memoir arabian baklava crescent

books:

16 reviews
Diana Abu-Jaber

W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

A joyful adventure in cultural diversity?
This light-hearted and imaginative novel portrays a Jordanian family as they adjust to life in the United States. Jazz musician and widower Mattusem Ramoud has raised his two daughters alone since his wife's death, balancing their lives as Americans with their Jordanian hertiage. The extended family is like any other large, eccentric group of people, full of intensity and humor, loving each other ...

Crescent

46 reviews
Diana Abu-Jaber

Picador, 2003

Ride on a Magic Carpet
Reading Diana Abu-Jaber's novel, Crescent, we can fly with her on a magical carpet to Iraq and Jordan. Fly to a fairytale world of minarets and domed mosques, we can taste rich baklava with her and savor the sweet fragrance of mint tea in a Bedouin's tent, counter pointed by exploding Iranian missiles in 1990's Bagdad. Diana is the daughter of an Irish Catholic mother and a dominant ...

Origin: A Novel

33 reviews
Diana Abu-Jaber

W. W. Norton, 2008

A great book. . .
Origin is one of the most creative and original books that I have ever read. Diana Abu-Jaber is very talented, she is a great writer. This book is impossible to predict, which makes it worth your time and money. Origin is one of my all time favorite books. Trust me on this book, you will like it.

The Language of Baklava

5 reviews
Diana Abu-Jaber

Anchor, 2006

Moving and Delicious
A lovely book, reminding me somewhat of my own childhood and my over-the-top overprotective father. The descriptions of her family's meals are incredible. I found myself rushing to make the recipes, looking forward to enjoying devouring them as I read, like I was sitting at the table with the author. One of those books that you think, "Ok, it's late... I'll just read until the end of this ...

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir

13 reviews
Diana Abu-Jaber

Pantheon, 2005

Best Memoir I've Read - and I read a few
I just finished "The Language of Baklava" and loved the style, the honesty, the capture of nuances and details, and sense of humor. Having read many excellent food, travel, immigrant or multiethnic memoirists, this surpasses them all. As an Arab immigrant, I laughed out loud at the precise and non judgmental accounts contrasting Arab and American ways. I will strongly recommend this book to ...