Which Book Should We Read from Albania?

I don’t know enough about Albania & that’s true of most of the world as that’s how Enver Hoxha, the former Prime Minister of Albania wanted it for so long. We were lucky to find enough books translated into English to make up a proper vote this month & even luckier to find a whole array of different genres.

But before we get to the vote, here’s an intense poem from an Albanian who was awarded the prize “The Most Beautiful Poem” at Netët Korçare te Poezisë, the international poetry festival in Albania.

Grief marches

beside me

and some illegal immigrants

running to hide.

I buy cigarettes for a Pakistani who begs me.

I light up his bitterness

my nerves are screaming.

My anxiety

raises its spear.

It waves the battle flag above my head.

My conscience burns.

My face

white

like the moon.

I stand before the psychiatrist

sleepless

I sit.

He asks me about things I don’t remember.

My memory comical.

I laugh.

We end the session.

I rise

and the black hole on the threshold swallows me

and spits me out on the street.

So, I come back to you

unconscious

like a wounded child, rejected

from the game.
— Hemicrania by Ardita Jatru

THE VOTING

You can vote from now until Thurs, Aug. 1 11:30PM on which book you’d like the club to read next. (That's NYC time. See this converted to your local time below.)

Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

To participate:

1. Review the books.

2. Then, click here to vote.

We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards.