Book description Chaka is a genuine masterpiece that represents one of the earliest major contributions from black Africa to the corpus of modern world literature. Mofolo's fictionalised life-story account of Chaka (Shaka), translated from Sesotho by D. P. Kunene, begins with the future Zulu king's birth followed by the unwarranted taunts and abuse he receives... Continue Reading →
My Review Palau, ever heard of this country, Palau is an archipelago of over 500 islands, in the Micronesia region of the Pacific Ocean. I was finding it very difficult to find a book from Palau and I reached out to the author, Susan Kloulechad, she replied and was very kind to send me two... Continue Reading →
He’d treated me as one of the guys ever since I’d explained the rules of rugby to him in a crowded bar in tow one night, drawing parallels with American football.
My only nation was the one we had left far behind, the house where I was born. And that nation’s flag was blind, deaf and mute.”
We're at the exact midpoint between the past and the future! You and I are nearer to the past, so we don't quite understand the present. It's like a veiled woman to us! Time has passed us by. Soon these eyes will see only visions from the past.
The light. That light that punctured him, burned him, tore him apart. That light that was cast on the forests and lakes as an exhortation to continue breathing, as the promise of a new life in the making. That light that filled his veins with restlessness and robbed him of sleep.
Quote ´There is something worse than gone, and that is not knowing, maybe never knowing where your loved ones are. What could be worse than gone? Never knowing.´
Quote ´You had to trust what people knew in their hearts. People knew things in their hearts, even little kids, or especially little kids.¨
“She always slept in her clothes. They were, according to her, the best defence against the danger of numerous diseases which fresh air might waft into the room”
Quote ‘Those were the good old days, weren't they, Jonas? ‘Days don’t get old, Déde, we´re the ones who get old Ýou´re right. It's just a pity we don't improve with the years, like our wine.'
Sometimes your grandson gets on my nerves, Violeta, but I really appreciate him because he challenges me and makes me laugh. Do you know what has happened to you lately? That if God exists, which according to him is not a fact, but only an opinion, he would be Marxist.
¨I was glad of the darkness, because in the darkness no one can see you cry¨
“You love me because you see me every day. You don’t love me for who I am, you love me because of what I do or don’t do. You don’t know who I am.”
“What is the genius doing?” Abbu would ask. I was busy with a shoe. I was keen on tasting a shoe.”
“At such hour, the damp streets and alleys of Valletta were no place for any stranger or local alike. No one lingered on the pavements or against the walls when the fingers of darkness came dripping in. “
My sister made an irritatingly good impression of an adult sucking her teeth and for a moment I thought she was going to embarrass me by protesting, but she did as she was asked and disappeared into the house.
“Sleeping on the roof in the summer is customary in Tehran. The dry heat of the day cools after midnight, and those of us who sleep on the rooftops wake with the early sun on our faces and fresh air in our lungs.”
Quote “Do you remember I told you they could have built a bridge from here to Spain with the silver they took from this mountain? “ Yes Abuelita, I mumble. “They could have build a bridge twice as long with the bones of those they killed to get it”
Country 71 Quote: “White people bite Africans and when it hurts they blow to soothe us before biting us some more.”
Country 70 Cambodia Quote: I had believed we were led to sacred ground and thus would be protected, never suspecting heaven and hell could co exist in the same space. I lost my innocence and with it the illusion that I was safe.
Country 69 - South Africa “This Lord who must be found, is he lost? Why should it be his responsibility to find him?”
Country 68 “All Estonians have to come out of the dark forest, into the sun and the open wind, because those winds carry the wisdom of distant lands to us. I’m an elder of this village. I’ll be expecting you.”
Country 76 USA Quote "You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
Country 66 Lebanon - “Her one regret will be that she will not have solved the mystery of why the moon waxes and wanes in the course of the month while the sun remains unchanged”.
Country 65 Haiti. “I died on the night of the most beautiful day of my life.”
Country 64 Comoros Islands, “People talk about having a good name, as if a name could be bad or ugly in some way, or they say they were born under a lucky star, as if that was all it took to have the world as your feet.”
Country 63 Angola “The truth is even sadder, Baba: we’re not transparent because we don’t eat… we’re transparent because we are poor”.
Country 62 Myanmar Quote: “In English they use a word-it comes from the Bible-evil. I used to think of it when I talked to those soldiers. What other word could you use to describe their willingness to kill for their masters, to follow any command, no matter what it entailed?”
Country 61 Greece, Quote: “Grandma calls it the Socratic Method. She considers it the highest pedagogical technique. I call it cornering a person. Instead of just telling you what I want you to know, I ambush you with questions. You try to escape, but you can’t. You can run whichever way you like, but in the end you’ll fall right into my trap.”
Country 60 Moldovia. Quote: We’ll discreetly circle over the airport, fall in with a plane going to Bucharest, and fly on its tail. Then we’ll repeat the tactic and fly to Budapest. And then, on to Slovenia. From there it’s only a stone’s throw away from Italy.
Country 59 Congo Quote “The passenger in 3B couldn’t tear her gaze from the window. Was that patch of dirt the landing strip? It couldn’t be. It was way too short - and there were pigs on it. Pigs!
Country 58 Czech Republic Quote “At night all the curtains were drawn and all the windows were closed before any lights were turned on, as if the old house were a fortress ringed by the enemy, and as if it were a matter of life and death to keep secret from all eyes what went on inside.”
Country 57 Belarus. Quote “The nights turned considerably colder, and now the swamps were ‘ sweating’ , giving birth to a mobile white fog in the hollows”
Country 56 Trinidad and Tobago. ¨Every afternoon, around four, the iguana fell out of the coconut tree. Bdup! While sunbathing, it had fallen asleep, relaxing its grip, dropping from a considerable height. It always landed like a cat, on all fours, ready to fight. The dogs always went berserk, gnashing and chasing after the creature as it fled, scuttling across the grass, a streak of lime green disappearing off into the undergrowth.¨
Country 55 Colombia “It begins to get dark; the street light bulbs are lit: yellow and dim, they cast large shadows around, as if instead of illuminating they darkened.”
Country 54 Ethiopia, ” Pushcarts loaded impossibly high with bananas, with bricks, with melons, and even one carrying two lepers weaved through the pedestrian traffic.
Country 53 Thailand “You stay here. I’m taking your brother over to Grandma’s. I’ll be back in a bit.” Hearing these last three words, Kampol didn’t dare wander, worried that his father wouldn’t spot him when he got back, so he just paced back and forth, keeping an eye on the curve where the road came into the neighborhood.
Country 52 Panama “The worst of all, and the most painful, is that for each rail at least two workers have died. "
Country 51 Botswana Quote “I am just a tiny person in Africa, but there is a place for me, and for everybody, to sit down on this earth and touch it and call it their own.” This book taught me how strong and determined some people can be.
Quote “Independence changed everything. Independence changed nothing. Eight years after the British left, we now had free government schools, running water and paved roads. But Jaipur still felt the same to me as it had ten years ago, the first time I stepped foot on its dusty soil.”
Country 49 Albania Quote“Outside the winter night had wrapped the city in winter, fog and wind. Buried under my blankets, I listened to the muffled, monotonous sound of rain falling on the roof of our house”
Country 48 Dominican Republic “‘It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.’”
Country 47 Belgium Quote “Nuns pass, scarcely disturbing the silence, as the swans scarcely disturb the water”
Country 46 Azerbaijan Quote: “Autumn came. First inside me, then everywhere. Trees rushed to shake off their leaves like last year’s fashion and stood half naked, bowing to the advances of the northern wind. The Caspian Sea abandoned its good disposition and released its demons spewing out bursts of white foam”.
Country 45 'Savages,' he said. 'Worth ten of any of you.' 'Imagine that God should create creatures like that! They look like something made out of sin,' one of the porters said, a young man who was always first to speak. 'Don't they look vicious?'
Country 44 Austria “Hmmm” Said Franz. “ I have to think about that” He stopped, glanced up to one side and tried to collect his thoughts, which were leaping about madly somewhere high above the roofs of the town and well beyond the powers of his own imagination.
Country 43 “You should know that there are only two ways to be alone. With no one near or in the middle of a crowd”.
Country 42 “At the beginning of the twentieth century, Uruguay was a country of the twenty-first century. At the end of the twentieth century, Uruguay is a nineteenth century country”.
Country 41 “The power of books, this marvelous invention of astute human intelligence This book taught me that even though disaster strikes you can pull through. “
Country 40 “Our dog Arsylang was asleep next to the dung heap. He was breathing peacefully. Sunlight streamed onto his dark, downy fur and exploded into rays that glittered and danced on the ends of his hair”.
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