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: LucÃa 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 19: 🇩🇰 The Copenhagen Trilogy
The Copenhagen Trilogy consists of Childhood (1967), Youth (1967) and Dependency (1971). They were first published by Penguin in English in 2019. Book 1: Childhood In a Nutshell: Childhood is the first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, from one of Denmark’s most celebrated twentieth-century writers. Childhood is written in a similar vein to Elena Ferrante’s … Continue reading Day 19: 🇩🇰 The Copenhagen Trilogy
Day 18: 🇳🇴 A Modern Family by Helga Flatland
In a Nutshell: When adult siblings, Liv, Ellen and Häkon, along with their partners and children, gather in Rome to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday, their lives are thrown into disarray when their parents announce that they have decided to divorce. It is told predominantly from the perspectives of the two sisters, Ellen and Liv … Continue reading Day 18: 🇳🇴 A Modern Family by Helga Flatland
Day 17: 🇦🇱 Sworn Virgin
In a Nutshell: Translated from the Italian and published by the independent publishing house, And Other Stories, there is a subtle musicality to this wonderful book. One of my favourites in a while. When Hana’s sick uncle calls her back from the capital to his home in the mountains of Northern Albania, he tries to … Continue reading Day 17: 🇦🇱 Sworn Virgin
Day 16: 🇦🇫 Washing the Dust from Our Hearts: Poetry and Prose from Writers of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project
An Observation: It seems a necessary entry in my book project given the situation in Afghanistan right now. Find out more about AWWP here: https://awwproject.org/ In a Nutshell: Washing the Dust from Our Hearts: Poetry and Prose is a bilingual anthology, it was first written in English then translated as a whole into Dari (Afghan … Continue reading Day 16: 🇦🇫 Washing the Dust from Our Hearts: Poetry and Prose from Writers of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project
Day 13 🇲🇲: The Native Tourist: a Holiday Pilgrimage in Myanmar
In a Nutshell: Ma Thanegi was imprisoned for three years for her involvement in the 1988 uprisings as a personal assistant to Aung San Suu Kyi. Whilst in prison, she decided that upon release, she would take a road trip/go on a pilgrimage, by bus in Myanmar. The Native Tourist is a travelogue of sorts … Continue reading Day 13 🇲🇲: The Native Tourist: a Holiday Pilgrimage in Myanmar
Day 12: 🇲🇽 Tell Me How it Ends
In a Nutshell: Luiselli is a Mexican writer/journalist, who currently lives in New York City. Tell me How it Ends is about Luiselli’s experiences working as a volunteer for the Federal Courts in NYC. She interviews unaccompanied migrant children, she then translates and transcribes their interviews. A wonderful if sometimes harrowing read. Observations: This book … Continue reading Day 12: 🇲🇽 Tell Me How it Ends
Day 11: 🇵🇪 Nine Moons
In a Nutshell: Published by Restless Books, a US indie publisher and written in 2009, Nueve Lunas in Spanish, this wonderful essay collection was translated into English in 2019 by Jessica Powell. Each chapter is a month of Wiener’s pregnancy, she is from Lima, at athe time of writing the book, she was living in … Continue reading Day 11: 🇵🇪 Nine Moons
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 