The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu September 21, 2010

The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu 2007 – Jump at the Sun/Hyperian Books Fiction – young adult The Shadow Speaker is Okorafor’s second novel and the first book I’ve read by her. Although it was written and marketed specifically for young adults, it is an excellent read for adults as well. Set in West Africa [...]

Critique & Review: The Jewel of Medina March 7, 2009

The Jewel of Medina By Sherry Jones Beaufort Books   To start with, I direct you to my review of this book that is posted at Feminist Review. The audience at Feminist Review is obviously not the same audience at this blog, and I adhere to editorial guidelines regarding word count and the purpose of [...]

An Ode to Book Cover Designers February 17, 2009

Via Abe Books Beth Carswell writes briefly about the beauty of novel covers, essentially claiming that sometimes we can judge a book by the cover. She showcases 30 novels that are worth buying for the covers alone, including some classics like A Clockwork Orange, Beowulf, and The Poisonwood Bible. I’m sold.

The Jane Austen Book Club December 28, 2008

I am now also writing reviews for Feminist Review, and my first for them is now up. It is for The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. For Muslims it may be a little much, but it was a very interesting read and excellent writing. Please check out the review. Next month Feminist [...]

The Scar of David December 5, 2008

Originally posted on the Writeous Sister Speaks blog on June 13, 2007. This remains one of my favorite books, and one that I have read a few times and still think is one of the most important novels ever written.   This first novel by Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa is amazing. The Scar of David [...]

A Thousand Splendid Suns December 5, 2008

Originally posted on the Writeous Sister Speaks blog on June 3, 2007. In December of that year, I took a hard look at my initial feelings about the novel. I re-read it and pondered some tough questions, and this led me to write another post on the novel. I have included that follow-up post in [...]

The Reluctant Fundamentalist December 5, 2008

Originally posted on the Writeous Sister Speaks blog on May 20, 2007   I’ve just finished reading Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I decided to read it because Shaykh Farraz Rabbani had posted some reviews on his blog. The premise of this short novel is the story of a Pakistani young man, named Changez, who attends [...]