Tucson Social Introverts & Nerds (20s, 30s, and 40s)

Book Club where we will read from a choice of books that cover a different theme each month. This month's theme is Arab-American Authors/Experience. April is Arab-American Heritage Month and Arab-Americans come from many different countries of origin. Here is some information about it: https://www.arabamerica.com/who-started-the-movement-for-national-arab-american-heritage-month-history-and-legacy/
https://www.arabamerica.com/arab-americans/ (please note: Not all Arabs are Muslim and Not all Muslims are Arab. For example, I have seen book lists that mistakenly include Pakistani and Iranian authors. Iranians are not Arab: https://surfiran.com/mag/why-is-iran-not-an-arab-country/ and Pakistanis are South Asians)

Pick one of these books to read and discuss! If you're motivated to read more than one, go for it! If you want to read or discuss a different book not listed here on the theme, feel free to share that book with the group. If you don't have time to read any of the books, but want to listen and/or partake in the discussion anyway, feel free!

• The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
• The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
• Alligator and Other Stories *by Dima Alzayat
• Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim (Not American, but British; born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel, we don't get many Jewish Arab perspectives)
• When We Were Arabs: A Jewish Family's Forgotten History *by Massoud Hayoun
• You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
• Don't Forget Us Here *by Mansoor Adayfe
• Bride of the Sea by Eman Quotah
• The Wrong End of the Table *by Ayser Salman
• Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
• Amreekiya by Lena Mahmoud
• In the Language of Miracles *by Rajia Hassib
• But You Don't Look Arab by Hala Gorani
• The Corpse Washer *by Sinan Antoon
• Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
• The Inheritance of Exile *by Susan Muaddi Darraj
• We Walked On by Thérèse Soukar Chehade
• Out of Place *by Edward Said

Additional book lists:
https://www.arabamerica.com/books-to-read-for-national-arab-american-heritage-month-naahm/
https://pima.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/display/2145689609/2728840167

Let's rock the mic at Tucson Games and Gadget's Short Rest Tavern (Tucson Mall)!
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Calling everyone who wants to sing or who wants to just hangout and enjoy! This “hidden” tavern self-proclaims they have lots of nerdy songs. They just ask you get a drink or something from the menu while you are there.

Karaoke goes until 11 p.m., so if you're not ready for the evening to end, it doesn't have to!

Parking & location:
Because the mall will be closed, you're only able to enter through the Tucson Mall entrance between Dillard's and where Sears was located (the northwest side of the mall).

One you are at Tucson Games and Gadgets, you'll head to the right side of the store. You'll pass a common area to the right. Karaoke will be in the next room to the right!

To sing, the venue has you create a free KSR songbook account (ksr.pcdj.com). You'll enter Venue Code "20092" to request songs.

Amal El-Mohtar: is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and criticism. Her stories and poems have appeared in magazines including Tor.com, Fireside Fiction, Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Apex, Stone Telling, and Mythic Delirium; anthologies including The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories (2017), The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (2016), Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories (2014), and The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (2011); and in her own collection, The Honey Month (2010). She is co-author, with Max Gladstone, of the multiple award-winning This is How You Lose the Time War. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, NPR Books and on Tor.com. She has been the New York Times's science fiction and fantasy columnist since February 2018 (from https://amalelmohtar.com/about/)

Raymond Khoury: is the New York Times and international bestselling author of eight novels: The Last Templar, The Sanctuary, The Sign, The Devil’s Elixir, Rasputin’s Shadow, The End Game, and his latest, Empire of Lies (aka The Ottoman Secret in the UK). Before writing novels, Raymond was an architect, then an investment banker, then a screenwriter, where his credits include the hit BBC series Spooks and Waking the Dead. His novel The Last Templar was based on an original screenplay he wrote ten years before the book was first published. His novels have been translated into 40 languages. (https://raymondkhoury.com/)