The Reading Room with Melanie Walker

#032 Reads Well with Others | Paige Nick

So - you thought books were harmless? South African columnist/advertising copywriter/online book club convenor - and most importantly, author - Paige Nick’s tenth and latest novel, Book People, delves into a world of book clubs, both in-life and online, social media backlash, cancel culture, and Author’s Behaving Badly. Joining (not just ‘In Conversation With') Melanie Walker to chat about how characters and books come to life, about how world views on books change yet stay the same, and what it means to be a reader or a writer, Paige’s Capetonian view on the world takes a not-so-Sho’t-Left to London and a Facebook book club accountant, and how social media can become The Virus…

#031 Wild About Weeds - The Forager's Guide to Free Food! | Nikki Brighton

Just what is Uncultivated Food in the bigger scheme of things? Author Nikki Brighton takes the reader on a journey about this growing way of viewing those plants that are growing in the 'wrong' place (ie. weeds) and shows us how to forage, and what you can garner from not just your garden, but from wild spaces in your area, to add to your pantry. Wild About Weeds is an easy guide to the most common edible weeds and uncultivated foods to be found all over South Africa, and will surely stimulate your curiosity by giving you ideas on how to make the most of the delicious abundance on your doorstep. Find out more by visiting www.plantabundance.co.za

#030 Slaying the Dread | Lindie Liebenberg

Getting a Grip on Cancer and Positivity. “This book is an honest recollection of my childhood - the good and not so good. Some of the stories I share, not even my husband or my children knew about, and they struggled to read past it. I have hidden it for so long, as I was scared and ashamed. Alcoholism, poverty, hardships, violence, unforgiveness, but now that I have dealt with it, forgiven them, and forgiven myself for not feeling good enough, I am set free. It further focuses on my cancer journey. My life is now literally an open book.” Since 2019, age 48, diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Stage 3, 5 years later, Lindie is into her 6th fight against the dreaded disease. “The power of knowledge is crucial in the fight against cancer I had to take control of cancer, and not to be fear driven. Faith over fear." “You never know how strong you are, till being strong is your only option!”

#029 A Sense of Place | Justin Fox

Literary and Physical Journeys in South Africa. "Before it can ever be a repose for the senses, landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock." – Simon Schama So starts a journey into the mind, not just yours or the author’s but into 9 South African writers and their characters and creations. Justin Fox, author of 24 books in varying genres takes a trip down many people’s memory lanes, as well as his own, in a book that visits and revisits places that are special to him, whether from experience of the Place, or from having visited in a novel. A bit-to-be-missed delight by those who love travelling, and love South Africa and its history - real or imagined. But be quick - the first release sold out in three weeks!

#028 The Giant Has Fallen | Dr Ian Robinson

Has the Mining Industry in South Africa collapsed? In 1994, the South African mining industry was a world leader; in 2010 it had descended into a state of both anarchy and paralysis. This book tells the story of the disintegration of the South African mining industry over a period of more than a quarter of a century since the ANC's accession to power. Author and mining expert Dr Ian Robinson lays out the background to this calamity, as well as explains how things changed a once flourishing money machine - an industry that made money for the people, not money for those in power - into a floundering entity, and the factors that have led to this. Is there a way back? Listen here.