Reading Matters (week 34) August 18 2026

Tom Eaton, hilarious and intensely insightful columnist for Business Day and the Sunday Times has in his eighth book, A Second Shot (it’s the second in the Arnold Prinsloo trilogy) created a laugh-out-loud murder novel.

You’ll never guess who-did-it despite the setting in a small Karoo town with not that many suspects. When the doyenne of the town’s historical society is found murdered on the eve of the annual antique fair, Arnold is determined not to get involved. But life has other plans. I can’t wait for Book 3.

Maybe the name Douglas Kruger rings bells for you, because the South African born and raised Hall of Fame global speaker and the author of several bestsellers, not only wrote, Poverty Proof but his speech on the topic has over two million views online.

Now Wicked Smart (Penguin Books) gives us brilliant ways to do just about everything better. The cover has the image of a brain, wearing specs, tearing across it. There are about 400- chapter headings. We learn, inter alia, how to turn rule-breaking into a strategy, how to read a big book fast, and how to change the nature of your life.

Any idea who arranged our stunning SA anthem all those years ago when democracy arrived? It was Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph whose self-penned fascinating memoir, Sound me Out: A Lifetime of Music and Memories (University of Johannesburg Press) describes how the national anthem committee invited her, the renowned art composer-musician, to rearrange the anthem.

Her musical compositions have been performed in some of the world’s most distinguished concert halls. The Pretoria-born, humble mother of five daughters attributes her musical inspiration to a combination of African and Jewish music.

Reading Matters with Sue Grant-Marshall