Wazir Akbar Khanin varakkaassa kaupunginosassa Kabulin keskustassa sijaitsi Green Zonen alue, jonka muurien sisään suurin osa lähetystöistä ja kansainvälisistä järjestöistä oli sijoittunut. Compoundeiksi kutsuttuja tarkoin vartioituja naapurustoja oli myös varsinaisen Green Zonen ulkopuolella. Jos sellaisessa sattui asumaan, alueelta ei ollut paljon asiaa poistua – mitä korkeamman profiilin työpaikka, sitä varmemmin Kabulissa päätyi asumaan kuin vankilassa. […]

“Everybody talks about genocides around the world, but when the killing is slow and spread over a hundred years, no one notices. Where there are no mass graves, no one notices. American outrage is always for show. It has a shelf life. If that Griffin book had been Lynched Like Me, America might have looked […]

When Lia came to, Anne was perching next to a bed that was not her bed, in a room that was not her room. Her mother’s large planet-black eyes tapped shut every few seconds. She twitched curiously the way birds do when studying their very first hatching, their first glistening object of great and undivided […]

Kerro minulle merestä, Lia sanoi jälkeenpäin. Miten voitte tietää, että menette sinne minne pitääkin?Olof ynähti.Nukutko sinä?Meri, Olof mutisi. Pitääkö meidän aina puhua merestä?Niin mutta miten te osaatte palata kotiin? Merihän ei ole enää sama kuin lähtiessänne.Paikat oppii tunnistamaan ja pikku hiljaa alkaa nähdä erilaisten kallioiden ja rantojen eroja, vaikka ne ensin näyttivät samanlaisilta.Olof vaikeni.Kerro nyt […]

Yusuf’s new teacher wasted no time in putting him right on a number of matters. The day began at dawn and did not finish until Khalil said so. Nightmares and crying in the night were stupid so they were to have no more of that. Someone might think he was bewitched and have him sent […]

No one needs a relationship. What you need is the basic cop-on to figure that out, in the face of all the media bullshit screaming that you’re nothing on your own and you’re a dangerous freak if you disagree. The truth is, if you don’t exist without someone else, you don’t exist at all. And […]

Tory Foyle unwound the black chenille scarf from her hair. She was what was once held to be the typical English Beauty, her pink face, bright hair and really violet eyes. ‘I had a letter from Edward.’ She took a small piece of lined paper from her pocket and smoothed it. Beth poured tea and […]

Kirjabloggaajien puolivuosittainen klassikkohaaste on edennyt jo osaan 16. Olen ollut mukana säännöllisesti osasta 4 lähtien ja nyt on kunnia päästä myös emännöimään haastetta. Osan 16 haastepäivä on 31.1.2023. Hyvin on siis aikaa valita ja lukea tuhdimpikin klassikkoteos. Tervetuloa mukaan vanhat ja uudet klassikkohaasteen ystävät! Klassikkohaasteen viralliset säännöt: Osallistua saa myös ilman blogia. Tällöin kirjoita ajatuksiasi […]

How light and tall he almost felt walking along with this girl at his side and some fresh, new, unrecognisable joy in his heart. Was it possible that the best bit of him was shining forth, and surfacing? Some part of him, whatever it could be called – was there any name for it? – […]

self-portrait: at sea I’d like you to sing, he said.  We don’t sing, Mr Lloyd.  But I need something to focus on. Counting or singing.  Not in this boat.  I read in a book that you people always sing while rowing.  Not a very good book then, is it, Mr Lloyd?  I came here because […]

She hears all the voices from when she was little, soothing, strengthening: Don’t be scared, not of monsters, not of witches, not of big dogs. And now, snapping loud from every direction: Be scared, you have to be scared, ordering like this is your one absolute duty. Be scared you’re fat, be scared your boobs […]