Well, it’s that time of year again…the extravaganza of lists about everything BEST in the world. I’ll be joining the fray, but my two lists (debuts and overall best) won’t be going up until after Christmas. For today, I wanted to give some love to four very different books I thought were gems, but that didn’t get much attention. Interestingly enough, none are light reading. I ... Read More...
Against the Loveless World
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa is about Nahr, whose name means “river”, in Arabic. She has been in solitary confinement for 16 years in a cell she calls the Cube somewhere in modern-day Israel. For her, time has no meaning. Her environment is so strictly controlled that she doesn’t know when the shower will run or the toilet will flush. Her window is so small it ... Read More...
8 Fall 2020 Books I’m Ready to Read
September is here and fall (sort of) so I’ve got to pull myself out of my summer funk and get re-energized for reading. I feel as if I need to keep apologizing, because despite my best efforts at taking review breaks, I’m still struggling to get my mojo back and to post regularly. I don’t think I’m alone in this—it’s been a long time since we’ve had good news in ... Read More...
A Door in the Earth
Parveen is like most young women her age—graduating college, but not sure what she wants to do with her degree in medical anthropology. Until she reads a memoir, written by a man who goes to Afghanistan and after a traumatic incident that left a woman dead from giving birth, founds and funds a women’s health center in a small isolated village. Parveen is Afghan-American and ... Read More...
Death is Hard Work
Bolbol’s father has just died in Damascus. Before he did, he made one final request of his son—he wants to be buried in the family’s plot in his hometown. It’s two hours away and without thinking Bolbol agrees. It’s only as he’s contacting his sister, Fatima, and his brother, Hussein, that the enormity of his promise hits him. This is Syria, a country being destroyed by its ... Read More...
Daring to Drive
If I had to sum up Manal al-Sharif’s memoir Daring to Drive in one sentence it would be: Saudi Arabia is a country that despises women. I didn’t know this. Somehow, I thought it was one of the more enlightened Middle Eastern countries but after listening to Manal’s story of lifelong oppression for no other reason than being female, I realize how wrong I was. Ostensibly, the ... Read More...
