Middle East/North African Lit discussion

In another thread Zanna made a comment about what she was hoping to achieve for herself with this challenge...i thought it would be great if participants shared their own goals.

Mine are not impressive: first goal--get the challenge set up! huzzah! i did it. :D

second goal--read a couple of books that have languished on my shelves for too long.

Marieke your goals are very impressive - setting up the challenge and all the threads is an awesome goal, and you have already done it!!! <3

From the age of 18 to the age of 22, I spent a large proportion of my time with Iranian people. For a lot of that time, I was living with Iranians. When I was at art college doing a really uninspiring foundation course, I spent most of my time in the library watching Iranian films on video. I tried fairly hard to learn Farsi during this period of my life, but I was very shy about practising, so I didn't learn much, and what I did learn... yodam raft! I can still remember most of the Arabic letters though. I find it pretty weird that I haven't read many Iranian books, because I was completely hooked on Iranian culture at that time, and most people in the UK have a very strange idea or lack of any idea about Iran & Iranians from my point of view, which I am often trying to correct by talking about it. I have read a couple of books about miniature painting, but really I'm more interested in literature and modern/contemporary society. I enjoy reading the blog Ajam Media Collective which is great for disrupting orientalist perspectives on Iran.

One of my goals is to read more Iranian books during this challenge

Another of my goals is to SMASH ORIENTALISM ; )
or, more modestly, to read lots of contrasting perspectives and stories that help me to decolonise my mind about women living in the ME-NA region

Since i just finished a book for another group, i thought i would delve into my challenge reads here. i just put a hold on a book at the library and then went to my basement to find Mornings in Jenin, thinking i would start reading it in the morning. I CAN'T FIND IT. I'm so mad! but in the meantime, i located a couple of other MENA titles by women authors, so maybe i should make a list here of what i think i will/could read. i set my goal for three books...but now my list is longer than three:

1. Mornings in Jenin (i have a copy somewhere!)
2. The Kindness of Enemies (just put on hold at the library)
3. The Good Muslim (need to get)
4. Secret Son (just saw this in hard to reach place in my basement)
5. The Architect's Apprentice (need to get)
6. Savushun: A Novel About Modern Iran (have it in hand...start in the morning?)