I'm just starting a book about the oral history of Queen Tasì Hangbé who reigned over Dahomey, in Western Africa, in the early 18th century. She is alleged to have created an army of “amazons“ and a school where women could learn traditional male skills. She also elevated other women to positions of responsibility.
#Benin #Africa
Pic of her 98ft (30m) statue* in Cotonou, Benin by Yemi festus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Someone on LibraryThing mentioned that Arthur Sze has been chosen as the new US poet laureate. Having never heard of him, I was curious and read the tagged collection on Everand. I loved it! Almost every distich or tercet creates a distinct, evocative image.
#poetry #nature

Pic by Ahmed abd elkader mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

I was reading this book and wondering where its reputation for advocating duplicity (machiavelism) came from, and then I reached the second half of the book and it all made sense, although I am not 100% sure that it's not ironic... Anyway, I still have 50 pages to go 😁. The translation I am reading is archaic, and so is slighly harder work to parse, but also pleasantly twee.
Pic of the Italian Garden in Chaumont-sur-Loire taken last June

There are so many references to European literature and culture (mostly French, but also British, German, and of course Spanish, though not as much as I thought he would) in this poetry collection. The quoted poem is about Marguerite Gautier (or here, Margarita), the Lady of the Camellias (La Dame aux camélias) from the novel/play of the same name by Alexandre Dumas fils.

#Nicaragua #FoodandLit
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So I pretty much inhaled this cult 80s novel about an upper-class female architect enrolled in the Sandinista revolutionary guerilla in 70s #Nicaragua. It's both nuanced and terrifying. Also very feminist, with men in the movement trying their best to deprogram their own machismo, with varying degrees of success. ⬇

#FoodandLit
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Halfway through tagged book and enjoying it.
I made Nicaraguan fresco de cacao ( using this recipe : https://www.jonathanmelendez.com/nicaraguan-fresco-de-cacao/ )
Veeeery nice: it's a cold chocolate drink made with cacao beans, cinnamon, rice, sugar and vanilla. It's more involved and time-consuming than I first thought (whole process shown in pic), but I will make it again.
#Nicaragua #FoodandLit
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First poem in this collection by Rubén Darío, and the parallels between it and Nerval's Fantaisie jump out to me (but then, I'm French and I had to learn it by heart at school).

#Nicaragua #FoodandLit
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I finished this public-domain translation of Michael Kohlhaas and other short stories or novellas by Heinrich von Kleist (or Henry de Kleist, as the 19th-c. Swiss translators wrote). I liked the novella Michael Kohlhaas best, although it did play with my nerves a little bit, as the MC went up the nobility chain of command to appeal and plead his case, all in vain, to nobody's surprise 😒 I could see the parallels with Kafka.
#Germany

This first novel is set in the Château d'eau area, a Paris neighbourhood with a strong African population. The MC is a teenage girl whose mother comes from Côte d'Ivoire. It is disappointing: very didactic, very flat and uninteresting. I don't understand why it was published in an adult collection. It should have been pitched at middle schoolers. I chose to read it because it incorporates a lot of nouchi & I like non-standard French but 😐

An unusual breakfast of coffee and grilled corn on the cob bought at the market - I thought it would be better to have it still hot rather than wait until lunch. It was disappointing - overcooked and dried up 😞
On page 50 of tagged book and that also is a disappointment, but it is a fast read so I am planning on reading it to the end, so I can criticize it...

I started the tagged novella this morning. With a MC being unfairly treated, I can feel that it is not going to be good for my blood pressure!
This is my 1st von Kleist work, chosen because it's a classic, it's free to download, the theme appeals, and the author spent some time in Fort de Joux (which is in #Doubs, the département that I am focusing on in 2025).
I might watch the Mads Mikkelsen film later. ⬇

A poem by June Beer, an Afrodescendant Nicaraguan
Found in https://web.archive.org/web/20170220200019/http://revistas.bicu.edu.ni/index.php...

#Nicaragua #FoodandLit
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I learned something today, researching Nicaraguan writers: some areas of #Nicaragua used to be part of the British Empire, and there are Afro-descendants who speak an English-based Creole, including poet and artist June Beer. All I could find by her is this article with 3 poems in Spanish and Creole https://web.archive.org/web/20170220200019/http://revistas.bicu.edu.ni/index.php...

#FoodandLit
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Halfway through Somewhere in the Balkans, the 1st tome of a family saga trilogy about an Armenian family from Rodosto (now Tekirdağ in #Turkey) at the turn of the 20th century. Written in Bulgarian by an Armenian Bulgarian author. I am reading the French translation. Loving it so far, but I know the 2nd tome will be difficult to find, and it looks like the 3rd never was translated (unless it's included in the 2nd - informations are unclear).

For #Bolivia #FoodandLit, I made sopa de maní (Bolivian boiled peanut soup, normally with meat, but mine was all veggie)
based on https://boliviancookbook.com/soups/sopa-de-mani/ Sorry the pictures and collage are a bit rubbish this month...
It is served with a tomato, cilantro, oregano & chili salsa, and topped with fries (that got cheers in my house!) ⬇

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For some reason, this is my 2nd book in a row that features twins, but they're v. different books. This one is set (probably) in #Hungary, near an unspecified border during WWII (again, probably), with twins that harden themselves to survive all the hardships they may encounter. None of the characters are likeable. Warning for cruelty, abuse (including sexual), murder - all the wartime horrors and more. Thankfully short & sparsely-written. ⬇

Halfway-through La petite Fadette (Fanchon the Cricket in English), a 19th-c classic about Sylvinet & Landry, twin boys from a well-off farming family, and Fanchon, nicknamed “the cricket“ because she is scrawny & ugly, and “fadette“ (little fairy in Berrichon dialect) because she comes from a line of women half thought to be witches (they know about plants and people). It's quite modern in its outlook and I am enjoying it very much.

I found this Korean tale set in China about a young monk who dreams that he is reincarnated into a golden boy who a) aces his exams, b) gets & beds 8 fairy wives 😱, c) wins all his battles & d) becomes the Emperor's favourite minister, all as a *punishment* for drinking wine, quite funny. It's possible that the serious Buddhist sub-text went over my head... I will say it is a surprisingly easy read for a 17th-c classic.

I actually was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Its writing style grew on me & it was quite keenly observed and very relatable, if rather ungenerous to some of the adult protagonists. Shame the author turned into one of her more unpleasant characters...

Pic of Woborn's Almshouse Bond Street, Yeovil by Sarah Smith from geograph.org.uk via Wikimedia CC BY-SA 2.0

I meant to read this for #FoodandLit #SouthKorea but never did! I was slightly apprehensive about keeping people & events straight (it is a 17th-c. novel with stories inside stories). It's still early days, but it's been fine so far. Even fun! The end-notes are quite helpful...

Cerco de penumbras (circle of shadows?) by 20th-c. Bolivian author Óscar Cerruto is a collection of short stories, mainly with fantasy or ghost story flavours. They were not necessarily very memorable, but I definitely enjoyed them.

#Bolivia #FoodandLit
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Pic of a church in Corocoro, where 1 of the stories is set, by Olga Lidia Paredes Alcoreza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

La défaite des mères is Yabouza's 1st book, co-written w/ Pinguilly. It tells the story of Niwalie, born in the DRC of Centrafrican parents, & living in the #CentralAfricanRepublic in the 60s/70s. The novel is as much, poss. more, about geopolitics than her life as a woman & mother in an unstable, machist & undemocratic country. Lots of allusions to songs, literature, past events. Very interesting, but the humour is laid on a bit too thick for me.

I discovered a Netflix documentary series called Street Food: Latin America. I started with the last episode because it is on #Bolivia. Quite interesting and enjoyable! I really want to taste cinnamon sorbet now, although I shudder to think of the amount of colouring in it, given that it is bright red! There's also a lot of deep-fried food, as in the screenshot above 😁

#FoodandLit
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My book haul for #FoodandLit #Bolivia
-Tagged book is a short story collection by 20th-c. Bolivian author/journalist/poet Óscar Cerruto. I'll start on it as soon as I've finished my current novel.
-Affections, which I've already read & reviewed
-A South-American cookbook. Let's hope there's lots to choose from for Bolivia!

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Just finished this biography of Jacqueline Manicom, midwife, writer, feminist, pro-choice & anti-colonial activist (pictured here w/ Simone de Beauvoir). She was born in #Guadeloupe in a mixed Indian/Black/White family. 1st in her family who learned to read, she wanted to become a doctor but had to settle for midwifery for external reasons. She took her own life in 1976, writing in her suicide note that she was tired of being poor, Black & female.

My 1st book for #FoodandLit #Bolivia is a novel based on the life of the Ertl family: former nazi Hans (Leni Riefenstahl's cameraman), & his 3 daughters Heidi, Trixi & Monika, revolutionary with Che Guevara. It's all told in alternate viewpoints with no clear delimitation between narrators - you just have to go with the flow & trust things will fall into place (which they do)!

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Pic from https://mubi.com/en/cast/hans-ertl

Still on my #Doubs Challenge. Tagged book is a play imagining a conversation between Napoléon Bonaparte and Toussaint Louverture right before his death at the Fort de Joux where he was imprisoned following the Haiti Revolution. I wish it had been a bit better. This is the only fiction work I found about Toussaint Louverture in Joux, which is surprising but there you are. Beggars can't be choosers.

I came across this thanks to @swynn & remembered the author was featured in Libération & Gallica's list of female writers in history https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/fieres-de-lettres-une-chronique-gallica-d... & that I meant to read them all, so I downloaded the pdf of a 1st edition, complete with long s, 17th-c spelling, etc. Very much of its time: the Enlightenment. Delightful, eye-roll-worthy & slow-going all at the same time.

I learned in the tagged book that First Nations people were enslaved before & alongside African & Malagasy people in Canada in the 17th & 18th centuries. I shouldn't have been surprised - after all, I already knew colons had done it in Central & South America - but because my mental picture of Canada re slavery is the 19th c. Underground Railroad, it passed me by. Another rabbit hole to explore...

#readingispolitical

I thought I'd finished my deep dive into the French Revolution for the foreseeable 😔future, but then my library got Race et Révolution française (Race and the French Revolution) which ticks so many boxes for me I had to borrow it 😍
Incidentally, I am pretty sure I saw those Equality between the races playing cards at an exhibition and took photos, but I absolutely cannot find them again

#readingispolitical

Not from the tagged cookbook but from a local Peruvian Nikkei (somewhat) upmarket fast food place: Donburi Crispy Chicken Nikkei with rice, chicken karaage, about 10 ( 🙄) individual choclo kernels (white corn), deep-fried Padrón peppers, fried eggplant & 3 sauces (ají mayo, ají panca, ají miso). Japanese cheesecake for dessert. Very nice. Could have been cheaper!

#Peru #FoodandLit
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European cooks (outside of Spain) will probably find this cookbook more useful because it is less likely to call for ingredients that are difficult to get here than The Fire of Peru, but it is less informative and probably - inevitably - less authentic. I read it in the French translation (from the original English) which adds a layer of obfuscation.
#Peru #FoodandLit
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I discovered this 1896 novella thanks to academic Matthieu Renault who mentioned it in an interview. This love story between an #Azeri Muslim student and an #Armenian Christian young woman who meet in Mengilis, #Georgia (Russian Empire) is a vehicle for discussing progressive ideas about religion, education, etc. Interesting but under-developped. Written in Azerbaijani by a famous Azeri author who - briefly - was a gvt official in the USSR. ⬇

September 1944 in a village in Eastern France: nazis are retreating & neverending columns of soldiers pass through Ferdinand's village. One soldier commands him to give him his bicycle. Only he needs it, worked hard for it. In the heat of the moment, he injures & ties up this almost child. The book describes the quandary & subsequent actions. An easy read (linguistically, not psychologically) that makes you think.
1 for the 2025 #Doubs challenge

I did it! I finished it! Granted, it's short (33 typewritten A4 pages) but it still took me 6 days. The language (syntax & vocab) was relatively simple, give or take a Quechua word or a peruanism. It's a tale of resistance to invasion, greed, love & deception set in the Cuzco area at the time of conquistadores - the villains of this 19th-c play by a trailblazing woman writer famous in #Peru but not elsewhere.
#FoodandLit
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A vegetarian version of ceviche with charred eggplant instead of fish? I'm definitely trying it as soon as I have access to a barbecue...
#Peru #FoodandLit
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In 2 minds about this cookbook: it's interesting, but I find the narrative voice irritating - waffling & feels phoney. And too many ingredients are unavailable where I live: I'd have to buy them online or travel to Paris or Barcelona to find them. Anyway, I'll plough on, even though I am not the book's ideal reader - it's clearly aimed at Californians...

#Peru #FoodandLit
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Halfway through a 19th-c. play by Peruvian author Clorinda Matto de Turner about Inca Princess Hima-Sumac's love triangle with Tupac-Amaru (pictured) and Gonzalo, a Spanish youth. As I am interested in female writers from the past & this work is not available in translation, I bit the bullet & am reading it in Spanish. It's difficult but doable.
It probably can count for #classicschallenge2025 @Lunakay
#Peru #FoodandLit
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Today is the 233rd anniversary of the Baiser Lamourette (Lamourette Kissing), where priest and representative Lamourette enjoined his colleagues to make peace with each other after some stormy debates in Parliament. Hence the hugs and kisses portrayed in this ink drawing kept in the Louvre museum. I cannot picture the same thing happening today 😁
#readingispolitical

We had Peruvian-style coffee after lunch today.
You start by making a strong cold-brew coffee extract. It needs to steep for 24 hours. You can then strain it & keep it in the fridge. When you want coffee, you pour some of the extract in a cup, dilute it to taste with hot (or cold) water. It is typically served with condensed milk. Very nice, very smooth. Will make again.

#Peru #FoodandLit
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José María Arguedas was a Peruvian teacher, writer, musicologist and ethnologist. He wrote in Quechua and in Spanish. Deep Rivers is a semi-autobiographical novel mostly set in & around Abancay, & told through the eyes of Ernesto, a young boarder whose dad is an itinerant lawyer (didn't know that was a thing!) It shows how violently hierarchical #Peru was at the start of the 20th c. A classic for good reason.
#FoodandLit
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I finished the book, but I didn't like it much. I think I see what the author tried to do: denounce corruption, esp. the collusion between rich/business people, politicians, police & gutter press by writing a novel that uses some of the same tricks that the gutter press uses, but it was very “blokey“ IYYWIM & I didn't enjoy the dated, male-gazey aspect of it, nor the undeveloped characters.
#Peru #NobelPrize #FoodandLit
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Tagged book mentions Peruvian singer-songwriter Felipe Pinglo Alva so I had to look him up and now I'm on Deezer, listening to a scratchy 78 rpm disc recording 😂 instead of reading the book (probably because I am finding it underwhelming so far).
ETA: the translators translated real song titles! Who does that? It takes some retroengineering and knowledge of Spanish to find them online.

#Peru #FoodandLit
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Veeeery late, here is a version of faluda, a Bangladeshi / South-Asian dessert, perfect in hot weather. I used mango, pistachios, homemade pistachio-flavoured agar jelly, tapioca pearls, chia seeds (I was out of tukmaria), kewra water, condensed milk, and milk. Delicious!

Thermometer shows 27.7°C (81°F) inside and 37°C (98.6°F) outside. It's going to go up in the next days too. 😲 🔥 😎
#Bangladesh #FoodandLit
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Sounds painful! 😖

In preparation for reading The Cloud Messenger by Aamer Hussein, I am reading the lyrical poem of the same name by 5th-century author Kalidasa in which a yaksha (nature spirit) asks a cloud to travel to his beloved. It's been a surprisingly fluid & delightful read so far, with so many mentions of flora & fauna I have to look up.
https://www.flowersofindia.net/mythology.html https://www.wisdomlib.org & wikipedia are all helpful.
#poetry

This novella was recommended by Everand because I'd read Next World Novella. It describes the life and relationship of a mixed couple (British wife, Pakistani husband) who meet in London & make a life together in 1950s/60s Karachi. It starts with a folk tale that made me wonder whether there was a pb with the book's description, but it all made sense later on! I wish it had been a tad longer.
pic by Salil Kumar Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, wikimedia

This is our last day of (relative) cool weather before another heatwave. I am having breakfast before 7 AM with all the windows open to let the cool air in before temps creep up. I want to finish Le vote des femmes, published in 1908 to advocate for women's vote, then make inroads into Producteurs et parasites (non-fic ab. the far right) which I started months ago then put aside b/c of its tortuous prose.

Hinrich finds his wife Doro dead at her desk, with an annotated manuscript of his in front of her. She had things to say about his embryonic novel, about him and about their life together, and it's not pleasant. It's also at odds with his view of himself and his own memories (although those are unreliable too). This definitely wasn't a feel-good novella, but it made me think.
#Germany

The Princess and the Pea, featuring a fantastic glasshouse bed, but no pea plants as far as I can tell 😁