We’re only four months into 2020, but she has already read sixteen books ! Since 2017, Yousra, communication analyst by day, has been sharing her love for books on Instagram, Goodreads and “Cozy with a book”, a platform she shares with three partners, Mima, Rania and Tima. Describing herself as a « true crime junkie », she also enjoys mangas.

What is your bedtime book?

My bedtime books change every month but if I had to choose one to keep and read multiple times it would be a french book, even if I read a lot in English, my favorite book for the past years was written by Delphine de Vigan and it is her « Nothing holds back the night » in french « Rien ne s’oppose à la nuit« .

When did you read it?

I read it 2 years ago and I’m thinking about rereading it soon. It’s a book that haunts me to this day. One I’m sure I’m never going to forget about.

Why is this book so important to you?

This may sound weird, but as I read it, I felt like I needed it. I needed a book like this one to exist and to be part of my life.

Delphine de Vigan doesn’t draw a line between fiction and non-fiction in her story. She says it’s not a memoir and the cover tells us that the book is a novel, but to me, it is a memoir camouflaged as a novel.

I love and yes, love is the word, Delphine’s story. How she « writes her mother », portrays her life and draws the history of her family.

How many times have you read the book?

I only read once and I still remember every tragedy and every heartbreak. I’m still healing from the wounds left by the book. But once I’m ready again, I’ll reread it.

Did you lend it to anyone?

Never. I stopped lending my books, but I talked about it and recommended it a lot and many of my friends and some followers read it.

How would you qualify it?

This, in my opinion, is a fictionalized memoir. A book about life. The true nature of it with its darkness and sparkling lights.

What questions would you like to ask the author?

I have so many questions to ask her. Yet I’ll stick to just three :

It must have been very hard writing about your mother, what was your state of mind going through her memories?

Why choose for this book to be a novel and not a memoir?

How did you feel after seeing your book gain that much success?

And its publisher?

To JC Lattès, I would ask :

What was the first impression when receiving the script for the first time?

Did you know it was going to have the success it did?

What is your favorite bookstore?

I like tiny old bookstores and my favorite one, although it’s always crowded, is Shakespeare and Co*, in Paris.

37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005 Paris