A Sister to Honor / Lucy Ferriss / 387 pgs

A Sister to Honor is the book that my Brown Bag Discussion Group will be talking about at this month's meeting. It is the story of Afia, a young Pakistani woman who is a sophomore at a college in New England. Her big brother, Shahid, is a squash player for a nearby college, in his senior year. He has been charged to care for and look after his little sister by their family back home, but when pictures that most Americans would consider benign and hardly PG, of Afia and another male student surface online, Afia finds herself in the middle of her family's backlash and Shahid has to choose between honoring her shamed sister or honoring the rest of their family.

When I read Orphan #8 a couple of months ago for my book discussion, I thought that was a tough book to read. A Sister to Honor is at least a hundred times harder. This book also fits one of my PopSugar book challenges, "Read a book that features a culture that you are unfamiliar with," and I will admit that the Pashtun culture of Pakistan was one I was completely unfamiliar with. Read this book if you would like to learn more about honor killings and the kind of culture that gives rise to such phenomena. Don't read this book if you are looking for a light read. It is anything but!


After the Prophet / Lesley Hazleton / 211 pages

This fascinating book is non-fiction about the struggle and history that came after the death of Mohammad.  The history of how the sunni and shia groups split go back to the 900's.  There is not going to be a reconciliation.  The book starts with Mohammad's wives. First, Khadija who was Mohammad's only wife until she died, then Aisha, his young second wife set the tone for the history.  Khadija had a daughter, Fatima, while none of his other nine wives ever had any children.  Aisha was the controversial, beautiful, most-loved (next to Khadija) and the most difficult to deal with.  Principally, Aisha did not get along with Ali, Mohammad's cousin and right hand man.  Ali married Fatima and they had two sons: Hasan and Hussein.  Those boys were the only grandchildren for Mohammad and very special to him.  Aisha's father was Abu Bakr, another of Mohammad's oldest supporters.  The other was Omar, who also gave a daughter for Mohammad to marry.
     As you can see, relationships are tangled, but vitally important.  That is the start of the disputes of the centuries.  Each side is sure that their brand of Islam is the correct one.  It all goes back to the beginning.
     This history is so readable it is like reading fiction.  the author used many ancient resources for this book.  Highly recommended for anyone who wants to sort out what the heck happened in the Mid east.