In a Nutshell: On September 11th, 1973, as a result of a military coup, Chile fell into a 17 year long dictatorship. Many people died and disappeared, among those people were 34 children under 14. Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile is a collection of 34 poems, with each poem a tribute to … Continue reading Day 26: 🇨🇱 Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile
Day 25: 🇨🇫 The Magic Doll
In a Nutshell: I learnt about this book, thanks to Millie Margretta. The book is beautifully illustrated with a great story. The book is narrated by a young girl, Adjoa about her mother’s desire to be pregnant and her journey towards pregnancy and birth, through the support of her husband and her Akua’ba doll. Themes: … Continue reading Day 25: 🇨🇫 The Magic Doll
Day 24: 🇲🇰 A Spare Life
In a Nutshell: A coming-of-age epic from Two Lines Press, a publisher of translations. It is 1984 and twins, Zlata and Srebra, live in communist Yugoslavia, their bodies are conjoined at the head. The novel spans from their impoverished childhood in Skopje to 2012 Skopje with some time spent in London. I completely escaped into … Continue reading Day 24: 🇲🇰 A Spare Life
Day 23: 🇲🇺 Silence of the Chagos
In a Nutshell: What a gem of a book this is. It tells the story of Charlesia and Désiré, both from the island of Diego García. It is also about the plight of the Chagossian people, expelled from their archipelago to enable the United States to build one of their main military bases. The book … Continue reading Day 23: 🇲🇺 Silence of the Chagos
Day 22: 🇨🇴 Holiday Heart
I read this in an evening and a half. What a treat.Robayo’s prose is cutting, sardonic, precise and witty, brilliantly translated by Charlotte Coombe. In a Nutshell: Lucía and Pablo are a married couple, originally from Colombia they now live in the USA with their twins, Rosa and Tomás. We meet the family just as … Continue reading Day 22: 🇨🇴 Holiday Heart
Day 21: 🇨🇮 Akissi: Tales of Mischief
The world of Akissi, beautifully illustrated by M. Sapin. Observations: My lovely friend, Louise introduced me to the wonderful world of graphic novels, specifically in French. We met when we both lived in Chile, she is from Paris and I am from London, but Spanish is our common language. Each time she visited me in … Continue reading Day 21: 🇨🇮 Akissi: Tales of Mischief
Day 20: 🇦🇹 I belong to Vienna: a Jewish Family’s Story of Exile and Return
In a Nutshell: Part fiction, history, biography and memoir. In 1942, Anna Goldenberg’s maternal great-grandparents and one of their sons are deported to the Thersienstadt concentration camp, a then German-occupied region of the Czech Republic. Goldenburg’s grandfather, Hansi avoids deportation and survives but he will never see his parents and brother again. Using letters, archives … Continue reading Day 20: 🇦🇹 I belong to Vienna: a Jewish Family’s Story of Exile and Return
Day 8: 🇦🇷The German Room
In a Nutshell: The German Room transported me to another place, it had notes of (Elena) Ferrante, Murakami and (Mario) Benedetti in this wonderful novel. The narrator of the novel is pregnant, she lives in Buenos Aires but escapes to her childhood home, the German city of Heidelberg to escape and clear her head. Heidelberg … Continue reading Day 8: 🇦🇷The German Room
Day 7: 🇨🇺 Havana Year Zero
After reading two brilliant books from Charco Press last summer: The German Room by Carla Maliandi ( tr. Frances Riddle) and Holiday Heart by Margarita García Robayo (tr. Charlotte Coombe). I decided to subscribe to their 2021 bundle. Charco Press is a small indie publisher, based in Edinburgh, that brings Latin American contemporary writers to … Continue reading Day 7: 🇨🇺 Havana Year Zero
Day 6: 🇭🇹 Dance on the Volcano
Observations: Originally published in 1957 in French, this edition was translated by Kaiama L. Glover, a beautiful translation I may add. It was published in 2016 by Archipelago Books. I loved it, a period romp in places and at other times, a devastating tale of the impact colonialism has on nations like Haiti. In a … Continue reading Day 6: 🇭🇹 Dance on the Volcano
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 