The life of a young teacher in 30s Manitoba. Her pupils‘ poverty is incredible. Meanwhile, where I live, the fog outside is so thick right now it‘s like living in cotton wool...
#FoodandLit #Canada
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
Cross-cultural fiction at its finest: a kid's chapter book about a young Korean girl who discovers Astrid Lindgren's books. They help her make sense of her life (her father is dead; her mother is sad, poor and has a short fuse), work through her emotions and relate to others. Maybe a bit too edifying for me, but I'm sure the child who connects with this book won't mind. I liked the sense of place and season.
#Korea
Since it is #Canada month and I'd never read it (it's not so well known in France), I thought now would be the time to see what the fuss is about 😋 I downloaded Anne of Green Gables from Project Gutenberg. 9% in: Matthew Cuthbert is thinking of keeping Anne. Oooh, what is going to happen? Will Marilla agree? 😂 😁
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
A man in the final stages of cancer tries to reach his native #Montenegro to die. He is pursued in the forest and the mountains by a group 2 men soon to turn into a mob. This novella was a random find at the bookshop and I was bowled over.
#Serbia
Pic of Čvrsnica by Ante Perkovic, via Wikimedia bc I couldn't find one of Prekornica from a free source
Yesterday's poutine at a local Canadian-themed bar/restaurant. Followed by a very indifferent tea that did not taste at all of maple. The poutine was nice, though, and the portion was very generous. My toppings were smoked meat, onions, mushrooms and brown sauce. I felt full all day!
#FoodandLit #Canada
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
I don't usually read murder mysteries, but I made an exception for this book because it the 1st time I came across a novel set in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia. Only, the descriptions of the corpse & sea pollution combined with current news (the deadly freak storm in Spain and the US elections) to give me one hell of a nightmare, so I've been up since 3:45 AM & I am wary of picking the book up again.
Pic of Mekiro island by FRED, wikimedia
Today (November, 7) is International Inuit Day, a holiday established by the Inuit Circumpolar Council representing First Nations people living in Alaska, #Canada, Greenland and Chukotka.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Inuit_Day
And Sweetest Kulu is a lovely book for babies and young children written by an Inuk artist and writer from Nunavut.
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
This is my haul from the SF convention I went to last weekend. I've been a good girl this year, partly because I did not manage to explore the bookshop thoroughly. It was either too crowded or I was running after an overexcited toddler. She's the one who found the 2 books with the graphic covers. She - and I - wanted all the books in this collection, but I whittled it to 2 😁. There is also 1 kids' book and 1 non-fiction ab. plurality in SF.
I thought I'd start #Canada Month with something quick & easy. This is a selection of Champlain's maps, drawings & writings about his travels to North America, reworked into a graphic work. Interesting as a teaser, but the lack of “meat“ and context is frustrating, despite the few pages of explanations tacked to the end. A giant wood & metal version toured Canada in 2008.
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
A quirky, arty book pitched at younger children, with a female superhero whose trigger is chili pepper with whipped cream 😂
Selected by the grandchild once I'd managed to steer her to the bookshop's kids' corner in the SF convention we went to last weekend. Her first choices were all German adult novels with interesting geometric covers 😅
Tried and gave up on the tagged book - it wasn't for me.
Cooked seswaa (pulled beef) & Bogobe jwa lerotse, a porridge made with sorghum (or in my case, cornmeal, after I realised my sorghum meal had gone off 🙁) & lerotse melon, a cooking, non-sweet melon. Wholesome but I have to admit #Botswana's national dish was a bit too plain for my taste, which it might not be if you're using local Setswana ingredients😊
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
This is the limit of what I'm prepared to do for #Halloween: felt pumpkins & mushrooms on a string, 1 book of vampire stories (Somadeva's Vetala Panchavimshati), 1 lovingly-drawn paper pumpkin to stick on the front door so that children know they can knock & ask for sweets. And that was enough for the curmudgeon in my life to roll his eyes... The seasonal fruit & veg are there... because they're in season 😁
Thank you https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Denizard for this article on Marie Denizard, a suffragist who, to make a point, ran for the 1913 presidential election at a time when women could not vote in France. It complements perfectly the book on the fights for political and personal rights I am reading. BTW, poor old Marie was committed to a psychiatric hospital for - I kid you not - “chronic delirium of political and social claims“.
A late & indulgent breakfast and a pop history book about civil rights gains. I am hoping they will cheer me up, given a) the current political climate; b) the grey, depressing whether we've been having; c) the fact that I have so much housework to do before the flat is decent for visitors.
Medieval Georgian epic poem with much adventure, fighting, passion and intense male friendship (see miniature above). All set further east than what I am used to: Arabia, India, Persia, Central Asia and Cathay (China). An international classic!
#Georgia #UnescoRepresentativeWork
public domain pic from Wikimedia
Yesterday's treat (a pistachio éclair). I needed extra fuel to compensate for all the effort it took me to read from right to left 😈
Not the easiest read (I thinks with some exceptions, my brain doesn't get on well with graphic works, compared with just text), but I still liked it and I can recognise its quality.
My 1st book from this year's #NobelPrize winner. I was impressed by the first half, but disappointed that the narrator's quiet & moving story was pushed aside for almost straight non-fiction, admittedly also moving, and about events in #Korea's history that needed telling. So the fiction ended up being an artificial framing device for near-journalistic work. I was happy to read it all & learned a lot, but with a slight sense of frustration 😊
After being 3rd in the library request queue for ages, I've now gotten hold of Shubeik Lubeik. I know what I'm doing tonight 😎 Reading this book from right to left, manga-style 🙃
Found in The Dark (issue 50): Who Will Clean Our Spirits When We‘re Gone?, a short story by the same author as the tagged book. A ghost (or spirit) story set in a university campus in #Botswana. Lacks polish but poetic & has potential.
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
pic of Environmental Science Building at the University of Botswana in Gaborone by Iulus Ascanius, via Wikimedia Commons
This was a bit of a chore, which is why it took me 2 weeks to finish it... The translation is amateurish, which might colour my perception, but I don't think comparing the writer to Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Chinua Achebe is warranted, despite similar themes of christianisation and colonisation. Still, I got enough out of this short novel that I never felt like giving up.
Pic: old palapye church https://www.botswanatourism.co.bw/explore/old-palapye
Photos from our Saturday walk. We picked chestnuts: not only were they pretty, shiny and pristine, with not a maggot in sight and hardly any mud on them, but they were also delicious.
And Little Witch Hazel is a fantastic book for children. Grandkid loves the stories & I like the underpinning “hippy“ outlook on life - kind, understanding and tolerant (including of leg hair on women 😅)
I went overboard at the charity shop's book sale but there was a lot more choice than usual on the English book shelves. I think someone (probably American) must have moved away.
I left all the autobiographies of US politicians and business people and all the romances for others....
I've inhaled the 1st 1/3 of this book partly set in the highlands of Jeju Island in 1 sitting. So glad the Nobel Prize spurred me to read Han Kang now rather than at an indefinite point in the future.
I love the pic of mountains in Jeju I got from Wikipedia. It's perfect for the current season where I live (although it's winter AND snowing in the book).
Literally, “Edwardian female poets“. I requested it from the library thinking - mistakenly - that it would be a poetry anthology. It isn't. It's a collection of academic papers, some more interesting and intelligible than others. Very interesting overall and useful for all the names of forgotten and half-forgotten female poets I can now explore.
It's raining & the sun is down. It's been colder than normal & I've been wrapping myself up in layers because the heating's not on yet. People have been complaining enough that management e-mailed us to say that it would be switched on “as soon as possible“. Let's hope that's not November. So, #hyggehour is a blanket, a (depressing) book & Greek yogurt with saffron syrup.
@TheBookHippie @jenniferw88 @Chrissyreadit @AllDebooks
Reading Botlhodi, a novel translated from #Botswana's official language Setswana into English, which I found on Everand.
Pictured dish is a chicken stew (onion, chicken thighs & drumsticks, chili, cumin, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and sweetcorn) with madombi (dumplings): https://ahungryafricanoriginal.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/mini-dumplings-in-stew/
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
A couple of weeks ago, on the anniversary of Foucault's death, the garden of his family home was open to the public, as was his office, & 2 short plays, including the premiere of the 1 based on the tagged book, were given for free. I was there, but as photos were not allowed, there's no proof 😊. I enjoyed the play, and am now reading the book. It contains Herculine's own account of her life as an intersex person in the 19th century.
This collection of 16th-century Vietnamese tales is in UNESCO's list of representative works. They were written in Chinese (the language of scholars in #Vietnam at the time) by a retired civil servant. They are full of ghosts, gods, monsters & ghouls, and always have a moral. Despite the annotations, some of the cultural background went over my head but the stories have universal appeal - & they're perfect for spooky season.
A collection of 3 short stories by Alfred de Musset, best-known for his plays and poetry. Also for being George Sand's lover. He doesn't know whether to be condescending towards women and working-class people, or not. And so, I don't know whether to be annoyed or not 🙄. Soft pick.
1. Off the top of my head, I'd say my great-grandmother's cast-iron pot. It was a wedding present, and therefore is at least 120 years old. I still use it.
2. Les misérables. There are lengths and digressions, but the core stories still resonate with people today, and I have no doubt that that will also be the case in the next century.
Thank you for the #Two4Tuesday questions, @TheSpineView
Tagging anyone who wants to play...
A meandering, intricate novel set in Ipoh, home of white coffee. (One of the MCs owns a kopitiam, a coffee shop/greasy spoon/mini-food court). Quite liked it.
#FoodandLit #Malaysia
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
pic of “Concubine Lane, one of the cultural and culinary hub in the city“ by Slleong from the Wikipedia page on Ipoh
The novel had been on my shelves for years, and I sort of had forgotten that I hadn't read it 😚. It's both sad and funny, but quite cruel in places. Tea is a Kotagiri Frost which has been on my shelves for over a year, probably. Maybe I should have drunk it Russian-style, with jam 😉
Today is #TalkLikeAPirateDay! Not necessarily a fan of pirates per se, but “pirate talk“ is both fun and ridiculous, and Treasure Island is a fantastic book that doesn't glamourise piracy. In any case, my pirate name is Cap'n Dora Bloodbeard 😎 What's yours?
Pirate name generator: http://gangstaname.com/names/pirate#.XYOY90ROk0M
Thank you @PageShifter and @TheSpineView!
1. Depends! I rarely change into a completely different outfit during the day but I typically wear comfortable trousers at home and will put something less embarrassing on when I go outside. And then, I'll add/remove layers, jumpers, warm socks, etc. as needed.
2. Tagged book is a retelling in modern times of the Paris Commune, which started with seamstresses. MC organises sewing workshops.
#Two4Tuesday
This novella packs a punch! And having just watched a documentary on the author, I couldn't help but spot similarities between her life and the main characters'.
Pic is of The Two Girls by Modigliani, reproduced on the cover of my book, although I don't think they actually look like the sisters portrayed in the novella (but I like the painting 😁)
Malagasy epic poetry about a legendary prince who stayed 10 years in the womb, killed both mother and father, and right now, is kicking everybody trying to approach! That is one difficult baby 😬
I am not reading the tagged book but an English version available online: https://web.archive.org/web/20110605051817/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Public/Ib...
I can't say I am fully convinced by the intro & translation of the tagged book: an anthology of Malay poetry, including pantuns (UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of Indonesia and Malaysia since 2020), but beggars can't be choosers: the culture isn't well served by Western publishers.
pic from https://artsequator.com/10-things-you-should-know-about-pantun/
#FoodandLit #Malaysia #UnescoRepresentativeWork
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
See how happy the authors look on the inner flap photo!
As this A to Z of French Black culture is quite a doorstop, I thought it would take me for ever to get through, but it's so lively I finished it in no time! It's a good springboard for further exploration.
Malaysian meal courtesy of tagged book:
Nasi Ayam (chicken boiled in an aromatic stock then roasted; the resulting stock consumed as soup on the side; rice made with spices & that stock, chili sauce & cucumber) served with bamboo shoot coconut curry 👌V. nice but v. time-consuming!
#FoodandLit #Malaysia
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
September is the best time of the year: all sorts of delicious fruit are in season, including figs, coffee‘s best pairing 😋
And I found an anthology of early 20th-century Malagasy poet Rabearivelo at the library 🥳
Today is Constance de Salm's birthday, so on a whim, I decided to download from Wikisource ( https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/%C3%89p%C3%AEtre_aux_femmes ) Épître aux femmes, her 1797 poem advocating for the equal treatment of men and women. It's only a dozen pages long and is proof that toxic masculinity in young men is nothing new and cannot be blamed on social media.
Portrait by Jean Baptiste François Désoria from wikimedia
It's Friday morning, and the pastries in the shop window called to me.
Also, very happy that the library acquired the tagged book. I ummed and ahed about buying it, but now I don't have to 😁
Literally, “Monique escapes“. This is Edouard Louis's latest book, about his mother's escape from an abusive relationship and the way she turned her life around. I am hoping for a feel-good ending 🙏
Selfie of Edouard and his mum from https://www.dna.fr/culture-loisirs/2021/05/20/livre-pour-la-mere
“ In a typical Malaysian meal, at least four dishes are served: A nicely balanced meal would include a soup, a curry or stir-fried dish, a vegetable or a salad, and a sambal—and steamed rice taking center stage“
(Photo of Hainese chicken rice screenshot from the book, which is over 500 pages long and contains recipes originally from various places in Asia, recreated Malaysian-style)
#FoodandLit #Malaysia
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
I found this title in a Best Kids' Books list & was interested enough to buy it since my library didn't have it & I thought it'd have lasting power. It actually exceeded my expectations! It tells us about life in the Middle Ages through the eyes of a book illuminator's daughter learning the trade. It is in her voice, with medieval-inspired syntax & vocabulary that's just the right level of challenging. Engaging, informative & seriously researched.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
