Zebra

Lately rugby player Joost van der Westhuizen’s sterling rugby record has been eclipsed by his personal tribulations off the field – many of which are discussed in his biography, Joost: The Man in the Mirror / Spieëlbeeld. However, the fact remains that in his day he was one of the Springboks’ finest assets. SA Rugby magazine is currently doing a count down of players they deem to be the 50 best since the bokkes’ re-admission into international rugby, and Joost ranks fifteenth:

Joost van der Westhuizen is widely regarded as one of the greatest scrumhalves of all-time. He played 89 Tests, making him the fourth most capped Springbok in history, and captained South Africa on 10 occasions.

He scored 38 tries in his Test career, making him the top try-scorer in Springbok history as well as the most prolific try-scoring Test scrumhalf of all-time. He formed a Springbok record and legendary halfback combination with Henry Honiball, was an integral member of the 1995 World Cup and 1998 Tri-Nations winning squads and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007.

• Read the complete article

Book details

• Joost: Spieëlbeeld by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220782
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• Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220737
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Sou jy vandag in Elsabet Louw vasloop sou jy waarskynlik ‘n goeie vriendin met ‘n glimlag wat regstaan ontmoet. Jy sou haar waarskynlik glad nie assosieer met iemand wat deur ‘n verskriklike trauma moes werk nie. Beslis nie as ‘n vrou wat ‘n ondersteunersgroep vir verkragte vroue gestig het nie.

In hierdie blog praat ‘n vriendin oor die Elsabet Louw wat sy leer ken het en wat Louw vasgepen het in haar boek, Woensdag.

Ek het vanmiddag saam met my vriendin, Elsabet, ‘n koffie-date by een van ons plaaslike kwekerye gehad. Ons het baie gelag. Gesels oor die ou dae. Oor my lewe in Saudi. Oor haar lewe in Bloem. En oor die dinge van die lewe.

Ons het saam by dr. Werner van Pletzen, ‘n algemene praktisyn hier in Bloemies, gewerk. Sy’t die telefoonlyne stilgehou en ek het die telefoonlyne besig gehou – sy het met sagte simpatieke stem geantwoord as hulle bel; ek het die geagte pasiente per telefoon opgekeil oorlat hulle nie hulle rekening binne dertig dae betaal nie.

• Lees die volledige artikel by Mweb

Book details

• Woensdag: ‘n Ware verhaal van verkragting en vergifnis by Elsabet Louw
  EAN: 9781770200340
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Ryk Neethling first garnered attention as a magnificent swimmer, a fact which has since been partially eclipsed by his stunningly good looks. While Clinton van der Berg’s biography, Ryk Neethling: Chasing the Dream, reveals Neethling as a determined young swimmer who fought incredible odds to be where he is today, Heat Magazine reveals him to be The Hottest Celeb – even hotter than Brad Pitt.

South Africa’s Olympic swimming icon Ryk Neethling has beaten Hollywood star Brad Pitt to be voted the hottest celebrity on the planet by heat magazine.

More than a quarter of a million votes ensured that Neethling became the first person to win the title back-to-back in its six-year history

• Read the complete article

Book details

• Chasing the Dream by Ryk Neethling
  EAN: 9781770220300
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Kalk Bay Books and Oshun Books invite you to the launch of the biography of an extraordinary woman: Something On My Mind: Kate Jowell, A Battle with Alzheimer’s by Sharon Sorour-Morris.

Kate Jowell was the director of the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business – the first woman to (more…)

Sharon Sorour-Morris, author of Something On My Mind – Kate Jowell: Her battle with Alzheimer’s, has contributed to The Monthlies Blog, a popular writing space on the SA literary scene.

She published “Poem for Kate” there while writing her book. It begins:

Poem for Kate
Shutting
sheltering sky;
Compelling blue
sure with space -
Be brave,
trill!

• Complete poem

Book details

• Something On My Mind – Kate Jowell: Her battle with Alzheimer’s by
  EAN: 9781770200906
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Amor Vittone is die afgelope tyd deur diep waters. Na die publiseering van Joost van der Westhuizen se boek: Joost: Spieelbeel / Joost: The Man in the Mirror, het die stormwolke behoorlik losgebars. Sarie praat met Amor oor die huidige troebel toestand maar ook oor wat die toekoms inhou.

Hoe sien sy haar toekoms en wat van die bewerings oor ander minaresse? Hieroor praat Amor Vittone openhartig in Desember se SARIE. Dié uitgawe is van Vry 6 Nov in die Kaap te kry en vanaf Maandag 9 Nov landwyd.

‘n Uittreksel uit die artikel:

“Kan jy nie sien ek het oud geword nie?” vra sy.

“Dit voel vir my asof ek in die laaste jaar tien jaar ouer geword het. Of dalk het ek volwasse geword. Ek het so baie dinge geleer. Ek moes leer wie om te vertrou. Ek sien die lewe vanuit ’n ander oogpunt. Ek is meer sinies, hoewel ek nie my vertroue en my hoop in die lewe verloor het nie. Hopelik maak dit alles van my ’n beter mens.

• Lees verder

Boelbesonderhede

• Joost: Spieëlbeeld deur David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220782
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220737
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Foto te dank aan WhosWho

Growing old is something a world obsessed with youth and beauty finds hard to accept. Harder still is accepting the myriad of illnesses that accompanies the process: some painful, others a nuisance, a few heartbreaking. Alzheimer’s is a disease that is well known, but much feared and little understood. In fact it’s often easier to disassociate from it completely – Alzheimer’s is something that happened to someone else’s brother, lover or friend – and please don’t ever let it happen to me or someone I care about!

But it does happen to real people with beautiful lives of their own and the effects of the disease is often poignant, hopefully instructive and ultimately, tragic. Successful businesswoman, wife and mother Kate Jowell was classy, driven and intelligent – a person who made a real difference as a labour specialist in the 1980s and as Director of UCT’s Graduate School of Business. Then the diagnosis came at age 59 – Kate had Alzheimer’s.

In typical fashion she thought of making the most of the situation, asking what good could come of it. She chose to write a memoir detailing the experience, hoping that it would serve to ignite social awareness of the disease and encourage further research. Something on My Mind by Sharon Sorour-Morris is the end result.

Jowell’s biographer, Sorour-Morris started a long and unexpectedly intimate journey with her subject, taking us into Kate’s world even as she became increasingly harder to reach. She would often read transcripts of Jowell’s cases, tell her stories about her friends – in fact, in many ways Sharon became the gateway between Kate and the world. While the journey was probably harder than either subject or biographer ever anticipated, the result is a portrait of a bright, dignified woman dealing graciously with the greatest trial of her life, the loss of her mind.

For her family and friends, the book’s launch was an emotional event. Tears were flowing as daughter Nicole spoke of her mother. Many nodded in agreement as she called Graduate School of Business – where her elegant mother could be heard walking down its halls in her high heels in days gone by – the perfect venue for the launch. Guests also concurred with her assessment that the event was as much a reunion as a launch – dozens of friends and loved ones meeting there to honour the legacy of a remarkable woman.

The moving occasion reminded us that people with Alzheimer’s are special to those who love them and deserve to be given the best in terms of care and understanding. It is something, perhaps, that Kate Jowell would have us all remember.

Gallery

Book details

• Something On My Mind – Kate Jowell: Her battle with Alzheimer’s by Sharon Sorour-Morris
  EAN: 9781770200906
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

True to his word, Joost van der Westhuizen appeared at two CNA stores in Gauteng to sign books. The Pretoria News caught up with him at the Menyln Park branch:

Marinus Pretorius, 20, said he could not wait to start reading Van der Westhuizen’s biography, Joost, The Man in the Mirror. “My father is reading it at the moment, but as soon as he puts it down, I am grabbing it.”
 
Pretorius said no matter what Van der Westhuizen had done, he still remained his loyal fan.

“Joost has been my hero since I was 12. I never liked rugby, but he made me love the sport. I cannot tell you why I like him. I just like him. It’s like Naas (Botha). I simply just like them.”

• Complete article in the Pretoria News (subscribers only)

Book details

• Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220737
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Joost: Spieëlbeeld by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220782
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Afrikaans readers eager to get their hands on a copy of Joost van der Westhuizen’s biography won’t have to wait long, as reported on Friday (along with snippets of Joost’s conversation with 3 Talk host Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu):

On Friday, Zebra Press publisher Marlene Fryer said the Afrikaans version, Spieëlbeeld, should be in stores by Wednesday.

In the book, the disgraced former Springbok captain comes clean about his involvement in a sex and drugs video exposed eight months ago.

In the video, Van der Westhuizen is seen naked as stripper Marilize van Emmenis performs oral sex on him and later snorts white powder with him.

• Complete article at IOL Tonight

Meanwhile, The Weekender ran a long Lauren de Beer feature on the book and its revelations in its final edition:

WHILE all eyes were on Loftus last Saturday as the Blue Bulls claimed their 23rd Currie Cup , on Sunday the focus was on one of the team’s erstwhile favourite sons as he spent the day explaining himself at the launch of his book, Joost: The Man in the Mirror. Spoiler alert: the handful of people who thought the man in the video wasn’t Joost van der Westhuizen, look away now.

The overwhelming majority of South Africans who never doubted that the former Springbok captain was indeed the Casanova snorting white powder and indulging in slap ’n tickle while wearing socks and less-than-pristine underpants should read on.

A week after the release of his biography — the first print run was sold out in a day — the news has spread faster than a Mexican wave at a rugby match that the most prolific try-scoring Test scrumhalf of all time is guilty as charged. At the beginning of the book, Van der Westhuizen promises to tell his biographer, David Gemmell, “stuff that will make your eyes water. With regard to the video — that will be in the last chapter, and it is going to blow everyone’s socks off.”

Since the innovatively named “Joostgate” scandal broke in February, Van der Westhuizen has denied his assignation with the buxom blond subsequently revealed as Teazers employee and self-confessed Sharks supporter Marlize van Emmenis.

But he found the strain of living a lie taking its toll, to the point that he collapsed in June while entertaining at his Dainfern home. He owes his life to a quick-acting guest who administered CPR.

• Complete article in The Weekender

Book details

• Joost: Spieëlbeeld deur David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220782
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220737
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

This extract from Joost: The Man in the Mirror appears at today’s M&G Online. It’s an open letter to South Africans asking for forgiveness:

“In my life, I have achieved many things that took a lot of guts, determination and self-belief, I have sometimes faltered, but I have never really been scared, or doubted not making it through to the end. Perhaps that is why I actually enjoyed Kamp Staaldraad. I knew they couldn’t break me.

But just when I thought life had got easier and that never again would I have to be as strong as I had been, I was confronted with something far more terrifying than anything I could ever have imagined. I came face to face with my own human frailty and my conscience. I have found that when you yourself are the problem, there is nowhere to hide. And I’ve tried to hide.

• Complete letter at the M&G Online
• Share your thoughts on Joost van der Westhuizen and you could win a signed copy of the book
• More Joost links

Book details

• Joost: The Man in the Mirror by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220737
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• Joost: Spieëlbeeld by David Gemmell
  EAN: 9781770220782
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!