A poignant reflection from a woman in Afghanistan:

I bear deep scars from the Taliban; I lost my job, my home, and became a refugee. Yet, nothing compares to the grief of losing my small bedroom library. Each of my over a hundred books was earned through sacrifice—skipping cafes, missing out on friendships, and forgoing countless dreams. All that I had, my written thoughts and cherished books, were taken from me by the Taliban's grim steps.

#Afghanistan
#Literature
#WomenVoices

I finished Children of Dune the other day and I have really enjoyed the series so far. Great mix of sci-fi nonsense with political intrigue and philosophy, plus it's always fun reading the sci-fi classics that lots of now-tropes draw from.

I dunno how many more of them I'll read but the first three are easily in my top 5 sci-fi series.

#dune #literature #scifi #reading

#OTD in 1797.

Jane Austen's father writes to London bookseller Thomas Cadell to ask if he is interested in seeing the manuscript of Jane's recently completed novel First Impressions (later re-titled Pride and Prejudice); Cadell declines.

gutenberg.org/ebooks/42671

#books #literature

#OTD in 1726.

The novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre is published. Swift claimed that he wrote it "to vex the world rather than divert it".

gutenberg.org/ebooks/17157

#books #literature