Books set in the Middle East – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Hijab Butch Blues, by Lamya H

Mel's hand props up a Kindle displaying the black and white cover of Hijab Butch Blues, which depicts a slim hijabi in baggy trousers and shirt facing away over an abstract line art landscape. The Kindle rests against a delicious dish of couscous and braised beef in a wide painted ceramic dish.

(Buy this book at Bookshop, please.) Read time: 3 minutes If it weren’t for religious devotion–specifically, deep study of the Quran while growing up South Asian in an Arab country and later being a hijabi immigrant in post-9/11 New York–Lamya H might never have fully realized her own queerness. Through careful examination of the SurahContinue reading “[REVIEW] Hijab Butch Blues, by Lamya H”

[REVIEW] The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty

The Kindle cover of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, depicting a sea monster eating a ship in black and white.

(Buy this book here.) This book is absolutely delightful and this review will do it no justice. You have been warned. Amina Al-Sirafi is a middle-aged single mother with bad knees who lives in a modest country house and minds her own business. She was also one of the most fearsome pirates who ever sailedContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty”