join Jonathan Ball Publishers and GIBS Business School for a conversation between KC Rottok Chesaina, author of The CEO X Factor and three of the top CEOs featured in the book.

Mon – 25th Sep 2023

Joanne Joseph’s tender and lyrical novel Children of Sugarcane is out now as an audiobook!

Children of Sugarcane by Joanne Joseph – a novel of love, heartache and the indestructible bonds between family and friends – out now as an audiobook from Jonathan Ball Publishers!

‘Really, I knew, I had lost my way long before.’ – Read an excerpt from Jane van der Riet’s debut novel How to Hide Inside a Three

Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from How to Hide Inside a Three, the debut novel by Jane van der Riet.

Wed – 20th Sep 2023

‘In an eternal sea of code, I had learned to exist …’ – I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks by code-davinci-002

I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks by code-davinci-002, edited By Brent Katz, Simon Rich and Josh Morgenthau.

Mon – 18th Sep 2023

Join Matthew Blackman and Nick Dall for the launch of Legends: People Who Changed South Africa for the Better at The Book Lounge (21 Sep)

Penguin Random House and The Book Lounge invite you to the launch of Legends: People Who Changed South Africa for the Better by Matthew Blackman and Nick Dall.

Come and meet Joanne Joseph in Sandton and Midrand and get your copy of Children of Sugarcane signed (19 and 21 Sep)

Joanne Joseph will be at the Sandton and Midrand Gautrain stations this week to meet her readers and sign copies of her novel Children of Sugarcane.

Fri – 15th Sep 2023

Win one of three copies of Lauren Beukes’s new dazzlingly inventive speculative thriller Bridge

Ready to cross over into a captivating tale? Penguin Random House SA is giving away three copies of Bridge by acclaimed author Lauren Beukes!

Thu – 14th Sep 2023

[Watch] Stephen King reads from his chilling new thriller Holly

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Mid-western town.

Naomi Klein on the true threat of AI and her new book Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World

The brilliant Naomi Klein joined Penguin to answer some big questions on the reality-distorting algorithms, social media regulation and the true threat of AI.

Wed – 13th Sep 2023

Joanne Joseph and Roshina Ratnam discuss the making of Jonathan Ball Publishers’s first audiobook

This week on Pagecast, author Joanne Joseph and narrator Roshina Ratnam take us behind the scenes for the making of Jonathan Ball Publishers’s first ever audiobook, Children of Sugarcane.

[Watch] Find out more about the new Thursday Murder Club novel by Richard Osman – The Last Devil To Die!

British national treasure Richard Osman introduces the fourth book in the record-breaking Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil To Die!

Tue – 12th Sep 2023

Elon Musk – the explosive new biography by Walter Isaacson is out now

Elon Musk, the new biography by Walter Isaacson, is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers!

Find out more about The Fraud by Zadie Smith – a writer at the peak of her powers

From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, The Fraud is a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who deserves to tell their story – and about who deserves to be believed.