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For my Global Reading Challenge - a book by an author from Algeria. Written in the 1990's - when Algerian women were being killed by extremist terrorists. This book is pulled from true stories told by Algerian refugees to France. It explores what it means when the unthinkable is the everyday, how to love a place and not be able to live in it. Incredibly heavy, I had to read in small doses, but I'm so glad I spent the time with this book.

Decided on my Global Reading book for #bookspin - the country is Algeria, and author Assia Djebar. My goal when I started was to read books written by people living in the country, who had been born in the country. I didn't want a tourist writing about a place they'd visited. I quickly realized it's more complicated than that, and the as the book of hers I'm reading (tagged) is a great example. (cont...)

This is a collection of stories focused on Algerian women and their experiences primarily centered in the 1990s, during the Algerian Civil War. Some worked better for me than others. These are often sad, sometimes brutal, but also filled with rich historical and cultural detail. While not a genre or style I really care for, it‘s well done, and evokes a strong sense of time and place.

#readingafrica2022 #algeria

Sublime, wrenching, and sometimes tragic stories of women navigating the changing cultural landscape of Algeria in the mid-1990s written by a master. Excellent translation from the French.