Jenny Revisits the Middle East in 2020

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I will come back here and list books I want to read on purpose but like most years I'm sure I'll discover many more! I also have been stockpiling cookbooks and interesting ingredients for cooking and baking experiments... imagine my surprise to discover that Iraqi date syrup is used in a sweet rice dish that is ONLY served with fish! :)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Middle East books (will update with links to reviews once read)

Iran

Home Is a Stranger by Parnaz Foroutan (my review)

Then the Fish Swallowed Him by Amir Ahmadi Arian (my review)

My Part of Her by Javad Djavahery (my review)

Iraq

Children of War by Deborah Ellis (my review)

How to Feed a Dictator: Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Enver Hoxha, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot Through the Eyes of Their Cooks (my review)

Oman

Celestial Bodies by Johka Alharthi (my review)

Palestine or Palestinian Immigrants

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah (my review)

Track Changes by Sayed Kashua (my review)

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum - Palestine to NY immigrants (my review)

Syria

Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa (my review)

The Experiment of West Kurdistan: Feminism, Anti-Sectarianism and Collectivism in the Syrian Revolution by Zaher Baher (my review)

Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat (my review)

United Arab Emirates

Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan (my review)

Unspecified
Guapa by Saleem Haddad (my review)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

My main goal is focusing on the Middle East but I still manage to read a healthy amount in other parts of the world, so I'll collect those separately here.

Africa, various (didn't want to count for each country but this one has Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt)
Walking the Nile by Levison Wood (my review)

Argentina
Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza (my favorite book from the Tournament of Books, definitely five stars! my review)

Brunei
Written in Black by K.H. Lim (my review)

Bulgaria
Cleanness by Garth Greenwell (I need to add this to the LGBTQ+ list for sure. My review)

China
Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang (China and also immigrant to America stories - my review)

Czech*
Virtuoso by Yelena Moskovich (my review)

Djibouti
Naming the Dawn by Abdourahman Waberi (this collection is currently free to download on the publisher website; my review)

France
Billie by Anna Gavalda (my review)
Malicroix by Henri Bosco (my review)
They Say Sarah by Pauline Delabroy-Allard (my review)

Germany
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Eprenbeck (my review)

Greece
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson (I picked this for a readalong and enjoyed it; my review of the print or the audio)

Guatemala
Knitting the Fog by Claudia D. Hernandéz (downloaded whimsically from Hoopla; my review)

India
Night Theater by Vikram Parlkar (a shorter read, my review)

Italy
A Girl Returned by Donatella di Pietrantonio (loved this one, good for fans of Elena Ferrante - my reviewThe Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante (my review)

Jamaica
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn (I may prefer her previous novel but this was also good. my review)

Japan
Lion Cross Point by Masatsugu Ono (my review)

Korea, North or South
b, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa (my review)
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (my book club read this one! my review)
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha (my review)

Malaysia
Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong, translated by Natascha Bruce (my review)

Mauritius (and The Chagos)
Silence of the Chagos: A Novel by Shenaz Patel (my review)

Norway
Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm (part of my TBR explode project, my review)

Poland
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (I read this for the Book Cougars readalong; my review)

Switzerland
A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier (it's YA and has some romance but is not a romance. My review.)

Taiwan
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen (my review)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Updating including a few books from harder to find countries - Brunei and Mauritius (technically it's The Chagos if you count that separately)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

A final round up of my Middle East focus in 2020 is on my blog but as an update to my June posts above, here's what I read the second half of the year:

Iran
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat (my review)
To Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari (my review)

Iraq
IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq (my review)


Israel
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (my review)
The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid (my review)

Jordan
Mother of All Pigs by Malu Halasa (my review)

Kurdistan
Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Home (my review)
A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution by Strangers in a Wilderness (my review)

Kuwait
The Bamboo Stalk by Said Alsanousi (also counts for the Philippines!) (my review)

Lebanon
BEIRUT WON'T CRY by Mazen Kerbaj (graphic novel) (my review)
Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird (middle reader) (my review

Oman
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

Palestine
The Inheritance by Sahar Khalifeh
 (my review)
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat (my review)

Qatar
The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria (my review)

Syria
The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minioui
(my review)
Yemen
Hurma by Ali Al-Muqri (my review)
Yemen: What Everyone Needs to Know® by Asher Orkaby (my review)

Multiple or Unnamed
The City of Brassby S.A. Chakraborty (fantasy) (my review)
Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy (my review)
Home edited by Samer Abu Hawwash (my review)
Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World edited by Zahra Hankir (my review)
Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (my review)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Okay and here is my list for books I read from countries outside the Middle East in the second half of 2020.

Argentina
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (horror, dystopian, Tournament of Books shortlist 2021, my review)

Belarus
Music for the Dead and Resurrected: Poems by Valzhyna Mort (my review)

Brazil
Glory and its Litany of Horrors by Fernanda Torres (indie press, my review)

Canada
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice (post-apocalyptic; I listened to the audio which was fantastic, my review)
Swimmers in Winter by Faye Guenther (my review)

China
That We May Live by Chen SI-an (science fiction short stories, newly translated, indie press - Two Lines Press's new Calico series, my review)

Cuba
My Favorite Girlfriend Was a French Bulldog by Legna Rodríguez Iglesias (indie press, my review)

Egypt
Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell

Clea by Lawrence Durrell (my review)
(I finally finished the Alexandria Quartet!)

Ethiopia
The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Booker shortlist 2020, my review)

Finland
Fair Play by Tove Jansson (my review)

The Gambia
Reading the Ceiling by Dayo Forster (my review)

Georgia-the-country
The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili (Booker International longlist 2020, my review)

Germany
The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke (indie press, my review)


Greece
Fire on the Island by Timothy Jay Smith (indie press, my review)
Scorpionfish by Natalie Bokopooulos (my review)

Holland aka The Netherlands

The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Booker International winner 2020, my review)

Honduras
Catrachos: Poems by Roy G. Gúzman (National Book Award finalist 2020, my review)

Iceland
Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir (my review)

India
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Booker International shortlist 2020, my review)

Ireland
Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen, narrated by Nicola Coughlan from Derry Girls and Bridgerton (my review)
Broken Harbor by Tana French (my review)
Normal People by Sally Rooney (reread for Tournament of Tournament of Books 2020, unlike Karen I love this book, haha, my review)

Italy
Farewell, Ghosts by Nadia Terranova, translated by the melodious Ann Goldstein (my review)

Jamaica
These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card (my review)

Japan
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (my review)
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami (Tournament of Books 2021, my review)
Memorial by Bryan Washington (Tournament of Books 2021, my review)
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Booker International shortlist 2020, my review)
The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann (Booker International shortlist 2019, my review)
What's Left of Me Is Yours by Stephanie Scott (my review)

Kashmir
Chef by Jaspreet Singh (my review)

Korea
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Too (Tournament of Books 2021 longlist, my review)
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah (my review)

Mali
Sunjata by Justine Korman Fontes (my review)

Mexico
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (my review)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (my review)

Moldova
The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov (indie press, my review)

Morocco
Sex and Lies by Leila Slimani (my review)

Nigeria
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi (my review)

Papua New Guinea
A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea by Don Kulick (back in PNG again, haha, my review)

Peru
Nine Moons by Gabriela Wiener (indie press, my review)

Philippines
The Bamboo Stalk by Said Alsanousi (also counts for Kuwait, my review)

Russia
Fardwor, Russia!: A Fantastical Tale of Life Under Putin By Oleg Kashin (indie press, my review)

Rwanda
Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga (indie press, my review)

Somalia
Angry Queer Somali Boy: A Complicated Memoir by Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali (my review)

Sweden
Spring by Karl One Knausgard (my review)

Switzerland
The Piano Student by Lea Singer
 (indie press, my review)

Zimbabwe
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Booker Prize shortlist 2020, my review)

Multiple
Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez (my review)