The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse

The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse PDF Author: Robert Muponde
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1485904765
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
A magical coming-of-age tale in rural Zimbabwe Ah, you’ve arrived. Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. There may not be much dinner tonight – Father is still out of work; Mother can’t do anything with those stunted maize plants in the stony ground – but at least you are here, in Gushure Village, home to unsurpassed raconteurs and the Guramatunhu family, who know that telling stories staves off hunger. Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy’s chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand. At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns. Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde’s vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from the Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.

The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse

The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse PDF Author: Robert Muponde
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1485904765
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book

Book Description
A magical coming-of-age tale in rural Zimbabwe Ah, you’ve arrived. Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. There may not be much dinner tonight – Father is still out of work; Mother can’t do anything with those stunted maize plants in the stony ground – but at least you are here, in Gushure Village, home to unsurpassed raconteurs and the Guramatunhu family, who know that telling stories staves off hunger. Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy’s chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand. At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns. Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde’s vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from the Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.

The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse

The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse PDF Author: Robert Muponde
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781415210550
Category : Children's stories, Zimbabwean
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Ah, you've arrived. Sit down, please, and make yourself comfortable. There may not be much dinner tonight - Father is still out of work; Mother can't do anything with those stunted maize plants in the stony ground - but at least you are here, in Gushure Village, home to unsurpassed raconteurs and the Guramatunhu family, who know that telling stories staves off hunger. Surprise awaits at every turn: thoughts and conversations bloom into poems, political speeches and songs. You will find instructions for cooking a hare, for how to defend yourself when a dead snake is your enemy's chosen weapon, how to speak in war tongues, how to compose a fist and aim it at a tree trunk, how to eliminate animal terrorism in a time of rabies, how to rehearse the body-viewing of a good-looking corpse, how to rock under flying okapis with The Double Shuffle, and how to practise your lovemaking technique on a woman drawn in the sand. At a time when cooked ants constitute a feast, the future nevertheless holds abundant prospects for the boy who devours words. But there is an unexpected fork in the road for this book louse, and plenty of wondrous twists and shocking turns. Hilarious, poetic and poignant, Robert Muponde's vibrant coming-of-age story of Ronald Guramatunhu brings to life rural Zimbabwe from The Second Chimurenga to independence. There are malevolent mermaids, eccentric shamans, outrageous relatives, fearsome teachers, and men who transform into hippos in a tale that captures all the magic of childhood.

Mintirho ya Vulavula

Mintirho ya Vulavula PDF Author: Jabulisile Mhlambi
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1920690174
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
Mintirho ya Vulavula: Arts, National Identities and Democracy examines the role of arts and culture in development, and specifically its value in consolidating our nascent democracy and in facilitating the transformation of South African society. Contributors to this edited volume interrogate the role of arts, culture and heritage from a transdisciplinary perspective, enriched by the cross-generational perspectives offered by young and older artists, cultural practitioners, activists and scholars. Authors also offer some policy recommendations on how the contribution of arts and culture to social cohesion and nation-building can be enhanced.

Speeches that Shaped South Africa

Speeches that Shaped South Africa PDF Author: Martha Evans
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1776091426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Great speeches have the power to bring about political change, and South Africa lays claim to some of the world’s most skilled orators, from Nelson Mandela, whose courageous statement from the dock inspired the liberation struggle, to Desmond Tutu, whose ‘Rainbow People of God’ speech prepared the country for a new era. On the other side of the political spectrum, who can forget P.W. Botha’s infamous Rubicon speech, an oratorical flop which took the country backwards during the 1980s, or F.W. de Klerk’s unbanning of the ANC in 1990, which took it forwards again? Speeches that Shaped South Africa is the first collection of these historic utterances, featuring key speeches from the beginning of apartheid to the present. It includes Harold Macmillan’s ‘Wind of Change’, Thabo Mbeki’s ‘I am an African’ and Mmusi Maimane’s ‘Broken Man’ speech. Also featured are Bram Fischer, Helen Suzman, Steve Biko, Winnie Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Julius Malema and many others. The book covers past and present shenanigans in Parliament, clandestine broadcasts on Radio Freedom, moving funeral eulogies that celebrate our political giants, and the informal rhetoric of populist crowd-pleasers. Accompanying each speech is a commentary that places it in a historical context and explores its effects. Accessible and engaging, this analysis is based on original research and offers fresh insights into events. This is a fascinating journey through South African history over the past seventy years.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World PDF Author: Jostein Gaarder
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466804270
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
One day Sophie comes home from school to find two questions in her mail: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" Before she knows it she is enrolled in a correspondence course with a mysterious philosopher. Thus begins Jostein Gaarder's unique novel, which is not only a mystery, but also a complete and entertaining history of philosophy.

My Children Have Faces

My Children Have Faces PDF Author: Carol Campbell
Publisher: Waveland Press
ISBN: 1478635541
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
This well-wrought story is drawn from Campbell’s firsthand knowledge of the karretjiemense (donkey cart people) of the Great Karoo, a vast area of parched earth and craggy mountains in South Africa. Through the voices of Kapok and Muis, the parents, and Fansie and Witpop, the two oldest children, we come to know an undocumented karretjiemense family and their bare-bones lifestyle. Kapok, who tries to find work where he can but uses alcohol to escape reality, is not concerned that the children don’t have government-issued IDs. Muis feels differently: “Without government names, who will the police search for if they are lost?” Muis also worries that Kapok’s desire to get his family out of the dry, hot veld and seek stability in the town of Leeu Gamka will get her killed. Miskiet, the man who raped her there 15 years earlier, reveals to readers that he holds a murderous grudge. The characters’ use of Afrikaans-interspersed English and their personal perceptions of circumstances expose the complexities of an often invisible culture. Vivid descriptions and underlying suspense unleash in readers the desire to absorb every detail of this poignant novel.

Chaminuka, Prophet of Zimbabwe

Chaminuka, Prophet of Zimbabwe PDF Author: Solomon M. Mutswairo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kings and rulers
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description


A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady

A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady PDF Author: Jennifer Ashley
Publisher: Jennifer Ashley
ISBN: 1946455814
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
David Fleming, Hart Mackenzie's right-hand man, seeks refuge with his vicar friend in Shropshire, only to find that the vicar's beautiful niece, Sophie, is seeking refuge as well. Tongues are wagging all over London about Sophie, and she finds that the only gentleman sympathetic to her plight is the reprobate David. David and Sophie match wits as they help her uncle dig up the countryside searching for a villa from Roman Britain, and David decides to use his conniving ways to fix all Sophie's problems. It’s the least he can do for the woman who has woken him out of the stupor in which he’s been living.

Unsinkable

Unsinkable PDF Author: Debbie Reynolds
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062213679
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Unsinkable is the definitive memoir by film legend and Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds. In Unsinkable, the late great actress, comedienne, singer, and dancer Debbie Reynolds shares the highs and lows of her life as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age, anecdotes about her lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, her experiences as the foremost collector of Hollywood memorabilia, and intimate details of her marriages and family life with her children, Carrie and Todd Fisher. A story of heartbreak, hope, and survival, “America’s Sweetheart” Debbie Reynolds picks up where she left off in her first memoir, Debbie: My Life, and is illustrated with previously unpublished photos from Reynolds’s personal collection. Debbie Reynolds died on December 28, 2016, at the age of 84, just one day after the death of her daughter, actress and author Carrie Fisher.

Sabrina & Corina

Sabrina & Corina PDF Author: Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Publisher: One World
ISBN: 0525511318
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Latinas of Indigenous descent living in the American West take center stage in this haunting debut story collection—a powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands. “Here are stories that blaze like wildfires, with characters who made me laugh and broke my heart.”—Sandra Cisneros WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • FINALIST FOR THE STORY PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado—a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite—these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force. In “Sugar Babies,” ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the earth but tend to rise during land disputes. “Any Further West” follows a sex worker and her daughter as they leave their ancestral home in southern Colorado only to find a foreign and hostile land in California. In “Tomi,” a woman leaves prison and finds herself in a gentrified city that is a shadow of the one she remembers from her childhood. And in the title story, “Sabrina & Corina,” a Denver family falls into a cycle of violence against women, coming together only through ritual. Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal “Sabrina & Corina isn’t just good, it’s masterful storytelling. Fajardo-Anstine is a fearless writer: her women are strong and scarred witnesses of the violations of their homelands, their culture, their bodies; her plots turn and surprise, unerring and organic in their comprehensiveness; her characters break your heart, but you keep on going because you know you are in the hands of a master. Her stories move through the heart of darkness and illuminate it with the soul of truth.”—Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents “[A] powerhouse debut . . . stylistically superb, with crisp dialogue and unforgettable characters, Sabrina & Corina introduces an impressive new talent to American letters.”—Rigoberto González, NBC News