Fantasy novel set in Dhaka, #Bangladesh. I started it nearly 3 weeks ago but stopped. Reading about the father of 1 of the MC falling into a supernatural coma just when my father was being operated on spooked me a bit. Then RL took a turn for the worse & I stopped reading altogether. I picked it up again as I was enjoying it but I've reached the “saggy“ middle. We'll see how I fare.
#FoodandLit
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Halfway through this serious overview of nazism & terrified by the parallels that can be drawn between today & the 30s. On AH's bday, let's remember that he was a good public speaker, but a lazy, incompetent statesman w/ a short attention span who relied on a handful of high-ups + everyday Germans as part of an organic whole. They figured out what needed doing to reach the goals he had set out, then carried it out independently & zealously.

This is a graphic non-fiction book about a couple who hunt down criminals responsible for the Rwandan genocide and bring them to justice. A number of them have been living normal lives in France and it's only in the last few years that tribunals picked up pace. Proving beyond reasonable doubt that they're guilty is difficult however, because witnesses and evidence has disappeared.
#Rwanda #FoodandLit
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Today, I made igitoki, a delicious green plantain, vegetable and peanut stew. Will definitely make again! It's easy, vegetarian and perfect when it's cold outside.
Recipes in French: https://www.instagram.com/roger_dushime/p/CRYSh-HjUpO/
https://djolo.net/igitoki-mijote-de-bananes-et-legumes-a-la-rwandaise/

#Rwanda #FoodandLit
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The title means “Not everybody is lucky enough to like stuffed carp“
The 1st 50 pages describe Ashkenazi food as terribly unappetising & unhealthy & the sort of food that only people born into it like, but the author *was* born into it, and despite the awful descriptions, her love for her grandparent's cuisine shines through. That makes for a very unsettling reading experience!

Pic of gefilte fish by Olaf.herfurth, via Wikimedia Commons

Having read the Majnun/Qais version earlier this year, I have now moved on to the Nizami version of Layla and Majnun. I am not 100% sold on the fake twee style of the French translation I am reading, but am making good progress nonetheless.
#poetry #Azerbaijan
painting of Majnun in the wilderness found on Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

I was rather lukewarm about Slovenian poet Aleš Šteger's #poetry collection at first, but then one of the poems punched me in the gut and now I'm happy I bought it.
#Slovenia

Kids‘ non-fiction about Rwanda. I‘ve only just started but it looks quite thorough, if dated.
#Rwanda #FoodandLit
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Found on Everand: life stories & recipes from refugees who settled in Kentucky from all over the world, including Nicolas Kiza from #Rwanda, who opened a bar & grill selling Rwandan food. The 2 recipes given (peas & potatoes, potato omelette, which - this is a quote that might speak to some US residents right now - “Some Africans consider a luxury due to the cost of eggs“) are simple & use everyday ingredients.
#FoodandLit
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Another fantastic book by Scholastique Mukasonga. It's a good “in“ to Rwandan culture pre-genocide, as each story comes with “notes for the curious reader“. She's also one of the few writers to acknowledge - and even center a story on - twas (or pygmies as they used to be known although it is considered a slur).
#Rwanda #FoodandLit
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pic of mutwa boy by Julien Harneis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

31 years ago on this day (April, 7), the genocide against the Tutsi started in #Rwanda.
#FoodandLit
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Pic of the memorial in Geneva by MHM55, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A delightful 1973 children's book, lushly illustrated with clever nods to 19th and 20th-century art. I found this second-hand book, translated from German into French, by chance - I hadn't heard of the authors beforehand. Very happy about it!

About to start 1 of the few books by Scholastique Mukasonga I haven't read yet. They're short stories & I expect most of them will be set in #Rwanda but won't be about the genocide, which is good because as important as the genocide is, Rwanda should not be reduced to it.
#FoodandLit
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This essay collection was written as part of the “Rwanda: Writing as a Duty to Memory“ 1998 initiative involving writers from various African countries (so, not Rwandan, but not Western). They were invited to Rwanda for 2 months to produce literary texts “outside of Western narratives“. These essays feel quickly thrown together. They require a decent amount of knowledge re the genocide to fill in the blanks (not a criticism, just an observation).

Classic religious poetry that I doubt I'll finish in time for Eid (not that I'd planned on that, but it would have been nifty) or before the end of the poetry quarter of #classicschallenge2025 because it's quite involved...

@Lunakay

Starting early w/ Englebert des Collines (tagged is a different book by same author) for #FoodandLit #Rwanda b/c it's a library book & I don't like to keep them longer than necessary. Englebert, a Tutsi genocide survivor roaming the streets of Nyamata looking for drinks & conversation, told his story to Hatzfeld, a French journalist/novelist whose parents were Holocaust survivors.
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Pic of daffs for something less depressing

Reading Barzakh, a fantasy/SF novel by Mauritanian author Moussa Ould Ebnou. Doing a bit of research on Aoudaghost/Awdaghost, a city lost to the desert in the Middle-Ages, and on the Sahel region is helping a lot w/ timeline & geography.
Pic by Luca Abbate from https://wildmanlife.com/aoudaghost-economic-hub-of-the-sahara/ This page contains pics & detailed info & matches quite closely the descriptions in the book. Useful.
#Mauritania

I had a rather busy day: march against racism in the morning, bo bun for lunch, library, and then bookshop, where I bought a collection of Ingeborg Bachmann's poems, a non-fiction about women in prehistory, Hubertine Auclert's 1908 book advocating for women's suffrage, & Paul B. Preciado's An Apartment on Uranus (which sounds ruder in English than in French). And a free Spring of Poets poster!

I saw on Mediapart that a biography of Jacqueline Manicom (a black feminist who opened the Guadeloupe family planning office) is out, which spurred me to try & find the novel she wrote shortly before killing herself in the 70s: Mon examen de blanc (my whiteness exam) about a black female anesthetist. It is out of print but the e-book is now available.
Pic of the biography's cover featuring Jacqueline Manicom and Simone de Beauvoir

Today is UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in remembrance of the Sharpeville massacre. There are demos planned all over the world tomorrow (March, 22) https://worldagainstracism.org/2025-waraf/map-of-actions-2025/ to protest against the rise of far-right, racist governments and fascism.

Last Sunday, I made boxty using this recipe: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/mar/11/how-to-cook-the-perfect-boxty-recip... and seafood coddle, based on various online sources. Very nice. And I have leftover buttermilk, which I should use to make scones. I doubt they'll be as nice as the ones I had in Ireland, but I'll try.
#Ireland #FoodandLit
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Leftover Kerry apple cake for breakfast! Buttery and crumbly, with a texture reminiscent of gâteau basque or galette charentaise (sort of halfway between cake and scone). Lovely 😻
Recipe: https://dinglecookeryschool.com/recipes/kerry-apple-cake/
#Ireland #FoodandLit
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This novella is soft-spoken but it punches you in the gut.
I saw there is a film based on it: I'm not quite sure how they padded it out to feature-length? Is it worth watching, or will it be disappointing, compared to the book?
#Ireland #FoodandLit
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An excerpt from In the ‘Gu̇la̋nda‘ Bookshop by Kazakh author Yerlan Junis, a poem about books, bookshops, bookshelves and poets from an anthology available for free on https://www.cambridge.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/Kazakh_Poetry_Book... I don't mind that type of soft power move 😁 👏
#poetry #Kazakhstan #classicschallenge2025
@Lunakay

Naġašy = maternal relative

Grandad reading Grandude to Grandkid 😁

This novel describing the lives of various families in a remote Armenian village in the 20th century is quite propulsive. Also, I didn't expect the Anne of Brittany mention.

Pic: Miniature depicting Anne of Brittany receiving from Antoine Dufour the manuscript praising famous women, Musée Dobrée, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I was struggling to maintain my interest until now, but I've reached the part where the narrator is traveling to his home hill village & I like it more than the 1st 150 pages, that were mostly chat-up banter & male existential navel-gazing.
#Nepal #FoodandLit
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Pic of Dhaulagiri Mountain by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On the 5-6 of October 1789, women stormed the Paris town hall, seized 1700 guns, 4 cannons, and food, then marched on with the Sans-culottes to Versailles to demand bread, the application of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and to force the Royal family back to Paris.
(illustration from another book by the same author: La Révolution française expliquée en images)

I am rather on the fence re these short stories: I didn't hate them but I thought they lacked psychological insight/depth and also, they were relentlessly showing people's worst sides, which is not what I want to read right now. Still, I learnt a lot about life in Nepal.

#Nepal #FoodandLit
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Pic of Durbar Square, Kathmandy by Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Today (Feb 11) is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. All the girls and women who want to pursue a career in science should be free to do so.

Phapar ko roti (buckwheat pancakes), golbheda ko achar (tomato and sesame sauce), and aloo ko achar (spicy potato, carrot and cucumber salad) for dinner. Lovely! 😋
Pancake recipe from http://tasteofnepal.blogspot.com/2015/10/buckwheat-bread-phaapar-ko-roti.html
achar and potato salad recipes found in tagged book
#Nepal #FoodandLit
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Map of revolutions, mutinies and uprisings across the Americas, the Near-East and Europe at the end of the 18th century, beginning of the 19th. I wish it was better taught at school.

This map showing the 18th-century contraband route into France used for banned books doesn't feel as incredible today as it did last year. Force to US readers. Apparently, even romance books are in P 2025's crosshairs?!

This collection of animal stories is so depressing: every animal ends up dead in deeply unpleasant circumstances. I know nature is cruel and everything, but I could do with a bit of gentleness right now...

Franz Marc painted this fox in 1911, a year after this book was published. Just like the author, he died in WWI. Pic in the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 2025, I will be reading books set in, or written by authors with a strong connection to the Doubs département (nb 25), starting with the tagged title by Louis Pergaud, whose complete works I found on my grandparents' shelves when we emptied their house. In the book was a dedication dated 31-01-1975 I hadn't noticed before 😲

It received the Prix Goncourt in 1910, 5 years before Pergaud's death near Verdun, during the First World War.

Today is the anniversary of the first abolition of slavery in France, unanimously declared on the 4th of February 1794 (16 pluviôse an II) by the Convention during the French Revolution, before being rescinded a few years later by Napoléon. I would have liked more details to be included in the tagged book, but Eric Hazan makes it clear that the abolition was imposed by Haitian slaves rather than gifted magnanimously from mainland France, so👍

That Tom Gauld cartoon from the Guardian seems relevant to the book I am reading.

I *think* this is my last Dutch recipe: kibbeling: https://www.196flavors.com/netherlands-kibbeling/
They're basically bite-size battered fish. They're less of a faff than full-size battered fish and the addition of a spice rub was nice. The recipe called for a full tablespoon of ground bay leaf, which I felt was a lot, so I only put a fraction, and still it was all I could taste! Will make again.
#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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I watched La grande magie, a film adapted from Italian author Eduardo De Filippo's play The Great Magic & so wanted to read it to deepen my understanding. I enjoyed both, but I think I like what Noémie Lvovsky made of the play better than the original 😱 It's less farcical & more dreamlike.
https://www.advitamdistribution.com/films/la-grande-magie/
My copy (not in the database) also contained the 1-act play Sik-Sik.

Last week, I made kletskoppen, using this online recipe: https://www.thespruceeats.com/classic-kletskoppen-recipe-1128529 and not the tagged book. I divided the amounts by 10. The batter spread so much it ended up being 1 giant rectangular cookie, that I then cut into pieces. I was hoping they'd be like almond thins, but lacier. The flavour profile was v. similar, but they were thicker and really hard. I've got to try again and concentrate!

When looking for Dutch recipes, I came across a book that's unfortunately not translated (nor is it in the database): Couperus Culinair. Page sample here: https://issuu.com/lubberhuizen2/docs/ubl_couperus_lr_incompleet-tmp29
Having just finished Eline Vere by Couperus, I was interested but all I can do is look at the pretty pictures, which I suppose is better than nothing 😁
#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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I finished Eline Vere yesterday. It took longer than anticipated. I read the 19th c. US English translation available on Everand, and unsurprisingly, it was a little dated but perfectly readable. Eline is a good example of an ambiguous, often unsympathetic, character. Her flaws felt very modern and transposable to our society. She is immature, flighty, and lacks self-reflection, but at the same time she is sensitive, artistic, and she means well.

Here's my Christmas haul! It's a bit late because I took my time cashing in my Christmas gift voucher and the book that was a direct present was mislaid by the post office 🙃
So, I got:
The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa
L'énigme du nom propre (poems) by 15th c. Uzbek author Alisher Navoiy
Jâmi's Mejnun & Layla
Nezâmi's Mejnun & Layla
Palpasa Café (for #Nepal #FoodandLit)
Barzakh by Mauritanian author Moussa Ould Ebnou

Very happy!

Isn't it nice when you read today's date in your book 😁It feels so fitting...
Also, Happy Birthday Eline!

#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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As it's Sunday, I made Dutch Sunday Soup, from the tagged book. It is made with whatever vegetables are in season (I used leek, carrots, celeriac, celery, Jerusalem artichokes and romanesco), small pieces of beef, veal meatballs flavoured with nutmeg, and vermicelli. Perfectly fine.
#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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That was an uncomfortable read. The bleakness and feeling of unease were unrelenting. Some readers love it, but I'm a sensitive soul: it was too much for me and in the end, I just ploughed through as fast as I could to get it over with.
#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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Pic of a traditional Dutch farm by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I made the tagged book's chervil pie. Nice. The dough was a bit hard - not surprising given that it called for just 50g of butter for 200g or flour - but at least, that made it a lot less caloric than regular shortcrust. The filling was cream cheese (I used fromage frais), eggs, chervil, chives (I used a bit of leek) and tarragon.
#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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For my first #classicschallenge2025, I am reading a 7th-century collection of love poems dedicated to Leyla by the poet/narrator Majnun - the Arab Romeo and Juliet.

And as it happens, yesterday was Epiphany, which we celebrate with a cake/pie with a small figurine hidden inside. Whoever finds it is the king/queen. I got it, and it's in the exact same colour scheme as the book's cover!

@Lunakay

Catalan magical realism set in the Pyrenees and centered on the women of a farming family, both living and ghosts. Quite dark and brutal, but also poetic. This is my second book from this author and I am looking forward to the next one.

Picked up the tagged book on Jan, 1st. It opened of its own accord on page 100: fosco (cold chocolate drink) and poffertjes (drop scones/thick pancakes made with plain & buckwheat flour), which apparently “were a traditional New Year treat in North Holland“. That was fate & obviously, I had to try them. Very nice! Will definitely make them again 👍

#Netherlands #FoodandLit
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