Here are some books about the Middle East that our group found interesting and enlightening. We're making you proud Oprah.
Mother without a Mask by Patricia Holton tells the true story of a westerner that befriends the wife of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi. She observes what really goes on behind those veils and is a baffled as I am about their obsession with Kleenex.
In Search of Fatima- A Palestinian Story - by Ghada Karmi - We don't hear this side of the story in the USA. Oprah, are you listening?
Princess by Jean Sasson - Is Scarlett O'Hara in a burka. I would laugh out loud on one page and be completely horrified on the next. I couldn't put it down.
Blood and Sand by Frank Gardner - This tells the true story of a BBC reporter sent to cover the 2004 Al-Khobar massacre (as seen in the recent movie, "The Kingdom"). He finds himself on the wrong side of Al Qaida and is gunned down in the streets of Riyadh.
(This is of extra interest to me because one of the American survivors of the Al-Khobar massacre is in my bible study group. We have been praying for her as she undergoes her sixth surgery for gunshot wounds.
Nine Parts of Desire - The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks- Brooks is a Wall Street Journal reporter who spent seven years living and working in the Middle East. She seems very much aware that the average westerner has been exposed to only negative and one-dimensional views on the subject of Islam. I found that she filled in many of the gaps in my understanding of this culture.
