Books by Muslim women

[Marlet]

I was at the library today and was really really wanting a particular book but I couldn't remember the title. All I could remember was there was a woman on the cover, she was Muslim, and had been kicked out of her home country (it's been awhile so I may be off on that). I racked my brain and did as many general keyword searches as I could think of. Nothing came up. There are so many like that (muslim women who write the books and are usually true stories) but I can't ever remember the names! I always see them in random spots when we go to the bookstore.

So give me suggestions! Links with book cover pictures would be great too. That tends to jog my memory when titles don't.

[Tra1978]

Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat is a book about a woman (Christian) living in Iran and is forced to covert. Here is the book cover.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...6124-item.html

There is also Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. I can't remember if she was kicked out either. Here is that cover.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...in+tehran%2527

Both are fantastic books.

[Marlet]

Perfect! The second one has been on my list forever! For some reason I thought it had the word tea in the title. I hope my library has them.

[vbactivist]

http://www.amazon.com/Three-Cups-Tea...4779039&sr=8-1


There is "three Cups of Tea" but its written by a nob-muslim man. It's about building schools for muslim girls...it was okay. But that may be what you were thinking of...

[Marlet]

That was it. Why do you say it was ok?

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by OtherMother'n'Madre

That was it. Why do you say it was ok?

well, its a really moving story, but the writing wasn't all that great. it's worth it to read, if you read a lot, and it's just one of the masses, iykwim, but if you only read a couple of books a year, i probable wouldn't waste my time on it...

HTH

[SparklingGemini]

Mother of the Believers: A Novel of the Birth of Islam by Kamran Pasha

[Liquesce]

Originally Posted by SparklingGemini

Mother of the Believers: A Novel of the Birth of Islam by Kamran Pasha

Kamran Pasha = man.

[Samm]

The book you are discribing sounds like "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Great book, btw.

[SparklingGemini]

Originally Posted by Liquesce

Kamran Pasha = man.

Yes.

I know.

But she was so unsure of all the details that I was just offering up another suggestion.

[zinemama]

I love Adahf Soueif. Here's a description from Amazon of her terrific book A Map of Love:

"Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love is a massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, troubled history of modern Egypt. The story begins in 1977 in New York. There Isabel Parkman discovers an old trunk full of documents--some in English, some in Arabic--in her dying mother's apartment. Incapable of deciphering this stash by herself, she turns to Omar al-Ghamrawi, a man with whom she is falling in love. And Omar directs her in turn to his sister Amal in Cairo.

Together the two women begin to uncover the stories embedded in the journal of Lady Anna Winterbourne, who traveled to Egypt in 1900 and fell in love with Sharif Pasha al-Barudi, an Egyptian nationalist. To their surprise, they stumble across some unsuspected connections between their own families. Less surprising, perhaps, is the persistence of the very same issues that dogged their ancestors: colonialism, Egyptian nationalism, and the clash of cultures throughout the Middle East."

I also really enjoyed The Translator by Leila Abouleila. A Sudanese woman living in Scotland struggles with being an immigrant, her secret love for a non-Muslim, and the complex relationship with her family back home.

[zinemama]

Also, Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood is a good memoir by Moroccan writer and scholar Fatima Mernissi.

http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Trespas.../dp/0201489376

[raksmama]

I second Adahf Soueif's A Map of Love. It is a really good book although it took me a while to get into it. Once I did I was hooked.
I also liked Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi. I like everything from Fatima Mernissi. Sheherazade Goes West is also very good and is a must read for everyone who wants a better understanding of the culture. Both books are not these types of books that just make it seem like everything in the Middle East is so horrible and everything in the West is so wonderful.