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Our May 2020 theme will be the Middle East - so that's a book set in, or about, the Middle East that you would like to read and discuss.

It can be either fiction or non-fiction

Please supply the title, author, a brief synopsis, and anything else you'd like to mention about the book, and why you think it might make a good book to discuss.

If your nomination wins then please be willing to fully participate in the subsequent discussion

Most maps and articles seem to define the Middle East as...



Happy nominating

I nominate....


My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad

It's awash with glowing reviews on both GoodReads and Amazon, and is readily available in all formats (Kindle, Audible, & hard copy)

It sounds completely wonderful

Iraj Pezeshkzad's most famous work is My Uncle Napoleon, was published in 1973 and earned him national acclaim and was accoladed by Iranian and international critics alike as a cultural phenomenon.

My Uncle Napoleon is a social satire and a masterpiece of contemporary Persian literature. The story is set in a garden in Tehran in the early 1940s at the onset of the Second World War, where three families live under the tyranny of a paranoid patriarch nicknamed Dear Uncle Napoleon.

My Uncle Napoleon was turned into a highly successful television series soon after its publication and immediately captured the imagination of the whole nation.

Its story became a cultural reference point and its characters national icons.

The book was translated to English by Dick Davis as well as a number of other languages including French, German, Russian, and Norwegian.

Literary critics of the English-speaking version gave it rave reviews. The Plain Dealer asserted in its praise of the book that My Uncle Napoleon "... may do more to improve U.S.-Iranian relations than a generation of shuttle diplomats and national apologies." and The Washington Post claimed that "Pezeshkzad, like any other author of substance, transcends his cultural boundaries".

Azar Nafisi, Iranian writer and academic, claims in her introduction to the 2006 English edition of the work that "My Uncle Napoleon is in many ways a refutation of the grim and hysterical images of Iran that have dominated the Western world for almost three decades. On so many different levels this novel represents Iran's confiscated and muted voices, revealing a culture filled with a deep sense of irony and humour, as well as sensuality and tenderness"

I am going to nominate Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, because anything else I thought of might be more difficult find copies.

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Winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2019

Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, Celestial Bodies is a coiled spring of a novel, telling of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves.

My review:
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Hugh's review:
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Thanks Val


Nominations so far...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

I will nominate The Night of the Mi'raj
US title is Finding Nouf

It is the first in a crime trilogy (I think there have been three) set in Saudi Arabia.

When Nouf ash-Shrawi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Saudi dynasty, disappears from her home in Jeddah just days before her arranged marriage, desert guide Nayir is asked to bring her home.

But when her battered body is found, Nayir feels compelled to uncover the disturbing truth, travelling away from the endless desert to the vast city of Jeddah, where, most troubling of all, Nayir finds himself having to work closely with Katya Hijazi, a forensic scientist. The further into the investigation he goes, the more Nayir finds himself questioning his loyalties: to his friends, faith and culture.

Thanks Susan - sounds very interesting


Nominations so far...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Susan: The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris

I'll nominate Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz who won a Nobel in 1988.

I haven't read it but it's set in Egypt just after WW1 and combines a story of Egypt's struggle for independence from British occupation with a family story revolving around a strictly patriarchal father.

It has an average of 4.16 on here. I like the sound of a book which doesn't exoticise Egypt as all pyramids, pharaohs and Nile cruises, and think it will be interesting to see the 1920s from a different perspective.

I recently started reading Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn by James Srodes. In 2018 I read a book that introduced me to Sarah Aaronsohn, A Strange Death A Story Discovered In Palestine by Hillel Halkin - I no longer have this book so I won't nominate it.

The spies were the NILI spy ring in WWI in Zirchon Ya'akov. I know very little about the history Palestine-Israel, run at that time by the Turks. And I became quite intrigued by the story.

I have wanted to read Palace Walk for a while. Some excellent suggestions, so far.

I started reading Palace Walk last year, but ran out of time. (It was a library copy.)

Thanks Roman Clodia


Nominations so far...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Susan: The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris
Roman Clodia: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz




Jan C wrote: "I recently started reading Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn by James Srodes"

Just confirming that is not a nomination Jan?

I'm not nominating this month, but thought I'd just say that I loved Palace Walk, and went on to read the rest of the trilogy. Would highly recommend it.

Pamela wrote: "I'm not nominating this month, but thought I'd just say that I loved Palace Walk, and went on to read the rest of the trilogy. Would highly recommend it."

Thanks Pamela

I can usually guess the winners and confidently predict it will be Palace Walk this time out

I really want to read all 4 nominations this month - I was considering nominating a couple of them but others got in first! So I won't nominate this time round.

Pamela wrote: "I'm not nominating this month, but thought I'd just say that I loved Palace Walk, and went on to read the rest of the trilogy. Would highly recommend it."

I picked up a copy at the library book sale a year or two ago and haven't gotten to it. It remains to be seen whether I could do both it and Finding Nouf.

Is Finding Nouf set in the 20th century?

Pamela wrote: "Is Finding Nouf set in the 20th century?"

Oh, such a good question - one I should have been asking. I can't see a reference to time, though I find this: Now there is “Finding Nouf,�� the fictional outcome of San Franciscan Zoe Ferraris�� habitation in Saudi Arabia for several years after the first Gulf War.

The author biography says Zoë Ferraris married a man from Saudi Arabia in 1991 and lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with her in-laws for nine months, so I think we can assume it is set at that time.

Thanks Elizabeth and Val. That makes sense.

Great that we've got that clarified


Is anyone else going to nominate, or thinking about it?

...and for further clarification:
Most of "Celestial Bodies" is set in the latter half of the twentieth century, but it does continue into the first decade of the twenty-first. It was published in 2010.
"My Uncle Napoleon" was published in 1973 and is set during WWII.
"Palace Walk" was published in 1956 and is set around the end of the Ottoman Empire (just after WWI).

Such good (but difficult) choices, this month!

You know, another good possible suggestion, would have been Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel

I'll get the poll up sometime tomorrow


#exciting

Nice to see enthusiasm for Palace Walk! I've read The Night of the Mi'raj/Finding Nouf but don't remember much other than the fascinating setting and that I loved it so would happily re-read it with the group.

I'm looking and looking to see where I can place Palace Walk. I know if it wins I'm going to want to be part of the discussion. Susan promised (?) Finding Nouf as the Mods read if it doesn't win.

Not the Mods read, Elizabeth, but I will definitely do it as a buddy read, if there is interest. We haven't quite decided on the mods choice yet - exciting options abound!

I enjoyed The Night of the Mi'raj / Finding Nouf when I read it, but I don't think I want to read it again.

Susan wrote: "Not the Mods read, Elizabeth, but I will definitely do it as a buddy read, if there is interest. We haven't quite decided on the mods choice yet - exciting options abound!"

Yes, I definitely mis-typed that and knew you meant buddy read. But let's see if there is interest or bring it up again later if not.

Nigeyb wrote: "Thanks Roman Clodia


Nominations so far...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi is a nomination.

Spies in Palestine is a nomination

Thanks, Jan. That makes the nominations:

Nominations so far...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Susan: The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris
Roman Clodia: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Jan: Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn

Spies in Palestine is available on kindle in the UK. Both that and Palace Walk are expensive on kindle, but lots of other versions exist (2nd hand, etc.)

Should anyone have any interest in Night of the Miraj, it is 99p on kindle at the moment.

I seem to own Celestial Bodies, which I must have picked up at reduced price at some point. Uncle Napoleon is reasonably priced and both that, and Bodies, are on Audible.

I will now leave Nigeyb to make the nominations/vote look as attractively designed as only he can do! I am hopeless at inserting all the lovely covers that we appreciate so much.

Thanks Susan. So, final nominations...


Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Susan: The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris
Roman Clodia: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Jan: Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn by James Srodes




Poll going up later today

Susan wrote: "Not the Mods read, Elizabeth, but I will definitely do it as a buddy read, if there is interest."

I'm definitely up for a buddy read of The Night of the Mi'raj - I remember wanting to exclaim about and discuss details when I read it but none of my friends fancied it :(

Good to hear, RC. I did nominate, but will definitely run it as a buddy if it doesn't win. I suspect Palace Walk will be the winner too, but we'll see. Some great suggestions, as always.

The poll is up


Click here to vote in the poll


Nominations...

Nigeyb: My Uncle Napoleon (1973) by Iraj Pezeshkzad
Val: Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
Susan: The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris
Roman Clodia: Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Jan: Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn by James Srodes

Thanks for setting up the vote, Nigeyb.

I want to read at least 4 of these books!

Interesting list! Just voted!

Good to hear, Roisin. It's very close this month, so please, everybody, do vote if you haven't already done so.

The poll has now closed and we've got joint winners....


Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz

and

The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris


Palace Walk will be our group read in May 2020

and The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) will be our Moderators choice

See you in May for some Middle Eastern book discussions


Thanks as always to everyone who got involved in discussing, nominating and voting

Thanks, Nigeyb. Looking forward to both.

Thanks, Nigeyb, and all moderators.

I'll see if I can fit in Palace Walk.

I hope to join you for Palace Walk too but I’ve got a lot already planned over the next 3 months. I’ll see how I get on.

Wonderful -I'm looking forward to both.

I have had Palace Walk on my TBR list for ever. If I hadn't had this push, I'd probably never have gotten around to it!

Looking forward to both of these too.

Looking forward to both too - I rarely reread Books that I've read recently (too many exciting ones I haven't read) but I'm going to make an exception for Palace Walk as I enjoyed it so much.

I've just read a later book by Naguib Mahfouz, called Autumn Quail, set during and just after the 1952 revolution. It was good, loved the writing, but it didn't have the breadth of the Cairo Trilogy books.

Chrissie wrote: "Sorry to ask HERE but hat happened with the May Middleeast group read.? Will we be reading Palace Walk? The poll was a tie. I can't find any info anywhere."

Hi Chrissie

I've replied on this thread. To confirm...

May 2020

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Group read)
The Night of the Mi'raj (aka Finding Nouf) by Zoë Ferraris (Mod Read)

I've also updated master list too

Thanks for the reminder. I thought I'd already done it.

I'm going to delete the posts over on the new June 2020 Cold War nomination thread now

Nigeyb wrote: "Thanks for the reminder. I thought I'd already done it."

Thanks, Nigeyb. I was sure that was the case. All of you mods are always attentive.