Top Three Reads for 2022 by Al Batul Book Club
As the new year, and new goals roll in, so does our need for self-reflection and motivation! This list of three top reads is hopefully the beginning of a more prosperous and fulfilling year, a
Muti’ah Badruddeen’s “Rekiya and Z”: Carving Spaces for sub-Sahara African Muslim Fiction
In January, I recommended some books that I posited will improve one’s deen, and I also deconstructed the idea that only non-fictional books can give this desired result. Rekiya and Z by Muti’ah Badruddeen is one such fictional account that fits
Book Review: ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell
Over the last few years Malcolm Gladwell has become one of the most prolific and well-known nonfiction writers and has had immense success with books like Outliers and The Tipping Point. In his book Blink,
Book Review: ‘The Guineveres’ by Sarah Domet
Four girls who share a name and a home at the Sisters of the Supreme Adoration convent after being abandoned by their families are the focus of Sarah Domet’s debut novel. Vere, Gwen, Win and
Book Review: The Quarter by Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz is arguably one of the writers that shaped contemporary Egyptian literature as we know it today. Till date, he is the first and only Arab writer to have won the Nobel Prize for
Book Review: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Never judge a book by its cover - the saying goes - though I did just that. I was browsing my local discounted book store when my eye caught a beautiful illustration of a cat.
Book Review: They Were Her Property
In They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers does what many historians before her have failed to do and focuses primarily on the role of white
Book Review: ‘A Pure Heart’ by Rajia Hassib
Rajia Hassib tells the stories of two Egyptian sisters; Rose and Gameela Gubran. The book opens with Rose returning to Egypt from her new home in NYC in the wake of her sister Gameela’s death.
Book Review: ‘The Family Tree’ by Sairish Hussain
It’s set so close to home; in the British Pakistani diaspora community of Bradford from 1993-2020. The characters are so lovingly familiar, as are the authentic descriptions of them and the Bradford architecture —that with
Book Review: Marjan Kamali’s ‘The Stationary Shop of Tehran’
We experience the life of the protagonist, Roya, from the age of 17 in 1953 to her mid 70s in 2013 in New England, Massachusetts. Roya’s life begins in a traditional home of Tehran, where