Sometimes the universe decides that I need to learn about a specific region of the world. Usually it will haunt me with nonfiction books about the selected topic. But in this case, the powers that be chose for me to read fiction books set in the Middle East. To that end, I was guided to the books I’m sharing with you here (if the universe thinks I should read these, you probably should too, right?) Now I have never travelled to this region, but I have read some books about it. And now I’ve read more. If this area is something you don’t know much about, pick up one of these today.

As soon as I started reading this one, it felt a little familiar to me because it reminded me of Crazy Rich Asians. That one is set in Singapore (another good region to binge read through) and features wealthy Asian families. This one is set in both Iran and in American, and tells the story of one, large Persian family as they move through the past 100 years. The Valiat family was descended from a great Persian hero and they have wealth and prestige. But during the revolution, parts of the family decide to emigrate to America, where they still have wealth, but now no one knows or cares who they are. I loved how these stories wove in and out of each other. If you hate reading history books, but still want to read about famous events, this is a great way to do it. 

This was an eye-opening read about the attempts to rehabilitate ISIS brides in Iraq. That is a hat trick of things I never imagined I’d be reading about. But I think that means that’s it definitely something I should be learning. Basic premise: British academician Nadia Amin writes a popular article in the UK about deradicalizing ISIS brides and when it goes viral she suddenly finds herself in Iraq trying to put her words into actions by working for the UN. The biggest lesson I took away from this is that sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in all the bureaucracy that we forget about the human aspect of things. The author has worked in this field, so even though it’s been fictionalized, it is still accurate. The one definitely provided some food for thought.

As a story of a lifetime friendship, this one pulled me in from the beginning. Elaheh and Homa meet in elementary school and then we see how they grow up in 1960s-70s Iran, specifically Tehran. I have not studied Iranian history in great detail, so I was kind of reading this one on the edge of my seat. I knew that there were political upheavals, but I wasn’t sure how it would fit into the story until we got to those parts. This story reminded me quite a bit of The Kite Runner (Afghanistan - also a good region to peruse), with the family setting and the story of trials. My favorite part of the story was when the girls went to the bazaar and got a Ka-Na-Da-De-Rye to drink (aka Canada Dry ginger ale). Good read that also goes down pretty smoothly.

I always think that you can learn lots of interesting things about a region and a culture by studying their people, and what better way to do this than through fiction. And luckily, for us, various authors must have thought so too, and I’m thankful they shared their culture with us. It is good to expand those horizons. 

Happy fictional travelling…
:) Amanda