Top 10 Books to Read this Fall
Editors recommend their top ten titles to read this season, from novels set in Egypt, Zanzibar, Oman and Palestine to Afghan and Syrian nonfiction.
Books
September World Picks from the Editors
Film and photography festivals, concerts, art, standup comedy, lectures...TMR World Picks run the gamut and are selected by our editors.
“Kill the Music”—an excerpt from a new novel by Badar Salem
In this excerpt from Badar Salem's "Deserted as a Crowded Room," Majdal falls in love with a West Bank resistance fighter who winds up in solitary confinement.
Wandering and Endless Sorrow: Farhad Pirbal’s The Potato Eaters
Cory Oldweiler reviews the debut story collection by Farhad Pirbal, one of Kurdistan's iconic writers, now out from Deep Vellum.
All That Rage: On Comma Press’ Egypt +100
Alex Tan reviews a sci-fi anthology set in Egypt where all the writers aim to uplift the country from its post-revolutionary gloom.
Nabil Kanso: Lebanon and the Split of Life—a Review
Sophie Kazan reviews a new book on the late Nabil Kanso, the Lebanese pacifist artist whose work depicted the horrors of war.
On The Anthropologists—an interview with Aysegül Savas
Amy Omar speaks to Ayşegül Savaş about her third novel, cinema and capturing the transitory phases of life.
Excerpt from The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
In her new novel, much like an anthropologist, Ayşegül Savaş explores how people live, love and set down roots in a new country.
Israel’s Black Panthers by Asaf Elia-Shalev—a Review
In the 1970s Israel's Black Panthers rocked the establishment and brought the rampant discrimation against Arab Jews to light.
Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim—a Review
Selma Dabbagh reviews Avi Shlaim's memoir about his coming-of-age as an Iraqi Jew, living as a minority in Israel and then in England.
“The Mulberry Tree”—an excerpt from Altercation in Jahannam
In the Libyan village “Hell,” temperatures soar to unimaginable heights, and war breaks out over a parking space in the shade of a tree.
Victoria—An Excerpt
We present the first chapter of Karoline Kamel’s debut novel in a new translation in English by Ranya Abdelrahman.
Dune in 2024: A World Beyond Saving
The meta-narrative in Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy foresees the modern disaster of never-ending colonialism and a planet destroyed by oil.
The Top 12 Books to Read This Summer
Travel through the center of the world this summer from the comfort of your couch when you pick up any of these wonderful books.
Plenty of Marjanes & Leilas: Collective Strategies of the Women’s Protest in Iran
Marjane Satrapi's edited anthology "Woman, Life, Freedom" shows that the story of the movement cannot be told with only one voice.