fictional books on muslim identity to celebrate ramadan✨🕌

happy ramadan mubarak coming up for all those that celebrate 💖 join me as i tell you about my book recommendations to read on muslim identity and islamic representation✨(and apologies for the tragic camera framing, ya girl needs to work on her set up 🫡)
tell me your recommended books on muslim identity in the comments!
💌 contact me:
- insta: @katerina_reem / katerina_reem
- email: [e-mail]
📖 books mentioned:
00:00 - intro
00:43 - the forty rules of love by elif shafak
04:10 - a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini
08:14 - home fire by kamila shamsie
10:22 - all my rage by sabaa tahir
14:21 - the prophet by kahlil gibran
16:25 - outro
read the the prophet by kahlil gibran here: www.kahlilgibr...
music:
massobeats - midnight: • massobeats - midnight ...
subs: 1.5k angels 💫

[@Rreemmkh44]

The queen of bookTube , what a lovely idea and actually needed there’s no such a video of this subject, I always trust your recommendations and I will definitely read them all ❤

[@katerinareem]

haha what a title! and thank you so much, i also noticed there wasn't many vids on this topic apart from super religious books so i thought i'd make something different! 🤗

[@SylviaGdeVries]

I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns, it did break my heart too but it showed so beautifully female strength. Am planning to read a book by Elif Shafak soon. Great video.

[@katerinareem]

a thousand splendid suns fan till i die 🫡 let me know what you think of elif shafak! she's written many books so i'm intrigued which one you read! and thank you❤️

[@karenwetherald6086]

I live in a very "white" community, a small city of 35,000 people and being white myself I often miss diversity and culture so I am so excited for these recommendations. The Forty Rules Of Love sounds fantastic. Thank you for being a channel to learn from as well.

[@katerinareem]

i always look forward to reading your comments karen and i particularly love this one! glad you're excited for these recs, hope you enjoy these book! and thank YOU for watching 🥰

[@jbriaz]

As someone named after Gibran, but who ironically prefers prose to poetry, I will say that Gibran’s stand-alone poems are even better than The Prophet. (I read all of his writings in childhood for the obvious reason that I wanted to read stuff written by the guy I was named after.) For Middle Eastern books, I recommend the entire Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz. It doesn’t have “trauma” per se aside from a misogynist father.

[@katerinareem]

interesting, i've never read gibran's stand alone poems so I will definitely check them out! and thank you for the recommendation, i'll take a look at this trilogy 🥰

[@pennywood5388]

What a great idea for a video! I'm so keen to read all of this. A thousand splendid suns has been on my tbr list forever!

[@katerinareem]

thank you so much, and ahh excited for you to read it !! let me know what you think of it 🤗

[@parishaealam7301]

"Twilight in Delhi" by Ahmed Ali is a great read. It is more about colonialism in the subcontinent then it is religion but it does center a Muslim family, and the author makes use of a lot of qawwali and Sufi poetry throughout to help convey the themes.

[@katerinareem]

thank you so much for the rec - this book sounds fantastic and i can already see if has amazing reviews! i've added it to my TBR 🫶

[@beyza-nuraydin3554]

i am so happy to have found your account katerina. your delivery is short and witty, your summaries are just the right lenght. you are already one of my favourite youtubers. lots of love

[@katerinareem]

ahh i'm so so happy to hear this! thank you so much 🥰 big love to you

[@salamalmahi541]

The Forty Rules of Love, and The Thousand Splendid Sun are two of my favorite books of all time! Both are absolute 5 stars!

[@katerinareem]

so happy to hear you agree !

[@ellenmadebookclub]

Thanks for this video! I have had Kite Runner on my shelf for years, but haven't felt emotionally ready for it. And I felt it deserved my full attention and capabilities to read it. (TBR 2024.) But I thought A thousand splendid suns was a sequel to that one, I didn't realize they were two separate stories. Now I know! I also have Home fire on my wishlist, even more keen on it now. It's always great to hear from readers in whatever community the book is about or portrays. Even if the author is from that community themselves, they're only one person and I find it can be so difficult to know how representative their perspectives are. There are of course a lot of different perspectives within any community, and especially within one as large as the muslim one, but I hope you get what I mean. Readers with more insights than me, in any case! So thank you for your perspective, your recs, and happy ramadan! ALSO These quotes, omg.

[@salmamoalim6656]

A thousand splendid suns is a must read in my opinion. It is such an amazing book. The kite runner is also an amazing read.

[@ellenmadebookclub]

@@salmamoalim6656 Looking forward to them both!

[@katerinareem]

so happy to hear you're keen to read it !! i would even suggest to read the kite runner first and then you can step it up with a thousand splendid suns after, but completely up to you! 🤗

[@ellenmadebookclub]

@@katerinareem Yes that's probably what I will do since I have that already! 😊

[@munirafatima3414]

id like to recommend you a book called ‘A Place for Us’ by Fatima Farheen Mirza which is about an Indian Muslim family in the US and focuses both on the three siblings as well on their immigrant parents. great list btw, I’m going to pick up Home Fire next! ❤️

[@katerinareem]

thank you so much for the rec! i've looked it up and it looks fantastic, i've added it to my TBR ❤️ hope you enjoy home fire - let me know what you think of it !!

[@anishaneha6365]

You should read "as long as the lemon trees grow" by Zoulfa katouh. It's a great book. Please try it. Btw thanks for the recommendation. As a Muslim i really appreciate it. ❤❤

[@salmamoalim6656]

Yes I read it and I loved it

[@katerinareem]

thank you so much for the rec !! I have added it to my TBR

[@anishaneha6365]

@@katerinareem welcome 🤗 . A Thousand splendid sun is also one of my favourite book ever and you explained it soo nicely. I'll read others too. 🖤🖤

[@katerinareem]

that means a lot thank you 🥰 i always hope i explain things in a good enough way!

[@silkcaterpillar]

a thousand splendid suns is my next read ❕ ❕

[@katerinareem]

i hope you enjoy !!

[@r_r_r_r]

Thanks for sharing this! ❤

[@katerinareem]

thank you for watching !!

[@valliyarnl]

Amazing recommendations! I subscribed 😊

[@katerinareem]

i'm so happy to hear this !! thanks so much for subscribing

[@fara2321]

[@katerinareem]

thank u for watching !! and ily 🤍

[@asmaaswer3602]

❤❤❤

[@katerinareem]

🥰✨❤️

[@Ayeshahahahahahahaha]

none of these books hv anything to do with muslim identity. as u said this is the place whr we learn, i think its also a place whr we share. i love these books but believe me as a reader and as a praticing muslim i would just say THESE BOOKS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM and most of these hv haraam subplots and just for eg. the whole bismillah theory and chapters startng with B ( ba in arabic) and it discussing some shit about universe ITS ALL FICTION. All these authors u mentioned are orientalists. i love them as fiction books BUT catering to middle eastern community under the name of islam IS NOT OKAY

[@katerinareem]

thanks for your comment - i'm not expecting anyone to take these books seriously as complete guides to islam, it's all for a bit of fun and to get people into reading fiction books - but instead with characters from a different culture! and my audience is actually mostly westerners so this isn't catered specifically to a middle eastern community.

[@twokaythots]

Youre missing the point. Of course these books have nothing to do with islam as a religion. It is about muslim identity, which is not a monolith. Also “haram” tv subplots e.g elite or skam (norway) might not be agreeable to your sensibilities and sensitivities but it is a pov and very valid to some muslim audience. Muslim authors or culturally muslim authors looking back at their communities and cultures through a relatively critical lens doesn’t automatically make them orientalist. Muslim identity is not confined to just the middle east/ arab nations. Pakistani or indian muslims,afghans, turks etc are not arabs/ middle eastern.

[@aliajaffer3427]

where are you from

[@katerinareem]

the UK!