#wehavealwaysbeenhere

Congratulation to @samra.habib for winning the Canada Read 2020 for #wehavealwaysbeenhere ! I read this amazing memoir back in April and was fascinated by it that I wrote a couple words about it. Today, I saw that @penguinrandomca had announced it as the winner, so I thought that I would repost my thoughts about it 👇🏻 A very honest and inspiring coming of age memoir by Samra Habib, a queer Muslim struggling to find her true self and define it in the context of Islam. Reading this book first I realized that although there are a lot of countries that are not free in the world, we should be thankful that still, there are places like Canada, where people from all around the world with different races, religions, identities and colors are welcomed! Being a Muslim and growing up in Iran, I can totally relate to most of what Samra has been through in her journey. Although I’m not queer or I didn’t have to escape from an arranged marriage like Samra did, I’m so glad that books like this are written to inform the world about what goes on in most Islamic countries and how people are deprived from their basic rights. This book made me doubt a lot of the things that I thought they were 100% true or from God. And isn’t that what good books are supposed to do? To make you question everything and pause for a moment. This book left me in tears and even inspired me to right my own memoir as I realized that I’ve had a lot in common with Samra throughout my life. I would recommend it to everyone and I’m sure if you read it, you’ll find something to relate to even if you are not Muslim or queer. . . . . . #bookstagram #books #booklover #book #bookworm #reading #bookish #bookstagrammer #instabook #bibliophile #bookaddict #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bookaholic #bookphotography #read #booklove #readersofinstagram #bookshelf #canadareads2020 ##bookblogger #canadareads #booklovers #reader #love #lgbt #queer #muslim (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC_xD-hhLB8/?igshid=ikwfhv6ahq66

When I first entered the globe museum in Vienna, the first wall was a collection of pictures of women at different stages in building globes to describe the process. All of them were women. All of them. The photos of students were all girls too. It was so important to me. Just so important. I have never walked into a museum and to greeted by craftsmen of entirely my gender working on something that I loved and I did. I didn't even realize how much I needed it in my life. I needed just to know, that my mothers and sisters before me were making globes too. Too many historical cartographers known by name are men, and there is nothing I want to know more then who these women are. But they were never named. 🌐♀🗺 #globes #globemakers #makersarefemale #womeninart #womenintech #Wearehere #Wehavealwaysbeenhere (at Globenmuseum der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek)