The Arsonists' City | 
#AboutABook Day 14: This brilliant novel #WithDualTimeline is paired with this heavenly concoction called mafrouket ashta with pistachio (pistachio dough filled with homemade ice cream topped wih ashta and cotton candy). It is like tasting clouds. Since part of the book‘s setting is in Beirut, I made sure to find the best Lebanese restaurant which happens to be cave-themed, overlooking waterfalls in Khorfakkan, Fujairah.
#CoverLove Day 24: Some #DarkBlue in this cover - paired with our colorful mocktails: frozen virgin daiquiri for moi (forest berries, lime juice and honey), virgin mojito for husband (fresh mint, lemon juice, and sugar syrup), and virgin colada for our college kid (coconut cream, pineapple juice and brown sugar).🍹🍹🍹All delish by the way. 💕
pickA family saga set primarily in Lebanon, yes please!
It took me a good 60 pages to ease into this but then I was more than comfortable surrounded by 3 messy adult siblings born and raised in the US and their mother (Syrian) and father (Lebanese) and their return to Lebanon to sell their grandfather's house.
Spanning over 40 ish years, we get to know our characters pasts and presents along with all their flaws, secrets, hopes and reasons.
#HumbleHarvest Day 27: An epic story of a #Family displaced across various countries and the secrets they keep. This was supposed to be our #EmiratesLiteratureFoundation book club pick for December - but it has been changed to Salt Houses instead by same author. 💕
#HumbleHarvest Day 14: Straw #Berries in this cheesecake from Olive Garden during our Sunday lunch in Orlando. Now back in sleepy quaint Al Ain. 🍓🍓🍓
#HumbleHarvest Day 12: For our final day in the deep South of America, we just had to make one last visit to Olive Garden with the unlimited #Bread sticks. 💕 Paired with the book of the month (December) for the Emirates Lit Foundation bookclub. 💕
pickReading at the airport. 😊
This is a sweeping family saga set in Beirut, Damascus, Brooklyn, Austin, and Blythe CA. The 5 members of the Nasr family have complicated relationships and lots of secrets. They're all fairly unlikable but I ended up loving them and their story.
pickA soft pick for me. I liked the multiple POV's, family drama and little secrets kept from each other. Reason for a soft pick is it's multi generational and the kids parts seemed to get bogged down. I think because their chapters were so long. It would have been better, if she would have made their chapters into more or even shortened them.
#AwesomeApril @Andrew65 Book 2 finished
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
Book ✔️
Hot Tea ✔️
Decided to set outside this morning. Hoping to finish this book today 😊
pick5⭐️ An extraordinary pick if you enjoy: •multiple POV (of characters you‘ll become quite attached to) •dual timelines (not jarring in their alternations) •a foreign setting (Palestine, Beirut) •family saga (spouse/sibling/parent-child, the whole kit and caboodle!) •medium pacing (settle in, let things unfold, invest). Humans are complex and complicated and I do adore a book that places me firmly into the hearts and minds of characters like these!
pick#MMDBookClub book club pick for October 2022
A family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe—Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they always had their ancestral home in Beirut.
I like to listen and read at the same time.
#kindle #scribd #booklyapp #mmdbookclub #bookstagram
pickThis was a good family drama set at various times in Syria, Lebanon, and America. It would have been great if not for all the backstory. #ReadingAsia2021
I was audio walking and admiring this cloud when I realized I hadn‘t posted a #BFC21 update in months. I‘m still trucking with the goals I set at the beginning of the year- eating more vegetables and trying to get a blackout on #BookspinBingo
Summer makes it easier!
Current audio - really loving all the complex family relationships here.
pickA multi generational story - where the socio political situation of Palestinian is both backdrop & glue to the story. Everyone hordes secrets & the past refuses to be contained, it infuses every characters present. The novel takes place mainly in Beirut - the city boils with anxiety, tensions of violence and the complexities of assimilation, it oozes both homeliness and despair whilst the sea absorbs waste and the city goes dark every night.
For the first time this year - reading in the garden 💕
pickThis book made me so anxious in the best way possible. I loved it. Apparently intergenerational family stories are my wheelhouse.
My current read. Can‘t wait to get started with this one.
The tagged looks great - I‘m a sucker for a cross generational saga
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/12-most-addictive-books-2021-so-far/hic...
pickWhile there are a few minor weaknesses, overall this was an engrossing family saga spanning several decades and locales including California, Damascus and Beirut. Love, loss, familial loyalty and personal ambition all converge to make this a thoroughly engaging and pleasurable read. 4/5 ⭐️
Nevermind that my TBR is over one hundred books. If one goes into the library to renew a library card, one can‘t possibly be expected to leave without any beauties...can they!!?! #LitsyLovesLibraries #WhatTBR
pickA novel about immigration, moving, surviving, hiding, and letting go. This will go onto my reread shelf. Because it is that good. Because there are nuances I missed-maybe. After the first chapter, the next 3 slowed and changed direction. I continued, but I was bored and what did I miss as a result? (Was it simply over-hyped?) Not everything is answered in this novel; the layers are too thick. But perhaps I missed more than I think. 4/5
pickOne of the things I really like about this novel is the structure, alternating between the present and the past. Alyan gives you just enough about the present so you can form an opinion and perception regarding the events, but then the events shift to the past, affecting those opinions about the people and circumstances, only for the narrative to jump forward and mold those opinions all over again.
pickIf you love epic family stories, this book will fit the bill, providing all the emotions that you would expect from this type of story. It felt completely genuine throughout and all I wanted was to spend a little more time with these characters.
so-soMixed feelings - told in dual timelines the story set in #Lebanon 1970‘s was really engaging. Immersive in history, culture, foods and conflict, the story of Idris & Mazna. The parts that focus on their three grown children were long winded, cliche and dull. Even when the family reunites in present day Beirut the actions surrounding them all were tiresome and predictable. Book needed better editing. #BorrowNotBuy #ARC #ReadingAsia21
#NetGalley #ARC #ReadingAsia21 #Lebanon Publishes Tuesday♥️So far, it‘s very engaging- Ava an Arab American is drawn back to Beirut to help sell her grandfather‘s ancestral home.
pickYaaaaaaasssss! OMG, y‘all!
I adored this novel. A beautiful family saga that lets you sink into its world. The characters are flawed and tragic and I was rooting for each of them. This will absolutely be one of my favorite reads of the year.
#ARC #netgalley
