Joburg’s celebrated independent bookshop, Love Books, turned ten in 2019. We caught up with its owner just as the silly season kicked into high gear.
The Reading List: What’s life like as an indie bookseller?
Kate Rogan: Full. Full of books, authors, launches, customers. By extension, full of words, thoughts, stories, ideas, the life of the mind. And full, full — fuller than you ever imagined — of admin.
TRL: Which books have Love Books customers been most excited about in 2019?
Kate Rogan: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale. Normal People: Sally Rooney sealed her reputation as the voice of a generation with this one. A Thousand Tales of Johannesburg by the great Harry Kalmer, who very sadly died in July this year, but left this for us to relish, his first and only English novel.
TRL: Which authors have had the most interesting book launches at your shop this year?
Kate Rogan: Hard to pick but here are some that stand out. The wonderful Marcus Byrne and Helen Lunn chatting to Simon Gear about one of my favourite books of the year, Dance of the Dung Beetles. I never thought a book about…
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