My Pen is the Wing of A Bird - by 18 Afghan Women with various translators. (Quercus)
In my quest to read a book set in every country in the world I've quickly noticed that when it comes to countries with a violent recent history it is easy to find books by people writing only about the violence either in history/politics or fiction and far too often these come from a Western (saviour?) point of view.
On a recent trip to the wonderful travel section in Daunts Marylebone I was really excited to find some very different types of writing and as soon as I saw this one - written at great risk by Afghan women - I knew that I had to have it.
It is a collection of short stories about life in Afghanistan under many different rulers over the past 100 years and for me I found it really lifted a curtain into everyday lives, and showed the repeated oppression women, but to a certain extent all Afghanis, have experienced.
As with all collections there are some stories that didn't appeal as much to me, and just because this book is by women do not for an instant think that it won't show all aspects of life including some pretty graphic violent scenes.
Some stories did make me smile, others moved me almost to tears, and plenty appalled me or made me angry.
Sadly I can't see life getting better for anyone in the country anytime soon but I hope that the authors (and translators) of this book remain safe and that the book is read widely.
Rwanda is another book where I've not wanted to read (directly) about the Genocide in 1994 and again Daunts came to the rescue with a book by a Rwandan author focussing on the traditional legends of the country which I'm looking forward to reading a lot.
