I am the books editor at True Love and I’m very lucky to have the pick of what comes in. I am in the middle of reading Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room.
I am particularly drawn to Damon’s work because I was in drama school with him. I just finished reading Rian Malan’s Resident Alien. He is one of those writers where I go: “Wow, this is really good writing.” I enjoyed his essay, In the Jungle, which is about Solomon Linda’s song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Hollywood took the song and made millions out of it and the poor guy who first recorded it was a poverty-stricken, unrecognised artist — it’s an excellent essay.
I love Michel Houellebecq, the author of Platform and The Possibility of an Island. He writes in a very dark, European and existential way.
I have always been a big fan of TS Eliot; you can read him over and over. The Waste Land is next to my bed. No Country for Old Men by Corman McCarthy and one of Richard Branson’s “how-to-conquer-business” books is also there. And there are my own books. It is like having my children next to me, to see if they sleep well at night, stroke them in the morning.
I think the poetry of Sylvia Plath changed my life. I felt less alone knowing that there was a writer like her out there. She addressed many of the issues I had growing up. I am quite a dark person, underneath all the “ha-ha”.
I am also a bit of a magazine addict, so I always have the latest Vanity Fair or Grazia. This is my personal secret.
I saw Lars von Trier’s latest movie, Antichrist, recently — it was one of the biggest mindfucks I have had in ages. It is a really hectic film, beautifully shot — almost my best kind of movie: sex, murder, thriller and psychological drama; everything in one movie.
In Jo’burg I absolutely love the Taiwanese restaurant, Fisherman’s Plate, in Chinatown, down in Cyrildene. My favorite dish there is chilli clam. I am quite a Fordsburg curry girl and seem to gravitate to JB Rivers in Melrose Arch and the sushi restaurant, Orient.
I am a big iPod fan. I’m playing the new Eminem, Regina Spektor, Florence and the Machine, Tricky, John Coltrane and Brenda Fassie. I like driving to Lady Gaga. She is the epitome of the maverick type — people who stand out. She might be a bit of a poppie and mindless but I find her exciting.
The musician that made the biggest impression on me was Nina Hagen — a crazy German punk singer. I remember her album cover for Nonsexmonkrock — the photograph a bastardisation of a typical Christian image. Hagen probably gave me the licence to be a crazy teenager who wanted to venture into anarchy and chaos. I was brought up in an apartheid-run country and someone like her was really breaking all boundaries.
The thing with Lady Gaga is that she is almost like her modern equivalent, but far less anarchic and far less interesting than someone like Nina, which is quite sad.
Melinda Ferguson’s memoir, Hooked: Secrets and Highs of a Sober Addict, is published by Penguin. She spoke to Christina Gossman