Book Reviews

Money with Carla challenges many assumptions South Africans hold about building wealth. Carla Venter draws on her experience in finance, investing and international markets. She combines professional knowledge with practical lessons from her own journey towards financial independence.

Situated builds on the ideas explored in her bestselling book, Grit. While Grit focused on passion and perseverance, this book examines another factor behind achievement. Duckworth argues that success also depends on the situations people create around themselves. Her research challenges the popular belief that people should simply adapt to difficult circumstances.

From One Mother to Another is an honest, deeply personal reflection on motherhood, healing, and self-discovery. Ntando Rambani draws from her own experiences to examine the challenges of raising children while confronting the wounds of her past. The book offers reassurance to parents who struggle with expectations, uncertainty and the desire to create a better family environment.

African Snakes offers an accessible and informative introduction to one of the continent’s most fascinating groups of reptiles. The book challenges common misconceptions while explaining how snakes survive across Africa’s diverse environments. It combines scientific information with practical guidance for readers interested in understanding these often-misunderstood creatures.

Spud: Two for the Road brings readers back to the much-loved world of John van de Ruit’s Spud Milton. The novel combines comedy, friendship and youthful ambition with the awkward realities of adulthood. It also captures the chaos that follows when old friends make plans that quickly become impossible to control.

From the sawdust-covered floors of a small Krugersdorp joinery to Johannesburg’s boardrooms, Forged in Grit tells an extraordinary story. Barry Philip Lok, founder of William Tell, traces his journey from humble beginnings in the 1970s to building one of South Africa’s leading publicly listed manufacturing businesses.

Inferno plunges readers into the dangerous political world of imperial Rome. Conn Iggulden combines historical drama, political intrigue and personal ambition to create a tense portrait of Nero’s reign. The novel explores what happens when absolute power meets rebellion, paranoia and ruthless ambition.

Qualified Disappointment is a candid and humorous memoir about identity, family and the expectations that shape our lives. The author transforms personal experiences into sharp comedy while exploring the complexities of growing up queer and brown in a conservative South African Indian household.

Damilare Kuku’s Women Rent Men and Secrets Here offers a lively and suspenseful glimpse into the complicated social world of Lagos. The novel combines mystery, scandal and sharp social observation. It also explores how gossip can expose uncomfortable truths while creating new dangers for those involved.

Entrepreneurship often looks glamorous from the outside. However, building a business requires difficult decisions, resilience and a willingness to learn from failure. Things I Wish I Knew captures this reality through the experiences of an entrepreneur who has navigated the pressures of business and finance. The book offers a candid account of building and growing businesses. It draws on real decisions, consequences and outcomes from the author’s entrepreneurial journey.