Lebanon Reading Resources
We are reading books about Lebanon and learning about its cultures as part of From and About Asia Reading Project in January 2022. This resource page is where I record and document the readings. It will keep updating while our readings go along. Due to the different pace that our members read, this page may keep updating afterward as well.
EVENT: FROM AND ABOUT ASIA READING PROJECT
SUBREGION: WESTERN ASIA
READING MONTH: JANUARY 2022
Join the discord server for a better discussion: https://discord.gg/vAebuNqGPm
Watch my recommendation video on BookTube
Lebanon is a Western Asian country that located between Syria and Israel. It has a long history, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dated back over 7000 years.
Since the 20th century, Lebanon went through various wars including the Lebanon Civil war that lasted more than 15 years. During most of the war the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, was divided between the Muslim west part and the Christian east. The devastating nature of war influenced and defined people’s lives and the country’s economics.
I found researching for books from and about Lebanon very interesting. Reading the blurbs of each book gives me pieces of information and history about the country. And let me know how people live in this resilient and beautiful country.
Click on book covers will direct you to details of the books!
FICTION
YOU MAY
LIKE
There are quiet some fictional books by Lebanese authors, translated by Arab or French. The one on my TBR is Jokes for the Gunmen, a short story collection written from a child’s perspective about lives in a war zone, and the ability to turn life into a joke. June Rain is read by other members on discord, it talks about how hatred divided a village after a church shooting and the villagers’ struggles.
POETRY
&
GRAPHIC
MEMOIRS
I found poet Etel Adna had a very interesting life. Not only she lived in Beirut, Paris, and California across her life, she also once became a painter instead of a poet, to resist the political implications of writing in French. This is a fascinating idea to me, especially thinking about Lebanon was part of the French Mandate.
MEMOIRS
NON-
FICTIONS
Many of the nonfictions I found are not written by Lebanese authors, but written by journalists or war correspondence.
Looking for more reading resources?
Saint Paul Basilica, Harissa, Lebanon, with coastal Beirut in the background, as seen from Notre Dame du Liban. Picture by @jamesrathmell from Unplashed.