The Art of Resistance - Justus Rosenberg

This memoir is incredible! Brilliantly and beautifully written, a story of a few years that lasts a lifetime. I literally could not put it down, and it followed me in my dreams... (I also did end up reading parts of it in the middle of the night when one of my kids woke me up).

Justus Rosenberg’s journey from Danzig to the US via France and Germany during and after just WW2 is quite simply amazing. He left Danzig to study in Paris (a great decision made by his parents at the time), and after the invasion of France in 1940 ended up in Marseille, then Grenoble, then various areas in the Drôme, before joining a US battalion and then the official refugee aid agency at the time (before it became the UNHCR). He spent time working to help refugees get out of France while being a refugee himself, escaped capture to then join the Résistance proper. I loved reading about his experiences making his way around France, living with Surrealists such as André Breton, working undercover in Grenoble (the city where I grew up), and his days as a flâneur in Paris. I really enjoyed the author’s descriptions of flânerie, descriptions that match my own personal way of discovering a new place I call home as well as old ones. I also loved how his memoir is peppered with his own personal thoughts and interpretations of events and possible future events, memories clear as day to both author and reader all these decades later.

Justus Rosenberg knows his story of survival and resistance is incredible but also knows that it was very much a mix of circumstance, luck, place, time, his observation skills, his quick thinking, his education, and also due to how he looked (young for his age and blond with blue eyes). But to me Justus didn’t just survive, he made the most of his circumstances to help others as much as he could, even when his own situation was pretty dire. He is such as inspiration and I can’t wait to read about more of his life (those FBI files sound very interesting!).

Justus Rosenberg will be 100 years old in 2021. His story is amazing, and in my opinion a must read, both in terms of how we need to remember the past, but also because his life philosophy is something that I think would bring hope to many, and maybe inspire many more to be like him. I am certainly inspired.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this amazing memoir in exchange for an honest review!

Know My Name - Chanel Miller

I remember reading Chanel’s (anonymous) victim impact statement in the news back in 2016, and I still remember how powerful it was. I had been following the court case a little and was horrified when Turner received such a light sentence. Chanel’s statement struck me because it was so honest, so real, and because, like so many women, I related to every single word she had written. I’m so glad that she decided to write a memoir because when it comes to sexual assault a victim’s voice is so often silenced, or never even heard, and the perpetrator’s is too often amplified. Through her own experience Chanel has given all of us a voice.

Chanel writes to beautifully, and so bravely about her assault and the trial, the sentencing and aftermath, as well as all of the time between these moments. I think that the time between is the most important as it is time that is not before and not after: it’s suspended time. We read about a crime, an arrest, and then a trial and conviction (or not), but how often do we actually read about how those in betweens are survived by those who were the victim? How is it possible to continue with life normally, to “move on”, when there are no certainties to aim for? When trial dates are pushed back at the last minute again and again? When you gear yourself up to testify and then realize that the media have already created an image of you anyway, so what is the point? Everybody wants to turn the rapist into a human, but where is the support for the one person truly victimized by the crime?

While reading Know My Name I wrote down my own stories. I doubt they will ever see the light of day, BUT I felt a certain relief we are allowed to have a voice, however many years may have passed. This memoir is not easy to read (at all), but if you read one book this year it should be this one: Chanel is amazing, and her story shows us just how the system is rigged to demonize survivors and normalize rapists. Change happens when we fight against these systems, and I cannot thank this woman enough for standing up for all of us survivors of sexual abuse and assault.

Side note: Currently most of the books I read are either borrowed from the library or given to me in exchange for an honest review. I do still buy books of course, especially those written by authors I want to support. I also only want to support local, independent bookstores and we are lucky to have quite a few of those in Sacramento! I bought Know My Name at Capital Books on K Street, a lovely little family-run book shop. Most indie bookstores have websites where you order and ship to your home without having to leave your couch, so there really is no need to support Amazon over independent stores.

At The Narrow Waist Of The World - Marlena Maduro Baraf

Who hasn’t heard of the Panama Canal before? I know I have, and I kind of know where it is and the purpose that it serves. However, I don’t know much about Panama at all, apart from the fact that it is located south of Costa Rica in Central America, and that it is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. I was really excited to read Marlena Maduro Baraf’s memoir At The Narrow Waist Of The World as I wanted to know more about Panama, and about growing up in Panama in the 50’s and 60’s and immigrating to the US from there as a young woman.

At The Narrow Waist Of The World reads just like memories work: small chapters are vignettes of images and thoughts conjuring up a moment in time and a place, people, linked to all of the other vignettes surrounding it. I love that Marlena Maduro Baraf keeps some phrases and words in Spanish as it helps develop an overall view of her life in Panama, but also for personal reasons it reminds me of my memories that are always bilingual. When I try to explain a memory words appear in French first, and then English. Boulangerie is not bakery but boulangerie, corner store will always be Tabac. Marlena Maduro Baraf’s writing has poetic rhythm, and flows like a river through the story: soft and gentle at times, as if floating through hazy summer days, and more powerful, direct in others.

At The Narrow Waist Of The World is a story of growing up Jewish in Panama, a small, but strong, community amongst all of the other communities in the country. It is also the story of growing up with a mentally unstable mother, and the loss of a strong paternal figure early on in life. It is the story of living both in and out of privilege, and of searching for oneself as a teen and then as a young adult, at home amidst family in Panama, in boarding school in the US and then finally as an adult in NYC.

At The Narrow Waist Of The World is a memoir of discovery and self-discovery, and it is also a poignant way of laying the past to rest. As Marlena Maduro Baraf describes her relationship with her mother over the years, and her need to withdraw from her mother’s constant needs and breakdowns, you can also feel her need to lay all of her feelings out in the open as a way to lay them to rest. Sometimes the jumps between time and place were a little overwhelming, and sometimes I had to go back and double check characters as the author has a very large family, but neither of these things really bothered me. I really enjoyed learning more about the modern history of Panama, and of the way Jewish tradition and Panamanian culture blended together as the community grew over the decades. And I also enjoyed Marlena Maduro Baraf’s beautiful writing style and her lyrical voice.

Thanks to Marlena Maduro Baraf and She Writes Press for the advance copy of this beautiful memoir, in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story - Aaron Bobrow-Strain

I can’t even begin to imagine the time, research, energy, courage, and emotional toll that creating this book took on all of the participants. I personally think it is amazing piece of work: a true story of one woman’s immigration struggle in the US, entwined with the stories of others close to her, all enshrouded by the history of US immigration laws, and why they function the way they work today, and who they actually work for.

As an immigrant who spent years in a tough situation, walking a tightrope that would become strained with the weight of everything many a time, it drives me mad when people make general assumptions and complete generalizations about immigrants and the immigration process here. It often appears to me that people don’t really want to understand how complicated it actually is, or why people would want/have to come here in the first place. The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story is the type of book that needs to be read in order to get some kind of understanding into the complexities of immigration and border policies here in the US. And also on immigrants in general: we don’t fit into a specific sized box with a list of boundaries marked on the side. We are all human beings, prone to the same qualities and faults and mistakes and accomplishments that US citizens are. Except our mistakes are often used against us, and we have to live with that constant fear every day.

The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story is the story of Aida Hernandez, of her family, of her history and her family’s history, of Douglas, AZ, and Agua Prieta in Mexico. It is the story of prosperity and poverty due to industrialization, of immigration policies, and natural migration patterns, of family separation, immigration incarceration, and increasingly militarized borders. It is also the story of domestic violence, trauma, abuse, and PTSD, and the story of courage and strength to fight in order to see a better day.

Aaron Bobrow-Strain does an amazing job of telling Aida’s story but also providing the much, much larger picture, using important facts to illustrate how immigration policies came to what they are today. He also provides detailed accounts on how difficult the processes are to navigate, and exactly who profits from them right now. This book is not an easy read but it is a brilliant read, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain balances the story perfectly with background information and important fact. Don’t expect to read this in one setting, but do expect to take tons of notes, learn a lot, and open your eyes. I have personally spent a lot of time navigating impossible immigration processes, but I also learnt loads from this book. In my opinion it would greatly benefit the average US citizen to read this as it will help provide a better image of US immigration today than the everyday news and current administration does.

Love Thy Neighbor - Ayaz Virji, M.D. and Alan Eisenstock

This book packs a huge punch - and is a necessary read. The honesty, humility, outrage, and truths in this book are so refreshing and educational - personal but also the experience of so many people.

Dr Ayaz Virji is a doctor, father, Muslim, and American. Tired of working in a busy hospital where the main focus is getting patients in and out, he decides to move to a small town in Minnesota to take over a position in the hospital there. He moves with his wife and kids, and after a short period of adjustment to small town America, they find themselves thriving in the community. Dr Ayaz Virji helps expand the hospital, his wife Musarrat opens her own business, and their three kids appear to settle in well at school. And then Donald Trump is elected as president.

After Dr Ayaz Virji’s initial post-election outrage and fearful thoughts he decides to stay put and with the help of his wife and the local Lutheran pastor, Mandy France, sets up a community talk where he provides information on Islam and important truths on Islam, terrorism, women, and Sharia Law. His talk is a success and the group expands their horizons to other local towns with the idea of educating locals on Islam and creating a community of unity (“love thy neighbor”) rather than fear and hate. Some talks go well, others are outright scary, one town even going so far to book an anti-Muslim hate speaker to “counter” Dr Ayaz Virji’s talk. Still, he and his family have stayed put in their home and continue to educate and rise above the rising wave of hate in this country.

Dr Ayaz Virji and Musarrat are remarkable. Brave, human, caring. This book provides an immediate view of how the rising tide of Islamophobia hurts people all over the country every single day, and how ignorance continues to prevail thanks to a continuous rhetoric of hate spewed forth this administration, the media, and social media outlets like Twitter. Being spat on by a neo Nazi last year left its mark on me - I can’t imagine how painful it is to have to live with these types of assaults, aggressions, and micro-aggressions every single day.

This book is a necessary read, and I really hope that it finds itself in the hands of those who need to read it the most (I’m looking at you, people who voted for Trump because they thought he was going to make their lives better).

Thanks to Dr Ayaz Virji for his bravery and service to all Americans in need of education - it makes my heart hurt that he is doing this but soar because hopefully it is making a difference. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

The Art Of Leaving - Ayelet Tsabari

I’ve fallen in love with Ayelet Tsabari. In the “I want her to be my best friend because she reminds me of me and therefore would totally get me” kind of way. The Art of Leaving is Ayelet Tsabari’s collection of personal essays, starting around the death of her father when she was 9, and moving on through her two years in the IDF, her extensive travels and life abroad, relationships, love, family: her musings on life in her beautiful voice.

I felt like I was coming home when I started this book. The writing is beautiful, full of metaphors, and because I related to so much of it I felt like I was curling up on the couch with a very old friend. The way that Ayelet Tsabari describes the Arava desert and the feelings she gets when arriving in Eilat reminded me of my own; her descriptions of different places in India, of NYC, LA… So much of it felt like home, or at least some place that could have been home for me for a while.

Losing one’s father early in life has lifelong effects that shape lives, decisions, and even thoughts. I know because it happened to me too. Obviously my life is not the same as Ayelet Tsabari’s, we grew up in very different places, in different families, different cultures, but there are many places where our lives could have interlocked, ships bumping into each other while crossing oceans. Growing up feeling like I didn’t belong somewhat, immigrant, lost, found, sister, girlfriend, carer, holder of secrets until death… I have been writing essays and poems about my home(s) for so many years, holding them close to my heart, and it was so inspiring to read someone else’s stories of home, of leaving, someone else’s wanderings.

I also learned a lot from the author about growing up Mizrahi in Israel. It cleared up some questions I had about certain words/actions/reactions I noticed on and off between employees during my time working on the kibbutz in Israel. It made sense a long time afterwards, but I feel I was very naïve at the time… In any case it makes me happy to read Israel from perspectives and people who are underrepresented.

I now need to jump on Ayelet Tsabari’s first publication, The Best Place On Earth, because as I said above, I have fallen in love with her writing and the way she describes her world, our world. Also, I feel terribly homesick now for my home that will never be my home Israel, and for my home that will always be my home NYC.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy. Thanks to Ayelet Tsabari for the beautiful words, for the inspiration, and for all of the memories that this book drew from my soul.

The Bold World - Jodie Patterson

I started reading this book expecting something a little different. Actually, I don’t really know what I was expecting to be honest. I was interested in learning more about parenting a transgender child and honestly thought the book would be mainly about that. But The Bold World is a lot more than that, it’s a deeply honest, beautiful, and heartfelt memoir of life, learning, challenges, and love.

Yes, The Bold World is about navigating the discovery that your three year old, Penelope, knows he is a boy rather than the girl that society decided he was at birth. But that is just part of the story, because the main narrative is how Jodie Patterson got to that point in her life, and where she and her family have moved to since then. It is a memoir of growing up as a black girl in a somewhat traditional family setting, with parents who made sure her and her sister had a wide and varied knowledge of who they were and where they came from, but where gender-specific values were clearly defined. It is a memoir of self-discovery, of climbing mountains and barreling through challenges, of growing up, and of being human.

For some reason I was surprised at just how much I related to Jodie’s narrative, and how moved I am by this book. I often see my life as a jigsaw puzzle where I am constantly trying to make pieces fit while running on a treadmill backwards with my little humans pulling me in all directions. Obviously my children are not Jodie’s children, but I have a similar personality and mindset to hers’ and related to so much of what she says. We have similar parenting styles too, which made me smile a lot while reading. I admire how honest she is in her book about her life, her thoughts, her relationships, her parents, her children... I feel like a lot of it must have been difficult to write. And her honesty is an inspiration to all of us to be more forgiving of ourselves but also more open to seeing the world differently.

The other day my three year old said to me “I’m not a boy I’m not a girl I’m just RORA!!” - What else could I say but “yep you are Rora”? It’s up to us to let go with the rigid gender assignments and just accept that strict boxes are not the direction this world needs to be going in. I didn’t grow up in a very traditional household at all, but those rigid gender boxes still take a hold on us, and I really appreciated seeing how Jodie navigated through her choppy waters and how her family came together as one to grow stronger together.

The Bold World is also beautifully written: Jodie brings you into her family as if you are part of it, and I honestly feel like we are good friends now (I wish?!). I think many people will appreciate her insight, warmth, and honesty. I’m so glad I picked this one up, as once I started it I couldn’t put it down!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book!

2018 in Books

According to Goodreads I read 106 books this year, which sounds about normal for me, always a book or two on the go, always a book I’m itching to discuss with someone, anyone. I also started my own personal reading challenge this year, where I have to read at least one book from each African country. This challenge is moving into 2019 as I started it more than halfway through 2018, and there are many countries in Africa, and many, many choices of literature and authors to choose from.

2018 has been a real mix of books: new, old, recent, and important. There have also been some duds here and there and others that I just couldn’t get into, and a few library books that I kept renewing until I finally realized I wouldn’t be reading them. I don’t consider reading to be just for entertainment, it is also part of my overall continuous education, and some books are not read for personal enjoyment. But not everything is for everyone, and there were definitely some of those on my list this year. There were also some stunning pieces of work, books that I will be revisiting again and again.

Reviews for all books that I have read in 2018 can be found here. This post will focus only on my favorite books released in 2018 and why you and everyone else should read them. For each of these books I can remember exactly when I read them, exactly what my mindset was at the time and exactly why they touched my heart and mind. If you haven’t read them I certainly recommend you do, and if you have I would love to hear your own thoughts! Here’s to a very happy new year full of laughs, of love and of great new reads to share!

(Books are in the order I read them, no other meaning to the order as there is no way I could ever pick out a number 1! Full reviews are hyperlinked. I also haven’t read anyone else’s best of list yet, but I am going to have a look how many of my personal faves appear on other lists after posting this!).

A Perilous Path - Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law by Sherrilyn Ifill; Loretta Lynch; Bryan Stevenson; Anthony C. Thompson

Based on a roundtable discussion that took place in early 2017 this book is full of topics we really need to talk about, and even more importantly the work we need to do in order to make proper change. It’s also a great introduction to the enormous amount of work that Sherrilyn Ifill, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony C. Thompson have done and continue to do.

Educated by Tara Westover

A beautifully written memoir that reads like a novel, Tara Westover recounts her extraordinary life growing up “off the grid” in a world that many of us can’t really imagine actually exists in current day USA, and how she manages to get herself an education that ultimately leads her to Cambridge University in England.

In A Day’s Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers - Bernice Yeung

A deep look into the fight against sexual harassment and violence in areas that have historically never been as well regulated as other areas: farmworkers, domestic workers, and janitorial assistants. These are also areas that employ a high percentage of immigrants, and the book provides a real in-depth look into exploitation, harassment, and violence in the workplace, as well as the continuous battles to create real change in these areas of work.

The Incredible True Story of Blondy Baruti - Blondy Baruti

Blondy Baruti is a real inspiration: from playing basketball barefoot on the streets if the Democratic Republic of the Congo, surviving civil war, violence, and starvation, to receiving a basketball scholarship in the US, and then starring in Hollywood movies, he lives to fight for a better day. The book is so well-written you feel like you are sitting by his side and listening to his voice. It was an unputdownable read for me!

The Sun Does Shine - Anthony Ray Hinton

Can you imagine spending 30 years on Death Row for a crime you didn’t commit? Anthony Ray Hinton did just that. The Sun Does Shine is a beautifully written memoir of a wrongful conviction, of forgiveness, and of strength. It is also, in my opinion, a very important view of why the death penalty should not exist.

Brothers of the Gun - Marwan Hisham

Marwan Hisham provides us with a real look into revolution, (civil) war, ISIS occupation, and into Syria in general. Can you imagine living in Raqqa under occupation? Neither can I, but this memoir is a must read and shines a good light on the ongoing conflict that we all have a part in perpetuating.

The Girl Who Smiled Beads - Clemantine Wamariya

A profoundly marking story of genocide, survival, strength, and honesty: Clemantine was only 6 when she was forced to crawl out of her grandparents’ home and run for her life, and she kept on running out of Rwanda, in and out of refugee camps, and finally to the US where she made a life for herself despite everything she went through. I want everyone to read this book.

All The Women In My Family Sing – edited by Deborah Santana

An anthology that raises the voices of women, of mostly underrepresented women, and makes them heard. An absolutely necessary read in my opinion, and one that I keep going back to. I also love the work that Nothing But The Truth Publishing is doing for women of color writers, editors, and illustrators.

The Map of Salt and Stars - Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read… The story of leaving a home for another, of borders, of maps, seas, and stars, and of family. Very, very current, but also timeless.

A Better Place - Pati Navalta Poblete

Gun violence, the never-ending evil of US society, which seems to touch everyone, no matter who they are or where they are from. Pati Navalta Poblete’s memoir is a heartbreaking read of a mother’s loss, and how she turns her grief into a way to help the community.

America is Not the Heart - Elaine Castillo

Such a deep novel with so many layers, encompassing themes such as immigration, family, Filipino history and culture, home, and also romantic relationships between women. Everything is dealt with in such a realistic fashion that you have no problem falling into the wonderfully flawed and new (to me) world of Elaine Castillo. I learnt so much about the Philippines and about Filipino culture, and realized that there is a giant hole in terms of accessible Filipino literature in this country.

The Myth of Perpetual Summer - Susan Crandall

This novel was quite a revelation to me for personal reasons, and I absolutely sped through it because the story had me hanging on by a thread all the way through. Set mainly in a small town in Mississippi in the 60’s and 70’s, it is the story of coming of age in a very unconventional family, amidst secrets, mental illness, and gossip. It is wonderfully written and raises many conversation starters on mental illness awareness that are still very much needed today.

American Hate - Arjun Singh Sethi

A profound collection of testimonials from people residing in the US who have been affected by prejudice, racism, hate in the build-up to the 2016 elections, and directly afterwards. We have to tell these stories, and we have to remind everyone that by remaining silent we are complicit in the perpetuation of white supremacy and hatred of “the other”.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree - Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Colombia in the late 80’s early 90’s, the divide between affluence and abject poverty, and a young girl’s story of learning about life through a climate of war, violence, and greed. This novel is beautifully written, and the perspective is quite original as well as heartbreaking.

Ohio - Stephen Markley

An epic novel that is extremely depressing, gray, sickening, and even completely hopeless at times. This one is not for everyone, and you may struggle a bit at first, but once you get into it, the story won’t let you go. The worst (best?) part of this story is that it could be absolutely, 100% true. Who knows, maybe it is?

The Rain Watcher - Tatiana de Rosnay

Family secrets, a mystery that is slowly unraveled, love, a rising Seine that threatens to flood most of Paris… My favorite type of novel, written by one of my favorite contemporary authors. There are some beautiful descriptions of Paris in the dreariness of continuous rain, and there is a profound sadness that emanates from the narrative that makes you want to look at your own life and possibly rectify some wrongs.

Disturbed In Their Nests - Alephonsion Deng and Judy A. Bernstein

You don’t have to have read They Poured Fire on Us From The Sky (written by Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng, and Benjamin Ajak) to appreciate this memoir, but I do suggest everyone reads both anyway. The stories of the Lost Boys of Sudan are absolutely heartbreaking and an important read for everyone, especially in these times when our countries are restricting immigration and banning refugees and people seeking asylum. I wish people would remember that so many people don’t leave their home countries because they want to, most leave because they have no other choice.

Heart Berries - Terese Marie Mailhot

There is a real reason behind all of the rave reviews of this book: it’s a must read in so many ways. I haven’t read anything like it before, but at the same time so much of it felt wildly familiar. The marks intergenerational trauma leaves on us are deep and painful, something that Terese Marie Mailhot knows all too well. But Heart Berries is so much more than just that, so, so much more.

Heavy - Kiese Laymon

Heavy is truth. Heavy is Kiese Laymon’s life, truthfully, no sugarcoating and no hiding behind anything. It is also bravery, honesty, and beauty, as well as a profound insight into US society and culture.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape - Sohaila Abdulali

This is an honest, accessible, well-written, and extremely important read where Sohaila Abdulali talks about rape and the effects of rape on the individual and on society as a whole in a no-holds-barred manner. It’s refreshing, full of significant facts and details, and a great way to lay the topic open for everyone to talk about, so that we can really make proper changes.

Wunderland - Jennifer Cody Epstein

WW2 historical fiction is my consistent go-to read, but I have been pretty disappointed with more recent finds. Until I read Wunderland, which basically blew all of those disappointments out of the window. This is the story of two best friends in Berlin in the 1930’s, growing up under Hitler’s tightening powerful grip, and the legacy that they leave behind them for the next generations. It’s a powerful and very thought-provoking read.

This Is Cuba - David Ariosto

I’ve always been fascinated with Cuba and Cuban culture, so this was a must read on my list. I’m so glad I read it, it reads like a travelogue and a memoir, and contains many important historical and current facts that are woven into the narrative. David Ariosto is a brilliant writer and you feel like you discover Cuba with him, while learning a huge amount about the country too.

Some other noteworthy reads this year: kisiskâciwan - Indigenous Voices from Where the River Flows Swiftly, The Come in All Colors - Malcolm Hansen, Sold on a Monday - Kristina McMorris, Enemies in Love - Alexis Clark, A Dream Called Home - Reyna Grande,  The Lost Family - Jenna Blum.

This Is Cuba - David Ariosto

It’s funny, I was making a list of my favorite books of 2018 the other day and felt a little out of sorts as it ended up being a list of 21 books, and I have a thing about odd numbers. It was for a reason though, I was subconsciously leaving one last place for This Is Cuba... I loved this book, for many reasons which I will obviously list below.

First of all I have been fascinated with Cuba since I can remember. I was meant to travel there in 2014, well I had made a plan to on my way home from Jamaica in 2013, but pregnancy and subsequent birth of first child thwarted any further travel plans for a while. Anyway, I loved how David Ariosto literally takes you back to Cuba with him, and leads you through the discovery of a country that most of us know even less than we think we do. I imagined myself right there, in his shoes, walking through the streets, searching for food in the shops, learning the ropes as an American in a country that has long been (rightfully) wary of the US. It kind of brought me back to my visit behind the Iron Curtain in the late 80’s, I could sense that feeling of displacement David Ariosto must have felt. And also that feeling of “well this is not really what I expected”.

Another aspect of the book that I loved was how well the author weaves personal experience and facts (historical and current) together. The narrative flowed seamlessly for me, and I enjoyed how David Ariosto skipped back and forth between personal interactions and experiences and information on Cuba, past, present and future. It was a learning experience, and an interesting one at that. This Is Cuba bridges gaps between the travelogue, the memoir, and the journalistic and historical overview of a country.

I also loved reading about the author’s experiences in Haiti and Venezuela. Maybe “loved” isn’t the right word... I appreciated his viewpoint as a journalist and as a human, and how difficult it must have been for him to report on Haiti after the terrible earthquake in 2010, and also after watching students clash violently with authorities in Venezuela right in front of his eyes. I also appreciated the information that he relays to us in these chapters, information that typically isn’t relayed on your regular news channel.

I’m still slightly obsessed with Cuba, and I still want to go and explore the island. This Is Cuba renewed my appetite for the country, and reminded me why I always wanted to go there in the first place. It’s such a great book and I highly recommend it! 4.5 stars

Heavy - Kiese Laymon

As he states right at the beginning of his memoir, Kiese Laymon could have written a lie. He could have sugarcoated and hidden, forgotten, and omitted. But he didn’t, and I’m so glad he told the real raw truth in Heavy. A word of warning: Heavy is going to rip your heart out more than once, and cause you to start looking at your own life in a different way. We could all tell lies, we all do tell lies… What will happen if we take a page out of Kiese Laymon’s stunning book and start telling our own truths? I hope people realize how much courage and heart it took to write this memoir, and that people take their time to unpeel the layers that are present within the words. I’m still reeling and probably will be for a while.

Heavy reads like a novel in letter form, a letter to “you”, Kiese Laymon’s mother. It follows Laymon’s life growing up poor and black to a single mother in Jackson, Mississippi, through college and right through his years teaching at Vassar. Heavy is Laymon’s life, but it is also the story of his brilliant and conflicted mother, his amazing grandmother whose drops of wisdom are always perfectly timed, of physical and sexual abuse, and of being determined despite all of the obstacles that were put in his path way before he was even conceived. Heavy is struggle: struggle with weight, struggle with control, with gambling, with finding oneself, the struggles of living in a world created only to benefit white people. I will never understand what it is to grow up as a black man in the US, but Laymon’s memoir provides excellent insight into the unique struggles faced by black men in this country. As I said earlier, Heavy is layers, and you need to appreciate them all to understand the piece of literary excellence that it is. A memoir but also a profound insight into this country and the lies this country tells itself to keep on keeping on. We are all pretty much complicit in these lies, our legacy will rest on what we actually did to make a difference. Laymon has been making his differences for years, are we making ours?

On a personal level, I have always hesitated to write full truths in case I upset people. I know exactly how much courage it took to write Heavy, and how it also must have hurt Laymon’s mother the first time she read it. You can find an absolutely beautiful letter from her on his blog which in my opinion sets the importance of writing the truth no matter what in stone. We all make mistakes, it’s up to us to use them as growth rather than hide behind them. Kiese Laymon has become a huge inspiration to me, and I’m pretty sure Heavy is going to continue to inspire and impact me for years to come.

This review doesn’t do Heavy enough justice. All I can say is that you need to read it. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy. Thanks to Kiese Laymon for putting so much of yourself into your beautiful writing.

Heart Berries - Terese Marie Mailhot

I think I was meant to read this stunning memoir right at this moment in time. I’ve been feeling particularly triggered by the news these past few weeks, and beginning to wonder again about the disservice I am doing to myself and others by not being able to talk about the childhood trauma I carry with me, masked lesions on my body, scars that don’t disappear just because we talk about them. Terese Marie Mailhot describes the effects of intergenerational trauma in a way that speaks to me directly, cuts through me as my brain recognizes and relates, my body curling into itself again and again as I read.

This memoir is sheer poetry, the writing flows beautifully; jarring, real, ripping you apart. I read it in one day, not being able to put it down, but at the same time unwilling to reach the last page.

Written pen to paper during a psychiatric stay Terese Marie Mailhot committed herself to after a breakdown, Heart Berries starts as a letter to her now husband Casey and evolves into a memoir of a life where normalcy never became an option until she was well into adulthood. Born into dysfunction, abuse, and poverty, with an alcoholic and abusive father, a mother committed to saving others while leaving her children to fend for themselves, and a grandmother who had survived the horrors of the Canadian residential schools as a child, Terese Marie Mailhot weaves past and present together as one. How does one raise one’s voice when no one wants to hear it? How does one break the cycle for once and for all? Heart Berries is Terese Marie Mailhot’s answer to those questions, and so much more.

We have spent far too long erasing, dehumanizing, categorizing, and forgetting Native American women. These are the voices that we need to listen to. These are the voices we must hear. Terese Marie Mailhot grew up on the Seabird Island First Nation Indian reservation in British Columbia, and her voice is so strong and powerful. She writes so beautifully, her heritage and upbringing woven together in her now, and her memoir strips her soul bare to the world, inspiring in its truth and multi-faceted visions of her childhood, her mind, her love, and her search for difference. I can’t recommend this book enough, and I know I will need to reread it again very soon.

A Dream Called Home - Reyna Grande

I’m working on my #ReadAfrica2018 reading project, but had to take a break for Reyna Grande’s A Dream Called Home - and I’m so glad I did! Although now I feel like I have opened a new door to a new reading challenge as she mentions so many writers and poets that I know I need to read! I have taken their names down and will keep it on the back burner for next year. Also, quite fittingly, it’s Hispanic Heritage Month here in the US, so this was a brilliantly timed memoir, both in terms of Reyna being a writer born in Mexico, and also an immigrant in the US.

A Dream Called Home is Reyna’s story of fighting for her dreams, despite her background, despite the setbacks and roadblocks, and despite the clichés and boxes people tend to stuff one another in here in the US (although that definitely doesn’t just happen here). She wrote about her story as a young Mexican girl crossing the border into the US in her memoir The Distance Between Us, and A Dream Called Home is the story of becoming an adult in a world where she never really feels at home. Each book can be read alone though.

Reyna’s parents left her and her siblings with their grandmothers in Iguala, Mexico, when they were children, and crossed the border to the US. Iguala, at the time, and most likely still today, was extremely poor, and opportunities were few and far between. Reyna’s father came back to collect them when Reyna was about 9 and they made the difficult crossing together three times (the first two times they were sent back). That itself amazes me - the crossing is so hard for an adult, I can’t even imagine how tough it would have been on a young child. Her strength and perseverance have always been there…

Anyway, in A Dream Called Home Reyna starts with her years at university, and moves on to telling the stories of how she became a teacher, a single mother, and how she continued to push herself to write and to be published. I don’t think I can express how inspiring this book was to me, and how there were some areas that I related to (but more that my partner relates to, our own stories and immigration stories meet and differ in many places). I will be buying a copy of this book for my children, so that when they are older they will understand some of the choices their parents had to make, and also know that the world is theirs, and their voices have as much weight as other voices.

Reyna’s recollections are full of many profound statements that hit me hard: that feeling of not belonging anywhere anymore, a double identity that doesn’t fit in here or there. I still carry that with me wherever I go. Reyna has inspired me to keep pushing with my own stories and my own writing, and inspired me to keep reading and talking about the stories that no one wants to talk about.

“As with the moon, there is the face that we immigrants show to the world, but our second face is the one we keep hidden in darkness so that no one can see us weeping.”

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

Butterfly - Yusra Mardini

I spontaneously burst into tears multiple times through Butterfly. It’s impossible not to have heard of Yusra Mardini before, or not to have heard about the Refugee Olympic Team, but I didn’t know that she had released a memoir this year. I’m so glad I happened upon it at the library!

Yusra was born in Syria to a relatively affluent family, and dreamed of swimming at the Olympics from a very early age. Both her sister Sara and herself trained extensively and both swam in international competitions for Syria as teens. When the war broke out Yusra continued to train, even when bombs were dropping around the pool (even IN the pool at one point).

Yusra’s life in Syria was one of a typical teen who enjoyed going out with her friends, using social media, fashion, and of course her main passion of swimming. But in 2015 she realized that she would never see her dreams come true if she stayed in Syria, and so she set out with Sara for Germany.

The trip is harrowing, and the part that has been told time and time again by journalists, where Sara, Yusra, and a few others, swim with their broken boat across the stretch of water between Turkey and Lesbos, is absolutely nerve wracking and heartbreaking. As is the part where they are stuck in Hungary and treated terribly, thrown into jail, ripped off by smugglers, treated like terrorists. I found great insight into how each of the different countries they go through treats refugees, and I think many people could benefit from reading this memoir. Out of all of the countries Yusra and Sara travel through Germany seems to have the right mindset on how to treat people who have fled their country with nothing, well, a lot better mindset than the US has to date anyway.

Yusra defies so many odds and continues to swim, and is selected by the International Olympic Committee to join the newly created ROT, and swims in Rio for the 2016 Olympics. She also becomes a spokesperson for refugees, and for humanity in general.

We need to read these stories, especially right now, because the media and governments continue to reduce refugees to something they are not. Yusra is amazing, and there are so many others like her. We need to remind our fellow human beings that refugees are people who didn’t necessarily leave their country because they wanted to, but because they had no choice.

A Better Place - Pati Navalta Poblete

Every day on average 96 people are killed by guns in the US. Today someone was killed with a gun here in Sacramento, but it most likely never made the national news. I only know because I randomly read one of my Nextdoor emails just now. Gun violence has become so normal in the US that we rarely hear about the murders, suicides, and accidental deaths that happen every single day. It’s become so commonplace that our children have to go through active shooter lockdown drills from preschool onwards. But it’s still easier for a minor to purchase an assault rifle than it is for them to buy a beer in many states! Gun violence has become our norm, but people incomprehensibly still lobby against changing laws that would bring the numbers of deaths and violence down.

Not a stranger to the ravages of gun violence, Pati Navalta Poblete suffers it firsthand when her son Robby is murdered in their hometown of Vallejo in 2014. A Better Place is Pati’s personal memoir of dealing with such a sudden and traumatic loss, losing a child who had everything to look forward to in life in such a terrible moment of violence. Pati writes so beautifully and eloquently (I’m not surprised that she has been nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize for her journalism), but also with brutal honesty. She doesn’t hold back on how her son’s death transformed her, and how she manages to claw her way back to life herself, step by step. Both heartbreaking and full of hope, A Better Place is the story of terrible sadness, but also redemption, forgiveness, and peace.

I’ve lost enough loved ones in sudden and tragic ways, and related to a lot of Pati’s journey in A Better Place. I must admit that I cried through a lot of this book, and had to put it aside a few times and take a breather, not because it was too much, but because I needed to think about Pati’s words and find my own meaning for them in my own experiences. By reading Pati’s personal journey through grief I also gained some clarity in mine. I specifically found her plan to undertake certain activities that her son would have done, even when they took her out of her personal comfort zone, to be so brave and so comforting at the same time – and I think this is something that I think I might do myself at some point.

I loved how Pati weaves little stories about Robby into the narrative, which helps us as readers see the person he was. I also love how she finally took her grief and pain and used it towards something that will make a change in the community. The Robby Poblete Foundation is a brilliant concept and I can’t wait to hear about the artwork that will be created from all of the guns that are collected during buybacks.

Thank you Pati Navalta Poblete and Nothing But The Truth Publishing for this heartbreaking, beautifully written, and necessary piece of work. A Better Place comes out on May 15th, and in my opinion is a must read.

“Life is not fair or unfair. It is not kind or unkind. It just is.”

One Life At A Time - Daniel Baxter

I have recently been thinking a lot about how we don’t really talk about HIV and AIDS that much anymore. As a kid born in the late 70’s I remember the dark days of the 80’s when people were dying in numbers from the disease and we assumed it would become a Black Death type plague, the early 90’s when our beloved Freddie Mercury died, his illness a secret until his death. And then the ARV medication cocktails started to work, and people stopped dying... The billboards disappeared and we started to worry more about HPV-related cancers, Ebola, Zika, and the re-emergence of certain vaccine-preventable viruses like measles.

Remember when reports told us that AIDS would wipe out Africa? Was it all scaremongering, or was it really on the brink of a continent wide pandemic? I certainly never really took too much time to do more than some topical research on the subject, just assumed that we had managed to solve the crisis with the drugs that had become the norm in the US. As I have been digging a little deeper into the subject recently, One Life At A Time by Daniel Baxter popped on my radar, and I feel it provides a very enlightening narrative into a small part of Africa and the AIDS epidemic, through Baxter’s personal experience in Botswana.

Baxter worked as an AIDS doctor in NYC during the worst US era of the illness, the 80’s, and left for Botswana on a slight whim in 2002, excited to bring his expertise and care to the Batswana, where at the time a big portion of the population was assumed to be infected with the virus (24%). Through his two stays in Botswana (6 years and then 2 years with a 4 year hiatus between) Baxter recounts how he arrived in Botswana assuming certain things and instead learnt many lessons, some heartbreaking, some embarrassing, and some just really important along the way.

Africa is a continent, a huge continent, comprised of many countries, and this memoir only describes the AIDS situation in Botswana from the early 2000’s onwards, so while other countries similar in population and government might have had the same processes in place I think it’s important to have a distinct view of all, just as we would when talking about different European countries. More importantly we should draw a comparison with other countries where the attitudes towards prevention and care have been different, or were different at the time (South Africa for example), to see how important the collaboration between the Botswana government, population and outside agencies was/is.

There are times during his first stay in Botswana (6 years) when I felt that the narrative gets a little jumbled up, Baxter’s memories and facts all colliding together, and I found it hard to fasten myself to a timeline or even a character or edifice that I would reencounter again down the road. This isn’t a bad thing, just that sometimes the stories were combined in a way that makes it a little hard to get through, because you have to go back a few lines or pages and read them over again. The second part of the book, when Baxter goes back to Botswana for another stint after 4 years in NYC, is less haphazard, written with more focus, and a lot easier to follow in general.

All in all I thought One Life At A Time was a great story of how an American doctor lands in a country he does not know at all, and learns so much more than he ever imagined he would. While Baxter brings his expertise to help the people of Botswana combat the epidemic of AIDS in the country, he receives so much more in return, including a lot of humility and a much wider view of the world. I feel like I learned so much more about Botswana than I ever knew before, and am now interested in learning much, much more. Last of all, I think it’s very important to mention that Baxter never portrays himself as a savior - he just continued to do the work he had been doing in the 80’s and 90’s in NYC in Botswana, and is very vocal about how much he learned about himself when he was there. One Life At A Time is a brilliant insight into the AIDS epidemic in general, how hard work and collaboration (we can include Dubya -in this part too - PEPFAR helped make a huge difference in how HIV positive patients in Africa received care), can turn despair into hope. I’m looking forward to reading Baxter’s other books now too.

One Life At A Time will be published on June 12, 2018 by Skyhorse Publishing. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

Megan K. Stack - Every Man In This Village Is A Liar

Megan K. Stack - Every Man In This Village Is A Liar

I picked this up at St Mark's Bookshop a few weeks ago as it had a lot of those elements that make me grab a book, pay for it and start reading it immediately: woman writer, war correspondent, autobiography, Middle-East...

I finished it over a week ago and haven't really stopped thinking about it since, and I've come to the conclusion that I can't make my mind up about what I think. This statement probably only makes sense inside my head, so I invite everyone to read it and let me know what you think. It's sometimes easier to talk about a book when someone else has their own opinions you can bounce yours off.

Megan Stack is a foreign correspondent who works for the LA Times. and has covered some of the main events (for events see mainly wars) in the Middle East over the past decade. Her book describes her personal experiences and views of the invasion of Iraq, life in Saudia Arabia and Libya, Jerusalem and the West Bank, Jordan, the invasion of Afghanistan and the removal of the Taliban, civil war in Iraq, elections in Egypt...

Megan really doesn't hold back, and for that I am grateful. I found her at times insanely brave, and others irritating, but in the end, so human. My favourite part is Megan's remembrance of Atwar Bahjat, the female al-Jazeera reporter who was murdered in an ambush in 2006. I tend to use Atwar Bahjat as an example to counter-attack a generic statement that "all Muslim women are oppressed" that I hear too often in these parts of the world, so it was interesting (and terribly sad) to read her first hand experience as her friend, and then her death.

Last of all, I have to say, this book is unsettling. It rocks your beliefs somewhat (whatever those beliefs may be). Just a warning - it's far from an easy read.

Still can't form a real clear opinion. Maybe that is just the way it's going to be with this book.

The Shadow of the Sun - Ryszard Kapuściński (Book Review)

I picked up The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński while I was on holiday in California last week and definitely need to recommend this one! Not only for those interested in essays on Africa, but also for the pure captivating storytelling and wonderful writing.

Ryszard Kapuściński was a Polish journalist who covered the news in Africa from the later 50's until the 90's, and each chapter in the book relates a different experience. Think the independence of Ghana, Idi Amin's coup in Uganda, traveling through the Sahara with no water, living in the slums of Nigeria, the genocide in Rwanda... Each essay contains fact but also the world from the author's eyes, descriptions of real people, of places, feelings, emotions, colours... Kapuściński never really felt comfortable in the richer, "white" areas, and tended to prefer living and travelling with the everyday population in every country he visited and/or lived in, which gives us great insight into his own personal experiences of Africa.

What I really appreciate about this book is that it is definitely written by a journalist (his ability to outline every experience with historical background that helps the reader get a better understanding about the current situations in each country as he writes about them), he is also an excellent writer. His descriptions of the insane heat of the sun, and the complete darkness of the African nights are palpable.

Excellent read, even if you never really know if he is always telling the truth or not (read

this

interesting article on that exact subject).

Book Review: She Matters by Susanna Sonnenberg

It took me a while to read this book, not because I couldn’t get into it, pretty much the exact opposite, just because it’s a book that can be read in installments, each chapter a story in itself, intertwined with all of the other chapter/stories to create a life in words.

She Matters – A Life in Friendships is a collection of stories of Susanna Sonnenberg’s friendships that have come, gone and/or spanned a lifetime. I had actually never heard of Susanna Sonnenberg before, and picked up She Matters one day while I was roaming around St Mark’s Bookshop for something new to read. The idea just really appealed to me, and after I had read the first chapter I wished it was the book I had thought of to write. It’s beautifully written, and a lot of the stories hit very close to home, mainly because of Sonnenberg’s complete ability to be truthful to herself and the reader. Some of the friendships she describes are balanced and go the distance; others end in tears, break-ups, or just sputter out along the way. Friendships that are built out of happenstance or a mutual interest; women who are brought together via a common cause, because they share the same classes or become roommates randomly after college. Some of the friendships have their ups and downs but settle down and become lifelong. Others last a couple of years and disappear due to neglect or distance. And others end in tears and pain, due to one or the other woman’s issues or selfishness. All are friendships that we can relate to – we have all had a Rachel, a Debra, a Louise in our lives. We have all met women with whom we have bonded immediately, women with whom we wanted to be friends no matter what, women who we disliked but then learnt to love. We have all had long-lasting and short-term friendships with women, and we have all had our hearts broken by a woman friend.

If I were to write a similar style project I think that I would not be able to only contain my work to female friendships that have shaped parts of my life, but I really love how Sonnenberg wrote and produced her work, creating a book that is both wonderfully written and so truthful as well as true to life that you don’t really want it to end. Very inspiring.

Book Review: The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel

The Red Leather Diary - Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal, by Lily Koppel 

I still have all of my diaries that I have kept over the years, the first one being from when I was 10 years old if I am not mistaken. Over the years I see changes in handwriting, developing ideas, crushes and heartbreak, drawings, sadness, happiness. Some of the journals are full, others conclude halfway through with a sentence along the lines of "this is the end of this part of my life and therefore a new journal is to be commenced". I still keep a journal, at 34, but today it is more of a scrapbook than just writing, snippets of sentences created by emotions and visions, photos, drawings, concert tickets, notes from friends, lists and so on. I love rereading entries from years ago, but I doubt they really would be of any interest to anyone else. Except of course if I become a world famous author, because then, after my death, scholars will devour my teenage thoughts to try to figure out who I was, just like I did when I was writing my thesis on Sylvia Plath.(Yes, yes, one can dream).

I love reading the journals of famous artists. Not because I want to actually determine who so and so actually is, but because they always contain a deeper view into feelings and thoughts and emotions, and also because they often contain some of the best writing. One writes a journal with the knowledge that it is not going to be read by anyone else, so therefore one allows oneself to be more free and open. That's the way I see it anyway. For example, Sylvia Plath's unabridged journals may contain some of the darkest prose that she had ever written, in my opinion it also contained some of the best.

What would you do if you were a budding journalist and one day came across a five year journal, started by a 14 year old living in Manhattan in the 1920's? You would probably read it, and then see if you could get it published in some way or form. Lily Koppel went a few steps further than that: she read it, went on a search for the author, and once she found her, rewrote those five years in her own words, interspersing the prose with snippets from the journal itself. Early in her career with the New York Times, Koppel was leaving her apartment building one morning when she came across a dumpster containing trunks dating back to the previous century. The building management had decided to get rid of content that previous residents had left in the basement and never come back to collect. Can you imagine getting a chance to go through such treasures? Old photos and clothes and books and letters and ornaments and hats and cards and maps! I would have had a field day! The red leather journal was found in one of those trunks and belonged to a young lady called Florence Wolfson.

Florence was a smart, fashionable, precocious teenager, with many interests, mainly in the usual pursuits of the young, love, sex, friendship, as well as the world of Art that the city of New York had to offer at the time. She wrote of books, plays, actors and actresses, poems, paintings, and focused a lot of her own time on writing and drawing, as well as going to performances and other activities such as tennis, fashion and parties. Her journal portrays a woman of her time, as well as a glowing Manhattan of the late 20's and early 30's (including mentions of the more darker times after the Wall Street Crash of 1929). I was first drawn to the book after reading the cover because I wanted to delve into the life of a teenager in the city during the 20's, but once I started to read the book it was Koppel's wonderful writing that really drew me in. Koppel has the ability to recreate a life lived so long ago into a story of such tenderness and beauty that I was brought to tears in several different parts. For a time I felt like I was actually living right by Florence, and imagined my own teenage life side by side with hers. The beauty of this book is that Koppel added a part of herself into Florence's life, giving us readers the chance to do the same.

Inspiring, to say the least.

More information on the book and the author

HERE

Book Review: Patti Smith - Just Kids

Just Kids by Patti Smith

I own this book in it's beautiful hardcover edition and recently acquired a paperback copy, courtesy of a friend. Said paperback copy was read within 24 hours (one should probably say devoured) and marked up with my own scrawling notes in French. I feel sorry for the person who is currently reading this copy, as they are probably getting distracted every other page, trying to decipher what my notes mean in comparison with Patti Smith's text. Maybe the next reader will add his/her own comments, and bit by bit, my copy of the book will be filled with the feelings the text evoked in others? Sounds like a pretty interesting idea actually...

I've always loved Patti Smith. I've seen her perform multiple times, love her writing, her music, her personality, just everything about her. A few years ago I went to a very small venue to see Karen Elson perform and nearly had a heart attack when I realised Patti Smith was standing right next to me. Like 5 centimetres away. I told her psychically (i.e. my brain sent out a message) that I adored her, because there was no way I was actually going to be able to say that out loud. Maybe she heard it, maybe she didn't. In any case, I love her. I think I was drawn to her at first because of her very healthy obsession with Rimbaud, which is very similar to my own very healthy obsession with Rimbaud. But I had no idea how similar a lot of my interests at the age of 19 were with hers, many years before that, when she was 20 and moved to NYC.

Just Kids is Patti Smith's tale of her story with Robert Mapplethorpe, how they met, how they grew close, their relationship, their life together, amidst the world of bohemian art and music in the late 60's and the 70's in New York City. The way she describes the New York she lived in is the same as the one I imagined growing up, a paradox: gritty but blooming, urban but bohemian, dangerous but safe at the same time, ugly but beautiful... One of those places where anyone and everyone, no matter what your background, interests, faiths or nationality is, can go and blend in and find other people just like them. I don't think that from this standpoint the city has really changed (although it is probably a lot safer than it was in the 70's and the 80's). Patti's New York resembles my own New York, a place that could have been my downfall, but ended up being my home.

Patti arrives in New York without an idea of what she is really doing there, practically lives on the streets, roaming around, and finds Robert, and both become inseparable, pushing each others boundaries within the world of art and within their own world, a world created amidst dreams and reality. Patti's writing has always been poetic in nature, even her songs are first and foremost poems that work insanely well with music. There is something so innocent and wonderful about her relationship with Robert, even when she describes the days when they are without money, Robert's obsessions with displaying his darker sides through his art, their break up and all of the other obstacles that pop up along their journey together. I think the most beautiful part of the whole story is the love that they have for each other, something that everyone in this world (I hope) can relate to. Everyone wants to have a Robert or a Patti in their lives, and if you have one, cherish him or her.

When I was 19 my best friend Maud and I decided to go on a trip to Paris. It was only three hours away from Grenoble on the TGV, but a huge deal for us because we were going to be able to walk along the quais of the Seine together and visit all of the sites that we had read about in our books. Our obsession with Gérard de Nerval was so huge that we did a lot of research into finding the exact spot where he had died, so that we could visit it ourselves (the exact street does not exist anymore if you are interested). When I got to the part in Just Kids where Patti makes her way to Paris and describes how she went on a search to find the spot where Gérard de Nerval used to drink I nearly burst into tears. Gérard de Nerval! My absolute favourite French poet and writer. When she describes how Robert introduced her to Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin I literally did start crying, as these were my own father's favourite singers, and he introduced them to my mum who introduced them to me. But it wasn't just these random occurrences that made me feel so close to Patti, it was just the way her mind worked at the time, how she would react to certain situations and how shy she would feel around people and at the same time how she wouldn't hesitate to speak her mind, whether it verbally or through some form of art.

I haven't read a book where I relate so much to one of the characters in a while, and this was all the more powerful because Patti is real, and really did live through all of this. I'm sure many other people relate to her just as much as I did and still do, but what I found the most interesting was that I felt like my 19 year old self again when reading the book: well-read, shy, obsessed with 19th century literature and music, sad but happy, full of poetry and ideas and living a different lifestyle to most of my peers (apart from the group of friends I had with similar aspirations). I'm so inspired again right now. Patti's tales of how she dressed and how her and Robert would search for the right outfit for the right occasion, are so spot on, tell of a time and a place but are also completely timeless. Robert also took some stunning pictures of Patti - I actually really want to get some prints of his portraits because they are really good.

I love the fact that Just Kids mostly tells of Patti and Robert's days before they became famous, and contains a fuzzy, fairy-tale type aura around it. It remains somewhat innocent and happy, despite some of the more difficult times depicted in the narration. I also wish I had the copy of the book I had annotated now, because I had made some comments that I am sure should be in this post write now. Probably something about paradoxical decadence, or another one of those phrases I used to bandy about when I was a teenager. So there you go... Paradoxical Decadence.

Read Just Kids. It's absolutely wonderful.

Patti Smith Website