BYL Reading Challenge discussion

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2020 Challenge Prompts > Read a book set in the Middle East

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message 1: by Emily (new)

Emily (emilyc) | 195 comments Mod
Any genre, so long as it is set in a Middle Eastern country - Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestinian Territories,Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Some possibilities:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan (Palestine/Kuwait)
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (unnamed Middle Eastern country)
Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha (7th century Saudi Arabia)
Escape from Aleppo by N. H. Senzai (Syria)


message 2: by Karen (new)

Karen | 76 comments I have just completed An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine. It is set in Beirut, Lebanon at the beginning of a new year. The protagonist is a voracious reader who translates books into Arabic. From the Good Reads book description: "A love letter to literature and its power to define who we are."


message 3: by PsychedandLit (new)

PsychedandLit I’m looking at the Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat. There are comparisons to Edgar Allen Poe that have me intrigued!


message 4: by Nikki (new)

Nikki (mnnikki) | 164 comments These were the 2 I had found for this challenge prompt. I received the ebook for About the Night free on World Book Day 2019 so I'm going to go ahead with that one.

About the Night by Anat Talshir
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji


message 5: by Lindsay (new)

Lindsay | 26 comments I read The Servant by Fatima Sharafeddine. Takes place in Lebanon and is a super quick read (~150 pages).


message 6: by Nikki (new)

Nikki (mnnikki) | 164 comments Nikki wrote: "These were the 2 I had found for this challenge prompt. I received the ebook for About the Night free on World Book Day 2019 so I'm going to go ahead with that one.

About the Night..."


Went ahead with About the Night. It was good but not something I'd be quick to recommend to friends.


message 7: by Alexa Jaye (new)

Alexa Jaye | 1 comments History begins at SUMER Thirty-nine first in recorded history by Samuel Noah Kramer. It is very interesting.


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