Some days, you can’t get out there and have an adventure. On those days, adventurous stories are just the ticket!
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2025 Sky Guide Southern Africa by Struik Nature
Subtitled An astronomical handbook, this handy little guide is published annually by Struik Nature and the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa. It’s prepared by a team of specialist contributors – and it’s now in its 80th year. That’s eight decades of bringing the night sky to all stargazers, whether novice, amateur or professional. Also 80 years ago, on 20 June 1944, Germany launched the V-2 rocket, the first spaceflight in history. In September this year, Nasa’s Artemis // mission is expected to take four astronauts to the moon, the first in over 50 years.
There’s lots of other celestial activity this year. The sky guide is a practical resource highlighting the cosmic events for each month of the upcoming year, including planetary movements, predicted eclipses and meteor showers. Star charts plot the evening sky for each season, helping you to identify stars and constellations. It’s full of information about the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors and bright stars, and includes photos, diagrams, charts and images. And there’s an excellent overview of the most useful online resources available to the astronomy geek.
You can also follow the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa – ASSA on Astrosocsa and AstroSocSA.
Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer
In the sequel to Less: A Novel (which The New York Times called ‘bedazzling, bewitching, and be-wonderful’, and which won a Pulitzer Prize), the awkward and lovable hero is off on another unforgettable road trip, this time across America.
Arthur Less rolls along from California to Arizona, through Texas to Georgia and then up the Eastern Seaboard. It is not what he has planned. Life was going surprisingly well for Arthur, a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship. But the death of an old lover, which sparks a financial crisis, prompts him, once again, to run away from his problems. He accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a zigzagging adventure across the US, with his human-like black pug, Dolly, and a rusty camper van nicknamed Rosina. He grows a moustache, swaps his grey suit for the bolero-and-cowboy-hat costume of a true ‘Unitedstatesian’ and faces his personal demons.
But ultimately it’s heartwarming rather than heartbreaking, seriously funny and joyous as Arthur finds himself in unpredictable situation after unpredictable situation. It’s great for the armchair traveller, given the author’s quirky descriptions from California to New Mexico and Georgia.
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
Regular readers of this page will know that we’ve got a bit of a thing for Greece. And we’re not quite done with it yet. This month, we’re loving Pat’s retelling of the Odyssey, that epic poem by Homer (it’s not clear when he wrote it, but experts have narrowed it down to about 675-725 BCE). Except, it’s not. Instead, Pat -who won the Booker Prize for The Ghost Road-turns to the stories of the women of Troy, the slaves and concubines captured and taken home by the victorious Greek soldiers. And King Agamemnon’s angry, vengeful wife Clytemnestra and her daughter, Electra. He brings home his Trojan war-wife, concubine really, the prophetess Cassandra, who is given to bouts of unhinged madness.
It doesn’t take a prophetess to tell you that it’s all going to end in tears. Spoiler alert: it does. The story is narrated by Ritsa, another enslaved Trojan woman who is put to work as Cassandra’s maid. And so he sets sail from Troy in a blaze of triumphant glory.
Agamemnon’s fatal flaw is hubris. Not for a second does he think the women he abuses will get the better of him. Certainly not his wife, who should know her place. But she’s not the woman he thought she was.
Tidal Pools of the Western Cape by Serai Dowling
It’s a sad day when a tidal pool does not fill you with the glee of childhood. A hot morning, a striped sun umbrella, buckets and spades, and a cool, fresh tidal pool. Sandwiches and juice on a picnic blanket, going home with skin crinkly from the salt, sand and sun. Whole holidays of joy. So it was with delight that I dived into Serai’s book.
Let’s start with the photos: they’re gorgeous and in an instant, you’re planning your weekend when you can decamp with family, swimsuits, towels and grub in the boot. In Cape Town, where, let’s be honest, the water temperatures lean very much into freezing territory, a wetsuit is probably a good idea if you’re planning to spend hours in the water. Serai has collated all her research and experience into an exploration of 34 of the region’s most beautiful pools – it runs from Silwerstroom pool a few kilometres north of Melkbos through to Kleinbaai Tidal Pool in Gansbaai.
There’s local insider information on places to visit and things to do near each of the pools. It covers how to get to them, accessibility, facilities, swimmability, safety, the history and cultural relevance of the pools, as well as the ecological importance and an overview of the marine life found in the intertidal zone.
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