English and scottish ballads
Thirty-eight anonymous ballads, mainly dating from the early fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries – The golden age of balladry- Long-established favourites like sir patrick spens are included alongside less familiar examples. In his introduction and notes Robert Graves dsiplays the liveliness and erudition that characterize his critical writing.
En Anglais – – Most people, upon hearing gunfire, would run away and hide. Conflict photojournalists have the opposite reaction: they actually look for trouble, and when they find it, get as close as possible and stand up to get the best shot. This thirst for the shot and the seeming nonchalance to the risks entailed earned Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva, Ken Oosterbroek, and Kevin Carter the moniker of the Bang-Bang Club. Oosterbroek was killed in township violence just days before South Africa’s historic panracial elections. Carter, whose picture of a Sudanese child apparently being stalked by a vulture won him a Pulitzer Prize, killed himself shortly afterwards. Another of their posse, Gary Bernard, who had held Oosterbroek as he died, also committed suicide. ….. This is a riveting and appalling book. It is simply written–these guys are photographers, not writers–but extremely engaging. They were adrenaline junkies who partied hard and prized the shot above all else. None of them was a hero; these men come across as overweeningly ambitious, egotistical, reckless, and selfish, though also brave and even principled. As South Africans, they were all invested in their country’s future, even though, as whites, they were strangers in their own land as they covered the Hostel wars in the black townships. The mixture of the romantic appeal of the war correspondent with honest assessments of their personal failings is part of what makes this account so compelling and so singular among books of its ilk.
Singing in the comeback choir
En Anglais – – Witty, warm, wise, and wonderful, this new novel takes us into the lives of two unforgettable women: Maxine, who thinks she has it all, and her grandmother Lindy, a once-brilliant singer who’s about to give Maxine a lesson in faith, commitment — and comebacks…
My mercedes is bigger than yours
En Anglais – Onuma returns to his village after 15 years. He makes a big hit, especially with the girls, in a Jaguar the colour of gold. His fall begins when the car plunges into a ravine. By that time the money he earned by wheeler-dealing and PR work in Lagos had been used up. The only way to replenish his money supply seems to be through working for the candidates on both sides in the run-up to a general election. He gets beaten up by thugs supporting one of the candidates, and is left driving away in the Mercedes belonging to the cousin he has just shot. NkemNwankwo has turned the witand good humour of Danda to satirical ends.