Add these relevant books to your reading list.
A Beard in Nepal, Fiona Roberts, 2012
Fiona and Tod spend five months in a remote village in the Himalayas, teaching English to schoolchildren.
Beirut Noir, edited by Iman Humaydan, 2015
An anthology of stories by Lebanese writers, mostly centred on the civil war, that captures many facets of Beirut life.
Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula, Nadia Jameel Taibah and Margaret Read MacDonald, 2012
Traditional folktales from the seven countries that make up the Arabian Peninsula – the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Gatecrashing Paradise: Misadventures in the Real Maldives, Tom Chesshyre, 2015
Chesshyre presents a different side of life away from the luxury five-star hotels and tourist resorts in this country of islands and atolls.
Goa Travels: Being the Accounts of Travellers from the 16th to the 21st Century, edited by Manohar Shetty, 2014
Step back in time to the Portuguese colony with a collection of essays and personal accounts edited by poet and storyteller Manohar Shetty.
Island of a Thousand Mirrors: A Novel, Nayomi Munaweera, 2013
A powerful fictional story that tells the tale of two Sri Lankan women during the country’s civil war – one whose family flees to the United States, the other whose family stays in Sri Lanka.
Married to a Bedouin, Marguerite van Geldermalsen, 2006
The true story of a New Zealand nurse who falls in love with a Bedouin souvenir seller in Petra, marries him and lives in a cave, where she raises their children.
My Beautiful Bahrain, compiled and edited by Robin Barratt, 2012
A compilation of 50 short stories and poems about life in Bahrain, written by people living there.
The Architect's Apprentice, Elif Shafak, 2015
Set in 1500s Istanbul, an animal trainer, Jahan, becomes an apprentice of the Ottoman Empire’s chief architect, Mimar Sinan.
The Food of Oman: Recipes and Stories from the Gateway to Arabia, Felicia Campbell, 2015
Learn how to cook authentic Omani cuisine using traditional flavours.