Penguin Books Blog

John van de Ruit writes you a letter…

Dear Reader   FRANKENSTEIN’S BACK!   Man those luscious days in Cambodia and Thailand feel like some time ago now. In fact even the Cape Town Book Fair has receded into the throbbing haze of talks, interviews and book signings. But let me resume from the very beginning and stagger forward in an orderly fashion.   THE LAUNCH (JOZI PART 1)   Armed with [...]

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John van de Ruit- Journal Entry 22nd May

ADVENTURES IN A MINI-WAN (PART 2)   I apologise for the fact that i had to break off the story last time due to excessive heat in the internet cafe, a mosquito swarm nesting on my right ankle and a number of long media interviews which have kept me from completing the full sorry tale.   So to get [...]

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John van de Ruit- Journal Entry May 13th

Sunday 10th May – 1 Month until launch. SWINE SYPHILIS AND ADVENTURES IN A MINI-WAN (Part One) SWINE SYPHILIS Notwithstanding three delightful near death experiences in the back of a Cambodian tuk-tuk, it has been a rather pleasant trip as far as transport is concerned. That is until we reached Southern Thailand this week. Now [...]

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John van de Ruit – Journal Entry- April 16th

MAD ABOUT KEP!   I have always suspected that the ways of our modern society, and all of us that exist within it, are clinically insane if not stark raving bonkers. The notion of a mad world that refuses to acknowledge it’s inner lunatic has permeated just about everything I have ever written. The problem is – people [...]

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John van de Ruit – Journal Entry- April 7th

64 DAYS TO LAUNCH!!!   Dear Spud fans, friends, Romans and people at the wrong website.   Greetings from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It’s a week into the trip and I have thankfully settled down after the flurry of finishing the book and then roaring off to bustling Kuala Lumpur. I have finally, after a number of torturous nights watching [...]

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