Latest news
Find and share the best in books – daily!
Thursday – 18th January 2024
Holmes, Margaret and Poe – a twisty new mystery thriller from bestselling author James Patterson
Holmes, Margaret and Poe – the first book in a brand new series from James Patterson – is out on pre-order from Penguin Random House SA!
Do you feel overwhelmed by the AI wave? Age of Agency by Kerushan Govender holds the answers
Age of Agency: Rise with AI by Kerushan Govender is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers!
Monday – 15th January 2024
Looking to cut costs in the kitchen? Try these delicious recipes from Jenny Tschiesche’s Budget Air-Fryer Cookbook
Penguin Random House SA has shared an excerpt from Budget Air-Fryer Cookbook by Jenny Tschiesche!
[Watch] ‘I realised I had to rewrite a lot’ – Jesmyn Ward chats about her new novel Let Us Descend
Let Us Descend, the new novel from two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers!
Revolutionising South African Literature: Jacana Media’s Collaboration with DSAC and ANFASA
Jacana Media is delighted to announce a contract to publish work by five new authors writing across South Africa’s official languages under the Vela Books imprint.
Friday – 12th January 2024
[Watch] The Book of Elsewhere – legendary Keanu Reeves and bestselling writer China Miéville team up on genre-bending epic
Penguin Random House SA is thrilled to share that it will be publishing The Book of Elsewhere in 2024!
‘Only food runs’ – Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: the lively adventures and biting wit of an African safari guide
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison – a hilarious, highly original collection of essays in the tradition of Bill Bryson – out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.
Thursday – 11th January 2024
The secret to productivity isn’t discipline. It’s joy. Transform your life with Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You
In Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You, the world’s most-followed productivity expert, Ali Abdaal, reveals how to achieve more by finding joy in everything you do.
The Summer We Fell by Elizabeth O’Roark – an emotional rollercoaster full of sacrifice, love and heartbreak
Coming soon from Jonathan Ball Publishers: The Summer We Fell – a deeply emotional romance full of angst and forbidden love, from Elizabeth O’Roark.
Wednesday – 10th January 2024
[Watch] Master storyteller Jeffrey Archer chats about his unputdownable new thriller Traitors Gate
Jeffrey Archer has shared a video in which he talks about the story and inspiration for his new book Traitors Gate.
‘I found myself holding hands with a baboon’ – Read an excerpt from Hippos, a Mongoose and Me by Karen Paolillo
Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from Hippos, a Mongoose and Me, the new book by Karen Paolillo!
Monday – 8th January 2024
Unmask the dark side of Facebook with Broken Code by Jeff Horwitz
Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets by Jeff Horwitz – a must-read unveiling the cost of the social media giant’s unchecked power.
Tuesday – 19th December 2023
Footnotes, December 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.
Monday – 18th December 2023
‘Politics and poetry don’t go together’ – Read an excerpt from At Fire Hour, the unforgettable and deeply moving novel by Barry Gilder
Read an excerpt from Barry Gilder’s new novel At Fire Hour, courtesy of Jacana Media.
Listen to an excerpt from The Pole – an indelible tale of life, love, death and Chopin, from Nobel Prize-winning author JM Coetzee
A pianist falls grandly, helplessly in love in this elegant new novella from the twice-Booker Prize winner JM Coetzee.
Listen to an excerpt from Jessica George’s bestselling debut Maame, a novel that explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures
Listen to an excerpt from Jessica George’s instant bestseller Maame – the debut of 2023!
Friday – 8th December 2023
‘There was nothing like a bit of controversy to sell a book’ – Read an excerpt from Each Mortal Thing, the new novel by Michiel Heyns
Read an excerpt from Each Mortal Thing, the 10th novel from critically acclaimed author Michiel Heyns, courtesy of Penguin Random House!
Bestselling novelist Philippa Gregory shows how women through history have always been at the centre of protest
In Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History, bestselling historical novelist Philippa Gregory radically redefines the roles ordinary women played throughout British history.
Thursday – 7th December 2023
[Video] ‘Fiction is really powerful’ – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah does a deep dive into the writing of his hit novel Chain-Gang All-Stars
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah goes in-depth into the writing of his debut novel Chain-Gang All-Stars – one of the books of the year!
Listen to an excerpt from Held by Anne Michaels – a soaring and luminous story of chance and change
Held – the triumphant new novel by Anne Michaels, the author of the Orange Prize-winning Fugitive Pieces – is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.