Series: My Best Reads of 2010 #6

BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2010 - PUBLISHED EARLIER THAN 2010

Books about non-western countries

Girls of Riyadh - Raja al-Sanea - Saudi-American author (Published in 2004, published in English in 2007)

Maybe this is a weird category, but I consciously try to read a little outside my Western Reality. Girls of Riyadh is about four upper class university-aged women in Saudi Arabia, and their troubled love lives. One Goodreads reviewer was teaching English there at the time it was banned, and felt that her students were put off by the book because it rather accurately showcased their usually very private daily lives.

Besides enjoying the characters and caring about what happened to them, here's why I liked the book: I think in the west we're exposed to the most sensationalistic stories about Islam or the Middle East (kidnapping, female circumcision, stoning), and Girls of Riyadh provides us with a different piece of the tapestry--a more everyday one. To see what I mean, here's an excerpt from another Goodreads reviewer:

As an outsider, I've been judging them ["women of Islam and the Middle East"] based on my own values and culture, painting quite the unflattering picture in my head. To me these were mousy, dumb women who have neither the courage, nor the ambition to stand up for themselves. But I also refused to believe this was the entirety of it, I wanted to believe that there's some big piece of the puzzle that I was missing. ...the women Al Sanea describes are real and relate-able, making it difficult not go get wrapped up in their fates. I mean what woman hasn't suffered a broken heart? or dreamed of marrying her soul mate? or shared her deepest secrets with her friends? or hasn't been burdened with the expectations of society or family? These are just some of the things that I have in common with them; we're all just working within the confines of the world we were born into, doing the best we can with what we've been given.

I think if you're interested in another culture, the best thing you can do is set out to understand, rather than judge. Hopefully this book will help a few readers do that. And I would recommend it to teen readers as well.

Further Reading: The Yacoubian Building, another Arabic book about a bunch of people in Egypt. There was one main character I loved, who was very sweet. (Or see the movie!) Something I own but haven't read yet is Novel winner Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy--supposed to be excellent. And I also recommend Honeymoon is Purdah, though it's written by a non-Iranian (it's a travel journal by a Canadian.) It's interesting, funny, and the people the author meets are so warm and friendly to strangers--it made me think my husband is living in the wrong country.

COVERS

Though I like my red cover, I like the original one best--it reflects the internet setting of the book (which is written in the form of an email newsletter.)

Here's some others...