Pakistan – Qatar
by Christina S
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This week features one of the more humorous titles I have seen while compiling these BLOGS. I hope we can agree that At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig by John Gimlette is a pretty great title that gets your attention and maybe garners a smirk, or dare I say a chuckle?
The title of a book can impact it’s success. It sets up expectations for the reader as to the tone of the book and genre. A title that is too obscure and odd can be off-putting. A title that is too common can be less appealing and can easily get confused with other books. A title should be related to the subject matter of the book, but unique enough that it stands out among the hundreds, if not thousands, of titles that someone is browsing through to find that perfect read for that moment.
I hope that you are intrigued enough by some of the titles in this series to check out the books they belong to.
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Pakistan
I Should have Honor: a memoir of hope and pride in Pakistan by Brohi Khalida
From a young age, Khalida Brohi was raised to believe in the sanctity of arranged marriage. Her mother was forced to marry a thirteen-year-old boy when she was only nine; Khalida herself was promised as a bride before she was even born. But her father refused to let her become a child bride. He was a man who believed in education, not just for himself but for his daughters, and Khalida grew up thinking she would become the first female doctor in her small village. Khalida thought her life was proceeding on an unusual track for a woman of her circumstances, but one whose path was orderly and straightforward. Everything shifted for Khalida when she found out that her beloved cousin had been murdered by her uncle in a tradition known as “honor killing.” Her cousin’s crime? She had fallen in love with a man who was not her betrothed.
Summers Under the Tamarind Tree: recipes & memories from Pakistan by Sumayya Usmani
Former lawyer-turned-food writer and cookery teacher Sumayya Usmani captures the rich and aromatic pleasure of Pakistani cooking through more than 100 recipes as she celebrates the heritage and traditions of her home country and looks back on a happy childhood spent in the kitchen with her grandmother and mother. While remaining uniquely its own, Pakistani food is influenced by some of the world’s greatest cuisines. With a rich coastline, it enjoys spiced seafood and amazing fish dishes; while its borders with Iran, Afghanistan, India and China ensure strong Arabic, Persian and varied Asian flavors.
A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi
Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook’s daughter, Sakina, still hasn’t told her parents that she’ll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score—but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family’s kitchen? Although the girls seem totally incompatible at first, as the summer goes on, Sakina and Mimi realize that they have plenty in common—and that they each need the other to get what they want most.
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam
Growing up as brothers in a small town in Pakistan, Jeo and Mikal were inseparable; however as adults their paths have diverged sharply. Jeo is newly married and a dedicated medical student, while Mikal, in love with a woman he can’t have, has adopted the life of a vagabond. Nonetheless, when Jeo decides to slip across the border into Afghanistan to help civilians caught in the post-9/11 clash between American and Taliban forces, Mikal goes with him. But their good intentions cannot keep them out of harm’s way.
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Palau
Vanished: the sixty-year search for the missing men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton
From a mesmerizing storyteller, the gripping search for a missing World War II crew, their bomber plane, and their legacy. On September 1, 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the tiny Pacific archipelago of Palau, leaving behind a trail of mysteries. For more than sixty years, the U.S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the archipelago for clues with cutting-edge technology and unyielding determination. They crawled through thickets of mangrove and slogged into groves of poison trees, flew over the islands in private planes shooting infrared photography, trolled the water with magnetometers and side-scan sonar, and launched grid searches on the seafloor, but the trail seemed to lead nowhere.
The Diver Who Fell From the Sky: The story of pacific pioneer Francis Toribiong by Simon Pridmore
When his country needed him most, Palauan Francis Toribiong came along and helped the Pacific island nation find its place in the world and become an independent, forward-looking 20th century state. And he achieved this, improbably, via the sport of scuba diving. This is the inspiring tale of an absolutely unique life, illustrated with images (black & white in this, the standard paperback version) of the beautiful islands of Palau, above and below the water. Maverick, innovator, entrepreneur, environmentalist and sheer force of nature, Francis Toribiong is the father of Palau tourism, a scuba diving pioneer and an effective, tireless ambassador for both his country and its abundant marine and land resources. He was born poor, had no academic leanings and no talent for diplomacy. Yet he was driven to succeed by a combination of duty, faith, a deep-seated determination to do the right thing and an absolute refusal ever to compromise his values.
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Panama
Stepmotherland: poems by Darrel Alejandro Holnes
Darrel Alejandro Holnes’s first full-length collection, is filled with poems that chronicle and question identity, family, and allegiance. This Central American love song is in constant motion as it takes us on a lyrical and sometimes narrative journey from Panamá to the USA and beyond. The driving force behind Holnes’s work is a pursuit for a new home, and as he searches, he takes the reader on a wild ride through the most pressing political issues of our time and the most intimate and transformative personal experiences of his life.
Come Together, Fall Apart: a novella and stories by Cristina Henríquez
With eight short stories and a novella that travel from dusty city streets to humid beaches, Cristina Henríquez carves out a distinctive and unforgettable vision of contemporary Panama. The stories of Come Together, Fall Apart combine to create a seamless fictional world in which the varied landscapes and shifting culture of a country in transition—and the insistent voices of its young people—are vividly represented.
Sincerely Sicily by Tamika Burgess
Sicily Jordan’s worst nightmare has come true! She’s been enrolled in a new school, with zero of her friends and stuck wearing a fashion catastrophe of a uniform. But however bad Sicily thought sixth grade was going to be, it only gets worse when she does her class presentation.
While all her classmates breezed through theirs, Sicily is bombarded with questions on how she can be both Black and Panamanian. She wants people to understand, but it doesn’t feel like anyone is ready to listen-first at school and then at home. Because when her abuela starts talking mess about her braids, Sicily’s the only one whose heart is being crumpled for a second time.
Staying quiet may no longer be an option, but that doesn’t mean Sicily has the words to show the world just what it means to be a proud Black Panamanian either. Even though she hasn’t written in her journal since her abuelo passed, it’s time to pick up her pen again-but will it be enough to prove to herself and everyone else exactly who she is?
Panama on a Plate: favorite foods from my birthplace by Yadira Stamp
“Panama On a Plate” is the debut cookbook from renowned Chef Yadira Stamp, an expert in authentic Panamanian cooking. In this must-have cookbook, Chef Yadira teaches you how to prepare authentic, traditional dishes and desserts with explosive flavors that are unforgettable-just as they are made in Panama. Ranging from quick classics to exciting culinary adventures, this delectable cookbook features more than 50 of Chef Yadira’s most popular recipes, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan variations for all to enjoy. Chef Yadira’s “Panama on A Plate” offers a genuine taste of Panamanian cuisine with Latin American, and Caribbean fusion that will keep you coming back for more.
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Papua New Guinea
On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind: the eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the children each day from Charles Dickens’s classic Great Expectations. So begins this rare, original story about the abiding strength that imagination, once ignited, can provide. As artillery echoes in the mountains, thirteen-year-old Matilda and her peers are riveted by the adventures of a young orphan named Pip in a city called London, a city whose contours soon become more real than their own blighted landscape. As Mr. Watts says, “A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe.” Soon come the rest of the villagers, initially threatened, finally inspired to share tales of their own that bring alive the rich mythology of their past. But in a ravaged place where even children are forced to live by their wits and daily survival is the only objective, imagination can be a dangerous thing.
New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable
It had started almost as a joke, as a challenge to her mother during one of their endless arguments. She can’t even remember now what Caroline had said to spark it off, but Julie snapped back, hot with fury, “Well, maybe I should go and live with Tony for a while and see how that works out!” and Caroline, suddenly calm, had said, “Maybe you should.” And the next thing Julie knew, she was on her way to meet a father she doesn’t know in a country she’s never been to. What will she find when the tiny plane touches down in the lush tropical highlands of New Guinea? She might expect culture shock, she might hope for first love, but the secrets she uncovers make for a truly unforgettable summer.
Euphoria: a novel by Lily King
In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work studying South Pacific tribes, her intelligent and aggressive husband Fen, and Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled. Within months the trio are producing their best ever work, but soon a firestorm of fierce love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives…
A Death in the Rainforest: how a language and a way of life came to an end in Papua New Guinea by Don Kulick
As a young anthropologist, Kulick went to the tiny village of Gapun in New Guinea to document the death of the native language, Tayap. He arrived knowing that you can’t study a language without understanding the daily lives of the people who speak it: how they talk to their children, how they argue, how they gossip, how they joke. Over the course of thirty years, he returned again and again to document Tayap before it disappeared entirely. Here he takes us inside the difficult-to-get-to village of two hundred people in the middle of a tropical rainforest. In doing so he looks at the impact of Western culture on the farthest reaches of the globe
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Paraguay
The News from Paraguay: a novel by Lily Tuck
The year is l854. In Paris, Francisco Solano—the future dictator of Paraguay—begins his courtship of the young, beautiful Irish courtesan Ella Lynch with a poncho, a Paraguayan band, and a horse named Mathilde. Ella follows Franco to Asunción and reigns there as his mistress. Isolated and estranged in this new world, she embraces her lover’s ill-fated imperial dream—one fueled by a heedless arrogance that will devastate all of Paraguay.
Invisible Country: a mystery by Annamaria Alfieri
A war against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay has devastated Paraguay. Ninety percent of the males between the ages of eight and eighty have died in the conflict and food is scarce. In the small village of Santa Caterina, Padre Gregorio advises the women of his congregation to abandon the laws of the church and get pregnant by what men are available. As he leaves the pulpit, he discovers the murdered body of Ricardo Yotté, one of the most powerful men in the country, at the bottom of the belfry.
Ada’s Violin: the story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood
Ada Ríos grew up in Cateura, a small town in Paraguay built on a landfill. She dreamed of playing the violin, but with little money for anything but the bare essentials, it was never an option…until a music teacher named Favio Chávez arrived. He wanted to give the children of Cateura something special, so he made them instruments out of materials found in the trash. It was a crazy idea, but one that would leave Ada—and her town—forever changed. Now, the Recycled Orchestra plays venues around the world, spreading their message of hope and innovation.
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: travels through Paraguay by John Gimlette
Haven to Nazis, smugglers’ paradise, home to some of the earth’s oddest wildlife and most baroquely awful dictatorships, Paraguay is a nation waiting for the right chronicler. In John Gimlette, at last it has one. With an adventurer’s sang-froid, a historian’s erudition, and a sense of irony so keen you could cut a finger on it, Gimlette celebrates the beauty, horror and–yes–charm of South America’s obscure and remote “island surrounded by land.”
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Peru
The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa
Flora, the illegitimate child of a wealthy Peruvian father and French mother, grows up in poverty, and after fleeing a brutal husband, journeys to Peru to demand her inheritance. On her return, she makes her name as a popular writer and a champion of the downtrodden, setting herself the arduous task of touring the French countryside to recruit members for her Workers’ Union. Paul, struggling painter and stubborn visionary, abandons his wife and five children for life in the South Seas, where his dreams of paradise are poisoned by syphilis, the stifling forces of French colonialism, and a chronic lack of funds, though he has his pick of teenage Tahitian lovers and paints some of his greatest works.
The Food & Cooking of Peru: traditions, ingredients, tastes, techniques, 60 classic recipes by Flor Arcaya de Deliot
Peruvian cuisine is considered to be one of the most diverse in the world, and on a par with French, Chinese and Indian cuisine in terms of sophistication. With this eclectic variety of traditional dishes, 28 different climates, and terrain that includes coasts, mountains, forest and jungle, Peruvian gastronomy is in constant evolution.
César Vallejo was a Peruvian poet who lived in Paris and Spain for much of his adult life. His body of work, which is deeply rooted in his European, Peruvian, and indigenous heritage, is increasingly recognized as a major contribution to global modernism. Although he published only two books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language
You Shall Leave Your Land by Renato Cisneros
Renato Cisneros’s great-great-grandmother Nicolasa bore seven children by her long-term secret love, who was also her priest, raising them alone in nineteenth century Peru. More than a century later, Renato, the descendent of that clandestine affair, struggles to wring information about his origins out of recalcitrant relatives, whose foibles match the adventures and dalliances of their ancestors. As buried secrets are brought into the light, the story of Nicolasa’s progeny unfolds, bound up with key moments in the development of the Republic of Peru since its independence.
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Philippines
The Boy with a Snake in his Schoolbag: a memoir from Manila (or something like that) by Bob Ong
This humorous coming-of-age memoir follows the author from kindergarten through high school and college to his own experiences as a young teacher. Set in Manila, it explores universal themes of friendship, love, school life, depression, academic struggles and personal successes. A National Bestseller in the Philippines, the book also includes illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Freely Abrigo, a concept artist for Warner Brothers. This collection of warm and humorous essays candidly chronicles Bob Ong’s experiences growing up in the Marcos-era Manila of the 1980s. The author casts a satirical and nostalgic eye on the events of everyday life.
7,000 Islands: cherished recipes and stories from the Philippines by Yasmin Newman
Despite the Philippines’ location right in the middle of Southeast Asia, most people know very little about the country and even less about the cuisine. For Filipinos, food is more than a pleasurable pursuit; it is the cultural language. It can be seen through the prism of its unique and colorful history, with influences from Malaysia, Spain, China, Mexico, and the US adding to the cuisine’s rich texture. In this collection of more than one hundred recipes, Yasmin Newman takes a culinary journey through the Philippines and uncovers an intriguing nation of 7107 islands where the people’s love of eating is as big as their hearts. Filipino food can be seen through the prism of its colourful and unique history.
Monsoon Mansion: a memoir by Cinelle Barnes
Told with a lyrical, almost-dreamlike voice as intoxicating as the moonflowers and orchids that inhabit this world, Monsoon Mansion is a harrowing yet triumphant coming-of-age memoir exploring the dark, troubled waters of a family’s rise and fall from grace in the Philippines. It would take a young warrior to survive it. Cinelle Barnes was barely three years old when her family moved into Mansion Royale, a stately ten-bedroom home in the Philippines. Filled with her mother’s opulent social aspirations and the gloriously excessive evidence of her father’s self-made success, it was a girl’s storybook playland. But when a monsoon hits, her father leaves, and her mother’s terrible lover takes the reins, Cinelle’s fantastical childhood turns toward tyranny she could never have imagined.
We Belong by Cookie Hiponia Everman
Stella and Luna know that their mama, Elsie, came from the Philippines when she was a child, but they don’t know much else. So one night they ask her to tell them her story. As they get ready for bed, their mama spins two tales: that of her youth as a strong-willed middle child and immigrant; and that of the young life of Mayari, the mythical daughter of a god. Both are tales of sisterhood and motherhood, and of the difficult experience of trying to fit into a new culture, and having to fight for a home and acceptance.
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Poland
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .
The Sweet Polish Kitchen: a celebration of home baking & nostalgic treats by Ren Behan
A collection of traditional and modern Polish baking and dessert recipes including babkas, cheesecakes, tarts, pastries, and all things sweet and celebratory. A collection of traditional and modern Polish baking and dessert recipes including babkas, cheesecakes, tarts, pastries, and all things sweet and celebratory.
Road-Side Dog by Czesław Miłosz
I went on a journey in order to acquaint myself with my province, in a two-horse wagon with a lot of fodder and a tin bucket rattling in the back. The bucket was required for the horses to drink from. I traveled through a country of hills and pine groves that gave way to woodlands, where swirls of smoke hovered over the roofs of houses, as if they were on fire, for they were chimneyless cabins; I crossed districts of fields and lakes. It was so interesting to be moving, to give the horses their rein, and wait until, in the next valley, a village slowly appeared, or a park with the white spot of a manor in it. And always we were barked at by a dog, assiduous in its duty. That was the beginning of the century; this is its . I have been thinking not only of the people who lived there once but also of the generations of dogs accompanying them in their everyday bustle, and one night-I don’t know where it came from-in a pre-dawn sleep, that funny and tender phrase composed itself: a road-side dog
Snow White and Russian Red by Dorota Maslowska
The international bestselling novel of nihilistic youth in post-Communist Poland. When his girlfriend Magda dumps him, Andrzej “Nails” Robakoski’s life begins to unravel. A track-suited slacker, Nails spends most of his time doing little more than searching for his next girl, next line of speed, next proof for his conspiracy theories about the Polish economy. A xenophobic campaign against the Russian black market is escalating across Poland, culminating in No Russkies Day—or is that just in Nails’s fevered mind?
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Portugal
Journey to Portugal: in pursuit of Portugal’s history and culture by José Saramago
The Nobel Prize–winning author explores his homeland. In 1979, José Saramago decided to write a book called Journey to Portugal-and dedicated himself to obtaining the fullest meaning of his title. More than merely journeying in or through his native country, he wanted to achieve a deep encounter with it, foregoing the conventional assumptions and the routines of tourist guides. Instead, he scoured the country with the eyes and ears of an observer fascinated by the ancient myths and history of his people. Recording his experiences and observations across the length and breadth of Portugal, Saramago brings the country to life as only a writer of his brilliance can.
The Implacable Order of Things : a novel by José Luís Peixoto
A mesmerizing tale of love and jealousy by Portugal’s most acclaimed young novelist.
Set in an unnamed Portuguese village against a backdrop of severe rural poverty, The Implacable Order of Things is told from the various points of view of two generations of men and women, hardened by hunger and toil and driven by a fate beyond them to fulfill their roles in the never-ending cycle of violence, retribution and death.
The High Mountains of Portugal: a novel by Yann Martel
In Lisbon in 1904, a young man named Tomás discovers an old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artifact that — if he can find it — would redefine history. Traveling in one of Europe’s earliest automobiles, he sets out in search of this strange treasure. Thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist devoted to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie finds himself at the center of a mystery of his own and drawn into the consequences of Tomás’s quest. Fifty years on, a Canadian senator takes refuge in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he arrives with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee. And there the century-old quest will come to an unexpected conclusion.
The Wind Whistling in the Cranes: a novel by Lidia Jorge
With the grand sweep of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, this enduring tale transports us to a picturesque seaside town haunted by its colonial past. Set in the now-distant 1990s, tells the story of the landlords and tenants of a derelict canning factory in southern Portugal. The wealthy, always-scheming Leandros have owned the building since before the Carnation Revolution, a peaceful coup that toppled a four-decade-long dictatorship and led to Portugal’s withdrawal from its African colonies. It was Leandro matriarch Dona Regina who handed the keys to the Matas, the bustling family from Cape Verde who saw past the dusty machinery and converted the space into a warm―and welcoming―home.
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Qatar
Love From A to Z: a novel by S. K. Ali
Eighteen-year-old Muslims Adam and Zayneb meet in Doha, Qatar, during spring break and fall in love as both struggle to find a way to live their own truths.
Zayneb’s teacher won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are. But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry. When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break. Her path crosses with Adam’s. Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam has stopped going to classes, intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister. They’ve been playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals … until they meet
The Girl Who Fell to Earth: a memoir by Sophia Al-Maria
When Sophia Al-Maria’s mother sends her away from rainy Washington State to stay with her husband’s desert-dwelling Bedouin family in Qatar, she intends it to be a sort of teenage cultural boot camp. What her mother doesn’t know is that there are some things about growing up that are universal. In Qatar, Sophia is faced with a new world she’d only imagined as a child. She sets out to find her freedom, even in the most unlikely of places.
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Booked Solid in Santa Fe 