Welcome to Tusome

Several months ago I was having a discussion with my cousin about the sort of books that we read before bed. We both admitted to often finding ourselves at 2:00am still turning pages when the plan was to only read a chapter or two, and then sleep. Because of this issue, his friend Abi recommended a collection of short stories for him from her online bookstore. That is when this grand idea popped into my head.

I’ve always loved to read. A few years earlier I watched a TED Talk about a lady who spent a year reading authors from different countries. Her talk inspired me to expand my own reading. I started to pay more attention to authors originally from outside of North America as most of my reading up to the moment, was just like the lady from the TED Talk, mostly North American or British. I decided to step away from that. To explore other writers.

Through that experience I discovered remarkable authors from across the world. After speaking with my cousin that day I decided that running a book store is the best way for me to share something that I truly love to do. And because I needed a focus, I picked three regions that I find to have a wealth of strong authorship that is often overlooked: African authors, the Middle East and even more recently I find myself getting lost in the pages of books by Asian authors.

I wanted to share these books because many of the stories I have read are incredible and also because had I not intentionally selected books out of my ordinary choices, I would never have known. The authors have a way with their words- and because their lives are so different from our own and from those we’ve generally been accustomed to, you will be transformed into other worlds. Tusome Books is my way of sharing that experience.

In addition, Canada is a multicultural country. Tusome books brings some of that multiculturalism into the forefront of the book business. My point is to highlight authors who will help us as Canadians to embrace and understand our differences in a way that brings us closer together.

Interesting Links Related to the Post

The TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_my_year_reading_a_book_from_every_country_in_the_world?language=en

Abi’s Online Bookstore: https://www.ruganobooks.com