Book of the Week - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We are lucky enough to have this wonderful review written by our friend Fufi, on the very day this long awaited new novel is published.
Thank you Fufi ❤️

”I had been waiting for this book impatiently, and it was worth every second. A story about four women whose lives intertwine isn’t new, but the way Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor’s stories is something else entirely.

There’s so much depth, kindness, and honesty in the way she writes. I didn’t always agree with the women, but I understood them. Their stories felt real, full of both beauty and pain, told with such generosity that I saw the best and worst of human nature in them. Nothing is overdone, yet the emotions hit hard.

There is a quiet power in how the novel unfolds, where even moments of brutality—both in love and hurt—are conveyed with an almost intimate subtlety. Reading this felt like sitting across from someone who was sharing the deepest truths of their life, raw and unembellished, yet never cliché. These women are flawed, their love is imperfect, their lives are at time messy, and that is precisely what makes them unforgettable.

I’m obviously a big admirer of Adichie, and this book pulled me in just like I had hoped. I don’t want to say more than what’s in the blurb, because I think this book is an encounter. You have to meet these women yourself with an open heart.”

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Book of the Week - There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die by Tove Ditlevsen

Reviewed by our very own Franca

Happy Reading!

“Tove Ditlevsen remains, to this day, one of Denmark’s most profound and impactful writers. Her raw and honest writing has moved generations of readers and will hopefully continue to do so for years to come.

As a young woman, I feel incredibly connected to her earlier works. Those where she writes about loneliness, love, loss, and those awkward little in between moments. She reminds me of how far we’ve come and how much work there still is to do. Her words make me feel seen, understood and much less lonely. Ditlevsen had a raw talent, a way with words, which is difficult to describe but easy to appreciate.

I am fortunate enough to be able to read her work in the language it was organically written in (danish) but these translations are equally as beautiful and should not be disregarded.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves Patti Smith or Joan Didion or simply has a love for poetry. What a wonderful writer Tove Ditlevsen was.”

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Book of the Week - Stolen Pride by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Reviewed by Pia Eisenhardt 🙏

“Hochschild is the grande dame of American sociology, and after Trump’s election in 2016, she trained her sights on his voters, writing one of the most nuanced, empathetic books on the subject, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, based on in-depth interviews with Trump voters in rural Louisiana. The metaphor used for the simmering populist anger is that of people who feel that they’ve been left behind, patiently waiting in line for their turn, only for other people (meaning, minorities) to jump the queue.

Last year saw the publication of Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right. Trump margins are consistently largest in rural areas, and Stolen Pride applies the same feature journalism style on Appalachian Kentucky, by any measure one of US’ poorest regions (a lot about the US makes more sense if you think of it as the world’s richest country with a third world country - measured by any UN development indices - embedded within it).

Economists tend to focus on the monetary economy, but there’s an overlooked and equally important ledger, namely that of pride (as in “dignity”) and humiliation. In a culture where individual success is lauded, the flip side is that lack of success is internalized as shame, and that dynamic is most at display in economically deprived rural areas. Or put another way, emotional narratives may turn out to be a stronger driver of voter sentiment than macro economics, and while not all Trump voters believe that the 2016 election was stolen in a literal sense, the more symbolic theft feels very real: something that was theirs by right was snatched away by the very same people who deny them their dignity, and in this framework, the appeal of Trump is that he holds out the promise of pride restored, or at least an emotionally satisfying retribution.

The great strength of Hochschild’s work is her willingness to just listen, and by listening to the fears, hopes and dreams of Trump’s rural voters, she renders them human rather than caricature, no mean feat in today’s hyper polarized atmosphere.”

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The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Reviewed by bookstore founder and owner herself, Isabella 🌞

“The quiet days following Christmas lend themselves well to a completely immersive read. Time to read an entire book in just a few days, the pinnacle of luxury. With that comes, as we all know, the pressure of finding the right book!

My choice this Christmas turned out to be a book that has had me up at night, feeling emotional, nostalgic, fearful, and hopeful all at once.

The Lion Women of Tehran is the story of two young girls from different parts of Iranian society, their friendship and struggles through the turbulent history of Iran from 1950 to today.

The fight for women’s rights, culturally and politically, is at the center of this easily read historical novel full of betrayal, redemption, and with a cast of carefully woven characters, including the city of Tehran itself, that all play important roles in charting the dramatic paths drawn by the revolution.

I left Iran as a 10 year old girl just before the revolution of 1979, so my memories of the country (and city of Tehran) are frozen in time full of longing and nostalgia, and, years later, also full of questions about the life we lived, the society we lived in, and the atrocities committed under the Shah, and since under the Islamic Republic. So the book hit home in many ways, especially through its use of Persian words and phrases sprinkled throughout.

But Iran and Iranians are so much more than their politics. They are warm, funny, passionate (dramatic:) people who serve amazing food, and create beautiful art set against the backdrop of a 3000 year old history.

Iranian women are fierce - fiercely loyal and fiercely loving - and not to be messed with. This truth is not only at the heart of ‘The Lion Women of Tehran’, but also visible every single day, through the incredibly brave actions of women on the streets and in the prisons of Iran.

The recent fall of the Syrian regime left more than a few Iranians thinking ‘If only that could happen in Iran’ after almost 50 years of fundamentalist rule. The fate of Syria is still unclear, but at least they now have real hope.

Here’s to a 2025 with real hope for Iran 🇮🇷”

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