pickA collection of essays and poems, this book was an early piece about the ongoing Siege of Sarajevo and the Bosnian War. A Bosnian city resident and writer living out the early ‘90s under daily sniper fire and shelling, Mehmedinovic documents what strikes him hardest amongst the existential dread and ennui of this war, from the gray hairs found in his young son‘s hair to fellow artists risking their lives to chronicle Sarajevo‘s destruction.
Mehmedinović wrote this book in Sarajevo, during the Bosnian war. It contains poems and essays. It's heart-breaking.
Photo of Vijećnica, Sarajevo's former city hall and library, from wikipedia. An extraordinary place that had to be rebuilt after the war.
pickBefore I started I worried that this historic novel might be too dry or politically-minded. There were some political parts that were rather dry but the majority of the novel imagined the lives of the inhabitants of the town by the bridge, over almost 4 centuries, and I really enjoyed it.
#readingeurope2020 I used it for #serbia but would also work for #bosniaandherzegovina too.
pickI‘d listened to half of this book on audio but finished it off yesterday on Kindle. I preferred the audio as I hear so much more in books like this than if I‘m speed reading.
Such a good book, but so heartbreaking. I still can‘t understand that this was real life for people in Europe, only 25 years ago. Makes our current situation less of a battle - at least we don‘t have to worry about getting shot when we have to go out to fetch water.
pickI enjoyed this really like Hemon's writing 😊 A collection of short stories some dark and some humourous.
#ReadingEurope2020 #BosniaandHerzegovina 🇧🇦 (36th country)
