BOOK LIST No. 2: LIFE, LIFESTYLE, FAMILY & OTHER ISSUES – FICTION & NON-FICTION

[booktalker]

All - this is the second book list, this time about "life" issues other than marriage etc. which may be relevant to users of this forum. As we go, we may add other lists for Children, Health etc and would welcome your ideas.

LIFE, LIFESTYLE, FAMILY & OTHER ISSUES – FICTION & NON-FICTION

Sathnam Sanghera - 'If You Don’t Know Me By Now' (True Story - A very funny witty book with a serious side. Well written...I like the style of writing. This is this young mans relationship with his family, his parents, and the struggle of identity. Touches on mixed relationships throughout...hiding of them too! Its about a sikh Jat punjabi family. Again  written by a journalist. Touches on mental health issues in the family and his understanding of this. Its based in Wolverhampton in the west Midlands. Satnam writes for the Times.)

Safraz Manzoor - 'Greetings from Bury Park' (True story - Safraz is a journalist ...this book is a great read esp if you want to understand the relationship of many young men I believe from Asian background who were brought up in Britain and struggle to understand their identity ..in between 2 cultures?  It touches on the relationship between father and son, Safraz highlights how important this relationship was in context of how much his father had wanted for him. He touches on mixed relationships, and Bruce Springsteen..(also a bit of music that I like!) He identified strongly with Bruces songs and followed his music and concerts when he could.)

Bali Rai – ‘(Un)arranged Marriage’ (Fiction: “Set partly in the UK and partly in the Punjab region of India, this is a fresh, bitingly perceptive and totally up-to-the-minute look at one young man’s fight to free himself from family’s expectations and to be himself, free to dance to his own tune”.)

Bali Rai – ‘Rani and Sukh’ (Fiction: “Rani is a Sandhu, and Sukh is a Bains – and sometimes names can lead to terrible trouble…A powerful and gripping novel that sweeps the reader from modern-day Britain to the Punjab in the 1960s and back again in a ceaseless cycle of tragedy and conflict”.)

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed – ‘Love in a Headscarf – Muslim Woman Seeks The One’ (True story/autobiography and contemporary, upbeat account of woman’s attempts to arrange a suitable marriage with the help of her family – “how I found myself, my faith and my love, but most of all how I learnt to be me”.)

Randa Abdel-Fattah – ‘Does My Head Look Big in This?’ (Don't panic - I'm Islamic! Amal is a 16-year-old Melbourne teen with all the usual obsessions about boys, chocolate and Cosmo magazine. She's also a Muslim, struggling to honour the Islamic faith in a society that doesn't understand it. The story of her decision to "shawl up" and its attendant anxieties (like how much eyeliner to wear) is funny, surprising and touching by turns.)

Na'ima B Robert – ‘From My Sisters’ Lips’ (Autobiography: “An extremely thought-provoking book that challenges Western preconceptions of Islamic women”.)

Raphael Selbourne – ‘Beauty’ (Novel about Bangladeshi girl running away from her arranged marriage – “a sharply rendered, compassionate and challenging portrait of a fragmented, multicultural England”.)

Monica Ali – ‘Brick Lane’ (“With its gritty Tower Hamlets setting, this sharply observed contemporary novel about the life of an Asian immigrant girl deals cogently with issues of love, cultural difference and the human spirit. The pre-publicity hype about Brick Lane was precisely the kind to set alarm bells ringing (we've heard it so often before), but, for once, the excitement is fully justified: Monica Ali's debut novel demonstrates that there is a new voice in modern fiction to be reckoned with.”) A film was made of this book which you might like to see.

Zadie Smith – ‘White Teeth’ (“One of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, WHITE TEETH is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.”)

Ziauddin Sardar – ‘Balti Britain’ (“A journey through the British Asian experience” – well-written and amusing but well-observed as well.)

Ziauddin Sardar – ‘Desperately Seeking Paradise’ (“Journeys of a sceptical Muslim – earnest and humorous, witty, challenging…”)

Michael Muhammad Knight – ‘Blue-Eyed Devil’ (Autobiography: “A powerful, picaresque tale about the sorrows of being a seeker in the days of endless simulation, his wrestling with Islam is pertinent and suspenseful”.)

B. K. Mahal – ‘The Pocket Guide to Being An Indian Girl’ (“In this hugely entertaining guide to life, she lays out the rules that make an Indian girl more than just a prospect for another arranged marriage. Struggling with family politics and her own sense of right and wrong, Susham is a typical teenager – confused, rebellious and going through an identity crisis.”)

Ayan Hirsi Ali – ‘The Caged Virgin’ (True story by well-known Somalian Muslim woman who escaped to the Netherlands and threatened by people who killed controversial film maker Theo van Gogh.)

Ayan Hirsi Ali – ‘Infidel – My Story’ (Autobiography)

(b) Dishonoured....by sofia Hayatt..produced by Jake Blake publishing...The true story of a muslim girl who was disowned for her choices. (Autobiography) She is in the media and has been a familiar face in the asian media in particular.An honest account and recognises the flight of other asian women in the similar situations.

[saffron]

New books to add, Bookmaker, to your list here..

1'.Shame...' By Salman Rushdie...if you like the literary style. Its about identity and juorney in Pakistan and here..written a while back.

2. Sister of my heart ..Chitra banerjee


3. Home...by Munju kapur


4. Peacocks dancing...Sharon Maas  ( This is a beautiful book according to reviews)


5. The way things look to me....Roopa Farooki

[booktalker]

Thanks Saffron - we've got a few people currently reading Manju Kapur's books on another thread and they've promised to give us a review as soon as they've finished. I'll do an update and could also add the videos / films / DVDs section as I've watched several about cultural / racial/ mixed relationship issues recently while researching for the book. x

[saffron]

Yes, the DVD's thing is something Jasmine asked me about and I gave her a list of ones that have mixed relationships in them. But, also others of relevance for cultural reasons. I will add them when you do yours if you like, see if we come up with the same stuff!

Saffronx

[chweetgurl]

I have watched brick lane its very nice movie...but wonder where i could find missisippi masala by denzel washington

[booktalker]

Dear All

Here is the revised book list which hopefully now has all your suggestions and comments (let me know if I've missed anything out).

To make it easier to search, I've put all the authors in alphabetical order, last names first. Also I've noted the new ones with a *.

The films and DVDs should be up soon.

Bx

A. LIFE, LIFESTYLE, FAMILY & OTHER ISSUES – FICTION & NON-FICTION
(Updated and listed in alphabetical order 17th May 2010 – new books added marked *)

Abdel-Fattah, Randa – ‘Does My Head Look Big in This?’ (Don't panic - I'm Islamic! Amal is a 16-year-old Melbourne teen with all the usual obsessions about boys, chocolate and Cosmo magazine. She's also a Muslim, struggling to honour the Islamic faith in a society that doesn't understand it. The story of her decision to "shawl up" and its attendant anxieties (like how much eyeliner to wear) is funny, surprising and touching by turns.)

*Ahmad, Imran – ‘Unimagined’ (An interesting and thought provoking account of growing up in Britain from the 70's through to the 90's as a Muslim. Not too deep, often funny, and always readable, the author takes you through his life a year at a time, and touches on racism and christian fundamentalism along the way.)

*Akhtar, Nasreen – ‘Catch a Fish From the Sea’ (Using the Internet) (“The beguiling story of an ordinary girl’s quest to find her extraordinary guy…deeply moving and poignant…by a young Muslim woman in the 21st century”.)

Ali, Ayan Hirsi – ‘The Caged Virgin’ (True story by well-known Somalian Muslim woman who escaped to the Netherlands and threatened by people who killed controversial film maker Theo van Gogh.)

Ali, Ayan Hirsi – ‘Infidel – My Story’ (Autobiography)

Ali, Monica – ‘Brick Lane’ (“With its gritty Tower Hamlets setting, this sharply observed contemporary novel about the life of an Asian immigrant girl deals cogently with issues of love, cultural difference and the human spirit. The pre-publicity hype about Brick Lane was precisely the kind to set alarm bells ringing (we've heard it so often before), but, for once, the excitement is fully justified: Monica Ali's debut novel demonstrates that there is a new voice in modern fiction to be reckoned with.”)

*Alum, M. Y. – ‘Kilo’ (Gangster thriller set in Bradford – “Khalil Khan was a good boy. A certain future awaited him until gangsters turned his world upside down. They shattered his safe family life with baseball bats but that's just the beginning. They turned innocent and honest Khalil into someone else: Kilo, a much more unforgiving piece of work.)

*Banerjee, Chitra – ‘Sister of My Heart’ (Sister of My Heart tells the tale of two cousins born on the same day, their premature births brought on by a mysterious occurrence that claims the lives of both their fathers. Sudha is beautiful, Anju is not; yet the girls love each other as sisters, the bond between them so strong it seems nothing can break it. When both are pushed into arranged marriages, however, each discovers a devastating secret that changes their relationship forever.)

*Farooki, Roopa – ‘The Way Things Look to Me’ (“The Way Things Look To Me is an affecting, comically tender portrayal of a family in crisis, caught between duty and love in a tangled relationship both bitter and bittersweet.”)

*Hussein, Zahid – ‘The Curry Mile’ (“The Curry Mile is about a free spirit and trying to stay that way. Set against the backdrop of the cut-throat restaurant trade, it depicts life for twenty-somethings as it’s never been shown before. This is a deftly written novel that speaks volumes about the experiences of migrant communities in the UK today”.)

Janmohamed, Shelina Zahra – ‘Love in a Headscarf – Muslim Woman Seeks The One’ (True story/autobiography and contemporary, upbeat account of woman’s attempts to arrange a suitable marriage with the help of her family – “how I found myself, my faith and my love, but most of all how I learnt to be me”.)
*Kalkan, Gautam – ‘Londonstani’ (“Malkani's ingeniously structured first novel, given a youth-savvy repackaging, reads like "The Catcher in the Rye" with a hip young British-Asian accent! When this was first published in hardback last year, Rageh Omaar called it "razor-sharp". Others were equally complimentary -- and, for once, such praise seems entirely justified.”)

*Kapur, Manju – ‘Immigrant’ (“I got into it very quickly. It’s very easy to like and sympathise with the characters… I really enjoyed it. It was very different to how I expected it, but I thought it was told in an open and believable way, and quite quickly you could see where the characters were going and what might happen. It was a difficult story and had some key themes and feelings I think a lot of men and women on here would relate and appreciate. Even if it might be a bit painful to read. Nina - the female lead was a relatable character, and she told a truthful story. However Ananda - the male lead wasn’t so likable but there was an honesty and truth about him that made him seem real, even if he had identity and parent issues. Story about life in general - no great surprises or twists. however I did feel it ending quite abruptly and with only Nina’s voice at the end. I did feel I wanted to know a little more.” - Spidax )

*Kapur, Manju – ‘A Married Woman’ (“It gives you an insight of a woman in an arranged marriage and the sacrifices she had to make - there is an ending twist which I leave to the reader's imagination” - Chweetgurl)

*Kapur, Manju – ‘Difficult Daughters’ (Set around the time of Partition and written with absorbing intelligence and sympathy, Difficult Daughters is the story of a young woman torn between the desire for education and the lure of illicit love. 'Difficult Daughters is intensely imagined, fluidly written, moving. Through our struggles with our parents, it flings us into their own momentous times, their youthful yearnings for love and independence and life. And so it becomes an urgent and important story about family and partitions and love.' – “Very interesting and beautifully written” – Chweetgurl.)

*Kapur, Manju – ‘Home’ (“Its a great book, I am reading it for the 3rd time and each time I find out something different” - Balbir.)

Knight, Michael Muhammad – ‘Blue-Eyed Devil’ (Autobiography: “A powerful, picaresque tale about the sorrows of being a seeker in the days of endless simulation, his wrestling with Islam is pertinent and suspenseful”.)

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘The Buddha of Suburbia’ (The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi's first novel, is a tour de force of comic invention, a bizarre, often hilarious, and totally original picture of the life of a young Pakistani growing up in 1970s Britain. Karim lives with his Mum and Dad in a suburb of south London and dreams of making his escape to the bright lights of the big city. But his father is no ordinary Dad, he is 'the buddha of suburbia', a strange and compelling figure whose powers of meditation hold a circle of would-be mystics spellbound with the fascinations of the East. Among his disciples is the glamorous and ambitious Eva, and when 'the buddha of suburbia' runs off with her to a crumbling flat in Barons Court, Karim's life becomes changed in ways that even he had never dreamed of . ..)

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘The Black Album’ (Shahid is a clean-cut student, trying to make an impression on his college lecturer, Deedee Osgood, who gives his spirits a lift when she takes him to a naked rave party. Shahid's academic prospects are threatened by the intervention of his gangster brother Chili, who, with his Armani suits and Gucci loafers, moves into Shahid's bedsit as a hideout, bringing unnecessary danger and excitement with him. Set in London in 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin wall and the fatwah, The Black Album is a thriller with a characteristically lively background: raves, ecstasy, religious ferment and sexual passion in a dangerous time.)

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘Intimacy’ (Hanif Kureishi's latest novel made many reviewers uneasy on its first appearance, because it cuts so painfully near to the bone. If a novelist's first duty is to tell the truth, then Kureishi has done his duty with unflinching courage. Intimacy gives us the thoughts and memories of a middle-aged writer on the night before he walks out on his wife and two young sons, in favour of a younger woman. A very modern man, without political convictions or religious beliefs, he vaguely hopes to find fulfilment in sexual love. No-one is spared Kureishi's cold, penetrating gaze or lacerating pen. "She thinks she's feminist, but she's just bad- tempered," he says of his abandoned wife. A male friend advises him, "Marriage is a battle, a terrible journey, a season in hell and a reason for living.")

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘Gabriel’s Gift’ (Gabriel's gift is that he is an artist trying to find his own colour-palette in the grey-tinged North London world described above and overcome the pain his parents' messy personal lives cause him. A meeting with Lester Jones, an ageing glam rock star, and former pal of Gabriel's somewhat hapless dad gives him the energy and opportunity to embark on his task of self-making and finding a better place in the world. Lester's lesson is that Gabriel's life and work need to be one thing. Gabriel's ally on this path is the voice of his remembered twin brother Archie. En route, his parents reconcile; his father finds some sense of purpose in teaching guitar and important friendships with his schoolmate Zak and the local gay restaurateur, Speedy, are formed.)

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘The Body’ (What if you were middle-aged and were offered the chance to trade in your sagging flesh for a much younger and more pleasing model? This is the situation in which one character in this collection of stories finds himself. Taking the plunge, he embarks on an odyssey of hedonism but soon has regrets.)

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘Something to Tell You’ ('Teeming with unusual characters, acute observations of life in London and insights into the complexities of sex, families and middle age.')

*Kureishi, Hanif – ‘Love in a Blue Time’ (A brilliant collection of stories by the bestselling author of The Buddha of Suburbia. This time, Hanif Kureishi's subject is the difficult, serious business of love - and hate. His stories have all the qualities of his novels: they are funny, inventive, bawdy, and aggressively contemporary. The characters that stride out of the pages of Love in a Blue Time, however damaged, deranged or despicable, are united by one thing: they are all creatures of strong desire. 'In this haunting, troubling collection of short stories, Hanif Kureishi has finally embraced the decadence that has lain in wait for him . . . A tense, desolate and consuming collection.' Observer 'The whole collection buzzes with anger and angst.' Time Out

*Maas, Sharon – ‘Peacocks Dancing’ (After you finish enjoying Peacocks Dancing, I suggest that you think about where you are too inhibited to pursue providing selfless love. Then, consider how you might try letting your true feelings go. Hopefully, that taste of selfless loving will provide the joy to encourage you to do more.)

Mahal, B. K. – ‘The Pocket Guide to Being An Indian Girl’ (“In this hugely entertaining guide to life, she lays out the rules that make an Indian girl more than just a prospect for another arranged marriage. Struggling with family politics and her own sense of right and wrong, Susham is a typical teenager – confused, rebellious and going through an identity crisis.”)

Manzoor, Safraz - 'Greetings from Bury Park' (True story - Safraz is a journalist ...this book is a great read esp if you want to understand the relationship of many young men I believe from Asian background who were brought up in Britain and struggle to understand their identity ..in between 2 cultures?  It touches on the relationship between father and son, Safraz highlights how important this relationship was in context of how much his father had wanted for him. He touches on mixed relationships, and Bruce springstein..(also a bit of music that I like!) He identified strongly with Bruces songs and followed his music and concerts when he could.)

Rai, Bali – ‘(Un)arranged Marriage’ (Fiction: “Set partly in the UK and partly in the Punjab region of India, this is a fresh, bitingly perceptive and totally up-to-the-minute look at one young man’s fight to free himself from family’s expectations and to be himself, free to dance to his own tune”.)

Rai, Bali – ‘Rani and Sukh’ (Fiction: “Rani is a Sandhu, and Sukh is a Bains – and sometimes names can lead to terrible trouble…A powerful and gripping novel that sweeps the reader from modern-day Britain to the Punjab in the 1960s and back again in a ceaseless cycle of tragedy and conflict”.)

Robert, Na'ima B  – ‘From My Sisters’ Lips’ (Autobiography: “An extremely thought-provoking book that challenges Western preconceptions of Islamic women”.)

*Rushdie, Salman – ‘Shame’ (Omar Khayyam Shakil had three mothers who shared the symptoms of pregnancy, as they did everything else, inseparably. At their six breasts, Omar was warned against all feelings and nuances of shame. It was training which would prove useful when he left his mothers' fortress (via the dumb-waiter) to face his shameless future...As captivating fairy-tale, devastating political satire and exquisite, uproarious entertainment, "Shame" is a novel without rival.)

Sanghera, Satnam – ‘The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton’ (A very funny witty book with a serious side. Well written...I like the style of writing. This is this young mans relationship with his family, his parents, and the struggle of identity. Touches on mixed relationships throughout... hiding of them too! Its about a sikh Jat punjabi family. Again  written by a journalist. Touches on mental health issues in the family and his understanding of this. Its based in Wolverhampton in the west Midlands. Satnam writes for the Times.)

Sardar, Ziauddin – ‘Balti Britain’ (“A journey through the British Asian experience” – well-written and amusing but well-observed as well.)

Sardar, Ziauddin – ‘Desperately Seeking Paradise’ (“Journeys of a sceptical Muslim – earnest and humorous, witty, challenging…”)

Selbourne, Raphael – ‘Beauty’ (Novel about Bangladeshi girl running away from her arranged marriage – “a sharply rendered, compassionate and challenging portrait of a fragmented, multicultural England”.)

Smith, Zadie – ‘White Teeth’ (“One of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, WHITE TEETH is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.”)

[chweetgurl]

Aw booktalker thank you for including my reviews to the books.. that was a sweet gesture 

[booktalker]

I thought they were good, honest reviews! After all, that's kind of the idea, because these are books which are hopefully of interest and relevant to members.

I'm well in to writing my novel now and find it impossible to read other books! It's not so much a question of not having time, more I can't concentrate on anything else. I've still got about 10 books I should read as 'research' (well that's my excuse), but I'm nearly half way through so might stop in the middle and take time out for reading.

x

[chweetgurl]

Thats good news Book talker i am sure with your expertise knowledge the outcome will be fab!
Whats does writting involve friction or non friction?
whats the topic?
Wish you good luck

[booktalker]

Hi Chweetgurl,

It's fiction. It's the story of a 17 year old British-born Pakistani Muslim girl and the choices she has to make when faced with a forced marriage.

I finished the whole book a couple of years ago but it was told from the point of view of the mother of the white boy who the girl runs off with (although it's absolutely not a romance, it's about relationships and friendships and loyalties) - mainly because I was aiming for readers like myself, i.e. white, female, middle class, middle aged (oh no, that's not really me, surely???!!!).

Anyway, the agent liked it but I was doing a lot of background research and reading and meeting people and finally realised that the story I have to tell is the girl's story, so I've started all over again!

I hope to base my second book on a cross-cultural relationship. I don't want to make it too autobiographical, but obviously that's the reason I found this wonderful site in the first place!

B
x

[chweetgurl]

Booktalker i am currently reading 'Nine Parts of Desire' The hidden world of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks she covered middle east as foriegn correspondent fr 6 yrs and wrote 2 books i am have just started in 1/4 of the book and it already angers me for the way women are treated so unequally.It has touched the religion itself in such depth i never knew before.Good read

[booktalker]

Hi Chweetgurl - Thanks for the recommendation - I've heard of it but can't remember if I've read it so will head for the library. I've just finished writing mine! I'll maybe put a new post up to see if anyone's interested in reading the final draft... Bx

[booktalker]

Found it! Now I know why it was familiar - I read a book by the same author called "People of the Book" - really good, an intriguing story

[chweetgurl]

Booktalker i am def interested in reading your story draft

[saffron]

 Me too X Saffronx