Random books from akeela's library

Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing by Christiane Northrup

Naked Came I by David Weiss

Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami

Afterwards by Rachel Seiffert

I Lock My Door Upon Myself by Joyce Carol Oates

Write Home for Me: A Red Cross Woman in Vietnam by Jean Debelle Lamensdorf

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Friends: aasomers, alcottacre, aluvalibri, avaland, Belletrista, callmejacx, DubaiReader, fmmahomed, keren7, kidzdoc, lawgrrl07, njinthesun, PrincessT, rachbxl

Interesting libraries: aasomers, amanaceerdh, amira, anthrogal, cestovatela, dchaikin, Fullmoonblue, gentlewoman, keil, kidzdoc, LyzzyBee, marisamisron, SeriousGrace, silvercowrie

LibraryThing authors: Byron Ayanoglu (Byron359), Geoff Wyss (GeoffWyss), Lisa See (lisasee), Laila Lalami (llalami)

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Member: akeela

CollectionsYour library (446), Wishlist (13), To read (87), Favorites (65), All collections (446)

Reviews15 reviews

Tagsnon-fiction (213), fiction (200), To read (95), memoir (76), favorites (69), read in 2008 (62), British (47), African (46), translated (44), read in 2009 (42) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

Groups75 Books Challenge for 2008, 75 Books Challenge for 2009, Arab, North African and Middle Eastern Literature, Author Theme Reads, Board Room, Book Nudgers, Club Read 2009, Girlybooks, Reading Globally, What Are You Reading Now? — show all groups , Workspace B

Favorite authorsChimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Muhammad Asad, Martha Beck, Elizabeth Berg, Charlotte Brontë, Edwidge Danticat, Denyse Devlin, Charles Dickens, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bessie Head, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Lings, Naguib Mahfouz, Rohinton Mistry, Maggie O'Farrell (Shared favorites)

About meMy Reading Threads on LT:
My thread in the Club Read 2009 group.
Another in the 75 Books Challenge 2009 group.
and my favorite global reads in the Reading Globally group.

If you want a peek at last year's reads, it's here.

My Most Recent Good Reads:
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (Iran)
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti)
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami (Morocco)
Sharon and my Mother-In Law: Ramallah Diaries by Suad Amiry (Palestine/Israel)
Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
The Spare Room by Helen Garner (Australia)
The Red Carpet by Lavanya Sankaran (India)
A Brief History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (UK/Ukrainian immigrants)

Great Global Reads in 2008:
By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (former Zanzibar, now Tanzania)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (UK)
The Seasons of the Beento Blackbird by Akosua Busia (The Carribean, Ghana)
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe)
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton (South Africa)
Small Island by Andrea Levy (Jamaica and the UK)
Mosquito by Roma Tearne (Sri Lanka)
Lemona's Tale by Ken Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria)
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb (Ethiopia)
Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi (Afghanistan)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa Lee (China)
After You'd Gone Maggie O'Farrell (Scotland)
Burning Marguerite by Elizabeth Inness-Brown (USA)
Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (USA)

Profile pic: Kogelberg Nature Reserve, Cape Town.

Reading Globally: Countries Visited Since 2007

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or write about it on the open travel guide

About my library Create your own visitor map!

LocationCape Town, South Africa

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/akeela (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/akeela (library)

Common KnowledgeSeries (28), Awards (173), Characters (821), Places (203)

Member sinceOct 14, 2007

Most recent activity

akeela rated:
The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar

akeela added:
Landscape With Dog: And Other Stories by Ersi Sotiropoulos

akeela added:
All This Belongs to Me: A Novel (Writings from an Unbound Europe) by Petra Hulová

akeela added:
The Diving Pool: Three Novellas by Yoko Ogawa

akeela added:
The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf: A Novel by Mohja Kahf

akeela rated, added:
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Hi Akeela -- nice to have you visit. I don't actually post book covers under Currently Reading, but I do post covers on my Club Read 2009 site. The html for that is -- you need to have the URL for the book cover -- I usually use the cover that is posted on the bookpage in LT. A good source for information about the techie aspects of LT and HTML is on the Virago group at: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.ph....

posted by janeajones at 12:33 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2009

hi akeela,

how are you? i see that one of your recent good reads is a book from Morocco. would you recommend any more titles by a Moroccan author, or about Morocco -- whether fiction or not? i'm traveling there in a few weeks and would like to read up a bit, i'm practically ignorant about lit from this part of the continent! thanks, in advance, for any suggestions...

deebee

posted by deebee1 at 2:48 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2009

I want to commend you for all your work on the Belletrista site. It is incredible! I loved your reviews!

posted by Whisper1 at 4:41 pm (EST) on Oct 22, 2009

Thank you for the welcome message !
Thule is a mythical island said to be up north from everywhere. So I guess it's kind of nowhere :)

posted by rosefromthule at 7:09 am (EST) on Sep 16, 2009

Thanks, Akeela! I'll definitely keep in touch.

Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 9:41 am (EST) on Jul 25, 2009

Thank you, Akeela.

posted by avaland at 2:45 pm (EST) on Jun 14, 2009

I just wrote a long message to you and lost it - so I wrote another, slightly shorter, and lost it...so now I'm just going to wish you a good week and leave it at that!

R x

posted by rachbxl at 1:44 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2009

Hey Akeela! Thank you for the very nice welcome message. I'm already hooked on LT (and I'm blaming you!)

posted by PrincessT at 5:29 am (EST) on May 29, 2009

Hi Akeela,

Have you heard of or read the book "Classrooms in the Shade" by Shanthee Manjoo? I received an e-mail yesterday morning from Amazon about it. This is Amazon's product description:

From the opening Sanskrit mantra to the final act of voting in South Africa's first democratic elections, this lyrical memoir provides a unique perspective on South Africa's modern history. The account shows how a young Hindu woman of Indian ancestry, living in South Africa in the 1940s, defied convention, married a Muslim man, and became an activist at time when Muslim women were seldom seen in such a role. As a teacher, she spoke up during the political strife of that highly segregated era, which included the relocation of Indians and angry student boycotts, and here shares her philosophies and insights into education. Filled with characters from both a personal and national context, the memoir captures the nuances of an important time and place.

It sounds interesting, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it.

Best wishes,
Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 6:57 am (EST) on May 7, 2009

Hi Akeela!
Joined, and I'm already hooked. :D
Now just adding books and exploring.

posted by mashadutoit at 2:07 pm (EST) on May 5, 2009

I just saw that you left me a comment - back in February. I did love The Bean Trees very much. It had a beautiful build up and even more beautiful climax at the end. I was racing to finish it and was very touched. I hope that you like it as much as I did.

I did like Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress too, but Bean Trees was much more enjoyable. Balzac, there was something to be learned. it was very well written and as a book lover it was beautiful to watch two young boys find immense value in reading.

I hope that you like them both!

posted by everydayxangels at 12:38 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2009

Thank you for the book suggestion. That does sound like something I would be interested in. A few months ago they reunited one of the missing children from the Balkans conflict with her real father. She had disappeared during a village raid or something as a baby and was raised by foster parents.

posted by meggyweg at 7:35 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

Just wanted to say a big thank you for all your recommendations of "By the Sea" - it is WONDERFUL (and exactly what I needed after the horrors of my last book). Sometimes a book comes along that's almost perfect, and this is one of them; I just don't want the stories to stop. I've got about 80 pages left so I'll finish it today.

R x

posted by rachbxl at 5:01 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2009

Akeela, please dont' feel guilty. I love picking up recommendations from your comments and reviews, etc. You're part of my inspiration for new books - at the moment you're a big part.

posted by dchaikin at 9:06 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2009

Hi Akeela! well, since you asked, I looked at your library again and ended up adding a couple of dozen of your books to my to-read list. You have such a good list of women writers from Africa, Iran, the mid east... I'm trying to stick with Iranian and African women now, so I forced myself to close my eyes to your other intriguing books... although books about hiking, gardening and spirituality always give me a nice friendly feeling! I often like to keep track of who recommended a book to me; would you mind if I added the tag "akeela's library" to my tags?

So I've just finished The Devil That Danced on the Water, and just started Infidel, and ordered a half dozen more from the public library. LT is dangerous! -Melissa

posted by ziziaaurea at 10:30 pm (EST) on Feb 16, 2009

Hello Akeela,
thanks for the wonderful message - I will consider joining a group, but as you can see from the time between my messages, I am trying to do too much (always!!!) and not always able to give all to any one thing - so i hesitate to put my name to another activity! problem is that there's too much that interests me....

I would so love to visit cape town - your pics let me know that it's exactly the kind of place i'd love - mountains, ocean and lovely people (yes, you!) -

am having a good time reading now that my company is gone - had family visiting for 22 of the last 30 days - so i'm reading the 19th wife and listening to skeletons at the feast - both heavy reading, both very good so far.

hope you're having a great summer -

ps - i loved your liv ullman quote and will use it in my e-mails!

best wishes, Nancy (njinthesun)

posted by njinthesun at 8:33 pm (EST) on Feb 16, 2009

Hi Akeela,

I finally received my copy of "Travelling with Djinns" this week. I absolutely love this book so far! Have you read anything else by Mr. Mahjoub?

Talk to you soon,

Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 10:38 am (EST) on Feb 14, 2009

Hi Akeela,

I'm glad that you're reading and enjoying "A Grain of Wheat". I'll probably start reading "Petals of Blood" next month. I enjoyed "Wizard of the Crow" even more than "A Grain of Wheat", and I would love to read it again (although the hundreds of other books on Mt TBR are also clamoring for my attention!).

I just posted a review of the latest book I read, "Mi Revalueshanary Fren" by the dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. I hope to finish "The Obscene Bird of Night" by Jose Donoso this weekend. I'm off this weekend; well. I'm off today, and I may have to work tomorrow night (6 pm to 1 am) to help admit kids to the hospital if the doc on call gets overwhelmed (I hope not!). Next week I only work three days, so I should get some good reading in.

Your posts have been absolutely fantastic, especially those on your Reading Globally page. Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Have a great weekend! Talk to you soon.

Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 11:46 am (EST) on Jan 24, 2009

Akeela,

I need your address so I can get you a copy of Ex-Libris. It is a wonderful book, one of my all-time favorites. You simply must get a copy!

Stasia

posted by alcottacre at 1:42 am (EST) on Jan 19, 2009

Akeeeeeeelaaaaaa,

I got the candy and the book today! Thank you so much!

So, what can I send you? Hmmm . . .

Stasia

posted by alcottacre at 3:55 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2009

Hi, great suggestions on my SantaThing. If I don't get those from SantaThing, I'm going to get them for myself. Thanks!

posted by dchaikin at 2:46 am (EST) on Dec 14, 2008

You won't go wrong with [The House of the Spirits] as your initial read by Allende. Sheer pleasure to read...

posted by deebee1 at 9:25 am (EST) on Nov 20, 2008

hi akeela, i just thought of mentioning a few South American authors for ur list. Gabriel Garcia Marquez of course is a must. i would suggest Chronicle of a Death Foretold for a start before tackling his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude. Chronicle, for me, is what superb writing is. Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, both are wonderful. Then there's Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa. Just a few names that you shouldn't miss... :-)

posted by deebee1 at 10:30 am (EST) on Nov 19, 2008

Hurray! glad you're going to be back around here soon, sprinkling the Akeela sunshine! Hope you really have had a "Good Month" in the meanwhile.

Yes, I've read Family Matters, and A Fine Balance as well, and I loved them, too. The problem is that I read all 3 in the space of a few months so now I've no idea which was which. As far as Canadian authors are concerned (apart from ones like Mistry who was born in India), don't tell anyone, but I don't think I've read many... Every time I stumble upon a discussion of Canadian lit, I realise the extent of my ignorance! I like Atwood (her novels much more than her short stories, and I really DON'T like her occasional writing), and last year I discovered Alice Munro - I'm trying not to do the same thing as with Mistry so I'm taking it very slowly and have only read 2 of her books so far, but I really liked them and will read more. I recently acquired a book by Robertson Davies and one by Mordecai Richler, partly in at attempt to fill the gaps (but they've gone into boxes, and who knows when they'll re-appear?) How about you - what have you been underwhelmed by?

Any inkling of a decision yet?

r xx

posted by rachbxl at 3:57 am (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

ha ha! I've just been to post my top 5 books of the quarter. I read all the other posts but without really looking at whose they were, and I was excited to find someone whose list included 4 of my favourite books from the last couple of years. I was about to rush off to this person's library to see what ideas I could borrow - but it turned out to be you! (I haven't got my hands on anything by Ken Saro-Wiwa yet, but he's on my mental TBR list - have you read anything else of his?)
I see you've just added [Such a Long Journey], by the way - another of my absolute favourites.

R

posted by rachbxl at 4:28 am (EST) on Sep 27, 2008

I'm so glad to see that you have added the Berberova, the Akhmatova, the Mandelstam, the Dangarembga, the Bowles and the Marai. All wonderful, imo. I hope you will enjoy the Berberova and the Marai as much as I did. Glad you liked the pictures of the geezer, the geezerette and the various offspring.

posted by almigwin at 3:28 am (EST) on Sep 15, 2008

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