Testimonio Mortal is a simple yet engaging crime novel taking place in a small town in Sweden, with an arch story that might seem predictable but is not: I kept feeling like I 100% knew the murderer, yet I changed my theory at least 3 times (I did come close though, I might not be Sherlock Holmes, but I think I could still be Watson 🕵️ )

✨ Besides the well-constructed mystery, there is some interesting characterization of secondary characters, on the other sides I would have loved that the writer would explore a little bit more the sexist aspect of working in the police as a woman: we are given glimpses of sexism, and how the protagonist decides not to react to it to « survive » in her new job. This is something so common that we women do and I appreciated seeing it represented, even if it was frustrating to read.

✨ Okomo is an orphan teenager, a Bastarda living with her strict grandmother and her polygamous grandfather. Wishing to find her father she will seek the help of her gay uncle and a group of girls engaging in « indecent » acts: everything she does will allow Okomo to question herself about Fang traditions, her way of seeing the world, and she will never be the same.

✨ I never fail to be surprised by how much a short book such as La Bastarda can be so impactful and striking. In its slightly more than 100 pages, it manages to not only tell a complete story and create deep empathy with the main characters, but it also manages to address various themes such as the role of tradition in society and personal lives, the theme of sexuality and how sexual identity comes to clash with the concept of « real Africanness ». 

✨ Can a man who does not honor his duty to procreate define himself as a real African? Can a woman who is not married as soon as she « bleeds » be considered a real African woman? How being homosexual can impact these duties society expects its member to abide by? I was naively unaware of this problem of Un-Africanness and the place the debates held in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights on the continent, which is why I particularly appreciated Abosede George's afterword at the end of the novel. 

In this wonderfully written novel, we follow the life of a community of trans women working and sharing life, in Sarmiento Park, Cordoba. Camila Sosa Villada portrays at the same time the violence and brutality these women are put through in society in its all (clients, friends, the police, their own families) and the celebration of being part of the « travesti » community. All of the love they are denied by everyone around them, they try and find it in each other, but it is not always enough.

✨ The novel is heartbreaking, as the violence described in it is difficult to accept, especially the way the violence perpetuated by families: while one cannot be surprised by the police brutality portrayed in the story, the fury and barbarity coming from the people who should love you the most and unconditionally is the most emotionally difficult to read. 

✨ Camila Sosa Villada, however, takes all of the ugliness and turns it into a literature masterpiece no less: the writing is divine, with a mixture of realism and magical realism that make the novel so much more than just a story of violence and abuse. Of course, violence has a major role in the novel, but so do beauty and celebration. It is important to note, as I read it in various reviews, that Camila Sosa Villada does not consider this novel as being autobiographical and she claims her right, and the right of all travesti to write fiction: the right to write other stories than their own in opposition to a society that so often expects from minorities that they only write about their own experience.

I do not usually go for books written by famous people, they usually lack personality and style, and sometimes just lack content. This book, however, has all of it, and way more. 

✨ I have loved Trevor Noah as a stand-up comedian for a long time: not only he is funny, he also has extraordinary storytelling abilities, whenever I watched one of his shows, it was never only funny jokes: he would drag me into a story.

✨ In this autobiographical book, you can sense this ability of his since page one: you are in for a touching, personal story about growing up in South Africa during and right after apartheid, the difficulty of being in the middle (neither white nor black) and trying to find his ow place, a story about family and about a mother and son relationship. 

✨ The writing is simple and direct (just how I like it), but nonetheless loaded on emotions : happiness, joy, outrage, amusement, fear, confusion … I could not have hoped for anything more starting this book, and I can only hope that Trevor Noah not only keeps up with his comedian career, but I definitely hope he’ll write more, I feel he could write whatever he’d like and it would be a success. And not because he is famous, but because he is a great storyteller, on scene as well as on paper.

✨ In this debut novel by Tanya Turton, we follow the life of Jade, who lost her twin sister and overall tries to get a handle on her life, while trying not to hurt other people (which, spoiler alert, she is not that good at)

✨ The book treats heavy themes, such as grief, depression, and suicide. And this is what I thought the book did best: I found the description of depression very well written, and there is one scene in particular where a panic attack is described that will live rent-free in my mind and touched me on a deeply personal level

✨ However, it is not a perfect book in my opinion: it starts in a quite confusing way, and while it gets back on track in the second half, some characters were introduced as alternative points of view, who are then abandoned: it was a pity, not only because I love multiple points of views, but also because I felt this story would have benefited from it, especially to give some more nuance to the main character. I think Jade as a character had some development as a person, but it seemed a little too easy and quick, and while she thinks she is doing things right, I think some of the characters would have something to say

✨ I overall enjoyed the reading and the writing, but I hoped for a little more nuance in the story, especially after having been introduced to new characters. I think this is a promising debut, but I hope she will write more, and can’t wait to see how she develops as a writer

✨ In this novel, we follow the struggle of Hekla, a female writer in ’60s Iceland: she moves from a rural city to Reykjavik with only her manuscript, a copy of James Joyce's Ulysses, and a typewriter in the attempt to coronate her dream to become an established writer. However, she will be faced with a world dominated by men who only seem to acknowledge her beauty rather than see her as a professional writer. Her only support in this world will be her childhood friend, John, while they both will try to navigate the world and overcome the patriarchy: Hekla as a professional writer, John as a queer man.

✨ Let’s start by saying I am not a big reader of nordic authors, and I know how this will sound cliché, but the few books that I read by a nordic author always felt a little « cold » to me. 

Nonetheless, Miss Iceland slowly grew on me, mostly thanks to its emotionally touching characters and storylines. I found myself rooting for both Hekla and John, even though I knew from the start how it would end: not because the story is predictable, but because there was no other end possible to this story, and it is not the fault of the author, but of the patriarchy that it portrays so very well.

✨ Without spoiling you the end of this story, I was left wondering: how many stories, and how much art, have we been robbed of by the patriarchy, misogyny, and racism? Surely, too much. 

In this collection of interviews, Nana Darkoa Sekyamah brings the reader into the sex lives of a variety of African women, showcasing all of the different challenges every one of them faces in their different lives, exploring the multiplicity of what sex and love can mean for women and how their social upbringing influenced their views on sex in their lives.

It was a deeply interesting and eye-opening reading, that does not only aim at breaking any stereotype one can have about « African women », and will make you realize (if you haven’t yet), how sex can be liberating while exploring all kinds of ways of living sex of loves outside of the heteronormative monogamous idea that seems to be the basic rule everyone refers to. 

There are a lot of stories about sex as being empowering and liberating, but also a lot of stories of abuse and discrimination, so be aware if you are susceptible to being triggered.

The book reminds me a bit of « The vagina monologues » in the way it seeks to free the word around female pleasure and sex in general, and it does so wonderfully.

 In this autobiographical book, Paula Moreno brings us along the journey that led her to become, at 28 years old, the first woman of African descent and the youngest minister in the history of Colombia.

 She tells with elegance about her experiences with racism and machismo in her days as a minister, but instead of focusing on that, she dedicates most of her book to the beautiful people of Colombia (and America Latina): the people who supported her, the people who collaborated and believed in the various cultural projects she carried out. It is, also, a love letter to Colombia itself and its diversity of regions, people, traditions, music (a lot of music), dances, and so on.

Did I expect a little bit more outrage towards the racism, machismo, and classism that she experienced right inside of the government right from day one? Yes, definitely. But I also guess it can be tiring to always focus only on the negative and to always be expected to talk solely or mostly about racism and machismo when you are a black woman.

 In this essay, writer and poet Joumana Haddad tries to answer a question she’s often asked: “what does it mean to be an Arab woman?”

And she manages to do just so, without falling in any cliches nor generalisations in a nuanced yet fierce essay of just a little more than 100 pages. 

She does not attempt to talk for ALL arab women, on the contrary she highlights the multiplicity of “the Arab woman”, something we are not used to hear in a world where we still think Arab equals Muslim. 
And she does so through her own experience: her growing up with literature and “forbidden” books, art, her erotic poetry, her travels and her Arabic magazine about the human body “JASAD”.

This essay should be a must in all feminist reading lists, and if you haven’t read it yet I highly recommend you do, because this is definitely one of those books that tickles the mind and leaves it wide opened 😉

 I am sure you have seen this one all over #bookstagrammaybe you even have read it already, but to those who have not, I am telling you : don’t wait anymore and get your hands on it. Like now, no need to read the rest of this post neither, just shut instagram and GO GET IT.

 In this book we follow the life of the Tran family struggling over various generations and the various conflicts Vietnam has known through the years. 

This read literally served EVERYTHING I love about a book:
- History insights, in this case into the many conflicts Vietnam has suffered
- A family through various generations, giving multiple points of view, allowing you to look at the story being told through different lenses
- Suggestive descriptions that made me feel like I was actually there, without these descriptions taking too much space (yes I hate long useless descriptions)
- Interesting, well written characters

 All of these reasons made me eat this book up in just a few days (I am a slow reader, so this is actually a positive thing for me), and it was surprising to me how I could not get enough of it, considering the stories being told are not easy ones (war, violences, abuses etc.).

Needless to say, this will definitely make my top 10 reads this year.