Welcome to Litsy!

I won some books! And a tote!

Words Without Borders had a challenge to collect stamps from a bunch of indie publishers, with each stamp worthy one raffle ticket and I was one of six winners!

https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/country/

When ISIS took over Mosul, a small zoo was left abandoned. This book chronicles one man's heroic effort to save the animals who were left behind. It also describes in vivid detail what it's like to have your city occupied by a bunch of jack-booted thugs, (the type of jack-booted thugs that college kids are now such big fans of when they cheer for Hamas).
#2025Book30

If you want to fall asleep with the lights on, you can't go wrong with listening to an AC with your eyes closed after an emotionally draining week. They really are very soothing in audio.

Brutal book, but very well written.

Soft pick - 3/5
Alia, librarian in Basra, Iraq, does her best to save the books of her library from being destroyed by the raging war.
Why soft pick? Not a fan of the illustrations and of the writing style.

As with all short story compilations, I enjoyed some more than others, but each one was unique. Each took place 100 years after the US and British invasion and it was eye-opening and thought-provoking to see how each author processed this and chose to represent the future — some shining light on the after effects of the war through speculative fiction while others leaned heavily into science fiction.

3⭐️

#Iraq #ReadtheWorld2025

#ReadTheWorld2025

In March and April I‘ve read 7 books set in or written by author from places around the world: #Italy #Switzerland #Iraq #France #Iran #Denmark #Mexico #Argentina

I have the #InternationalBooker to thank for most of these books!

#Denial. #DynamicDs

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

#WP25 Book 4

This was a delightful read despite the heavy subject: the rehabilitation of ISIS women in a camp in Iraq.
It‘s a perfect job for Nadia, who‘s escaping a life of partying hard in London. She used to be Muslim but doesn‘t believe any longer. She feels like she should safe Sara, one of the ISIS brides, and needs the help of her UN colleagues. I can‘t really explain what makes this book funny yet poignant but it certainly is.

I loved this little book of travellers tales by Arabic (specifically, a Baghdadi of the Abbasid Empire from what is now Iraq, written while he was living in Egypt in 947CE) writer, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Mas'udi.
His accounts of Persian, Greek, Egyptian, East African,Indian, Central Asian, Chinese, Malaysian, Cambodian, etc. life and cultural practices are fascinating, and there are hints of knowledge of the Americas and Japan, all 👇