The Question: The story begins with a young girl asking her father, "Papa, why do you dance when you walk?" The Answer: The father then explains that tThe Question: The story begins with a young girl asking her father, "Papa, why do you dance when you walk?" The Answer: The father then explains that the polio he contracted at age seven weakened his right leg, making it difficult to walk normally and participate in activities like riding a bicycle or scooter.
This is book No 140 in my World Reading Journey - Country Djibouti.
TFAI is mentioned in the book.
The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas was the name given to present-day Djibouti between 1967 and 1977, while it was still an overseas territory.
Djibouti gained independence from France in 1977, but still maintains close ties with the country, including a significant French military base situated within Djibouti's Red Sea territory, which represents the largest French military presence in Africa.
From AI!!
Praise "The moving confession of a father who explains his handicap to his daughter" "A beautiful dance lesson between a father and his daughter" "I really enjoyed this book especially the heartfelt, moving conclusion" "Waberi remembers the shifting desert of Djibouti, the Red Sea, the shanty roofs of the houses in his neighborhood"
Summary Why Do You Dance When You Walk is an autobiographical novel about a man who tells his daughter about his life after she asks about his disability. The book is about the man's childhood in Djibouti, where he was the smartest kid in his school but was called a runt and a skinflint. The book is about the man's struggle to become a man and the values he learned, such as the value of poetry, silence, and freedom.
Author Abdourahman A. Waberi was born in Djibouti in 1965 and teaches French literature at the University of Washington.
Book No 131 on My Worlding Reading Journey - Jordan.
Comprising two interwoven narratives, the novel follows Nour, the present-day protagonist whose flBook No 131 on My Worlding Reading Journey - Jordan.
Comprising two interwoven narratives, the novel follows Nour, the present-day protagonist whose flight from a war-torn Syria parallels the journey of her imaginary heroine—Rawiya, a medieval mapmaker’s apprentice. Guided by a map that her cartographer mother paints in acrylics, Nour also follows Rawiya’s journey—traveling from Syria, through Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco, before arriving in Ceuta.
"The Map of Salt and Stars" takes place during the ongoing Syrian Civil War, focusing heavily on the experiences of refugees fleeing the violence and destruction caused by the conflict. The journey through the countries emphasizes the affect of the war on each country visited.
Jordan, especially, houses many Syrian refugees. Nour and her family stay there with relatives on their way to her father's brother in Ceuta.
The book is quite good as it immerses the reader in the experiences of Nour, her sisters and her mother.
No 127 of Countries Read on My World Reading Journey
Very well written and descriptive of the Paluan art culture. There are not many books written abouNo 127 of Countries Read on My World Reading Journey
Very well written and descriptive of the Paluan art culture. There are not many books written about Palua, so finding this book through a review by Dawn Michelle is priceless.
The author states
"In Palau, as in many other places in Micronesia, our culture is largely unwritten. We have a very limited literature, much of it of alien or religious origin and orientation. Fortunately, Palauan art has served as an unwritten medium of instructions and as a stimulus for the transmission of our culture through oral interpretation by our elders."
The story starts in South Africa when Charlotte De Granville enlists the help of a detective to tail her hNo 128 on My World Reading Journey - Comoros
The story starts in South Africa when Charlotte De Granville enlists the help of a detective to tail her husband and identify his marital indiscretions.
That detective is Tony Moretti, our hero. His 'research' eventually takes him to Comoros, where he meets Lisa, daughter of Mr. De Granville. De Granville, whose real name is Colonel Bob Devereaux, stages a coup in the Comoros.
The genre of the book is described as noir. Noir - dark and with a hero who is cynical.
This book was not popular with lots of people. Notice the 3.14 rating. I liked it!! The author's similes and metaphors made me smile multiple times.
Examples
"It was time to separate the bull from the shit."
"a sausage cut in four with the pieces on opposite poles to make it a balanced meal."
The book was overly long and sometimes I did not know where the story was going. I DID like the ending. Things got tied up nicely.
The book covered the finding and amassing of the manuscripts, how Al Qaeda overran the country in ordMali - my 126th stop on my World Reading Journey.
The book covered the finding and amassing of the manuscripts, how Al Qaeda overran the country in order to reform the people of Mali and destroy their literature and music, and how France and the United States played a part in vanquishing Al Qaeda and getting the manuscripts moved out of harm's way.
This book is about Islamic Manuscripts. The creation of these manuscripts range from the 13th to the 20th century, with most of them being made during the Mali Empire (1230�1672).
Abdel Kader Haidara was a small boy when he first learned about the hidden treasures of Timbuktu. His father, Mamma, collected manuscripts. Abdel became enthused about manuscripts early in life.
He was approached by the director of the Ahmed Baba Institute. The purpose of the Institute was to find and save these Islamic manuscripts. The director had built up the archive from nothing—starting with the fifteen manuscripts borrowed from Mamma Haidara’s collection. A team of eight prospectors scouted for more. They embarked on one hundred separate missions in search of manuscripts. In a decade of driving through the bush in a convoy of four-wheel-drive vehicles, they had accumulated just 2,500 works. There were many thousands more out there. After decades of thievery by the French colonial army, the owners of the manuscripts had become fiercely protective of them and deeply distrustful of government institutions. At first reluctant to get involved, Haidara was finally convinced that it was his DUTY to find these documents and he did get involved.
Abdel was able to procure many more. The latest count was over 300,000 manuscripts. Then Al Qaeda invaded Mali with the intent of "purifying" the resident Muslims, and ridding the culture of literature and music. They were enforcing Shariah Law to the utmost, removing body parts from the people who did not comply. They also burned manuscripts and destroyed musician's instruments.
The French came in to help. The country had originally been named French West Sudan. The French still felt a protective involvement. They came to defeat the jihadists.
It was vital to get the manuscripts out of Timbuktu. The United States Ambassador, Vicki Huddleston got involved.
My eyes were opened by this book. I did not realize where Timbuktu was located and had hardly processed the Islamic influence in Northern Africa including the Al Qaeda terrorism.
I encourage you to read the publisher's description of the book. It gives you player names and clarifies the timeline.
The book is not an easy read but I was able to procure the audible and the flow made the understanding easier. I like to listen to audible to hear the pronunciations of places and name with which I am not familiar. There were many incidences of clarified word pronunciation provided.
I liked the book but know it is not for everybody.
Book No 124 in my World Reading Journey - Country - France.
Valerie Perrin, the author, is French and the book takes place in France.
Our main characteBook No 124 in my World Reading Journey - Country - France.
Valerie Perrin, the author, is French and the book takes place in France.
Our main character is Violette Trenet who meets Phillipe Toussaint. They have a child together, Leonine, and marry on Leonine's third birthday.
They work together as level-crossing keepers. The barrier has to be lowered and raised manually and that is what Violette does each time a train comes through. Violette does most of the work; Phillipe is too busy with his extra marital affairs and riding his motor cycle.
When the level-crossing gets automated, the Toussaints need to find another job. Violette becomes the cemetery keeper at Brancion-en-Chalon cemetery. Phillipe reluctantly accompanies her.
But then Phillipe disappears. Violette is just as happy about that.
The story is told in a non-linear fashion, jumping between the present and the past.
The story has lots of complications which, of course, I will not share. That would spoil the story for you.
There are many characters. I have already told you of three.
Others:
The three gravediggers - especially Elvis is of note - he sings Elvis Presley songs (and very well, I might add)
Julien Seul - Julien is a police chief, although this distinction adds little to the story apart from the resources at his disposal, which he uses to locate the missing Philippe. More prominently, he appears at the cemetery with a mission and a mystery: to leave the ashes of his late mother at an unknown man’s graveside.
Sasha - the former cemetery keeper who Violette replaces when he retires
I found this book very unique with a strong female 'heroine'. I was disappointed in more than one of the characters though which sullied the book for me.
I still recommend the book because of its distinctive story line.
"Cacao, “the food of the gods,� was once so valued that, in ancient tNo 120 in my Reading the World Quest
Country: Cote d'Ivoire
From the Author's Note:
"Cacao, “the food of the gods,� was once so valued that, in ancient times, its beans were used as money. Today, we have turned it into a cheap sweet we consume thoughtlessly, but cacao still comes at a terrible cost."
"Today, almost three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is grown in Africa, with 40 percent coming from the Ivory Coast alone."
The profit margins are slim in this industry of growing the bean. "Thus, many turn to free labor: modern-day slavery. Too often, that labor comes from children."
The story and characters:
Tara Sullivan’s young adult novel, The Bitter Side of Sweet, provides an account of modern-day child slavery in Ivory Coast, Africa. Although fictional, the story highlights the dark reality of the cacao industry as Sullivan chronicles the journey of three children to freedom.
Amadou - Fifteen-year-old Amadou is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. His main focus is keeping his brother safe.
Seydou - At just eight years old, Seydou is the youngest boy on the farm.
Both of the boys were stolen from Mali, the country north of Cote d'Ivoire. According to the map at the front of the book, the cacao is grown in the southern part of the country north of the coast. They ARE far from home.
Kahdija -Thirteen-year-old Khadija is the first and only girl to come to the cacao farm. She has her own story of how she got to the Cacao Farm.
The story chronicles the relationship of the three and how they finally get away from the farm.
This is one of the better Reading the World books I have read... notice the 5 stars.
Geography lesson is one of the reasonReading the World No 119 Laos
This is one of the better Reading the World books I have read... notice the 5 stars.
Geography lesson is one of the reasons why. I can picture the Mekong River dividing Laos and Thailand.
However, it is the character of Dr. Siri Paiboun that really intrigued me. He is a doctor, 72 years old, and has been conscripted as the National Coroner. And he thought he could retire; the Communists had a different idea.
He has two assistants. Mr. Geung has Down's Syndrome, but also a phenomenal memory for detail. He reminds Siri constantly of procedures that Siri has forgotten. Dtui is a nurse and begs to be trained as Siri's assistant, hoping to become the next Coroner. Siri is happy to oblige.
The joke between G and S is a daily question: "Do we have any customers today?" You know, did any dead people walk in?
Most of the time the answer is no. But then things get busy. Mrs Nitnoy dies suddenly. Her husband tries to speed up the coroner's report. Is it murder?
Then there are two boatmen who show up dead in the river. What is the story there?
Another thing that Siri becomes involved in is answering why politicians from the South are dying faster than flies. Maybe the Hmong have killed them with potions.
For the most part, I have been reading 1 book per country, but this series has me hooked, and it might get me to read more.
Does a great job of describing Namibian culture and geography.
The Country No 113 in My World Reading Quest
Namibia
EXCELLENT BOOK!! A real page turner.
Does a great job of describing Namibian culture and geography.
The characters are many in number but the secrets they keep are amazing and I believe all gets resolved in the end.
Here is what the author has to say:
During recent years, my family and I had the privilege of living in Windhoek, Namibia. We found Namibia to be a stunning country. The sheer expanse of the landscape renewed my hope for our planet, while the Namibians we met, as diverse as they are, were funny, fascinating, and welcoming.
As an expatriate in a nation where few Americans reside, I was also lucky enough to befriend several U.S. State Department employees and their families. These were delightful, smart, and brave men and women who had dedicated their lives to representing and defending our nation. I admired them greatly. Admiration, however, does not make for good comedy, which is why I took many satirical liberties in the name of a story. I hope the dear friends I made in Namibia will forgive me. Making stuff up is the whole job.
Except the part about our American president at the time bungling the name of the magnificent country of Namibia and calling the entire continent of Africa a shithole. That totally happened. It was nuts.
The Jaguar Smile is Salman Rushdie's first full-length non-fiction book, which he wrote in 1987No 110 in my Reading the World Journey
Country Nicaragua
The Jaguar Smile is Salman Rushdie's first full-length non-fiction book, which he wrote in 1987 after visiting Nicaragua. The book is subtitled A Nicaraguan Journey and relates his travel experiences, the people he met as well as views on the political situation then facing the country. The book was written during a break the author took from writing his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
After a period of political and economic turmoil under dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (commonly known by the initial FSLN or as the Sandinistas) came to power in Nicaragua in 1979 supported by much of the populace and elements of the Catholic church. The government was initially backed by the U.S. under President Jimmy Carter, but the support evaporated under the presidency of Ronald Reagan in light of evidence that the Sandinistas were providing help to the FMLN rebels in El Salvador.
Rushdie's three-week trip to Nicaragua in the summer of 1986 was at the invitation of Sandinista Association of Cultural Workers which was billed as, "the umbrella organisation that brought writers, artists, musicians, craftspeople, dancers and so on, together under the same roof".
I appreciated both Rushdie's candid appraisal of the situation as well as his trips to both the Pacific and the Caribbean Coast.
Riga is the capital of Latvia. it has been in existence sinc 1201. The country has been independent sBook No 115 on my World Reading Journey - Latvia.
Riga is the capital of Latvia. it has been in existence sinc 1201. The country has been independent since 18 Nov 1918.
"THERE IS A LEGEND about Riga, which states that every hundred years a diminutive, mythical creature rises up out of the depths of the River Daugava and asks the first inhabitant he encounters: ‘Is Riga complete?� If the answer is ‘No, it’s not finished�, then the creature will disappear and Riga will be left to continue growing and prospering for another century. Should the day arise when an inhabitant of Riga answers, ‘Yes, Riga is complete�, then the whole city will disappear, engulfed by the waters, along with the mythical creature."
"While Riga has been spared the symbolic waters of forgetfulness that the old legend warns about, it has not been spared the fires of war, with their bloodbaths and devastation, nor the scythe of the Grim Reaper during repeated bouts of the Black Death."
I enjoyed the short stories and learned more about Riga as a result. Especially rewarding was learning about the National Library of Latvia. If you have time read about it and view the building on Wikipedia:
The main character, Morgan Holland, is a CALL GIRL. She has travelled widely. Her trip to San Marino fiNo 134 in My World Reading Journey - San Marino
The main character, Morgan Holland, is a CALL GIRL. She has travelled widely. Her trip to San Marino fits right in with my desire to read at least one book set in each country of the world.
Revealed about San Marino in the book:
“Did you know that the country is only twenty-three miles in diameter?�
“It's also the oldest and longest lasting Republic in the world! It was founded around three hundred AD.� (by persecuted Christians fleeing Nero and Rome)
"Sebastian followed her gaze and smiled so wide that he had to laugh because the tourist attraction couldn't have been more perfect for Morgan. A vampire and werewolf museum with a six-foot-tall Lycanthrope in the front window display had got Morgan to turn in that direction without further thought. " (And yes I googled it and there IS such a museum in San Marino).
The book was typical for the genre (romance with a twist). Or at least I assume so, since I don't read many books where the main character is a glorified prostitute!! But I CAN tick off one more country and did learn something about San Marino.
Both reading on ScribD and listening to an awesome audio.
The year is 1957 in the fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica. The locaCountry no 103 - Jamaica.
Both reading on ScribD and listening to an awesome audio.
The year is 1957 in the fictional town of Gibbeah, Jamaica. The local religious leader is Hector Bligh. He is the antithesis of religious piety, however, as he is an alcoholic and known as The Rum Preacher even though he prefers whiskey.
His religious dominance in the town is challenged one day when the 'Apostle' York comes to town. In fact, Apostle York beats up the Rum Preacher and takes over the church.
This is Marlon James first book. It draws on his own personal experience of Jamaican homophobia.
The Ukraine is currently very much in the news. This plus my goal to read as many world books as possible spurred me to read this book NOW.
I knew nothThe Ukraine is currently very much in the news. This plus my goal to read as many world books as possible spurred me to read this book NOW.
I knew nothing of the events of 2013 in the Ukraine. My eyes have been opened.
Also, I knew nothing of FEMEN. Once again, eyes are opened.
In this review, I not only intend to describe what was happening in 2013, but also offer some thoughts on how those events relate to current events.
In November 2013, thousands of Ukrainian citizens gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to protest then-President Yanukovych's failure to sign a referendum with the European Union, opting instead to forge a closer alliance with President Vladimir Putin and Russia. The peaceful protests turned violent when military police shot live ammunition into the crowd, killing over a hundred civilians.
Kalani Pickhart chronicles all of this political intrigue, but chooses to place the focus firmly on her characters, ensuring the book never reads like a history lesson. Though they are embroiled in the turmoil caused by the riots, we also see the enduring nature of the characters' more personal hardships. Each of them is struggling with grief in some way: Misha is an engineer mourning the loss of his wife; Katya is a doctor treating the wounded while contemplating her own son's death; Aleksandr, a former KGB agent, is searching for his long-lost daughter; and Slava is a young activist estranged from her parents after a difficult childhood, now forced to hide her blossoming relationship with another woman due to rampant homophobia. While violence rages around them, each is simply fighting for the chance to be with those they love.
FEMEN: Femen (stylized in all caps; Ukrainian: Фемен) is a radical feminist activist group whose goal is to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing controversial, topless protests against sex tourism, religious institutions, sexism, homophobia, and other social, national, and international topics. Founded in Ukraine, the group is now based in France. Femen describes its ideology as being "sextremism, atheism and feminism".
Today's Ukrainian war seems to have a sinister purpose to Putin. He once had the Ukraine under his thumb and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has cut off that thumb, hand and all.
5 stars
No 98 in Reading the World Quest. I am anxious to see what will come up as No 100!!!...more
Country No 101 on my quest to 'travel the world through books'.
Country is Moldova after the break-up of the USSR.
The book is called funny and I agree.Country No 101 on my quest to 'travel the world through books'.
Country is Moldova after the break-up of the USSR.
The book is called funny and I agree. It borders on the ludicrous: so foolish, unreasonable, or out of place as to be amusing; ridiculous.
It is also tragic. Largo, the town in Moldova in which the book takes place, is down on its luck, and its citizens look to Italy for its promise of a better life.
From Publishers Weekly:
From clergy members such as Father Pataii to politicians such as Voronin, to disillusioned citizens such as the Serafim and Vassily, an often wry narrator chronicles the villagers' cartoonish attempts to escape their impoverished fates. The result is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking tale, in which location becomes just as much a character as the people who populate it.
I enjoyed the book and was more affected by the humor than the tragedy.
It gave me a good picture of Moldovan culture at the time and that is what I appreciate the most.
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