While the concept of Swedish Death Cleaning is similar to Marie Kondo's tidying up, there is a difference. Kondo has the reader keep what brings joy, Magnusson teaches us to think about the future, specifically how people will view our stuff – and whether they will want it – when we have passed. While the item brought joy in the past (i.e. skis), will it be of interest to anyone once we have passed? Interesting concept.

#Sweden

Bouncing around to yet another country - borrowered Herta Pauli's 1962 book titled "Her Name was Sojourner Truth" from the library today. I can just feel the history oozing all throughout the pages. This book is a 1st edition, published over 60 years ago.

#Austria #SojournerTruth #abolitionist

Listening to the audio book of this succinct, short instructional guide to preparing for what happens to all of your possessions when you die. I am finding it thought provoking as I have only thought of these preparations in a broad, general sense. A little humor thrown in the keep the subject matter from getting too serious.

#Sweden

A book based on the true story of an Argentine girl who was "disappered" and lived to tell about her experience.

#Argentina

This book was written in 1937 by Belgian #feminist author, Madeleine Bourdouxhe. Translated from French by Faith Evans. The story is a timeless "she loves him, but he loves another, who loves someone else" tale. It rings just as true today as it did 80+ years ago. The 'Femme', Elisa, stands by her man and her family throughout her husband's affair, but at what cost? Is the cold, empty heart of her husband enough for Elisa?
#Belgium

This book was written over 80 years ago and is still relatable today. The story takes place in pre WW2 Belgium and is the story of a love triangle of Elisa, who is the wife of Gilles, who has an affair with Victorine, who also happens to be Elisa's youngest sister. Madeleine Bourdouxhe is a Belgian author whose rise to success was delayed due to WW2. She never stopped writing, and her work was rediscovered in the 1980s.
#Belgium #feminism

A second book by Calixthe Beyala that I have read is Loukoum. This is translated from French. It is written from the point of view of a 7 year old immigrant from West Africa now living in a community of immigrants in Paris. #Cameroon

Tanga, is dying in prison. Her cellmate, Anna-Claude, becomes her confidant and hears Tanga's life story: A dark story of incest, prostitution, and crime. A bond between her and her cellmate begins to develop as Tanga relates her story. In a sense,she is transferring her identity over to Anna-Claude.

Cameroon has the worst record of human rights violations. This novel provides a good look at how sexual abuse/violence is the norm.

#Cameroon

I am reading a few books from #Cameroon. This book is from a French translation of the author, Calixthe Beyala, who is from Cameroon, currently residing in Paris.

This is a story of a young woman who is dying in her prison cell. Her cellmate encourages her to tell the story of her life so that she can live on through this story.