With the world economy tanking and the financial and banking system going pear-shaped, most people will want to use the holidays to escape from the chaos.
But if you want to use the break to get your head around the mess and perhaps pick up some tips on how to cope, there are two particularly good books out this season. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder and Business Stripped Bare by Richard Branson are among the more than 50 new books that will hit the shelves in the last weeks of 2008 and early 2009. Buffett and Branson are among the most successful and innovative entrepreneurs in the world and both books offer fascinating insights into the men and the story behind their success.
Schroeder was an insurance industry analyst and MD at Morgan Stanley and first met "the Oracle of Omaha" when she published some research on his Berkshire Hathaway investment company. Buffett was so impressed by her grasp of the subject that he gave her full access to his papers and files - and to himself.
What emerges is a cross between instructive insight and a homespun homily from one of America's most influential investors.
Across the pond, with trademark characteristic flamboyance, Sir Richard Branson gives us the inside track on the secrets behind his success after more than 40 years in business. And especially riveting is Branson's story of how he built Virgin Mobile USA into the fastest growing company in history, to reach US$1bn in revenue, faster than Microsoft, Google or Amazon.com.
Both are great reads and even those who have no interest in business will find them intriguing.
If the idea of biographies appeals, look out for Entirely Up to You, Darling by Richard Attenborough and Diana Hawkins. It is the long-awaited autobiography of one of the world's best-loved actors and directors and is written together with a long-time friend and colleague.
On the local front, there's Jeremy Gordin's biography, Zuma and Pippa Green's Trevor Manuel: The Biography. The latter was unavailable for a preview at the time of going to press because it was being hurriedly updated following the financial crisis and the sudden turn in SA politics over the past three months.
Other local books worth a nod are cartoonist Zapiro's The New Zapiro Annual 2008 and Nechama Brodie's The Joburg Book.
Though not a local book, but one that deals with SA, John Carlin's Playing the Enemy is another addition to the growing number of books on the democratic transition.
Carlin, a British journalist based in SA from 1989 to 1995, tells the story of how then president Nelson Mandela used the rugby World Cup in 1995 to unite the country. The story is much more than the familiar tale of the SA "miracle", and illustrates the genius of Mandela the politician.
But if engrossing fiction is more your preference for a good holiday read, then there is a host of titles to pick from:
The Lost Colours of the Chameleon by Mandla Langa follows the fortunes of three sons of a colonel who is the founding father of a fictional Ocean Island state, Bangula. Following the death of the colonel, the sons, only one of whom is legitimate, become embroiled in a vicious succession battle. Using humour and satire, Langa deals with the issues of nepotism, corruption, greed and government incompetence that can plague newly emerging democracies.
Other page-turners on the list include Kathy Lette's To Love, Honour and Betray; Divine Justice by David Baldacci; Cold Case by Faye Kellerman and Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt.
One that particularly stands out in this section is Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader. Have you ever wondered, hypothetically, what if, at the age of 82, Queen Elizabeth suddenly became a passionate reader? It is a little book (121 pages) but enormously funny and satisfying. In The Uncommon Reader, Bennett - noted for his plays The History Boys and The Madness of King George - deals with the secret delights of reading and the regrets of coming to some of life's pleasures so late in life.
For the armchair travellers this season, two books on the list are especially beguiling. Paul Theroux, whose reputation as a travel writer was sealed more than 30 years ago after the publication of The Great Railway Bazaar, retraces the route he took in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. It is a trip that takes Theroux through Eastern Europe, Asia, India, China, Japan and Siberia - now all vastly changed. It is an odyssey covered in 32 chapters and spanning 500 pages.
Then there's Stephen Fry in America, a book written in conjunction with a six-part television series. Covering 50 states in eight months in a black London cab, Fry offers up a delectable slice-of-life of America.
Worth a perusal as well is By Any Means by Charley Boorman, and On the Backroads by Dana Snyman.
Also on the shelves, if you're planning to entertain at home this holiday, is Jamie Oliver's latest offering, The Ministry of Food.
If there is one book cricket fans should read this year it has to be Shane Warne's Century by the former Australian leg spinner. Here Warne profiles 100 players from almost every test nation to have had an influence on his career. Of particular interest are his comments on SA skipper Graeme Smith, Jonty Rhodes and England's new captain, Kevin Pietersen.
- Book list courtesy of Exclusive Books Publishers' Choice
