Tamara Agha-Jaffar's Blog

I had set a challenge to read 64 books this year. I exceeded my goal by reading 78 books. These were divided into the following categories:

42 were books by women authors
16 were books in translation
18 were books in or about the Middle East and Africa
14 were non-fiction
8 were classics

I read some great books by new to me authors. These included a couple of novels by Wallace Stegner, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, North Woods by Daniel Mason, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, The Swan's Nest by Laura McNeal, The Coin by Yasmin Zaher, and There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension and They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by the amazing Hanif Abdurraqib.

All in all, it was a great year for reading.

These are the books I read this month:

71/64. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

72/64. Entitlement by Rumaan Alam.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

73/64. The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

74/64. Hum by Helen Phillips
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

75/64. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

76/64. In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

77/64. The Oceans and the Stars by Mark Helprin
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

78/64. A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

Looking forward to another good year for reading.

Happy New Year to all.

It's been a hectic month for a number of reasons with a lot of personal challenges. So I wasn't able to get as much reading done as I normally would. But I enjoyed the books I had time to read. Other than Hanif Abdurraqib, the other authors were new to me. I loved The Swan's Nest. And one of my favorite books of the year has to be Ferdia Lennon's debut novel, Glorious Exploits.

These are the books I read this month:

67. They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

68. The Swan's Nest by Laura McNeal.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

69. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

70. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

Happy December reading to all!

I had a busy month so I wasn't able to get as much reading as I would have liked. In spite of that, I managed to exceed the reading challenge of 64 books I had set for myself for this year. With this month's reading, I have now read 66 books so far. I intend to keep chugging along.

These are the books I read this month:

62. My Friends by Hisham Matar.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

63. Normal People by Sally Rooney
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

64. There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

65. Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

66. The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi; translated from the Arabic by Luke Leafgren.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

That's it for now.

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I set a challenge for myself to read 64 books this year. I'm not up to 61 books, so I have only a few books left to complete the challenge.

I read six books this month. My favorites were the two non-fiction books I read. I also re-read Jhumpa Lahiri's Whereabouts and enjoyed it much more this time around than when I first read it a few years ago. I've read a couple of novels by Jokha Alharthi, but I found her latest disappointing and nowhere near the standard of her novel Celestial Bodies.

These are the books I read this month:

56. Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

57. Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi; translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

58. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

59. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

60. Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Homa.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

61. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri. A re-read.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

That's it for this month. Happy reading to all!

I read six books this month. Some of them were by authors I've read before and really enjoyed. I was a little disappointed by Pamuk's Snow because it seemed to ramble on unnecessarily. I was also a little disappointed by Anthony Doerr's About Grace, but I loved his memoir/travelogue, Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World. I like Anne Enright's style and thought her Actress was very engaging.

These are the books I read this moth:

50. Snow by Orhan Pamuk; translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

51. My Grandmother's Braid by Alina Bronsky; translated from the German by Tim Mohr.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

52. Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

53. About Grace by Anthony Doerr.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

54. What Life Was Like on the Banks of the Nile: Egypt, 3050-30 BC, edited by Denise Dersin and Time Life Books.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

55. Actress by Anne Enright.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

That's it for this month. Happy reading, everyone!

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I read six books this month. I read a new-to-me author, Michael Crummey. I enjoyed his novel. Another new-to-me author is Daniel Mason. I loved his North Woods. It was my favorite book of the month. I've read a couple of novels by Chigozie Obioma and Miriam Toews. I thought their novels were very good and was looking forward to reading more of their books. I was a little disappointed by the two novels of theirs I read this month.

These are the books I read this month:

44. Sweetland by Michael Crummey.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

45. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

46. North Woods by Daniel Mason.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

47. Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

48. The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

49. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I splurged on reading this month by managing to read ten books, including a couple of classics. I enjoyed all of them, but my favorites were Wallace Stegner's Remembering Laughter, Magda Szabo's The Fawn, and Percival Everett's James. I've loved everything I've read so far by Wallace Stegner and Magda Szabo. This is the first novel I've read by Percival Everett, but it probably won't be the last.

These are the books I read this month:

34. Euphoria by Lily King
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

35. Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

36. The Fawn by Magda Szabó; translated from the Hungarian by Kathleen Szasz.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

37. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

38. Unlikely Friendships : 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom by Jennifer S. Holland.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

39. The 39 Steps by John Buchan.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

40. Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

41. The Wren, the Wren by Anne Enright.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

42. James by Percival Everett.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

43. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...

I'm looking forward to another good month of reading.
My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I read six books this month, two of which were five-star reads. I loved Martyr! and was surprised by how much I enjoyed Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss. Cahokia Jazz was good, but I much preferred Francis Spufford's other novel, Golden Hill.

This month's reading puts me half way through my challenge to read 64 books this year.

These are the books I read this month:

28. Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

29. Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

30. Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

31. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

32. Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl.
My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

33. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I read six books this month. All were good, but none absolutely thrilled me. I rated them between 3 - 4 stars. I didn't have any 5 star reads this month.

These are the books I read this month:

22/64. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

23/64. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa; translated from the Japanese by Eric Ozawa.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

24/64. The Diary of a Good Neighbor in The Diaries of Jane Somers by Doris Lessing.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

25/64. My Work by Olga Ravn; translated from the Danish by Sophi Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

26/64. The Last Pomegranate Tree by Bachtyar Ali; translated from the Kurdish by Kareem Abdulrahman.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

27/64. The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I read six books this month, one of which was a re-read of Independent People by the Icelandic Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Halldór Laxness. It is one of my absolute favorite novels. I also read novels by some of my favorite authors, including Wallace Stegner and Miriam Toews, as well as a wonderful biography of Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, an extraordinary archaeologist who rescued some of Ancient Egypt's famous temples and monuments through her dogged persistence and tenacity. All in all, it was a great month for reading.

These are the books I read this month:

16/64. Independent People by Halldór Laxness; translated from the Icelandic by J.A. Thompson.
(This is a re-read.)
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

17/64. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

18/64. So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

19/64. Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

20/64. Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction by Lynne Olson.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

21/64. Irma Voth by Miriam Toews.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com