pick“Some kindness you do not ever forget. You carry them to your grave, held warmly somewhere, brought up and savoured from time to time.”
15 likes
pick“Some kindness you do not ever forget. You carry them to your grave, held warmly somewhere, brought up and savoured from time to time.”
Two stories have stayed with me since reading this short book (although they are all memorable): the title story Igifu—Hunger and almost the opposite, The Glorious Cow, somewhat of an ode to the cow and the elixir that is milk. If you‘ve never felt starvation, Igifu describes it in agonizing detail from the perspective of a young girl praying her mother can find food each day, and sleeping, sleeping to deal with the stomach pangs. When life ⬇️
A terrible photo but isn‘t it nice to know the good ole USA isn‘t the only country banning books. Genocidal #Rwanda also banned books. 😡 #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
Imagine receiving this warning from your mother before heading off to school each day. #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks
So appropriate this last day of April reading about how precious milk is in #Rwanda for #foodandlit. For example, from the BBC: “Unique to Rwanda, milk bars reflect a little-known truth about how intrinsic cows and milk are to Rwandan culture.” I‘ve truly discovered that in this month‘s books. @Catsandbooks
pick(2020) It's a collection of five stories set in and around the Rwandan genocide. It's a gut-wrenching theme, Mukasonga's prose is graceful and restrained, and the stories will break your heart. The last story, “Grief,“ centered on a woman who attends funerals of strangers in search of comfort for the unobserved deaths of her own family, broke mine. This is what stories are for, so much that I found it hard to take more than one or two at a time
You were a displaced little girl like me, sent off to Nyamata for being a Tutsi, so you knew just as I did the implacable enemy who lived deep inside us, the merciless overlord forever demanding a tribute we couldn't hope to scrape up, the implacable tormentor relentlessly gnawing at our bellies and dimming our eyes, you know who I'm talking about: Igifu, Hunger, given to us at birth like a cruel guardian angel ...
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pickMy dad passed on his love of coffee table books to me, especially the ones about food, homes, and travel. This one beautifully sums up all three.
This is on my to-buy list now! 🥙
pickA strange story of a boy growing up in late 1970s Somalia, and after being passed from his adopted mother to his wealthier aunt and uncle, must choose between the university and fighting in the insurgency against Ethiopia. His mother is originally from Ethiopia, making for some interesting dynamics where the person he is closest to is identified as 'the enemy'. Weirder still is how the close quarters of their housing affects their relationship 👇
