Sanlam's Top Summer Reads..

It’s that time of year again. Newspapers and magazines are running their Summer Reading supplements, nudging those of us who are off on holiday to stock up on books for the pool or the beach. Years of experience have taught me to approach this part of the packing with care and ruthless honesty. Whatever the literary critics may recommend, there are really only three types of holiday reading:

 A. The Latest Hot Books I Think I Should Be Reading.

 B. Classic Books I Have Always Meant to Read (but somehow haven’t).

 C. Books I Might Actually have a Chance of Reading When I’m in a Retsina Coma after  a Taverna Lunch and It’s 32 Degrees in the Shade.

As the twins, and a gaggle of their teenage friends and I are flying to Crete this Summer, category C is probably going to be my best bet. A friend confessed that she used to take Proust’s Au Recherche Du Temps Perdu away every August, in the faint hope she would dive into the French masterpiece, but she always ended up reading Jilly Cooper in the shallow end. Most of our summer reading will be shallow, not deep end, unless you’re one of those annoying, superior people who stays inside the villa mastering Turkish on Duolingo. I do like to read something about the region I am visiting so I’ve just bought a mini-history of Greece as I want to learn about Chania and Knossos before I get there. Knossos is apparently the birthplace of European civilization so, while it crumbles around us, this might be a good time to visit!

Undoubtedly, the best travel writer about Greece is the late Patrick Leigh Fermor, who fought in Crete during the war (his incredible adventures were captured in the film Ill Met By Monlight) and later made Greece his home. Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese is written in    Leigh-Fermor’s gorgeous dancing prose and you can practically smell the oregano on every page. For teenagers and adults who want to get an insight into the Classical world, there is Mary Renault’s The King Must Die which traces the early life and adventures of Theseus, a hero in Greek mythology. No one has brought the ancient world alive like Renault does; think Game of Thrones with A levels.

 For something lovely and escapist, there is Maeve Binchy’s Nights of Rain and Stars or Victoria Hislop’s The Island. Louis de Berniere’s famous Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is set on the beautiful island of Cephalonia, but it is rumoured to be the book which is most started (and then abandoned) by holidaymakers. Probably a Category B book masquerading as a C!

 I have really been getting into gardening recently so I will be taking Charlie Hart’s Skymeadow: Notes From An English Garden. Hart was grieving the loss of his father and depressed about the impending death of his mother when he moved to the country and felt an irresistible urge to dig and create something. His touching memoir is a celebration of the healing power of nature and a lesson in how to make flowers out of life’s thorns.

Also celebrating life, in the face of midlife challenges, is How Hard Can It Be? This is Allison Pearson’s sequel to her first novel, I Don’t Know How She Does It. That story about Kate Reddy, a City woman trying to juggle career and motherhood (sound vaguely familiar?), was loved by every woman I know. The second book is even better: a hilarious but incredibly honest meditation on a women entering her fifties, who is trying to prop up both teenagers and elderly parents, while trying to remain relevant and employable herself. The bloody menopausal episode in the oligarch’s bathroom is worth the price of admission alone!

I also asked a few colleagues at Sanlam for their summer reading tips:

Stefan Hundt, Curator Sanlam Art Collection and my preferred Art Advisor especially when it comes to the exciting world of African Art 

 Robert Hughes, The Shock of The New - This is one of the art books I always go back to. It followed the iconic BBC TV series broadcast in 1980. The book, however, remains one of the best and most accessibly written guides to modern art ever produced. It is a very personal view by the great Australian art critic, Robert Hughes; passionate and direct in a manner that would get anybody trotting off to Paris, London or New York to see the real thing. It may be a little heavy to lug down to the beach at Cannes, but on the couch or just before you tuck in for the night it makes for a good read and if you have kids around, reading sections out loud can be educational and fun too. Some people may say it’s a bit dated in look and feel, but I reckon Hughes’s observations have largely stood the test of time. For anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to study art history this classic guide provides an entertaining and insightful overview of 100 years of Western modernism that you will never forget.

Julia Peake, Sanlam Technical Development Director and my rock of all time when it comes to the toughest client questions on pensions and structures

I have quite a diverse range I like to read, but a few I’ve taken away to the beach over the last couple of years and really enjoyed are: The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins, It’s a great thriller (made into a movie starring Emily Blunt) that is very engaging and keeps you guessing until the end. Spectacles by Sue Perkins This is the autobiography of the TV presenter, which is wickedly funny and sad in some places. When you read it, you can hear her voice in your head. It’s brilliant. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Another really compelling psychological thriller that shows a strong (and really warped!) female primary character. It will keep you guessing until the end and is so much more convincing than the movie, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. Dear Fatty by Dawn French Another autobiography by a comedienne. French’s incredible personality shines through in her writing and the book is laugh-out-loud good. Hilarious.

Pieter Fourie, Global Head of Equities and Fund Manager Extraordinaire : Beating the Street by Peter Lynch

Not sure whether I am A,B, or category C when it comes to holiday reading but I am what I am and for me there is nothing better than reading about the topic I love! One book that I really enjoyed is Beating the Street. Great for investors in the early stages of their career, the book focuses on the basic investment principles needed to succeed in the investment industry. Peter Lynch articulates in great detail how a dedicated investment strategy can be applied using sound yet simple principles. The ability for a small team of individuals operating as one coherent team to beat other investment managers and indeed the market itself is dependent on operating in the team’s circle of competence without exception. A gift for the Global Equity Team for a beach time read?                                                                                                    

Brett Mallen CEO South Africa Investments and Sanlam’s super talented Impact Investment Guru : Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. 

Harari provides an excellent insight into who we are as Homo Sapiens and how it is that we got to this point in our history. Although there is some conjecture around the development of our predecessors during pre-historic times (for which he has taken some criticism from fierce pre-historic experts), he makes it clear that – without it being recorded in history - it is obviously his interpretation of the clues we have found about life on earth before it was recorded and documented. Most stimulating are his views on the fictions which Homo Sapiens have created in our more recent history, including those of Religion, Nations and Markets. I cannot wait to get started on his sequel, Homo Deus, once I am done with David Mitchell’s “The Bone Clocks” – all of which come highly recommended!

Well, that should be enough reading to keep me happy for a fortnight. There’s always the villa bookshelf to dip into, which can yield some surprising gems amidst the dross. Have a great holiday, and see you on the other side! 

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