Reading forms a big part of how I travel: it gets me excited for my trip and makes me feel so much more connected to the place that I am visiting. Whenever I am in Cape Town I prefer to stay in the CBD so that all my favorite museums and restaurants are in walking distance. However, I am sometimes left with a snow globe feeling—the sense that I am in in this perfectly curated world that is detached from the rest of Cape Town and the wider western cape. These books helped me see Cape Town as a lived-in city and not just a world destination.
Shana Fife
Summary: This is one of the best memoirs I have read this year. The book reads as though Shana is your friend from Mitchells Plain telling you about the darkest parts of her life. She puts all of herself on the page: how she wound up in an abusive relationship, her complicated feelings toward her son in his early years, and her reflections on how families normalize deeply destructive behaviors. I saw so much of myself in this book, more than I would like to admit. I am sure all of Shana’s readers will see themselves too.
Quote: “How had I fallen pregnant so many times?... Am I a whore? Am I an idiot for letting someone beat me to a pulp, rape me and still come near my children?”
Page Count: 227
Sello K. Duiker
Summary: This novel truly has a Dickensian scope in terms of setting and characters. The novel takes place over three neighborhoods of Cape Town: Observatory, Mowbray and Sea Point. In terms of characters, Duiker is one of the best writers to have an ever expanding list of characters. The novel follows Tsepo through his stay at a mental hospital, the discovery of his sexuality, all the way through to his short career as a prostitute. I never felt lost when people would phase in and out of Tsepo’s fascinating yet heartbreaking life. At 607 pages, this book will leave you with a serious hang over.
Quotes: “Growing up is a treacherous activity. You never see it coming.”
Page Count: 607
Alistair Mackay
Summary: A dystopian novel that follows three queer friends as they find their way through a Cape Town that has been ravaged by climate change. This was one of the first novels I have ever read that has thought about African futurity in terms of climate change. This novel reminds us that day zero is just the beginning of how climate change might affect cities in Africa and beyond.
Quote: "Dad lifts the seat off the toilet and removes the waste container. I hold out the milk bottle and he pours until the waste fills it right up to the top… If we take too long and have."
Page Count: 261
Rehana Rossouw
Summary: A novel that follows the Fourie siblings from Hanover Park and their persuit to carve out a better life for themselves. Suzette the eldest daughter hopes to make it out by using her looks and her charm, whereas Nicky, the middle child is smart and ambitious with hopes to use her smarts to land a scholarship to UCT. The Youngest, Anthony struggles to find his own path and falls under the influence of the terrifying gang, the JFK.
Quote: "In a flat on the third floor of Magnolia Court, the South Easters whine harmonised with bickering voices in the lounge. Nicky Fourie leaned over the Fomrica-topped table in the kitchen and struggled to focus on her geography homework..."
Page Count:332
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