THAMM’S BEST READS

BECAUSE I was in the process of leading what I regarded as an “epic life” I came to reading later in life. Books that have left a lasting impression include: The Drifters by James A Michener — I read it when I was a teenager and it catapulted me out of dour Pretoria and took me on a delinquent tour of the world with a bunch of renegades. Go Tell It on the

Mountain by James Baldwin — I could relate in some way to the lead character, teenager John Grimes, who grapples with his identity, particularly with being gay . . . the book was a revelation when I found it. The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing — about the liberation of a middle-aged woman who finds herself after her four children

have left home and there is a gulf between her and her husband. Lessing captured for me the journey of a woman’s attempt at sloughing off the externals that have guided her life to that point.

I Write What I Like by Steve Biko — I read this book (banned at the time in South Africa) in England and found Biko’s argument about self-liberation immensely valuable.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker — Here I was once again struck by the narrative of women trapped in a violent system and finding a path through and out of it guided by other women . . . Walker takes the reader into the heart of darkness, racism and sexism.

Portrait with Keys by Ivan Vladislavic — an exquisite portrait of a city, Johannesburg, from the inside out and outside in. I have always found the underlying humour of Vladislavic’s writing so enthralling and entertaining.