aishaayoosh's reviews
127 reviews

"A simple rule dictates my buying: be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."

“Girls die from many causes: childbirth, illness, disease, men.”

“Now I know that speaking good English is not the measure of intelligent mind and sharp brain. English is only a language, like Yoruba and Igbo and Hausa. Nothing about it is so special, nothing about it makes anybody have sense.”

“A lesser male needs to shout to be noticed. Dominance hierarchies enhance stability in natural populations, and some less natural “

“If a phone repairman feels the need to chastise you, I told myself, your behavior probably needs modifying. I made promises to myself that day. I vowed that from then on I’d meditate, count backward, run twelve miles a night, whatever it took to hold it together.”


Excellent & essential reading. What it takes to succeed in business ….inspiring!!

A candid memoir that is also an enduring force for change.

“Most people go through their whole lives without answering their own questions: What am I, what do I have within me? The big stuff. What a waste.”

“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things”

With special mentions and appreciation of the Arab legends Umm Kulthum, Ibn Zaydun, Princess Wallada, Naguib Mahfouz and my fave poet, Nizar Qabbani… Absolutely love this collection of poetry!!!


“She does not love you.
Your metaphors thrill her
you are her poet.
But that's all there is to it.”


“In our night she belongs to everybody and nobody. Her handkerchief, keeping the rhythm, is banner to a legion of lovers competing for the love of a person they don’t know, but her heart is none of our concern, because it is as hard and closed as a dried-up walnut.” / Umm Kulthum

“Every girl knows it by heart. We recite it whenever we enter a temple – a constant reminder that women were created to be helpmeets to men, subservient to their desires and commands.”
Namina Forna, The Gilded Ones



A great debut novel by Sierra Leonean author Namina Forna. Set in a west African-inspired kingdom of Otera. It is required all 16-year-old girls are to subject themselves to a blood-letting ritual to prove their purity. When Deka, the protagonist, bleeds the gold of demons, she is given the choice of fighting for the emperor or death.

A lot of action combined with an intense feminist story of sisterhood, where strength is found in female friendships and alliances. Plenty of twists to keep you reading on …. A fierce YA novel especially for our little Queens