recent reads #9

Those are not so recent reads but I didn’t know what to name the post, the books I read during August September and October would be more correct but that’s too long don’t you think that too? ANYWAY even though I wasn’t writing a lot lately I have been reading and a lot and those are the books I had the honor to read in the last three months:

_ Four graphic novels: 

MAUS by Art Spiegelman: the story is about the holocaust, the author is actually the son of a man who survived the genocide, so the book tells the surviving story of the dad, the thing that I liked about this book is that it goes back and forth between the past and the present showing that even though that man survived he didn’t really survive he carried with him scars from that war that neither time nor doctors would ever heal,  a five star book all the way.

L’espion de Staline by Isabel Kreitz: another true story about a double agent who was working as a journalist for Germany and spying on it for Russia, the story seemed interesting and took place in Japan during world war two this book had all the potential to be a great read yet the drawing was so bad I couldn’t figure out who was who, while reading I kept looking at the last pages of the book were there was the pics and the names of the characters, and that was so tiring, I gave the book two stars because of the poor drawing.

The stranger by Albert Camus a graphic novel adaption done by Jacque Ferrandez: the story is really famous but I didn’t read it before and I think I should have read the actual book then read its graphic novel adaptation but it’s ok I’m definitely going to read it one day, I think the graphic novel was great the drawing was good, the story is just strong and the idea behind is so deep but still I should read the book to give a solid opinion about it.

Pyongyang by Guy Delisle: the book is a carnet de voyage of the author in his business trip to North Korea, it’s a really interesting read for someone who knows nothing about how it is like to travel to that country either for tourism or work, the book is nothing more than that, I wished that it would held more. since I already watched documentaries about north Korea there was nothing new for me in this book but still the book was good. reading about north Korea makes living in a third world country in Africa look not that bad after all.

_ Classic short stories by Kafka and Chekhov:

If you ever read for those two authors you are really missing a lot they are just geniuses, reading for them isn’t easy the plot can be so slow but once you finish the story it’s going to stay with you for the rest of your life and I’m not exaggerating.

_ More of Mohamed Choukri and discovering Abdellah Taia:

I read my forth book written by Mohamed Chokri, Wojouh or faces which the third book of the author’s autobiography; but it’s really different from the two books before it you can’t tell if it follows a chronology it’s more about people Mohamed Chokri met through his life, I don’t know if I like this book as much as the first ones but certainly it’s an interesting read the last part of the book was SO good.

I also read 3 books by Abdellah Taia, and they were all amazing, this author has a really simple smooth style; I wasn’t exepecting to like his work this much I wished they weren’t that short, I read l’armée du salut, le jour du roi and une melancolie arabe and I’m willing to read every single book written by this author, if I have to choose a favorite among the book I read I’d choose le jour du roi it was amazing I don’t know if it’s right to compare  authors but reading that book made me think of haruki murakami’s style and I don’t mind that since I love so much haruki marakami.

_ Other books that I couldn't put in a category:

Finished reading the Millennium series and I have to say I don't consider this book from as part of the series for it's just fanfiction the series has only three books and that's only my personnal opinion yet this book wasn't that bad.

My first book by Albert Camus it’s a play based on the true story of a group of Russian Socialist Revolutionaries who assassinated the Duke in 1905. A five stars book it was so deep yet written in really simple style. 

I don't know what to say about this book, maybe not as good as everyone on the net say it is maybe it's just not my style. I gave it two stars and I hardly finish it.

what a long article I wrote, I know filled with mistakes but I felt like I should write it now I feel relieved I can move with my life hhh.

At my grandma's

After a week at my dad’s village it was my mom’s turn to visit her village, my grandma still lives there, one of the few people who still lives there, it’s much more deserted than my dad’s village once their you would think you traveled back in time.

My aunties agreed to meet at my grandma’s for two days, and if you ask me this is the worst thing that happened to me so far in this trip, when those four women gather up nothing good will came up from it, but I had a plan just stay away from them, the less I hear about what they are talking about the better it is. 

My grandma’s house is really old, she has electricity but again no water which can make living so uncomfortable yet she insist on living there it’s her home she says, she can’t support living anywhere else, unlike her most of the families in the village decided to leave either to the cities or to other villages seeking better living conditions for them and for their children and no one can really blame them for that.

Once there, we settled down, kissed my grandma who looks smaller every time we visit her and my aunties and mom started their, how should I call it, started their rituals, I went to another room lied on the floor and started thinking about what should I do in this long endless day, just looking at the ceiling made me think of all the fun things we used do in this house, when we were children and then negative thinking started about how when we grow up all the fun already ended, I heard a lot of people say that, but no I’ll never be one of those nostalgic people, I refuse to be one of those losers, the fun just started.

I took my camera and started taking photos of anything and everything one day all this would be lost like all the memories from the past, better document it, I started with the ceiling which is already a masterpiece did you ever sow ceilings like those:

I sneaked outside, and strolling in the empty streets it caught my eyes how beautiful the old doors of some abandoned houses were, I know that a lot of those houses are not abandoned but it seemed so cool to say so, sorry about that, anyway those are some of them:

While rereading what I wrote it seems like I complained too much about my aunties, they are not that bad, it’s just that we are different, like if we belong to two different worlds, we only have one small thing in common,  our love to amazigh jewelries.

I asked once my aunty zayna to make for me Tajbadt which is an amazigh necklace made out of 39i9 and jouher ( I don’t know how to translate those to English), it’s usually worn during celebrations with the whole set of silver amazigh jewelries and according to mom only old women wear it daily, I was so happy that my aunt zayna didn't forget about it and finally made one for me, I’ll wear it daily I have an old soul so I don’t care that only old women wear it daily.

 Thanks aunt zayna, you are the best.

Anywhere but here

You know that movie starting Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandom, about that teen girl who would do anything to just run away from her mom but for some mysterious reason she can’t, this is how I felt when my parents decided that we are going to spend two week at dad’s village, I wanted to just say no I won’t go, but I couldn’t it’s not like I hate going to that place it’s just that they have been controlling my every move since summer started, my plans what I think about isn’t that important they have bigger plans and they assume I should accept them and follow their steps, I kept calm all those days and I added another two weeks of shutting my mouth, I didn’t want to ruin their mood yet since soon things will change and I need energy for that.

So this is how I ended up coming where, against my will, and since I’m here better enjoy it. my parents village is located in the south of morocco between Tiznit and Sidi Ifni, we have our own house here, it has electricity but water we need to bring it from the outside, no television and I’m ok with it I’m not a fan of it anyway, instead we have a radio that only catches Spanish stations and the local amazigh station, good for me more time to read and write, outside we have a garden that looks nothing like a garden, dad takes care of it once a year so what should I expect. during the night it gets really dark it took me awhile to get used to it and I grow to really love it, if you look at the sky you would be amazed by how bright the stars shine. I have cousins who live nearby but we don’t have much in common to talk about, I bet they find me the most boring girl ever and it’s ok since the feelings are mutual, I spend my day between reading, helping in the house, going to the beach if dad feels like taking us there and taking photos.

This is where I spend most of my day

This Argan tree has a million year I guess even grandpa played under it.

It’s really beautiful in here, so calm and peaceful, but when you are young with all those ideas and plans in your mind and no one seems to care about them and keep blocking you, life can get a bit hard. Dad, mom  I love you so much and I’m so grateful about all the things you did and keep doing for me but it’s only those two weeks and I’m going to take control of my life and end this play so please enjoy your time like I do.

My Spanish progress + my current favorite spanish songs #6 :

Hi friends ; 

Learning a new language can get really hard, at some point you lose motivation to continue, and even if you force to continu you don’t feel any progress, and I kind of feel like that with me learning Spanish lately, it’s like a hit a wall but I’m trying be positive again and chase all the negativity, I have a lot of free time those days, so I’m going to consecrate some of it even if only an hour in my day to Spanish.

Currently I'm reading this book named "La Ciudad de las Bestias" by ISABEL ALLENDE, it's a YA novel which made me think I can handle reading it, but no it's a bit hard for me to understand what’s happening, I use the dictionary and it helps a lot, I’m also planning to do on this blog some Spanish tags even film videos of them, I already did one before and it was so much fun, it's just me answering some questions and they can be book related my favorite subject, I'm excited about the tags, and to make this plan work and more fun I’m now exclusively listening  to music in Spanish let’s cross fingers that I would stick to this plan and improve even a bit my level.

Talking about music, I love summer because during this period a lot of hits are in Spanish, and it’s not always easy for me to find music in Spanish that suits my taste, so those are five of my favorite songs that I really enjoy listening to lately:

#1 Carlos Vives, Shakira - La Bicicleta:

Lleva, llévame en tu bicicleta

Óyeme, Carlos, llévame en tu bicicleta

Quiero que recorramos juntos esa zona

Desde Santa Marta hasta La Arenosa

#2 Chino y Nacho - Andas En Mi Cabeza ft. Daddy Yankee: 

Andas en mi cabeza nena a todas horas

(No sé cómo explicarte)

El mundo me da vueltas, tú me descontrolas

(No paro de pensarte)

Por tí me la paso imaginando que

(Imaginando que)

Contigo me casé

(Oh Yeah)

Y por siempre te amé

(Love you girl, girl, girl)

#3 Romeo Santos - Yo También ft. Marc Anthony:

Quien eres tú

Para sentirte superior dueño de ella

A ti te quiso a mí me amo algo de veras

Como Colón yo navegue toda su piel

#4 Enrique Iglesias - DUELE EL CORAZON ft. Wisin:

Con él te duele el corazón

Y conmigo te duelen los pies

Con él te duele el corazón

Y conmigo te duelen los pies

And I saved the best for the last my Prince

#5 Prince Royce - La carretera:

¿Dónde estarás? ¿Dónde estarás?

¿Todavía piensas en mí?

¿Dónde estarás? ¿Dónde estarás?

Yo sigo pensando en ti