Welcome to Litsy!

(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 ...

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@ShyBookOwl

My 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! 🥙

A 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 👇

This time a Somali chicken stew that was fabuloso! Husband asked for it to be put in regular rotation. #Mtcookbook

Here‘s my review.

#kindleunlimited

Great story to teach children about the power of their inner conscious

“There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long, I feel that this is right for me, I know that this is wrong.”

This poem is about a narrator who listens to the voice inside their head and decides to follow it. This poem teaches the great lesson that kids should listen to their inner voice and trust their instincts

Originally written in the 1950s, these memoirs written by a 25-year-old author about his growing up in Guinea reveals the daily life, customs and traditions of his time.
It's a short read that will open a window to witness life there and then through the eyes of the author. If you pick this book, keep in mind that it's main focus is daily life, so it may not interest everyone.