Hasheemah Afaneh > Recent Status Updates

I came across Pablo Neruda last year, when one of my writing professors from Birzeit University sent one of his poems to me because it reminded her of a project I was putting together. I am enjoyed indulging in these poems.

This book reads quickly, or perhaps, one would want to read it quickly to see what the fate of the 4 characters.

I have the 25th edition of this book and it comes with an introduction from the author herself. The introduction was one that spoke to me - the questions asked, the thoughts thought, the words exchanged with others when she was in her 20s reminds me of how I feel at this moment in my 20s. It is comforting to know I am not the only one. The vignettes I started reading are excellent - short and filled with so much.

The characters....they are depicted so vividly, you can't help but hope everything works out for all of them.

"Grief will make you do crazy things...Grief will make you laugh at the funeral and weep over the cereal bowl...Grief will pack your bag, quit your job, buy a white dress. It will make you say yes."

I bought this book this afternoon, and I am HOOKED. What a way to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month with this incredible read.

There's so many gems of sentences and facts throughout the book as Jean Genet recalls things a decade later. I am in awe.

The introduction by Ahdaf Soueif is everything.

..."and we can make America what America must become."

'The Song of The Fireflies' by Gael Faye, translated by Sarah Ardizzone was one that spoke volumes to me. Fireflies were a childhood memory to me & I can't remember when the last time I saw one was. I remember a story one of my biochemistry professors from undergrad told the class.

Lina Mounzer's essay 'The Funniest Shit You Ever Heard' made me laugh out loud and then sigh very deeply.

I finished the fiction story by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, "Survival." This was like an episode of Black Mirror. People have 'survival ratings' attached to them based on their income, education, jobs, marital status. It's fiction, but in many ways, it can be related to what we see today from income and gender inequality to housing and how the world views individuals from different classes.

I put this on my workplace's book club and glad to have done! I don't want to put this book down. From John Freeman's introduction filled poignant questions to the beginning essays and poems - the story of the glaciers in Iceland, the observation of Dusk, Margaret Atwood's poem, Arundhati Roy's description of the quest of water and the depiction of the Matanza Riacheulo - I am gripped.

I just adore the works of Naomi Shihab Nye.