Tag Archives: Middle East

All That’s Left To You, by Ghassan Kanafani

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Thistle

My sister recommended three novellas by Ghassan Kanafani, and so I read all three. This was my sister’s favorite of the three, so I read it first. It follows several different stories, offset by type (bold, italics, normal) to differentiate … Continue reading →

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Sweet Dates in Basra, by Jessica Jiji

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Thistle

There’s a lot going on in this book, so it’s going to be a bit difficult to try to sum up in a paragraph. Sweet Dates in Basra takes place in 1940s Iraq in a time of political and religious … Continue reading →

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Things I’ve Been Silent About, by Azar Nafisi (audio)

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Thistle

Years ago, pre-blogging, I read Reading Lolita in Tehran, a sort of combination memoir, history lesson, and literary analysis rolled into one. It was a fascinating, wonderful book for me, especially parts 1 and 4, which dealt more with the … Continue reading →

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19 Varieties of Gazelle, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Thistle

This small book of poetry is subtitled “Poems of the Middle East.” I first got interested in reading some of Nye’s poetry when I saw her at a poetry reading last year. I finally got this book around Christmas. Once … Continue reading →

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Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Thistle

Mornings in Jenin tells the history of Palestine through the eyes of four generations of Palestinians. It begins prior to the creation of Israel and the expulsion of Palestinians from their land, and goes through the siege on the refugee … Continue reading →

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Readathon: Chicken With Plums, by Marjane Satrapi

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Thistle

In Chicken With Plums, Satrapi writes a biography of her great-uncle, the famous Iranian musician Nassar Ali Khan. When Khan’s tar breaks, he falls into a depression and lays in bed wishing for death for a week. At the end … Continue reading →

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Embroideries, by Marjane Satrapi

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Thistle

So what happens when a group of close women get together for an afternoon of tea and talk? Embroideries takes us through an afternoon of frank talk by women in their own little circle. The more I read of Satrapi’s … Continue reading →

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Beneath My Mother’s Feet, by Amjed Qamar

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Thistle

Nazia lives in working class Karachi, Pakistan. Her family is not rich, but she and her siblings are still able to go to school, and her mother does not have to work outside the home. However, when Nazia’s father is … Continue reading →

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Yemen, by Liz Sonneborn

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Thistle

The Enchantment of the World series is a set of books about different countries written for about middle-school aged kids. Each has a different author. Each one discusses the geography, history, government, religion, culture, holidays, plants, animals, economy, industry, education, … Continue reading →

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A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, by Valerie Zenatti

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Thistle

When a bomb goes off in a cafe near Tal’s home in Jerusalem, she begins to write. At first, it’s just like a journal entry. Then, it becomes a letter to an as-of-yet unknown Palestinian. Tal has this idea that … Continue reading →

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