In December, I focused my reading on non-Christian authors, characters, and experiences. My favorite read this month was Ali and Nino by Kurban Said. The novel follows Ali, an Azerbaijani Muslim boy, and Nino, a Georgian Christian girl, as they fall in love and attempt to build a life together under the simmering threat of the Russian Revolution and the First World War.
The First World War is one of my favorite time periods to read about, but my reading has largely been limited to Western European sources, so I found this book very interesting and a fresh perspective for me. I always love when I learn something new from historical fiction, so I enjoyed reading about the tension between East and West embodied in Ali (who considers himself Eastern, Asian, Oriental) and Nino (who identifies more closely with Western European culture) in Baku, the confluence of Europe and Asia.
The novel is a combination of a coming-of-age and a war novel. Ali and Nino both grow into adults as Azerbaijan declares its independence and seeks to establish its identity. Their relationship is challenged by external forces as Azerbaijan is also significantly affected by events happening seemingly a world away. This book is considered a modern classic and would be a good read for anyone interested in the time period and setting.
December’s reads and ratings (out of five stars)
Theme reads
- Yes No Maybe So, Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed: four stars
- The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon: three stars
- Eternal Life, Dara Horn: four stars
- Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah: four stars
- Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar: three stars
- The Lost Queen, Signe Pike: four stars
- Ali and Nino, Kurban Said: four stars
Others
- Bloodmarked, Tracy Deonn: five stars
- The Resemblance, Lauren Nossett: three stars
- Cosy: The British Art of Comfort, Laura Weir: five stars
- The Lies We Tell, Katie Zhao: four stars
- Con/Artist: The Life and Crimes of the World’s Greatest Art Forger, Tony Tetro and Giampiero Ambrosi: four stars
- I’m the Girl, Courtney Summers: three stars
- Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann: four stars
- The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Fiona Davis: four stars
- A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, Foz Meadows: five stars
- One Night on the Island, Josie Silver: four stars
- The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (fourth ed.): four stars
Moriah Sharpe 