Books with Middle Eastern Representation
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Darius the Great Is Not Okay was one of my favourite books of 2020 (this, however, does not show up on Goodreads because I wiped my Goodreads stuff last year and started building my TBR and Read shelves from scratch) but the wonderful representation I personally got from this book was really touching.)
Basically, this follows a boy named Darius (yes, exactly like the Persian King Darius the Great) who is half Iranian-Persian and half American. This, of course, in addition to Darius living in the USA, causes him to feel alienated from his Persian side (his mum’s side). When his parents announce that they are going to Iran to visit his grandparents, Darius is excited but at the same time, he has an internal struggle: he feels completely out of place because he doesn’t speak Farsi very well, not to mention he takes medication and his grand-parents are very much old school and do not understand why a healthy boy is taking medication. The full synopsis is below and I hope it will push you to read this wonderful book and love it as much as I did.
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.
Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.
Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.
A very large expanse of sea by Tahereh Mafi
I read A Very Large Expanse of Sea last year as well and really loved it. Tahereh Mafi is a true gem when it comes to writing stories that center around Muslim characters, especially the ones actively affected by the attack on 9/11 in the USA. This one was so tender (for lack of a better word) because it showed Shirin’s determination on keeping her hijab on despite the danger and also the sweet growing love that developed between her and Ocean. I loved Ocean. He was so real and he wanted to know Shirin as Shirin and he really didn’t mind that she wore a hijab or that her parents were strict. It was such a sweet first love relationship, my heart melted completely. Here’s the official synopsis:
It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.
Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments - even the physical violence - she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.
But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her - they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds - and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
I read We Hunt the Flame in 2019 and really loved it. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to We Free the Stars, but, lemme tell ya, I am very excited to re-read We Hunt the Flame and then finally read We Free the Stars! I really loved this book, the tension, the vibes. Highly recommend!
People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèli Clark
This is one of my favourite reads of 2021. Now…if you look at my review of this one and see my rating, you would probably wonder why if it’s my favourite of this year, why is it not 5 stars? Well…once I get around to writing the blog review for that one, you’ll know! Don’t let that throw you off though!
Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.
So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.
Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city—or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Listen, I don’t remember much about this series but the few things I do remember is a) I was absolutely obsessed and read the whole trilogy in a week (a week!) and the main Prince character that Amani meets actually has the same name as my cousin (and it is then I am reminded that most of my mum's side have popular Persian/Arabic names haha unlike me who has a popular Russian name)
Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinn still perform their magic. For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.
Amani Al’Hiza is all three. She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk, the back-country town where she’s destined to wind up wed or dead.
Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route. But though she’s spent years dreaming of leaving Dustwalk, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse—or that it would take a foreign fugitive to show her the heart of the desert she thought she knew.
The City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda
I am a huge fan of Rick Riordan (yes, I am that annoying Percy Jackson obsessed kid) and so it was incredibly natural of me to want to read from his imprint: Rick Riordan Presents! I actually got an ARC of this one and really loved it! We read the Epic of Gilgamesh for the first time in my grade 12 English literature class and I fell in love with Mesopotamian myths so this was really fun. Also yes, the character Gilgamesh from the movie Eternals is the very same Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Characters from the Epic of Gilgamesh populate this high-stakes contemporary adventure in which all of Manhattan is threatened by the ancient god of plagues.
Thirteen-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping at his parents' deli in the evenings. But all that is blown to smithereens when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life. Turns out Sik is immortal but doesn't know it, and that's about to get him and the entire city into deep, deep trouble.
Sik's not in this alone. He's got Belet, the adopted daughter of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on his side, and a former hero named Gilgamesh, who has taken up gardening in Central Park. Now all they have to do is retrieve the Flower of Immortality to save Manhattan from being wiped out by disease. To succeed, they'll have to conquer sly demons, treacherous gods, and their own darkest nightmares.
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Barshadoust
This is a book I haven’t really read but I am very much intrigued by it. This has Persian influence and I just really love the name Soraya.
There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it's not just a story.
As the day of her twin brother's wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she's willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn't afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison.
Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming...human or demon. Princess or monster.
The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak
I got this one recently! I remember starting it maybe 2 years ago but I never finished it. I do remember being completely enamoured by Shafak’s world-building, her writing and her characters. I am super excited to get into this one because it is set in the Ottoman Empire!
In 1540, twelve-year-old Jahan arrives in Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan’s menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the sultan’s beautiful daughter, Princess Mihrimah. A palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the empire’s chief architect, who takes Jahan under his wing as they construct (with Chota’s help) some of the most magnificent buildings in history. Yet even as they build Sinan’s triumphant masterpieces—the incredible Suleymaniye and Selimiye mosques—dangerous undercurrents begin to emerge, with jealousy erupting among Sinan’s four apprentices.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
This is another one I haven’t read and I don’t know if I might but I got this recommended quite a few times. This is actually a retelling of One thousand and one nights, which, essentially is a collection of stories told by Shahrazad to stop the Sultan from killing her at sunrise. I have seen only good reviews and it comes highly recommended!
Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.
She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.
