Reading Matters (week 12) 17 March 2026

Cathy Carstens, a South African cycling and world champion cyclist, has written a book, Getting Back on the Bike (Yes! Press) that, in spite of its title, is about much more than cycling. Over the many years she spent on a bike she suffered falls, cuts, abrasions and endless knee operations that would probably have ended the sporting life of most of us.

She was at the top of her game when she took a 12 year break to have children, whilst running her own physiotherapy practice and becoming a consciousness coach. At the age of 41 she climbed back on her bike and won the world champs. Along the way she endured a painful divorce and her inspiring book encourages us to pick ourselves up despite emotional and physical pain.

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley (Fleet Publishers) is one of the funniest books I have recently read. Georgie and her sister, both teenagers, cannot handle it when their Indian mother invites her family to live with them in rural Wyoming.

They plot their uncle’s death. McConigley spices her cleverly written book with quizzes for the reader and hilarious questions about life.

Do you want to live forever? Whatever your response, read first, Why we Die (Hodder Press) by Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Venki Ramakrishnan, about the new data on ageing and our quest for immortality.

I ponder this now particularly because I met a 101 year old woman last week and wondered if I want to live to that great age. Reading Venki’s remarkable book will help you make up your mind.

Reading Matters with Sue Grant-Marshall