Morocco in Fiction

Full of mystery and mysticism, here are some reads that take you back to one thousand and one nights!

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida
After being robbed of her wallet and passport while on a mysterious trip to Morocco, a woman feels a strange freedom of being stripped of her identity and soon begins pretending to be a well-known film star.

The Blue Hour by Douglas Kennedy

Reluctantly agreeing to accompany her artsy intellectual husband during a month-long trip to Morocco, meticulous accountant Robin delights in regional culture and hopes to become pregnant only to be wrongly implicated in her husband's disappearance.

The Forgiven by Lawrence Osbourne

A couple in a deteriorating relationship are involved in a fatal car accident on their way to an annual wild party at a friend's house deep in the Moroccan desert and must deal with the repercussions.

The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun

The story of one couple - the husband, a painter in Casablanca, has been paralyzed by a stroke at the very height of his career and becomes convinced that his marriage is the sole reason for his decline. Walled up within his illness and desperate to break free of a deeply destructive relationship, he finds escape in writing a secret book about his hellish marriage. When his wife finds it, she responds point by point with her own version of the facts, offering her own striking and incisive reinterpretation of their story.

The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

Each year, Hassan, the storyteller, gathers listeners to the city square to explore the mysterious disappearance of a young foreign couple through recollections and witness descriptions in the hope of finding new details that absolve his brother of the crime.

Secret Son by Laila Lalami

Follows Youssef El Mekki's journey from a childhood in poverty with his mother on the streets of Casablanca to a life of luxury with his father and back again.

The Christmas Book Flood

While we are trimming our trees, hanging our stockings, and getting ready for a visit from Santa Claus, the residents of Iceland are preparing for their own special holiday tradition--Jólabókaflóð, or Christmas Book Flood.  

The majority of the publishing in Iceland occurs between September and December, and a massive catalog of books--the Bókatíðindi--is available to everyone to peruse and make their selections.  Books are considered one of the greatest gifts to give, and most families exchange them on Christmas Eve, and then settle in for a long night of cozy reading.

Here are some of our favorite Icelandic authors and books about Iceland.  Check one out today and start your own winter reading tradition!

Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness 

A young Icelandic priest is sent to investigate the pastor at remote Snaefells Glacier and uncovers a mysterious and wild community full of phantasmagoria and eccentricity, in a provocative novel by the late Nobel laureate.








Jar City: A Reykjavik Thriller by Arnaldur Indridason

Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson heads up the investigation into the killing of a solitary man, found murdered in his Reykjavik apartment, only to discover that the victim has only two friends, one in prison and one missing for twenty-five years, and that the dead man had been accused but not convicted of a rape forty years earlier.  







The Whispering Muse by Sjón

Invited to sail on a Danish merchant ship in 1949, eccentric Icelander, Valdimar Haraldsson, discovers the second mate on the ship is none other than Caeneus, the hero of Greek mythology, who regales his fellow shipmates with tales of the Golden Fleece.








Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Based on the true story of the last woman to be executed in Iceland in 1829, a young woman accused of murdering her master is sent to an isolated rural farm to await execution and tells the farmer's family her side of the story








Sagas of the Icelanders

Published in conjunction with the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson's voyage to America, the medieval Viking "Sagas" commemorate the adventures of the people who first settled Iceland and then braved the perils of the north Atlantic to explore Greenland and North America, in a volume that includes a preface by Jane Smiley.






Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland by Sarah Moss

Novelist Sarah Moss had a childhood dream of moving to Iceland, sustained by a wild summer there when she was nineteen. In 2009, she saw an advertisement for a job at the University of Iceland and applied on a whim, despite having two young children and a comfortable life in an English cathedral city. The resulting adventure was shaped by Iceland's economic collapse, which halved the value of her salary, by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull and by a collection of new friends.





   

Get Ready to Read for the Win 2016 - Stories Set in a Different Culture - Need Help With That Square?

Get ready for this year's summer reading program Read for the Win, which will be kicking off Sunday, June 12 and will run through Sunday, July 31.

This year you'll be selecting different categories from our summer reading BINGO card.

To help you get started, here's a few suggestions for some good reads for one of the squares' categories - Set in a Different Culture.

Have fun and read for the win!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 

Set in 19th c. China when women's feet were bound and they often lived a life of seclusion for the rest of the world. The women in one remote Hunan province create their own secret code which they painted on fans or embroidered on their handkerchiefs to communicate their thoughts and dreams to each other. Two girls to be paired and communicate are Snow Flower and Lily. As the years pass, thorough famine and rebellion, they reflect upon their arranged marriages, loneliness, and the joys and tragedies for motherhood.

The Secret River
This the story of Grenville's ancestry, who wrested a new life from the alien terrain of Australia and its native people. London, 1806. William Thornhill, a Thames bargeman, is deported to the New South Wales colony that would become Australia.


The Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it--from garden seeds to Scripture--is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

Eva Luna
A woman makes love to an India dying of a snakebite, miraculously restoring him to life and engendering a daughter named Eva "so she will love life." Set in Latin America, it relates Eva's picaresque adventures.

World Cup Fever? Fiction and Nonfiction set in Brazil

Fiction

The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa
Six former SS men, dispatched from Brazil by the notorious former commandant of Auschwitz to kill ninety-four men, become the targets of aging, increasingly shortsighted Nazi-hunter Yakov Liebermann.

Brazil by John Updike
Tristao, an African-Brazilian street kid, and Isabel, an upper-class teen fresh from convent school, fall in love and flee from her rich father and the toughs he has sent in pursuit of them.

The Silence of the Rain by L.A. Garcia-Roza
Inspector Espinosa investigates the murder of a corporate executive found dead in his car, piecing together clues surrounding the victim's missing secretary, a life insurance policy, the victim's widow, and two additional murder victims.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
A researcher at a pharmaceutical company, Marina Singh journeys into the heart of the Amazonian delta to check on a field team that has been silent for two years--a dangerous assignment that forces Marina to confront the ghosts of her past.

Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
An elderly American living in Brazil reminisces about his various lives as World War II ace, multimillionaire investment banker, insane asylum inmate, thief, murderer, lover, and protector of the innocent.

City of God by Paulo Lins
A powerful saga of the rise of the drug trade in the notorious slums of Rio de Janeiro spans three decades, recreating the turbulent times of the sixties that led to all-out street warfare, murder, and rampant drug trafficking by ruthless and brutal gangs, as seen through the eyes of two teenage boys.

The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles
In 1930's Brazil, a vigilante gang invades the home of two seamstresses, kidnapping one of them.

Nonfiction

The Lost City of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
Interweaves the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished during a 1925 expedition into the Amazon, with the author's own quest to uncover the mysteries surrounding Fawcett's final journey and the secrets of what lies deep in the Amazon jungle.

Brazil: the once and future country by Marshall C. Eakin
Examines the history, religion, society, culture, politics, and economy of South America's largest country from colonial times to the present day

Music for St. Patrick's Day - Beyond "O, Danny Boy"

If you think that Irish music starts and stops at "O Danny Boy," please think again. There is more out there than just traditional songs, there is Irish pop, rock and folk music.

Try listening to an assortment of artists with The Rough Guide to Irish Folk Music  or Women of the World: Celtic.

For more folk music try Cherish the Ladies and the Chieftains.

If contemporary pop or new age music is your interest, try Celtic Thunder, Clannad or Celtic Women for a try.


And for those who need something louder, try Gaelic Storm, U2,  the Corrs, Thin Lizzy or the the jazzier tones of Van Morrison.

For the traditionalist there is always the CD,
Come Fill your Glass With Us: Irish Songs of Drinking and Blackguarding by the Clancy Brothers.

Celtic music invaded many places, and traveled with it's people. You can feel its influence in Newfoundland and Spain, and well as in Bluegrass and American folk music. And many Irish artists combine all sorts of influences to have their own style. Expand your horizons at the library in the International Music section.

For more of the story and history of music and the Celts, try this book title The Rough Guide to Irish Music by Geoff Wallis or head up to Milwaukee's Irish Fest in August. You will have fun discovering new artists and new songs.

It's Summer Somewhere....

December 21 (aside from the Mayan Apocalypse!) marks the first day of Winter - in our hemisphere anyway. However in the Southern Hemisphere, it marks the first day of Summer. Here are some books that take place in these lucky countries where Summer is just starting:

Turing's Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldan

A thriller follows the leader of a group of computer hackers who oppose the government and the big corporations, the founder of the government's code-breaking unit, and a government agent who fears he works for the wrong side.

(Bolivia)

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño

In a deathbed confession, Father Urrutia, a Jesual priest and conservative literary critic, shares his memories of his work with agents of Opus Dei and his secret job of instructing Pinochet about Marxism to the Chilean junta generals can understand their enemy. Original..

(Chile)

The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer

A love affair between a wealthy South African woman and an Arab illegal alien challenges their notions of race, class, and citizenship.

(South Africa)

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

Rendered a confidant and supportive friend for her willingness to listen to her neighbors in genocide-stricken Rwanda, baker Angel Tungaraza provides decadent confections and transforming counsel to a series of troubled customers.

(Rwanda)

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.

(Australia)

Frangipani by Celestine Hitiura Vaite

In Tahiti, it's a well-known fact that women are wisest, mothers know best, and Materena Mahi knows best of all--or so everyone except for her own daughter thinks. Soon enough, mother and daughter are engaged in a tug-of-war that tests the bonds of their love.

(Tahiti)

The White Mary by Kira Salak
War reporter Marika Vecera learns that her long-time hero, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert Lewis, has committed suicide and sets out to write his biography, only to hear rumors that he may still be alive in Papua New Guinea.
(Papua New Guinea)

Spotlight on International Fiction: Puerto Rico

Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
Historical fiction drawn to the exotic island of Puerto Rico by the diaries of an ancestor who traveled there with Ponce de Leon, Ana Cubillas becomes involved with enamored twin brothers Ramon and Inocente before convincing them to claim a sugar plantation they have inherited.
Also try Esmeralda Santiago's memoir: When I Was Puerto Rican

The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico by Sarah McCoy
It is 1961 and Puerto Rico is trapped in a tug-of-war between those who want to stay connected to the United States and those who are fighting for independence. Verdita has always been safe and secure in her sleepy mountain town, but she must find the strength to decide what sort of woman she'll become.


The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
When Consuelo notices a disturbing change in her little sister Mili, Consuelo must decide if she will rise to the occasion and fulfill the expectations of her family and culture or risk becoming an outsider.

Caribe: a Novel of Puerto Rico by Evangeline Blanco
Dr. Rafael Rodriguez hates the racial prejudice of the white Puerto Ricans, and he, a black physician, sires illegitimate children in hopes of causing a revolution against the prevailing attitudes.

Captain of the Sleepers by Mayra Montero
Andres Yasin has held a grudge against J.T. Bunker for half a century, but as Bunker nears the end of his life, he tells his side of the story, delving deeply into the Puerto Rican Independence Movement's past.

Eccentric Neighborhoods by Rosario Ferre
Elvira Vernet describes her mother's family of landed gentry and sugar plantation owners and her father's family of politically ambitious builders who tried to rebuild Puerto Rico when Americans gave money for housing projects.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Canada

Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson
Hector and Virgil are the kindly and slightly eccentric hosts at a rustic retreat on a beautiful island in British Columbia. The bed and breadfast is the perfect refuge for guests who find that the ratio of books available to time available to read them is terribly skewed. Brief biographical sketches of these bibliophiles alternate with stories from Hector and Virgil on their growing up, their neighbors, the vicissitudes of running a Bed and Breakfast, and, of course, lists of books for various occasions.

Still Life by Louise Penny
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec is called to Three Pines, a tiny hamlet south of Montreal, just north of the U.S. border, to investigate the suspicious hunting "accident" that claimed the life of Jane Neal, a local fixture in the village. First in the Inspector Armand Gamanche mysteries series.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson
Fleeing the law in 1903 after killing her husband, Mary Boulton races toward the mountains while being tormented by visions of the cold-blooded brothers-in-law who pursue her, forcing her to retreat deeper into the wilds of the Western Canada and her own imagination.

Too Much Happiness: stories by Alice Munro
Includes the stories of a grieving mother who is aided by a surprising source, awoman's response to a humiliating seduction, and a nineteenth-century Russian emigre's winter journey to the Riviera.

Midnight at the Dragon Cafe by Judy Fong Bates
Su-Jen Chou, a Chinese immigrant growing up in 1950s Ontario, finds herself shouldering the weight of her mother's hopes and dreams as her isolated family attempts to forge a life for themselves in a small town.

Murder With A Foreign Accent

Many of us have read mysteries which take place in familiar settings in the U.S. But don’t lose out on a whole slew of who-dunnits set in other countries and written in languages other than English. These works contribute their own unique perspective to the genre.

The first foreign writer to become popular in America was France’s Georges Simenon, whose detective Jules Maigret became a well-known and well-loved character who immerses himself in the crime, the people, the place and the feelings of the crime. He was one of the first authors to explore the psychology behind crime.

In contrast to Simenon, most non-English speaking authors write more traditional police mysteries. Japanese mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto used the realistic police procedural to show how he police in Japan slowly unravel a crime, but he also comments on the problems in Japanese society. He uses a very Japanese motive for murder – the need to “save face”.

 Many non-English speaking mystery authors feature police investigators who are moody, insightful loners who solve the crimes on their own.

Here are a few titles you might read which will give you a view of other countries and other societies from an insider’s point of view, and will give you a unique perspective on crime and punishment in different countries.

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.
Follows Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano as he investigates the suspicious death of an engineer who had made a name for himself in a small town.

The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza.

Brazilian Inspector Espinosa investigates the murder of a corporate executive found dead in his car, piecing together clues surrounding the victim's missing secretary, a life insurance policy, the victim's widow, and two additional murder victims.

Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur.

When a woman's body is discovered in the wardrobe warehouses of Israel Television, brooding police superintendent Ohayon embarks on a tangled and bloody trail of detection through the corridors and studios of Israel's official television station and, especially, through the relations, fears, loves, and courage of the people who make the station what it is.

The Mao Case by Xiaolong Qiu.

Inspector Chen investigates a young woman, the granddaughter of an actress who was once close to Mao, who may be in possession of an object that would bring dishonor to the Chairman's memory.

Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten.

While investigating the apparent suicide of a wealthy financier who is connected to one of the most powerful families in Sweden, Detective Inspector Irene Huss soon finds herself immersed in a murder mystery involving motorcycle gang members, skinheads, immigrants, and neo-Nazis.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Japan

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
In a first English-language translation of an award-winning work in Japan, a clever mathematics teacher orchestrates a cover-up after a confrontation between a violent man and his terror-stricken ex-wife results in the man's accidental death.

Villain by Shuichi Yoshida
Follows a southern Japanese community's concerned observations of a young construction worker who is charged with murdering an insurance saleswoman.

Kokoro by Soseki Natsume
Haunted by tragic secrets, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, confessing indiscretions from his own student days that have left him reeling with guilt.

Favorites: a novel by Mary Yukari Waters
Feeling like an outsider while visiting her ancestral family in Kyoto, fourteen-year-old Japanese American Sarah Rexford learns a painful secret about how her grandmother was forced to give up a daughter to another branch of the family.

Supermarket by Satoshi Azuchi
After he resigns from his elite banking job to help a cousin manage a supermarket in post-World War II Japan, Kojima is challenged by a woman from his childhood to consider whether his business goals are worth his efforts.

Shot by Both Sides by Meisei Goto
Standing on a Tokyo bridge waiting for a friend, Akaki, a middle-aged Japanese man, indulges in reminiscences that recall his arrival in Tokyo twenty years earlier, his childhood in northern Korea under Japanese rule, and the impact of the trauma of war.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Egypt

In light of recent history-changing events in Egypt in the past couple of weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to focus this month's "Spotlight" on the North African country. There are many great award winning Egyptian authors translated into English as well as some great fiction that takes place in Egypt.

Here are some works of modern Egypt you may want to check out:

Friendly Fire: stories by Alaa Al Aswany

Alaa Al Aswany has won resounding critical acclaim for his deft and moving portrayals of the lives of contemporary Egyptians who constantly examine their relationship with Egypt's history, religion, class, and gender distinctions. In Friendly Fire he once again demonstrates an extraordinary empathy for lost and searching souls as he focuses on the exquisite emotions of everyday life.

Cairo Modern by Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian Nobel laureate Mahfouz follows the fortunes of a Cairo university graduate eager to make his way in a venal imperialist society. In 1930s Cairo, Mahgub agrees to marry the mistress of a high government official in return for a job, discovering that his wife-to-be is Ihsan--his best friend's beautiful former girlfriend, a poor student whose life has been ruined by her seductiveness--and the newlyweds become partners in a precarious plot to make their way in Cairo's high society and outwit their ill fortune.

Mahfouz is the only Arab writer yet to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.

Chicago: a Modern Arabic Novel by Alaa Al Aswany
Post-September 11 Chicago becomes the site of a cultural collision of Egyptian and American lives, including a Ph.D. candidate whose traditional upbringing is challenged by her American experiences, and an Egyptian émigrés whose western values are countered by questions about his daughter's honor. Egyptian politics and President Mubarak's repressive society affects the lives of all expatriates, as evidenced by one of the students who is actually an Egyptian security agent. Beautifully rendered, Chicago is a powerfully engrossing novel of culture and individuality from one of the most original voices in contemporary world literature.

The View from the Garden City by Carolyn Baugh

A young American student living in the Garden City district of Cairo has come to study Arabic and learns far more from the Egyptian women, young and old, she meets within the swirl and tumult of Garden City. Living, loving, and flourishing amid the fierce inflexibility of tradition, these women reveal a fascinating world of arranged marriages, secret romances, and the often turbulent bonds between four generations of Arab mothers and daughters. A deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, in the tradition of "The Joy Luck Club."

Nadia's Song by Soheir Khashoggi

Alexandria, Egypt. Born a humble servant girl on a cotton plantation owned by a wealthy British family, Karima Ismail never imagined how far her dreams would take her-nor the heartache and passion she would experience. Although her doomed love for her employer's handsome son ends in tragedy, their brief romance leaves her with a beautiful daughter, Nadia, who is the joy of her life.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Ireland

Love Letters: a novel by Katie Fforde
Helping to organize a literary festival, former bookstore owner Laura is mistaken for a personal friend of a famous reclusive writer with whom she has been long infatuated, a situation that compels her to recruit the curmudgeon writer into attending.

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes
Seven neighbors in a Dublin townhouse find their lives entangled by the visitation of a sassy and prescient spirit that causes them to rethink their relationships, careers and values.

The Princes of Ireland: the Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd
A fictional account of the history of Ireland recreates such events as the mission of Saint Patrick, the Viking invasion, and the trickery of Henry II that led to England's establishment in Ireland.
First book in the "Dublin Saga".

An Irish Country Courtship by Patrick Taylor
In the small Irish village where he hopes to become a full partner in the local medical practice, Barry Laverty questions his ambitions in the face of a romantic reversal, while housekeeper Kinky Kincaid dreads the loss of her status to Dr. O'Reilly's new paramour.
Book 5 in the "Irish Country" series.

The Dove of Death: a Mystery of Ancient Ireland by Peter Tremayne
Surviving a pirate attack during which her cousin and other innocent victims were murdered, Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf, pursue clues throughout seventh-century Breton to learn the killer's identity and uncover a sinisteradversary.
Another installment in the "Sister Fidelma mysteries" series.

Five Days Apart: a novel by Chris Binchy
The Irish author's American debut tells the story of David, who loses the girl of his dreams to his charming best friend and leaves home to only to find that neither time nor distance can erase her from his memory.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Australia

Our next international stop is Australia! Check out some of these titles which take place "down under", from mysteries to historical fiction to travelogues.

The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas
At a festive barbecue in a Melbourne suburb a man slaps the child of another couple, triggering a court case and a variety of confrontations within the lives of the the families and friends present.

Rifling Paradise - Jem Poster
Moving to Australia, naturalist Charles Redbourne finds his life changing dramatically when he meets the artistic daughter of his host and embarks on an expedition to the Blue Mountains.

Carpentaria - a novel - Alexis Wright
A tale inspired by the plight of the Australian Aborigines follows a clash between a powerful family, tribe leaders, and mobsters in a sparsely populated northern Queensland town, a conflict marked by the machinations of a religious zealot, a murderous politician, and an activist.

Seven Mile Beach - Tom Gilling
It was just a harmless lie -- to say he was driving Danny Grogan's car when it was caught speeding down the Sydney streets on New Year's Eve -- and Danny's father, a billionaire real estate tycoon, had promised to make it worth his while. But when former reporter Nick Carmody stands up in court, it becomes clear that he doesn't know what he's admitting to -- until it's too late.

Wallaby Track - Aaron Fletcher
Vowing to use his doctoring skills to help other settlers survive in the beloved outback territory of his forebears, Stephen Brendell meets Deirdre Kerrick, a courageous young woman determined to preserve her family's destiny.


In armchair travel:

In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson
Travel writer and humorist author takes readers on a tour of the land Down Under that goes far beyond packaged-tour routes.

Keep Australia on your Left: a true story of an attempt to circumnavigate Australia by kayak - Eric Stiller
Narrates the journey of two men circumventing Australia by means of a two-man kayak, describing their dangerous encounters with strong currents, rough surf, crocodiles, and sharks.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Russia

The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall
Russia, 1910. Valentina Ivanova is the darling of St. Petersburg's elite aristocracy--until her romance with a Danish engineer creates a terrible scandal and her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count. Meanwhile, Russia itself is bound for rebellion. With the Tsar and the Duma at each other's throats, and the Bolsheviks drawing their battle lines, the elegance and opulence of Tsarist rule are in their last days. And Valentina will be forced to make a choice that will change not only her own life, but the lives of those around her forever


The Line by Olga Grushin
When rumors about an exiled composer's return to Moscow for a farewell symphony spark power abuses among officials and bureaucrats, a disparate gaggle of strangers evolves into a community of friends bonded by long-buried memories..


The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner
Tanya carries a notebook wherever she goes, recording her observations and her dreams of finding love and escaping her job at the All-Russia All-Cosmopolitan Museum, a place which holds a fantastic and terrible collection of art knockoffs created using the tools at hand, from foam to chewing gum, Popsicle sticks to tomato juice. When the museum's director hears of a mysterious American group seeking to fund art in Russia, it looks like she might get her chance at a better life, if she can only convince them of the collection's worth. Enlisting the help of Azade, Olga and even Mircha, Tanya scrambles to save her dreams and her neighbors, and along the way discovers that love may have been waiting in her own courtyard all along.

Three Stations: an Arkady Renko: a novel by Martin Cruz Smith
Struggling with a prosecutor's refusal to send work his way, investigator Arkady Renko of Moscow finds his efforts to watch out for teen chess prodigy Zhenya challenged by a case involving a kidnapped baby, a dead prostitute, and police corruption..

Russian Winter: a novel by Daphne Kalotay
Former Bolshoi ballerina Nina Revskaya auctions off her jewelry collection and becomes overwhelmed by memories of her homeland, the friends she left behind amidst Stalinist aggression, and the dark secret that brought her to a new life in Boston..


City of Thieves: a novel by David Benioff
Documenting his grandparents' experiences during the siege of Leningrad, a young writer learns his grandfather's story about how a military deserter and he tried to secure pardons by gathering hard-to-find ingredients for a powerful colonel's daughter's wedding cake..


New in armchair travel:

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier
Examines the unforgivable region of Siberia, including its geography, resources, native peoples, and history, with stories of Mongols, fur seekers, tea caravans, American prospectors, prisoners, and exiles of every kind.

Spotlight on International Fiction: China

The second in the "Spotlight on International" blog series focuses on China. If you like to be whisked away to a far away place through fiction novels, China is a great setting for international fiction - whether it's historical fiction or contemporary. Here are some titles you may enjoy!


Three Sisters by Feyiu Bi
Growing up in a post-Cultural Revolution-era Chinese village, three sisters among seven strive to change the course of their destinies by embracing respective views about dignity, seduction, and ambition.

A Thread of Sky by Deanna Fei
Widowed after a devastating accident and fearful of facing her grief alone, Chinese-American Irene Shen reunites three generations of independent women from her estranged family--including her mother, sister, and daughters--during a tour of mainland China.

Pearl of China: a novel by Anchee Min
A tale based on the life of novelist Pearl S. Buck follows her as she grows up in late-nineteenth-century China; befriends Willow, a Chinese peasant girl; and with Willow shares life's joys and sorrows, despite the Communist revolution.

Peony in Love by Lisa See
Written by bestselling author of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". In seventeenth-century China, three women become emotionally involved with "The Peony Pavilion," a famed opera rumored to cause lovesickness and even death.

Woman from China: tales of survival from a Chinese labor camp by Xianhui Yang
Presents the fictionalized stories of twelve survivors from the Chinese work camps in Jiabiangou, exiled there by the Communist Party between 1957 and 1960 to undergo reeducation through hard labor for being rightists.

You can find many more titles in our catalog of fiction that takes place in China.

Spotlight on International Fiction: Morocco

When I think of Morocco, I think of spices and incense, kasbahs, couscous, souks (bazaars), camels and moonlit desert nights. Ok, maybe most people don't think of all those things when they think of Morocco, but I do! Morocco, natively called al-Maġrib - which means "west" in Arabic- is an exotic land with a rich history and great place for storytelling. It's located in the western most point of North Africa and only a short ferry ride away from the coast of Spain. It's my favorite place in the world to travel to.

Here are some great reads to whisk you off to the land of the One Thousand and One Nights Bessaha ou raha (Enjoy!)

Desert by J.M.G. Le Clezio
After being driven from their land by French colonial soldiers in 1909, Nour and his people, "the blue men" must search for a haven out of the desert that will shelter them. Interspersed with the story of Nour is the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendent of the blue men, who lives in Morocco and tries to stay true to the blood of her ancestors while experiencing life as a modern immigrant.

Secret Son by Leila Lalami
The story of Youssef El Mekki's journey from a childhood in poverty with his mother on the streets of Casablanca to a life of luxury with the father he believed to be dead, in which he is eager to befriend. Youssef assumes a life he could only dream of: a famous and influential father, his own apartment, and all the luxuries associated with his new status. His future appears assured until an abrupt reversal of fortune sends him back to the streets and his childhood friends.

The Serpent's Daughter: a Jade del Cameron mystery by Suzanne Middendorf Arruda
During a vacation in the ancient port city of Tangier, American adventuress Jade del Cameron finds her trip to 1920s Morocco turned upside down by the kidnapping of her mother and by the local French authorities, who seek to arrest her for murder.

Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
Lulu Sawyer arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman. It's the perfect cover for her assignment for the CIA-tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside among Europeans in villas staffed by maids in abayas, and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile and tense coexistence of two cultures. But beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a sinister world laced not only with double standards, but double agents.

The Spider's House: a novel by Paul Bowles
No Morocco list would be complete without something by Paul Bowles.
Set in Fez, Morocco, during that country's 1954 nationalist uprising, dramatizes the way that the French rulers of Morocco and their successors, the Nationalists, succeeded in ending the medieval traditions in the daily life of towns life Fez.

Great reads also in non-fiction:

Quest for the Kasbah by Richard Bangs
Join acclaimed adventurer Richard Bangs, as he journeys through Morocco in search of its true character. It helps you discover the true heart and soul of Morocco with one of the world's greatest adventure travellers as he embarks on a journey to explore the concept of the Kasbah - a fortress, a safe haven, and a place to exchange ideas with people from different backgrounds - and what it means in modern Morocco. Along the way, you will experience a camel trek through the Sahara Desert, an exhilarating hike in the Atlas Mountains, and discover the hidden secrets of Morocco's famous towns and cities - including Casablanca, Fes, and Rabat.

In Arabian Nights: a caravan of Moroccan Dreams by Tahir Shah
Continuing his memoir The Caliph's House, Tahir Shah sets off across Morocco on a bold new adventure worthy of the mythical Arabian Nights. As he winds his way through the medinas of Fez and Marrakech, traverses the Sahara sands, and samples the hospitality of ordinary Moroccans, Tahir collects a dazzling treasury of traditional wisdom stories, gleaned from the heritage of A Thousand and One Nights, which open the doors to layers of culture most visitors hardly realize exist. From master masons who labor only at night to Sufi wise men who write for soap operas, In Arabian Nights takes us on an unforgettable, offbeat, and utterly enchanted journey.

"Spotlight on International" is a new blog post series on "glenVIEW". Stay tuned for more blog posts that will highlight fiction based on a particular country.

Henna and saris

Women's Indian Fiction (Chick-lit) -

I love reading multicultural fiction, and I love chick lit. So why not read a combination of both?


The Mango Season - Amulya Malladi

While visiting her family in India, Priya plans on announcing her engagement to an American man, but upon her arrival she learns that her parents have selected a husband for her and must choose between her own desires and her parents' wishes.







The Marriage Bureau for Rich People - Farahad Zama

Driving his wife crazy after his retirement, Mr. Ali is persuaded to open a marriage bureau, and when his business becomes a success he decides to hire an assistant, Aruna, who, hiding a tragic past.







The Sari Shop Widow - Shobhan Bantwal

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents' sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison's bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling.




A Good Indian wife: a novel - Anne Cherian

Successful anesthesiologist Neel hopes to resist his family's pleas that he marry a proper woman during a visit home to India, while jaded thirty-year-old teacher Leila anticipates her latest suitor without high hopes.







The Hindi-Bindi Club - Monica Pradhan

Three families of Indian-American women find themselves dealing with whole new world that blends the traditions of the past with high-tech, fast-paced, modern American life, until the estranged daughter of one of the women returns to request that a marriage be arranged for her, forcing them all to deal with the experience of living between cultures.





The Mistress: a novel - Anita Nair

Traveling to India to interview a world-famous musician, Christopher Stewart, a handsome, young, American scholar, becomes absorbed into the luxurious orbit of Koman and his niece Radha, a beautiful young woman unhappily married to a materialistic, ambitious husband, and with whom Christopher begins a passionate affair.





Under the Lemon Trees - Bhira Backhaus
In Oak Grove, California, 1976, there are as many Sikh temples as Christian churches, the city council prints announcements in both English and Punjabi and the large Indian immigrant community is gracefully coexists with the old farming families. But for15-year-old Jeeto, figuring out where she fits best--and what she must do to find that fit--isn't so easy.






Almost Single - Kala Advaita

A series of misadventures outlines the trials and tribulations of being a single woman on the wrong side of twenty-five in India, as Aisha deals with her mother's presentation of candidates for an arranged marriage, falls in love with a New York investment banker, and is torn between tradition and her yearning to be a modern woman.