Okay so back in 2000 or 2001, I read a book that dealt with female genital mutilation. Since then I had completely forgotten its name and author. From time to time, I’d try to find out what the hell it was but always failed… WELL, the name of the woman who it’s about just RANDOMLY popped into my mind and VIOLA, I found the book.
You guys should definitely read it— it’s a biography.
“For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father’s sudden death. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. It is a ritual no woman can refuse. But Fauziya dared to try.
This is her story—told in her own words—of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S. prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya’s friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars. Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya’s behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.”
"Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you
are not suffering from it."
— Little Bee by Chris Cleave
"The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones."
— Tsukiko in The Night Circus
The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig LarsonThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest - Steig LarsonA Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela- Incendiary - Chris Cleave
Extremely Loud and Incredibly CloseLittle Bee - Chris Cleave- Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman - Robert K. Massie
- Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty - Robert K. Massie
- Queen Victoria: A Personal History - Christopher Hibbert
- Elizabeth I: A Novel by Margaret George
Rules for Virgins - Amy Tan- Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire
A Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire- Out of Oz - Gregory Maguire
- The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
- Rules of Civility: A Novel - Amor Towles
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern- The Tiger’s Wife: A Novel - Tea Obreht
The Paris Wife - Paula McLain- Caleb’s Crossing
- Rebel Hearts : Journeys Within the IRA’s Soul
- The IRA: Tim Pat Coogan
The Sense of an Ending - Julian BarnesLove, InshAllahA Walk Across the Sun - Corban Addison.Forrest Gump- A Thrice Told Tale
- A Tale of Love and Darkness
- Gender and Jim Crow
The problem with having only a few hours to read and a 48504875082475 books out there to read, is that my reading list is growing faster than I can read. This may be a problem, but it’s a beautiful one.
