Welcome to Litsy!

I started reading on Nov 5. Each letter or essay had to be analyzed carefully before moving to the next. As an Algerian born Frenchman, he fought for equality in his homeland, he fought for humanity, but was forced into exile. He stated how the indigenous Algerians fought for France during WW II so they should not be abandoned. He stood up for the minute communities and their differences, and how the new government should reflect the differences.

Finally posting my November stats

Eight books read last month, four were chunksters: two with 500+ pages and two with 400+ pages! Litsy challenges:

Curiosity Shop for #whattheDickens
Democracy for #authoramonth
Happy Isles for #Samoa and the remaining 5 for #Algeria for #foodandlit

I've juste finished The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo's Oscar-nominated 1966 film based on Yacef Saâdi's book Souvenirs de la bataille d'Alger.
It's a bit late for #Algeria, but I'd run out of library streaming credits for November... It isn't a feelgood movie: I fast-forwarded some of the torture and battle scenes. Glad I saw it at last though.
#FoodandLit
@Texreader

Our French Algerian main character describes the events in her teen years growing up alongside her family‘s hotel on the French Riviera. Sagesse (a beautiful first name) is a devil-may-care teenager, who along with her loud annoying friends, trigger the hotel‘s owner—her grandfather—to confront them with his rifle. While describing the aftermath of that event, Sagesse recounts the history of each family member. The most poignant story involves ⬇️

The entire time I‘m reading this, I kept thinking, “Oh, homeboy‘s just neurodivergent.” And that‘s what is truly unsettling about this book: how easy neurodivergence can look nefarious to the neurotypical. How you can never really know someone, not even yourself. We‘re so deeply complex; individuals with similarities. Absolutely banger of a book. Loved it. (Listed as The Outsider on the 1001 List) 247/1001 #1001Books

I found this story/writing quite interesting. Written 80 years ago, it‘s the story of a guy who shows no emotion towards anything; his mother‘s death, his girlfriend, a murder. He just wakes up each day and goes through the motions of life. Today, he may be considered neurodivergent. Eighty years ago was a very different time. I paired #FoodandLit with Chorba Bayda, an Algerian chicken soup. Delicious!

“In Ibn Khaldun's lifetime, in the 14th century, the Kingdom of France is submerged by the English's new Bedouin wave, according to his short account of the Hundred Years' War as it was told to him in Spain.“
The English as Bedouins 😂 It makes sense given his view of the world, his philosophy, & the info he had, but the mental image is funny to me. I almost want to feed it to an AI image generator

#Algeria #FoodandLit
@Catsandbooks @Texreader

I've been wanting to read Ibn Khaldun for ages, & when I noticed the tagged book on my library's website, I thought #FoodAndLit would be a good opportunity. It's always difficult to pinpoint a country for authors born before modern nation states, esp. when they moved around a lot (just look on the map at all the places he lived in!) but as he wrote his most famous book while living with Bedouins in #Algeria, it sort of works.
@Texreader

Audiocrafting tonight listening to an audiobook

#Algeria #foodandlit #naturewintercardswap @TheBookHippie

This book actually belonged to my late mother. It was languishing on my shelves & I thought #Algeria #FoodandLit was the perfect opportunity to read it at last.
It is the story of a village of poor tribesmen pushed into a semi-barren part of Algeria, in the years spanning from colonisation to independence, told in the 2nd person plural. Interesting, but the humour & the style weren't quite to my taste.

@Texreader