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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 09 2012 21:02 | LAST UPDATED Feb 09 2012 21:02 |
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The Good Original (trade paperback) cover of Shirley, Goodness & Mercy by Chris van Wyk (Picador, 2004) What could be more redolent and evocative of decades past than the old-fashioned glass milk bottle, with foil top being pecked open by a bird? Judging this memoir of Chris van Wyk’s by its cover is good practice, for once: just as the jacket image whisks one to another time and spirit of place, so too does the author’s filigree writing.  Joost: The Man in the Mirror Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu by John Allen (Rider, 2007) A biography with something other than the smiling or contemplative face of its subject on the cover is almost as rare as hen’s teeth. A man of actions and words, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is caught here in demonstrative mode, a fighter for justice in full flow. The Bad Second is Nothing by Alan Knott-Craig (Macmillan, 2009) The rictus factor is modest, although former Vodacom honcho Alan Knott-Craig has much to smile about. This master of the cellphone industry volte-face -- rather than the mere turnaround -- looks conflicted here, resembling Robert Duvall playing Rudi Giuliani playing Alan Knott-Craig, or perhaps Alan Knott-Craig playing Robert Duvall playing Rudi Giuliani.  In Pursuit of a Dream: Bill Venter and the Altron Story Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell (Random House Struik, 2009) Why the baseball cap on a rugby icon? Maybe it’s because Joost can leave his hat on, regardless of circumstances or shenanigans. But representing a man who loves to get a large part of the action -- on and off the field -- by a static mug-shot with the dead eyes of a bad alabaster bust just doesn’t cut it. The Ugly In Pursuit of a Dream: Bill Venter and the Altron Story (Shinglewood Press, 2009) A man and his dog are never parted, it seems. Hubris abounds in this image striving to conjure up and roll into one the Old Masters, pseudo-Tuscan light, the African bush and a Goyaesque family-and-dog milieu. Some might say that the airbrush and the taxidermist were at work too and that the most vibrant element of the photograph is the wooden deck.  CONTINUES BELOW TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
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