Some worthy stocking-fillers
Gillian McAinsh eyes a few of the best biographies ahead of Christmas
JUST before Christmas, the publishers bombard the media with books and it is impossible to report back on each and every one, far less read every title.
Here are a few suggestions culled from the Jonathan Ball catalogue that I reckon will be worth reading and, yes, buying if not for Christmas then for your January book club.
ý KREJCIR by Angelique Serrao (Jonathan Ball Trade Paperback, R250)
Journalist Serrao tries to answer the question “just who is Radovan Krejcir?”
To most of us, he is a mafialike character but Serrao takes a deeper look into the powerful Czech multimillionaire who escaped from prison on fraud charges and fled to South Africa to avoid extradition to his home country.
ý BEING ELVIS by Ray Connolly (Orion, R315)
What was it like to be Elvis Presley? What did it feel like when impossible fame made him its prisoner? On the outside he was all charm, sex appeal and confidence but, like many artists, he apparently wasn’t really free at all.
ý THE ROMANOVS by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Orion, R355), is a meaty read likely to appeal to those who enjoy a measured look at history.
The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world’s surface – and then they lost it all. Mntefiore’s book takes an intimate look at 20 Russian tsars and tsarinas.
The Romanovs looks like it could be an enthralling chronicle including as it does palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance.
ý CLIFFHANGER by Gareth Cliff (Jonathan Ball, R225)
Love him or hate him, it’s hard to ignore the shock jock who once called Port Elizabeth the armpit of South Africa. From campus radio to host of South Africa’s biggest youth breakfast show on 5FM, to pioneering his own online hub, Gareth Cliff will surely deliver a great read in Cliffhanger.
ý GET A LIFE by Vivienne Westwood (Pro, R370)
Reading Westwood’s thoughts, in her own words, is as fascinating and provocative as you would expect from Britain’s punk dame. And what a life she seems to lead!
One week, you might find the fashion doyenne trekking up the Amazon to help save the rainforest and the next, visiting Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Then again, Viv might be hanging out with her friend Pamela Anderson, or have flown across to India for Naomi Campbell’s birthday party, or watching Black Sabbath in Hyde Park with Sharon Osbourne. Her mates are as colourful as she is, and her diary is fresh and unpredictable.
ý The celebrated American poet Maya Angelou is gone but not forgotten and the paperback edition of RAINBOW IN THE CLOUD (R195) is a lovely tribute to one of the most inspirational voices of our time.
ý Another paperback takes a look at one of the most handsome soccer players in the world – the Real Madrid, Portugal and former Manchester United superstar. CRISTIANO RONALDO by Guillem Balague (R195) is said to be “the definitive biography of one of the greatest footballers of all time”.
ý PEGGY AND ME by Miranda Hart is in the words of the comedienne’s on-screen mother “such fun”. Not everybody gets the terribly English wit of batty Miranda but if you adore her you will lap this up. (Hodder, R330).
ý Another biography I am keen to read is NUJEEN (HarperCollins, R295), the autobiography of Nujeen Mustafa, the 16-year-old Syrian girl with cerebral palsy who travelled more than 6 000km in a wheelchair to Hungary with her sister, eventually finding asylum in Germany. This is where she met and told her story to author Christina Lamb.