Photo by Matt Perko
Five books that matter
Five books that matter
An assistant professor of film and media studies, Mona Damluji studies the power of storytelling across film, architecture and literature. Her research explores underrepresented media histories and the cultural politics of energy, cities and infrastructure in the Middle East and its diasporas. Her forthcoming book, “Pipeline Cinema” (UC Press), reveals how oil companies shaped visual culture in Iran and Iraq through film sponsorship during the 20th century.
Also the author of the children’s books “Together” and “I Want You to Know,” and a Peabody and Emmy Award-nominated producer of “The Secret Life of Muslims,” Damluji connects creative expression with social justice throughout her work.
Here, in first person, Damluji shares five books that continue to shape her perspective — and remind her of the power of story to bring light, laughter and understanding.
“It was hard to narrow it down,” she says, “but I’m so happy to share these five books. I turn to memoir for perspective and guidance — and to find ways back to laughter and connection, even in the darkest times.”
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
By Mira Jacob
Jacob’s graphic memoir is an original, insightful and laugh-out-loud funny examination of life, love and parenthood as a South Asian and Brown woman in the United States since 9/11. I’ve returned to this masterpiece many times over the years when feeling overwhelmed by the uncertainties, absurdities and cruelties of American xenophobia.
The Arsonists’ City
By Hala Alyan
Alyan’s second novel is an engrossing portrait of Beirut, Lebanon — a beautiful and complicated city close to my heart — told through the web of desires, fears, secrets and ambitions of one multi-generational family. These are characters I have wanted to continue to know and spend time with long after finishing this novel. It is the perfect book to draw you into Alyan’s satisfyingly deep and provocative oeuvre of prose, poetry and criticism.
Home is Not a Country
By Safia Elhillo
Elhillo’s time travel odyssey — about a teenager searching for belonging, facing her demons and growing up with her mother’s decision to immigrate from Sudan to the American suburbs before she was born — captivated me from its first words. Written as a novel in poetic verse, this is a book that deserves to be heard aloud, and so I especially recommend listening to the audiobook, read magnificently by the author.
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir
By Michelle Zauner
Zauner’s memoir about the anticipation of grief and the loss of a loved one shook something loose inside of me when I listened to it. The author, a singer-songwriter and vocalist of the indie band Japanese Breakfast, reads the audiobook with equal parts tenderness and fury. Zauner’s writing conjures a blueprint for how one’s heart can break open and expand infinitely while caring for an unwell parent, or any person who has devoted their life to caring for you.
Eyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance
By Ady Barkan
The late, great Ady Barkan was one of America’s most influential activists of the last decade. His memoir, written a few years after his ALS diagnosis, is an antidote to despair and a reminder of the strength we humans of conscience carry within ourselves to persevere and lift up others. I was lucky to have Ady as a dear friend for seven years and his words will forever act as my compass through dark times.
