The current weather in my hometown is a crap. There are no two days in a row where there the sun is shining. It’s more likely that it’s raining cats and dogs. Like last year. Therefore, it’s a good time to stuck one’s nose into a book.

Since I didn’t buy a book for a long while I asked for recommendations, amongst others, via Twitter. I didn’t gave any restrictions on genre and topic and eventually have obtained six books. The limitation here was the good old money. Students.

Kap der Finsternis (Mixed Blood)
The only novel I bought. In relation to South Africa, Roger Smith is the most often named crime thriller author. In this book, an American gambler goes into hiding with his family in Cape Town. When two gangsters intrude to the family’s estate, a cat-and-mouse game with an corrupt and racist police officer begins which directly leads to the Cape Flats.

In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz
In this book, correspondent Michaela Wrong deals with the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko who reigned as a dictator Zaire, the today’s Congo-Kinshasa, for 32 years. During his kleptocracy, the dictator is believed to have sidelined more than five billions USD.

Das Imperium der Schande (The Empire of Shame)
Another non-fiction book; written by Jean Ziegler, who is, amongst others, a globalization critic and was UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Ziegler criticizes transnational companies who are accused to build their power on the hunger and the debt of the disenfranchised of the world..

War Junkie
The book, written by the cameraman Jon Steele, provides his point of view of war zones he visited with his camera. The subtitle of the account is One man’s addiction to the worst places on Earth. Accordingly, you find chapters on conflict areas such as Rwanda (genocide) and Sarajevo (Sniper Alley).

The Bang Bang Club
The book was written by Greg Marinovich und Joao Silva, two members of the so called Bang Bang Club, a group of mainly four photographers which covered the South African townships particularly between 1990 and 1994. One member was shot in the line of duty, another, probably more well-known photographer, committed suicide only a few weeks after he was awarded with the Pulitzer Price for a disturbing photograph he shot in the Sudan.

Handshake with the Devil
The book by Roméo Dallaire, the then-commander of UNAMIR, is about the Rwandan genocide when the UN mission was cursed to watch how more than 800,000 people were murdered.

As soon as I have read a book, I’ll write a review. Other recommended books that sound interesting but I haven’t bought yet:

• Moxyland
• The quiet Violence of Dreams
• Slow Man
• Summertime
• When the Killing’s done