Today Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. In the spirit of that joy, I have a fun booklist:
Uzma Jalaluddin’s first book, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in her hometown of Toronto, got excellent reviews and it’s easy to see why. Ayesha Shamsi is still unmarried at twenty-seven, which gives the aunties in her small Muslim community a lot to worry about. She doesn’t want an arranged marriage– she’s a modern woman hoping to marry for love– but as she watches her rich, gorgeous younger cousin Hafsa collect one hundred (100!) marriage proposals, she finds herself feeling, if not jealous, at least curious about the road not taken. Khalid, the lucky one-hundredth suitor to Hafsa, meanwhile, is more conservative– he’s surprised to learn Ayesha has a job and dresses less traditionally. Khalid has always trusted in the arranged marriage system, in letting love come after marriage. When sparks fly with passionate Ayesha, will they learn to look past their initial assumptions about one another and come to understand each other? You can get Ayesha at Last in print or as an ebook. If you’ve already read it, look to Jalaluddin’s new book, the You’ve Got Mail-inspired Hana Khan Carries On (which has a lovely cover).
Cartoonist Huda Fahmy draws and writes the story of meeting and courting her husband in this funny graphic memoir. Starting at age seventeen, young Fahmy was on the marriage market– she and her family had their eyes out for suitors with whom she might forge a relationship (chaperoned, of course). Over the course of her young adulthood, she learned to question some of the messages she’d received about what it meant to be a good wife, and learned to love and accept herself in the process. This turned out to be good practice for building a relationship with Gehad, to whom she’s now been married a decade. Fahmy’s charming and simple art style will make you fall in love as she does. You can read That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story in print or on hoopla. Fahmy’s first book, Yes I’m Hot in This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab, is equally hilarious, whether you’re part of the same culture she comes from or not.
Leila Aboulela is Sudanese-Scottish, and she honors both aspects of her background in her novel Bird Summons. The story follows three friends, Salma, Moni, and Iman, who decide to go on a road trip together in the Scottish Highlands. Each woman longs for more out of life. Salma gave up being a doctor in her native Egypt to marry a Scottish man; Moni cares full-time for her disabled son while her husband has moved to Saudi Arabia without her; Iman’s troubled youth in war-torn Syria and three marriages have left her struggling to cope. While on a visit to the grave of the first Western woman to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the three women encounter a Hoopoe– a bird that appears in the Quran– which tells them stories. Magic and reality intermingle to give each woman the answer she seeks, with fairy tales sprinkled throughout for theme and flavor. Bird Summons can be read in print or on hoopla.
Eid Mubarak!
