16. I read I Speak for the Devil by Imtiaz Dharker. Her poetry tends to confessional style, which I usually dislike, but Dharker uses that style to speak for herself and her characters so skillfully that I enjoyed this collection throughout. The language and structures are deceptively simple but manage to convey complexities and deeper meanings. ( Read more... )

This is a broad and wide-ranging introduction to Islam, and assumes the reader has no prior knowledge of the subject. (I didn't, so that worked for me.) A lot of time is spent on the origins and ancient history of the religion, including the cultural background of the region and how the very earliest Muslims lived and practiced their faith ( Read more... )

11. Farahad Zama, The Marriage Bureau for Rich PeopleMr. Ali, a recently-retired Muslim man living in a city in South India, finds he has too much time on his hands. So, what to do but open a marriage bureau? It's sort of like a dating service, but with an emphasis on caste instead of personality-matching quizzes (emphasis on looks and occupations ( Read more... )

46) The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr ( Read more... )

I've totally lost track of where I was with this for 2010, so I'm starting over.

1. Secret Son by Laila Lalami ( Read more... )

Lucian of Samosata
- The True History
- Icaromenippus, An Aerial Expedition
Ibn al-Nafīs - Theologus Autodidacticus
Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain - Sultana's Dream
Naif Al-Mutawa - The 99: Origins ( Read more... )

( Does My Head Look Big in This? + Ten Things I Hate About Me: Randa Abdel-Fattah )

40. Reza Aslan, How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on TerrorA non-fiction pop book dealing with a wide range of subjects, from the history of the state of Israel, to the difference between Islamist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Jihadist groups like al-Qa'ida (as well as the inaccuracy of referring ( Read more... )

20. West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story by Tamim Ansary

From the inside coverThe day after Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, Tamim Ansary of San Francisco sent an anguished email to twenty friends, discussing the attack from his perspective as an Afghan American. That message, spreading via the Internet, ( Read more... )

35. Diana Abu-Jaber, Crescent

Oh, this book. I wish I could quote the entire thing at you; the language is gorgeous and perfect and there are so many bits of it floating in my head. This is the most wonderful thing I've read in ages. Okay, just a few quotes:

Describing Sir Richard Burton: He did, however, like so many Victorians, have an aptitude ( Read more... )