In the bleak midwinter, let books be your guide

Are you looking for something new to read? If you are, check out ‘Frankenstein in Baghdad’ by Ahmed Saadawi and 'The Watermelon Boys’ by Ruqaya Izzidien. 

According to the New York Times; “In the 200 years since Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, her monster has turned up in countless variations - but few of them have been as wild or politically pointed as the monster in Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad.” 

BookFabulous described The Watermelon Boys by Ruqaya Izzidien as an “intricate tapestry of Iraq during WWI stitched up from the various points of view of a wide cast of strongly fleshed out characters moving in a space that is so well detailed in its description it actually felt as if were cinematic, playing out on an imaginary reel in this reader’s mind.”