Introductions

[Lisa]

Awesome dude, welcome to the group. Please make yourself at home and join in on any discussions that sound good. You're the first Durbanite to introduce themselves.

[Adrienne]

Welcome Justin. I would love to read your book once this tbr pile gets smaller. Congrats on the release.

[Justin]

Thank you Adrienne,

I love supporting fellow authors, so I will definitely take a look at your book.

[Lisa]

Cecily wrote: "Hi, I'm Cecily. Born and bred Capetonian. Love reading and collecting books. I have the same problem as Lisa - reading since forever, but not enough about my own (sometimes) fantastic country."
Welcome home from Europe Cecily!

[Leanne]

Hi! My name is Leanne Hunt and I am the author of "Jozi Gold", a contemporary novel set during the run-up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It's great to find a group that celebrates South African fiction, and especially nice that overseas members of Goodreads are taking an interest in our books and our country. Thank you, Lisa for hosting this group!

[Lisa]

Welcome Leanne, please make yourself at home and join in with discussions.

[Diane]

Hello everyone I am Diane Brown and I live in Johannesburg, I published my first work The Sabi in 2013. The Sabi is an autobiographical piece that reflects the realities of growing up in South Africa. I have always loved to read and have just recently joined Goodreads and John Mountsford invited me to this group. Happy to be here and hope to share in discussions on South African books. My first task though would be to list some of the books on my bookshelves at home - I have begun this process and now I feel like reading all the books again!

[Diane]

HI moderators please delete the first post I made .. still trying to get a hang of this ..Thank you

[Lisa]

Done Dianne! Welcome to the group. Enjoy. I always want to revisit my old books too.

[BlueRoses]

Hi, everyone! My name is Faustina. I am from Arizona, USA. I am here by invitation of the lovely Lisa, with whom I am currently sharing George Eliot's "Middlemarch".

I love reading and I love writing about what I have read. I am expecting to learn a lot from this group and to discover some great new books!

[Lisa]

Welcome Vicki and Faustina.

[Alex]

I'm a South African, from Johannesburg, where I studied plant, animal and environmental sciences, English literature and education. I have been in London for 9 years, now I am living in Sydney. I love reading, and I'm getting into ebooks, so hopefully I will be able to read some of the SA books in this group. Thank you for starting the group, Lisa!

[Lisa]

Hi Vicki, where can we find your book trailer?

[Lisa]

Hi Zanz, great to see you here. I'm hoping those 'bizarre books' from varsity will come in handy:-)

[Marc]

Hi all, I'm from Cape Town but am now living and working in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I write African historical fantasy for middle grades. My Shioni of Sheba series (currently 3 books) is set in ancient Ethiopia and follows the adventures of a slave to the Princess of Sheba in 2nd century AD. Here's a link to the first book The Enchanted Castle.

I love African literature and meeting other African & South African authors. Great to meet you all.

[Lisa]

Welcome Marc. That's an unusual place to live!

[Marc]

Lisa wrote: "That's an unusual place to live!"

Well it is, but there are a few South Africans up here. I was startled to see a 4wd with a Gauteng numberplate up here a little while ago. Met a guy running a flower farm. Life on top of the mountain ... it's another kilometer higher than the Highveld!

[Marren]

My condolences to South Africans on the passing of Nelson Mandela. He fought a difficult battle and he lived a long life.

[Adele]

Goodness Marren, you know before I did! But then you had been awake for the past 6 hours. I just woke up. And then I always thought there would at least be an earthquake or something the moment he died. Because it would be so significant a moment when someone like him leaves the world.

[Sarah]

What a sad day for South Africa and for the world, and how fitting that we will be reading about him soon.

[Lisa]

Welcome to all new members who've joined so quietly.
Please pop in and introduce yourselves.

[Retha]

Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA books!!!

[John]

Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA books!!!"

Welcome, Retha. Nice to have another Cape Town member in the group. Where in CT are you from? I'm in Pinelands.

[Adrienne]

Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA books!!!"

Welcome Retha, you should put your novel up for a group read. It will be nice

[Lisa]

Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA books!!!"

Welcome Retha, please feel free to add your book to our shells. Where are you from in CT, I'm from Durbanville.

[Retha]

John wrote: "Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA book..."

Hi John, I'm in Durbanville.

[Retha]

Vicki wrote: "Hi Retha"

Hi Vicki

[Retha]

Lisa wrote: "Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA book..."

[Retha]

Adrienne wrote: "Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA book..."

Hi Adrienne, that will be so awesome!!! - to have my novel as a group read!!!!

[Retha]

Lisa wrote: "Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and writers and SA book..."

Lisa, I would love to put The Four Faces on the shelves. I'm in Durbanville.

[Adrienne]

Hi Lisa, Adel and the gang. I'm so excited, my book, Firebolt, made another groups reading pole for February, but I need your votes in order to get my novel selected for this. If you can be so kind to help a fellow author and South African out, it will be awesome.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

It will be only open for a few days,
Thanks.
Adrienne

[Adrienne]

Retha wrote: "Adrienne wrote: "Retha wrote: "Hi I am Retha living in beautiful Cape Town. I am a Christian author. The Four Faces, a fantasy novel, is my first book.
It is great to support SA, SA readers and wr..."

Lisa/adel? you think you can help her out. I'll nominate it for one of the months. However it works.

[Lisa]

Adrienne wrote: "Hi Lisa, Adel and the gang. I'm so excited, my book, Firebolt, made another groups reading pole for February, but I need your votes in order to get my novel selected for this. If you can be so kind..."

Cool, we will help out. Which means you could be leading two consecutive groups:-)

[Adrienne]

I'm really good at multi tasking, but no, I won't lead another group discussion as they talk about the book. I usually don't participate unless I'm asked to participate. There will be negative and positive outcomes if my novel get's selected, but it's a great way of getting Firebolt out there. So I will only have one group discussion to lead for March. hehe.

I'm going to do another post reminding them of the March discussion. I'm sure closer to the time you'll get plenty of joins. I know there are a couple of my fans that will love to get some more clarity on some of the things and why I chose to keep it unanswered for now. Thanks Lisa, your a star.

[Adele]

I joined and voted, Adrienne. Sorry for being slow. We went camping between caledon and bredasdorp (jan kruger's valley!) and had very poor reception. Looks like a lot happened in my absence.

Hello and welcome Retha!

[John]

Adele wrote: "I joined and voted, Adrienne. Sorry for being slow. We went camping between caledon and bredasdorp (jan kruger's valley!) and had very poor reception. Looks like a lot happened in my absence.

H..."

You should have gone on to visit the farm - Vogelgezang. It still exists.

[Rowena]

Hi all,

My name is Rowena. I'm not South African but have visited there several times. Dave invited me to the group (thanks Dave!) and I look forward to discussing South African literature with you all:)

[Lisa]

Welcome Rowena. Good to have you here. So where are you from? And where have you visited?

[John]

Good to have you, Rowena. Judging from your reading profile you would have been right at home in our January book discussion.

[Adele]

Welcome Rowena! We are just about to finish our January read and are experiencing a slight hiccup with our planning for feb due to unforeseen circumstances. But watch the space under reading schedule 2014 and we will keep you in the loop!!

[Rowena]

Lisa wrote: "Welcome Rowena. Good to have you here. So where are you from? And where have you visited?"

Thanks Lisa! I'm from Malawi but only lived there during my teens. I've visited lots of towns and cities in Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng, Free State and Mpumalanga. I've always enjoyed visiting SA:)

[Rowena]

John wrote: "Good to have you, Rowena. Judging from your reading profile you would have been right at home in our January book discussion."

Thanks John! Looking forward to taking part in some discussions:)

[Rowena]

Vicki wrote: "Rowena wrote: "Hi all,

My name is Rowena. I'm not South African but have visited there several times. Dave invited me to the group (thanks Dave!) and I look forward to discussing South African li..."

Thanks Vicki:)

[Rowena]

Adele wrote: "Welcome Rowena! We are just about to finish our January read and are experiencing a slight hiccup with our planning for feb due to unforeseen circumstances. But watch the space under reading schedu..."

Thanks Adele, will do :)

[Lisa]

Rowena wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Welcome Rowena. Good to have you here. So where are you from? And where have you visited?"

Thanks Lisa! I'm from Malawi but only lived there during my teens. I've visited lots of tow..."

Awesome. I see you are now in Canada- now that's far away...

[Rowena]

Lisa wrote: "Rowena wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Welcome Rowena. Good to have you here. So where are you from? And where have you visited?"

Thanks Lisa! I'm from Malawi but only lived there during my teens. I've visi..."

It is far! But I do love living in Vancouver:)

[Lisa]

Don wrote: "Thanks for the invite Lisa. I have often admired your posts with this group and thought it must be a great group. I am not South African (from Virginia, USA). I have very limited exposure to SA li..."

Gee, thanks Don. Welcome.
We are a great group. So far we are probably half local and half international.
You've actually read a fair bit.

[Lisa]

For both Don and Rowena, we dedicated January, Feraury and March to three new authors. Thought we'd try A Long Walk to Freedom in April & May then it's a translated novel in June. We plan ahead because our books are not always easy to source overseas

[Rowena]

Hi Lisa,

I'm currently reading Diane Brown's book so I'll definitely take part in the February group discussion.

[Lisa]

It's an incredible book! Sadly, Diane is at present unable to lead the discussion as planned for the next two weeks. We may need to switch books around and read the Sabi as a group a bit later because none of us feel that we can do her incredible book justice. But we are still sorting that out.