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A Delhi obsession / by Vassanji, M. G.,author.;
"Two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji returns with a powerful new novel about grief and second chances, tradition and rebellion, set in vibrant present-day Delhi. Munir Khan, a recent widower from Toronto, on a whim decides to visit Delhi, his ancestral city. Born in Kenya, he has lost all family connections, and has never visited India before. While he's sitting in the bar of the club where he is staying, an attractive woman takes a chair at his table to await her husband. A sparring match ensues. The two are from different worlds: Munir is a westernized agnostic of Muslim origin, ignorant about India; Mohini, a modern Hindu woman and daughter of "Partition" refugees, whose family bears resentment towards Muslims. She's religiously traditional, but also a liberal and provocative newspaper columnist--and utterly witty and charming. Against her better judgement, Mohini agrees to show Munir around Delhi. As they explore the thriving markets and historical buildings of Delhi, an inexplicable attraction begins. What follows is a passionate love affair--uncontrollable yet impossible. This is a period of rising Hindu nationalism in modern India that at times manifests itself in vigilante violence. Constantly lurking at Munir's club is the menacing presence of a group of arch conservatives, self-styled protectors of Hindu women and cows. To them Munir Khan is simply a Muslim "love-jihadi" who has led the pride of Hindu womanhood, Mohini Singh, astray. Munir and Mohini must contend with the cost of their passion."--
Subjects: Widowers; Man-woman relationships; Hindu women; Muslim men; Hindutva;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The earthspinner : a novel / by Roy, Anuradha,author.;
"Sara is studying at a prestigious British university and seeks a reprise from her loneliness by practising the traditional craft she learned in India when she was young: pottery. She recalls her childhood, the lost dog, Chinna, who brings a community together, and the life of her revered pottery teacher, Elango, a Hindu who faced prejudice after falling in love with a Muslim woman. Switching with ease between Sara's diary entries and Elango's life a decade earlier, Roy delivers a searing exploration into the fragility of peace. As fortunes change within one explosive day, and religious extremism brings hurt and violence to a rural village, the consequences of daring to dream against the tide are unleashed. Moving its protagonists between India and Britain, The Earthspinner shows the many ways in which the East encounters the West, fanaticism wars tirelessly against reason, and the individual's creative desires struggle against a populace's basic instinct for destruction."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Social problem fiction.; Novels.; Creative ability; East Indians; Interfaith dating; Women college students; Women potters; Indigenous pottery;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Girl decoded : a scientist's quest to reclaim our humanity by bringing emotional intelligence to technology / by El Kaliouby, Rana,author.; Colman, Carol,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In a captivating memoir, an Egyptian American visionary and scientist provides an intimate view of her personal transformation as she follows her calling-to humanize our technology and how we connect with one another. Rana el Kaliouby is a rarity in both the tech world and her native Middle East: a Muslim woman in charge in a field that is still overwhelmingly white and male. Growing up in Egypt and Kuwait, el Kaliouby was raised by a strict father who valued tradition-yet also had high expectations for his daughters-and a mother who was one of the first female computer programmers in the Middle East. Even before el Kaliouby broke ground as a scientist, she broke the rules of what it meant to be an obedient daughter and, later, an obedient wife to pursue her own daring dream. After earning her PhD at Cambridge, el Kaliouby, now the divorced mother of two, moved to America to pursue her mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The majority of our communication is conveyed through nonverbal cues: facial expressions, tone of voice, body language. But that communication is lost when we interact with others through our smartphones and devices. The result is an emotion-blind digital universe that impairs the very intelligence and capabilities-including empathy-that distinguish human beings from our machines. To combat our fundamental loss of emotional intelligence online, she cofounded Affectiva, the pioneer in the new field of Emotion AI, allowing our technology to understand humans the way we understand one another. Girl Decoded chronicles el Kaliouby's journey from being a "nice Egyptian girl" to becoming a woman, carving her own path as she revolutionizes technology. But decoding herself-learning to express and act on her own emotions-would prove to be the biggest challenge of all"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; El Kaliouby, Rana.; Women computer scientists; Women scientists; Egyptian American women; Artificial intelligence; Artificial intelligence;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The last girl : my story of captivity, and my fight against the Islamic State / by Murad, Nadia,author.; Clooney, Amal,writer of foreword.;
"In this intimate memoir of survival, a former captive of the Islamic State tells her harrowing and ultimately inspiring story. Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon. On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one years old, this life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia's brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, into the ISIS slave trade. Nadia would be held captive by several militants and repeatedly raped and beaten. Finally, she managed a narrow escape through the streets of Mosul, finding shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety. Today, Nadia's story--as a witness to the Islamic State's brutality, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi--has forced the world to pay attention to the ongoing genocide in Iraq. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Murad, Nadia.; IS (Organization); Detention of persons; Human rights workers; Prisoners; Women and war; Women; Yezidis;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Two sisters : a father, his daughters, and their journey into the Syrian jihad / by Seierstad, Åsne,1970-author.; translation of:Seierstad, Åsne,1970-To søstre.English.;
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects: IS (Organization); Muslims; Radicalism.; Terrorists; Women terrorists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Yours for the Season : A Novel. by Jalaluddin, Uzma.;
For an ambitious attorney and a rising-star chef, a cross-cultural fake romance takes an unexpected detour in a heartwarming and funny novel by the author of Much Ado About Nada and Ayesha at Last. When Sameera Malik and Tom Cooke meet at a ho-hum holiday party, neither is looking for romance. Sameera's working ridiculous hours at her law firm and healing from heartache while navigating a recently resolved family estrangement. Tom's hustling to turn his social media stardom into a real career while fending off his family's demands to give up his chef dreams and move back home. The two share a few laughs and a samosa-making lesson and go their separate ways. But when one of Tom's posts starts a viral rumor that they're a couple, he suggests they keep up the ruse for a few months. It's a good proposal, and a fauxmance will help Tom grow his popularity, and, in return, he can help Sameera land a wealthy client. The only problem? Their parents. When Sameera's very Muslim parents insist on meeting Tom's very not Muslim family over Christmas in rural Alaska, the stage is set for misunderstandings, holiday hijinks, and an epic culture clash. As the Maliks and Cookes exchange holiday traditions and endless opinions on their children's lives, Sameera and Tom realize they have a lot in common--including an attraction that's starting to feel very real.Library Bound Incorporated
Subjects: Romance fiction.; FICTION / Humorous / General; FICTION / Romance / Romantic Comedy; FICTION / Women;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Toufah : the woman who inspired an African #MeToo movement / by Jallow, Toufah,author.; Pittaway, Kim,author.;
"Toufah is the story of Toufah Jallow, a brilliant and inspiring young woman who, after she was forced to flee to Canada from her home in The Gambia, bravely bucked taboo and named herself as a survivor of a sexual assault by the country's dictator--launching an unprecedented protest movement. In 2015, Toufah Jallow was the eighteen-year-old daughter of the second wife in her Muslim father's polygamous household. Her mother, outwardly conforming, had made sure that her daughter was educated and had ambitions of her own. Dreaming of a scholarship and finances to produce and tour a one-woman play about how to eradicate poverty in The Gambia, Toufah entered a presidential competition--sometimes called a beauty pageant in the media, but, according to the president, Yahya Jammeh, designed to identify the smart young women of each generation and lend them financial support. Toufah won. At first, Jammeh, who had ruled The Gambia all of Toufah's life and styled himself as a pious yet progressive protector of women, behaved in a fatherly fashion toward her, but then he proposed marriage. When Toufah turned him down, he drugged and raped her, with the collusion of his cousin. Toufah could not tell anyone what had happened. Not only because there was no word for rape in her native language, but because if her parents protested on her behalf they would all be in danger. Jammeh sent his people to follow Toufah, hoping to intimidate and control her. When his cousin sent for her again, she knew she couldn't stay in The Gambia. Hidden under a niqab, a garment she never wore, she made her escape, confiding in no one so she could keep them safe. She fled across the river border to Senegal, where she learned that Jammeh had put in a request to authorities to return her as a "runaway teen." Despite mounting pressure from the Gambian government, two Senegalese police officers put her in contact with UNHCR and other human rights organizations and she was issued a visa for Canada. Two years later, President Jammeh was deposed. Eighteen months after that, in July 2019, Toufah Jallow became the first woman in The Gambia to make a public accusation of rape against him. Her testimony sparked marches of support and launched a social media outpouring of shared stories among West African women under #IAmToufah, setting Toufah Jallow on the path to reclaiming the future that Yahya Jammeh had tried to steal from her, a future of advocacy and leadership for survivors of sexual violence in The Gambia and beyond."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Jallow, Toufah.; MeToo movement; Rape victims; Refugees; Women; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The laughter : a novel / by Jha, Sonora,author.;
"Dr. Oliver Harding, a tenured professor of English, is long settled into the routines of a divorced, aging academic. But his quiet, staid life is upended by his new colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a dynamic Pakistani Muslim law professor. Ruhaba unexpectedly ignites Oliver's long-dormant passions, a secret desire that quickly tips towards obsession after her teenaged nephew, Adil Alam, arrives from France to stay with her. Getting to know them, Oliver tries to reconcile his discomfort with the worlds from which they come, and to quiet his sense of dismay at the encroaching change they represent--both in background and in Ruhaba's spirited engagement with the student movements on campus. After protests break out on campus demanding diversity across the university, Harding finds himself and his beliefs under fire, even as his past reveals a picture more complicated than it seems. As Ruhaba seems attainable yet not, and as the women of his past taunt his memory, Harding reacts in ways shocking and devastating. An explosive, tense, and illuminating work of fiction, The Laughter is a fascinating portrait of privilege, radicalization, class, and modern academia that forces us to confront the assumptions we make, as both readers and as citizens"--
Subjects: Campus fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; College teachers; Interpersonal relations; Minority women college teachers; Student movements;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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All the parts we exile : a memoir / by Nozari, Roza,author.;
"From a queer Muslim woman and artist, a generous, insightful memoir that traces her journey toward radical self-acceptance and of exile from her ancestral home. As the youngest of three daughters, and the only one born in Canada soon after her parents' emigration from Iran, Roza Nozari began her life hungry for a sense of belonging. From her early years, she shared a passion for Iranian cuisine with her mother and craved stories of their ancestral home. Eventually they visited and she fell in love with its sights and smells, and with the warm embrace of their extended family. Yet Roza sensed something was amiss with her mother's happy, well-rehearsed story of their original departure. As Roza grew older, this longing for home transformed into a desire for inner understanding and liberation. She was lit up by the feminist texts in her women's studies courses, and shared radical ideas with her mother -- who in turn shared more of her past, from protesting for the Islamic revolution to her ambivalence about getting married. In this memoir, Roza braids the narrative of her mother's life together with her own on-going story of self, as she arrives at, then rejects, her queer identity, eventually finds belonging in queer spaces and within queer Iranian histories, and learns the truth about her family's move to Canada. All the Parts We Exile is a memoir of dualities: mother and daughter, home and away, shame and self-acceptance, conflict and peace, love and pain -- and the stories that exist within and between them. In sharp, emotionally honest and funny prose, Roza tenderly explores the grief around the parts we exile and the joy of those we hold close in order to be true to our deepest selves"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Nozari, Roza.; Illustrators; Iranians; Mothers and daughters; Self-acceptance.; Muslim sexual minorities;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The mismatch : a novel / by Jafari, Sara,author.;
"For a woman who just wants to get her first kiss out of the way, a young rugby star her parents would never approve of seems like the perfect mismatch. But she has no idea how intoxicating one kiss can be ... Soraya Nazari is ready to make her mark on the world--if only she knew what that was going to be. Caught between her strict Muslim family's expectations and her own, Soraya can't help feeling like a fish out of water as she navigates life as a new college graduate. And there is the small matter that Soraya has never been kissed at the age of twenty-one. If she can tick that off the list, surely everything else will fall into place. Enter Magnus Evans: rugby player, man-about-town, and everything Soraya's parents would disapprove of. She knows she could never fall in love with Magnus--and for that reason he is perfect for now. But as Soraya spends more time with Magnus, she wonders if she has written him off too quickly. Maybe in the process of getting to know him better, Soraya will finally start to understand herself."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Interethnic dating; Young women; Families; Adult children of immigrants; Iranians; Man-woman relationships;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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