Welcome to Litsy!

This was a great novel in verse. Poems are aligned left and right along with other spacing to highlight aspects of the story. It has wonderful literary references, figurative language, and football details. It‘s all wrapped up in the story of Kareem figuring out his own way as a Syrian American. It‘s set in 2016 & 2017 with the executive order banning international travel from Syria and other countries directly impacting Kareem‘s family.

Sometimes you just need to enjoy a book with your supper. I‘m already in the middle of several books, but I picked up this one that came off my holds list. It‘s a novel in verse about a middle school Syrian American boy who wants to be on the school football team. It‘s full of football and bookish references.

#TRS2025 #ReadAndEat #NovelInVerse #MiddleGrade

Reading the Luzumiyat (Les Impératifs : poèmes de l'ascèse) by Al-Ma'arri, the #Syrian medieval poet who is having a bit of a moment right now thanks to his “vegan poem“. Had I known this earlier, I wouldn't have paired this book w/ a Syrian beef, carrot, pea and tomato stew (Bazalia ou Ruz)... We ate bulghur with it, then cardamom-flavoured yogurt w/ dried apricot & pistachios in orange blossom water.
#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

I've been eating lunch from the tagged #Syria cookbook all week for #FoodandLit. As I am feeling too lazy to plate it properly, here is a picture of my many lunch containers. 😆

Itsch Salad – Bulgar Salad
Baklava (store bought)
Shorbat adas – Red Lentil Soup
Lob el kossa – Zucchini with Garlic and Mint
Foul ma‘ala – Fava Beans with Cilantro and Garlic
Zahra – Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

@Texreader, @Catsandbooks

Les hirondelles se sont envolées avant nous (Swallows fled before us) is a great poetry collection by #Syrian poet Hala Mohammad.
It contains a poem titled “Cardamome“ (Cardamom) with the lines

A présent tu bois ton café
Ainsi descendit la révélation de la cardamome

Ainsi la pluie tomba sur terre

#FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

#NovemberNarrative Day 30: A lot of #Cooking in this story. With the help of her new friends from the Welcome Center, Salma will make foul shami! While I confess to not having tasted this dish yet, I was very moved by how the entire community in this small center came together to find all the ingredients Salma needed to hear her mother‘s laughter once again. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-njG

Absolutely loved Nowhere Boy. A forged friendship of two boys, one of whom is a Syrian refugee all alone in Belgium amid the 2015 terrorist attacks in France. Tropical Secrets, a more lyrical narrative, highlights a friendship of a Cuban girl and Jewish refugee while the island experiences turbulent times of WWII. #middlegrademarch #MGMarch

As the daughter of a child refugee, I find books about child refugees tough. I liked parts of this one - especially the friendship between the two boys, but it turns my stomach when books like these become page turning adventure stories and I felt like this one tried to toward the end. I‘m also kind of over the ‘white person learns and grows by helping a person of colour‘ narrative.

First #audiostitching evening of 2022 #bliss

Three outta five ain‘t bad