Kristin asked Zoë Ferraris:

Zoe, are there any other authors you'd recommend who write novels that are honest about the Middle East (i.e. good/bad, weaknesses/strengths, not stereotypes, etc.)? Most books that take place in the ME have western reviewers (who have little/no experience with the Arab/Muslim world) and so often the books they love, I can't stand. Thanks!

Zoë Ferraris Well shoot, there are tons of books and authors out there who do a really good job of showing the complicated, messy, hugely diverse world of the Middle East. We could talk about this for a while. I think of Anastasia Hobbet's "Small Kingdoms" and Keija Parssinen's "The Ruins of Us." I mention them because they're excellent and a wee bit overlooked, imo. My go-to books by Middle Eastern authors are "Cities of Salt" by Abdulrahman Munif, and "The Yacoubian Building" by Alaa al-Aswany -- both not as popular as, say, Naguib Mahfouz (who I also enjoyed), but they are just as gripping. Also consider Matt Rees's Omar Yussef mysteries....

Is there anything in particular you're longing to read? Mysteries, historical novels, literary fiction? What books can't you stand? (Just curious. :-)))

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