Middle East/North African Lit discussion

Dear members,

Please share your thoughts about what to expect in 2023 in our group.
We are planning to have 4 official reads. We will be sharing our interests with you soon to check what will be the best options.

Please share your ideas with us. We welcome any proposals for reading books as official or buddy reads.

Let us begin :)

For fiction I would like to read:
Warda: A Novel

For non-fiction, I would like to read:
Nile: Urban Histories on the Banks of a River

I would definitely like to read the novel The House of Rust by the author Khadija Abdalla Bajaber. She is of Yemeni ancestry born in Kenya.
It is not easy to find Yemeni authors, so when a Yemeni friend posted about this novel on Facebook I immediately noted it!

I would like to nominate The Night Will Have It’s Say, Ibrahim
al- Koni. Translated by Nancy Roberts.
The Muslim conquest of North Africa during the 7th century CE from the perspective of the conquered peoples. Berber warrior Queen and Umayyad emissary. Ramifactions of futility of wars. Beautiful poetic language.

For 2023, we're thinking of having 4 group reads (beyond that, members can also create their own unlimited buddy reads). I have 3 ideas...

1. Fiction: Hopefully The Djinn's Apple (تفاح الجن) will be coming out in Sawad Hussain's English translation in 2023.

2. Non-Fiction: Maybe just an open Non-Fiction read and people can report on books they read according to their own interests? I'm not sure everyone would be interest in my own choice: The Tentmakers of Cairo: Egypt's Medieval and Modern Applique Craft.

3. Children's/Stan Countries: The Clever Wife: A Kyrgyz Folktale

Other books on my to-read list that might be of interest to others:
The Other End of the Sea (author not from MENA region)

In case there is any interest in an Arabic-only read, I'm planning to read writing by Emily Nasrallah, as well as these books that are not yet available in EN:
1) أوراق قديمة
2) غريبة الحسين
3) نصف استواء

The Tentmakers of Cairo sounds like a very interesting book. I love to sew and plan on buying this book. Thanks for the suggestion.

It seems we only have The Tentmakers of Cairo: Egypt's Medieval and Modern Applique Craft as a reading to be highlighted so far.

I want to read The Night Will Have Its Say but I could not reach a copy so far.

Melanie wrote: "1. Fiction: Hopefully The Djinn's Apple (تفاح الجن) will be coming out in Sawad Hussain's English translation in 2023..."

I have a copy now. If the English translation is out. I am in for the discussion.

The Night Will Have Its Say is on Kindel.

Jalilah wrote: "I would definitely like to read the novel The House of Rust by the author Khadija Abdalla Bajaber. She is of Yemeni ancestry born in Kenya.
It is not easy to find..."

I am also interested in this one. Maybe we could do a buddy read?

Nan, for ( the night will have its say ) I was hoping to reach a copy in Arabic. I have been trying for the past last year.

Niledaughter wrote: "Nan, for ( the night will have its say ) I was hoping to reach a copy in Arabic. I have been trying for the past last year."

Now I have a copy! Thanks dear Melanie :)
Now we can have The Night Will Have Its Say
by Ibrahim al-Koni as an official read in 2023!
It has been long time since I read The Bleeding of the Stone for him.



Hopefully we will hear about (The Djinn's Apple-تفاح الجن) English translation!

Melanie suggested having an open Non-Fiction Read. She would be reading: The Tentmakers of Cairo: Egypt's Medieval and Modern Applique Craft. And I would love to read Nile: Urban Histories on the Banks of a River

Who is in?

About the buddy Reads: Are we having one for The House of Rust ?

Niledaughter I’m glad you found a copy in Arabic.

Niledaughter wrote: "Niledaughter wrote: "Nan, for ( the night will have its say ) I was hoping to reach a copy in Arabic. I have been trying for the past last year."

Now I have a copy! Thanks dear Melanie :)
Now we c..."


I would LOVE to read The House of Rust
If we do the challenge again in 2023 it will be my selection for either Khalijee or Horn of Africa

I'd love to buddy read The House of Rust!

Some non-fiction suggestions:
1. What Have You Left Behind? by Bushra al-Maqtari
2. We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh
3. Head Above Water: Reflections on Illness by Shahd Alshammari

Thanks for all the ideas so far. I have another Non-Fiction that I plan to read this year (it just won an award from MESA, the Middle East Studies Association): Say What Your Longing Heart Desires: Women, Prayer, and Poetry in Iran.

For The House of Rust, I might be interested too. I'm planning to look at it closer soon!

Great!
I think we can start with The Night Will Have Its Say in January.
March The House of Rust? or we could move to the open Non-Fiction Read.

I guess we can continue with our yearly challenge as it is, what do you think?

Niledaughter wrote: "Great!
I think we can start with The Night Will Have Its Say in January.
March The House of Rust? or we could move to the open Non-Fiction Read.

I guess we can cont..."

Yes to the group reads and challenge! I’d love to do it again!

Sounds good.

Sorry for the delay. I can participate in The House of Rust discussion. It looks like we have the following group reads forming for 2023:

1. The Night Will Have Its Say (Ar. كلمة الليل في حق النهار ) - hosted by NileDaughter
2. The House of Rust - hosted by Melanie unless someone else volunteers (Jalilah, message me if you want to do this)
3. Open Non-Fiction Read
4. If it is available in English translation (by Sawad Hussain) by then, The Djinn's Apple (Ar. تفاح الجن) by Jamila Mourani. You can read an excerpt here:
https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/...
You can read about the book here:
https://arablit.org/2018/01/23/why-dj...

Let us know if there is anything else you'd like to see in the line-up :)

The Djinn's Apple premise sounds intriguing! Is there a rough date when the translated version will be published?

Melanie wrote: "Sorry for the delay. I can participate in The House of Rust discussion. It looks like we have the following group reads forming for 2023:

1. The Night Will Have Its Say (Ar. [book:..."

Thank you for putting this together! :)

Mona wrote: "The Djinn's Apple premise sounds intriguing! Is there a rough date when the translated version will be published?"

It is the forth read, probably (from October to December), hopfuly it will be out by then.

Jalilah wrote: "Yes to the group reads and challenge! I’d love to do it again!..."

Great! I will set the challenge soon .

I will definitely participate in a discussion about The House of Rust! In fact, I’ve already ordered the book, however I don’t want to be a discussion leader.
It sounds silly I know, but the times I’ve offered to do it, no one else participated so now I’ve become superstitious about it

2023 challenge is set:
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

Please post your list in here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jalilah, I can take care of the hosting then. I know how eerie it is to start a discussion and hear just crickets. The only reassurance I can offer is that the threads are never closed so the discussion can always continue beyond the set period - maybe someone will respond someday :)

Happy New year everyone:)

Our first discussion for The Night Will Have Its Say
is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

For nonfiction :Syria Crucified

The house of rust seems like my kind of book. Also happy to do do unofficial / buddy reads of Emily Nasrallah’s Arabic book.

I will also be reading Memory of Departure by Nobel laureate Abdulrazzak Gurnah.
There’s a whole debate around his Arabness, he’s a great author in any case

https://www.archyde.com/this-arab-aut...

Thanks for the recommendation Inji. I have (Afterlives) for the same author to read.

Thank You, Inji for the link. Memory of Departure is a great read no matter how the press characterizes Abdulrazak Gurnan.

Inji wrote: "The house of rust seems like my kind of book. Also happy to do do unofficial / buddy reads of Emily Nasrallah’s Arabic book."

I started it just now and it’s very intriguing! I might stop and start again when we read it as a group read in April

Great then, there’s enough of us reading house of rust it seems :) and Gurnah is definitely a great author, I read Gravel Heart but not Paradise.

Melanie wrote: "Sorry for the delay. I can participate in The House of Rust discussion. It looks like we have the following group reads forming for 2023:

1. The Night Will Have Its Say

Hello all,

About next month read :
3. Open Non-Fiction Read

What are you interested in reading?
Reminder: Melanie suggested reading: The Tentmakers of Cairo: Egypt's Medieval and Modern Applique Craft. And I would love to read Nile: Urban Histories on the Banks of a River.

Anyone would like to read any other book?

A couple of suggestions:

1. Middle Eastern Gothics: Literature, Spectral Modernities and the Restless Past
2. On Zionist Literature
3. Piracy in the Eastern Mediterranean: Maritime Marauders in the Greek and Ottoman Aegean
4. Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition
5. Global Muslims in the Age of Steam and Print

The latter two are quite high on my list because I've been interested in reading something about the printing press in the Arab world.

Intesting collection Mona!
I think you can pick one and read.
We can all share our different thoughts ( impressions or reviews) about the nonfiction book we read during the next reading episode in the group, since there is no particular book has a common interest.

Alright, great :) Apologies for not having been all that active in past discussions - hope to change that

Looking forward to your thoughts, Mona (and everyone)!

Welcome anytime Mona :)
Me too Melanie, I will open the discussion soon!

The discussion is open in here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hello everyone!
Do you need a final group book reading discussion, or should we continue with the non-fiction reading session?

I don’t mind continuing with the non-fiction read

Anyone reading Adania Shibli's Minor Detail and interested in a buddy read? My friend and I are reading it together, it's out on Libro FM in English, audiobook and by Kotob.com in Arabic, e-book

Inji wrote: "Anyone reading Adania Shibli's Minor Detail and interested in a buddy read? My friend and I are reading it together, it's out on Libro FM in English, audiobook and by Kotob.com in Arabic, e-book"

I'm currently reading that!
Hi, I'm new here... :) I've just gotten a bit into part 2.