BOOKS - Women Writers for International Women's Day 2021
Books are one of my most precious possessions. I have books where they should be kept: tidied up on my bookshelves. Others are in my bedroom, by the side of my bed. In the living room, some of them pile up by the side of my indoor garden. And others accumulate at the back of my couch. I just like to be surrounded by them. Stories are kind of magical. And having the books around me creates this strange feeling, as if the books are talking to me. Perhaps this is the reason I refuse to organize them properly. They have a life of their own and I like to respect it.
Because I have been living abroad for so many years -and having moved flats and countries a few times-, I sometimes had no choice but to leave some books behind. A sad thing to do. During my first few years in Asia, I was committed to taking some of them back to Barcelona, inside my suitcase, every time I visited my family. By doing this, I wanted to prevent having to leave them behind if I had to move somewhere else. A commitment I was unfortunately not always able to keep. Books are heavy…
When I was living in Hong Kong, their public library was one of my favorite spots. Their catalogue is not only immense, but also a big gift to literature. Borrowing allowed me to read as many books from around the world as I wanted without the complications of what to do with them when moving countries.
In commemoration of International Women’s Day, with the list below, I want to give back to the power of storytelling with a selection of eleven titles from women writers and stories from around the world: South Korea, China, Nigeria, Algeria, Brazil, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Jamaica, UK, Spain and the Sahara desert.
Each book listed below has a link to Goodreads for further information in English. You don’t need to have a Goodreads profile to access the link But if you have one, you can easily add them to your reading list.
Feel free to follow my Goodreads author profile so that you can keep track of my own I Want to Read list, and which is the book that I am reading at the moment.
Cho Nam-Joo: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Cho Nam-Joo, from South Korea delves into the consequences that come with the decision of leaving her desk job to become a mother. The life of the narrator is exposed in parallel to South Korea’s advancements in society.
Xu Xi: Chinese Walls & Daughters of Hui
Chinese author, Xi, brings together different stories. Chinese Walls was Xi’s first novel, which became quite controversial but launched her career in Asia. Daughter’s of Hui brings together different stories that address Confucian values. It was one of the best books in Asia in 1996.
Abi Daré: The Girl with the Louding Voice
Daré, from Nigeria, shares an inspiring and courageous story of a girl from rural Nigeria who will never give up until she finds a way to get an education and find her “louding voice”.
Kaouther Adimi: A bookshop in Algiers
Algerian writer, Adimi, shares a moving story of a young man who opens a modest bookshop in Algiers to discover what is the true magic of bookshops, beyond sharing books.
Elif Shafak: Three Daughters of Eve
One of my favorite books from this British-Turkish writer is the The Architect's Apprentice. This is how I discovered her work in the first place. The Three Daughters of Eve is one of her latest novels. The story develops over an evening in modern Istanbul and the memories of the main character from when she lived abroad for the first time to attend Oxford University.
Andrea Levy: Small Island
British author, Levy, explores the hardships of life as an immigrant by focusing on the diaspora of Jamaican immigrants to the UK, in 1948.
Sanmao: Stories of the Sahara
This book contains the memories of Sanmao. A pioneer woman born in Mainland China in 1943 who lived in Taiwan, Spain, Germany, Central America and Sahara. This book invites you to her adventurous life in the desert, in the 70s. Her stories were not translated into English until recently.
Azar Nafisi: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Iranian writer, Nafisi, explores de liberating power of literature in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Every week, Nafisi secretly gathered some of her students to read Western books that were banned by the regime.
Carmen Laforet: Nada
Laforet’s story is set in post Civil War Spain. It is inspired on the author’s own life. It tells the story of an orphaned young woman who moves to Barcelona to attend university.
Clarice Lispector: Near to the Wild Heart
Brazilian writer, Lispector, explores the meaning and purpose of life, our existence and the freedom to be one self through the present life of a young woman and her memories as a child.
Åsne Seierstad: The bookseller of Kabul
Journalist from Norway, Seierstad, recounts her experience living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul, in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban. The bookseller in question spent twenty years defying authorities to provide books to the people of Kabul.