April 2024 List of the Month: Arab and Arab Diaspora Literature We Recommend

Hey Everyone! April is Arab American Heritage Month, here in the states, and we've decided to devote our List of the Month this time around to Arab and Arab Diaspora Literature We Recommend.

For the purpose of this list, "literature" is defined to include fiction and poetry. It does not include history, sociology, or other works of non-fiction.

Each participant may vote on ten titles (and add other, non-weighted titles). Please only downvote titles if they do not fit the theme.

For a complete list of topics covered so far in our project, please see this wiki page

We would welcome suggestions for future lists. Please add them here, and we will keep them in mind, going forward.

Are you counting literary memoirs as literature?

>1 AbigailAdams26: Should these books be written by Arab/Arab diaspora authors or are books with Arab/Arab diaspora protagonists also included?

This list is getting ridiculous. Why are people listing so much non-fiction, and, worse, books by non-Arab authors? It's nuts.

>2 susanbooks: Not unless they're in poetic form. My initial thought was fiction, but I decided to include poetry as well. As some poetry is non-fiction, I think we'll probably have a little bit, but all other non-fiction should be excluded.

>3 slimikin: The authors should be Arab/Arab diaspora, rather than just the themes or characters. After all, we wouldn't say a book set in France was French literature, unless it was written by a French person. (well... I wouldn't anyway)

>4 lilithcat: Oh dear! Please downvote anything that isn't in keeping with the theme. I'll see if I can make the description a little clearer, to avoid confusion.

>7 AbigailAdams26:

Maybe also add a definition of "Arabic". People have added books by Persian, Turkish, and Afghani authors, apparently not realizing that these are not Arabic.

Please downvote anything that isn't in keeping with the theme.

I have, but now I can't add any books!

>6 AbigailAdams26: No, that's a very good point. When I was pondering the meaning of "Arab and Arab Diaspora Literature," I didn't think to substitute another national identity like "French" in for "Arab and Arab Diaspora," but that clarifies things very nicely. I think I was seeing it both as a national identity and as a book's subject heading, where the characters or themes could be Arab and Arab Diaspora, too. Thanks!

This list is a great example of how little control we have over lists and one of the reasons I don't use the feature much. I wish there was an in-between type that could be controlled by the creator - meaning to delete what doesn't fit - but also could have contributions by other people. Maybe I'm missing something.

>10 Bookmarque: me too.

>8 lilithcat: I have, but now I can't add any books!

I'm looking into this for you.

>8 lilithcat: I have, but now I can't add any books!

Fixed, I think.

>10 Bookmarque: There's a weird (to me) feature of lists that books with no votes can be removed by any user, but books with only downvotes cannot. This can lead to the situation we're currently in, where a lot of the books which shouldn't have been added to the list have lost their upvotes, but can't be removed because they have downvotes.

There is also the "flag items" feature, which is supposed to alert staff to delete books from lists. I've flagged all the currently downvoted works; it takes 2 more flags, IIRC, to illuminate the Batsignal.

>8 lilithcat: I have amended the list description again, to try and clarify what is meant (and what is NOT meant) by Arab / Arab Diaspora. Hopefully that does the trick!

>15 AbigailAdams26:

I hope so!

>1 AbigailAdams26: Was drama excluded by mistake or on purpose? I was about to add Short Arabic Plays and realized that it actually is not eligible. I am fine either way but just wanted to ask :)

This doesn't seem right: I'm seeing only the option to "thumb down" books (and on the books that I added, to "explain my choice"). Where's the "add book to your list" thingy?

>18 LolaWalser:

That's odd. It should be right above the "Thumbs Down" option.

ETA: I wonder if it's because you've already added 10 books, and that's the limit.

>19 lilithcat:

I wonder if it's because you've already added 10 books, and that's the limit.

Nope, the "Add work to the list" button is still there, I just can't add (i.e. "vote for") the books others have added.

>20 LolaWalser: Right - because you already have 10 on your list. You cannot vote for an 11th because it is the same as adding an 11th. That's just how Lists work. There is no "thumbs up".

The big button may be still there but it won't allow you to add more than the limit.

>21 AnnieMod:

I see, thanks. Not sure that's the best for ranking (I'm not against capping the number of added works per member), but oh well.

>22 LolaWalser: The ranking is tied to where on your list a title is - your #1 title gets more points for the overall ranking than your #10. Thus the inability to rank without adding :) And in unrestricted lists, that's basically fine. On restricted ones like here - you need to chose which 10 (or whatever) you want to add to the ranking of.

Oh well indeed :) Some days I wish the system worked differently but it is what it is. :)

>17 AnnieMod: Well, plays were excluded because I didn't think of them! But I don't have any objection to them, so I have added them to the List description, and you can go ahead and add the title in question.

>20 LolaWalser: You should be able to keep adding books, beyond the ten you voted for. We discussed this some time back (when List of the Month was still a group)—the idea that some might have a wealth of titles to share, beyond the number they can officially vote for, so we left that option stand. So, if you have twenty titles you feel fellow members need to know about, you can vote for ten and add ten more. Of course, if one of the ten you don't want to vote for is already on the list, then you won't need to add it, because the only purpose of adding a non-voted-for title, would be to get it on the list.

>25 AbigailAdams26:

Maybe "vote" is confusing the matters here... So, we can add books to the list--but no more than 10. I did that, and as Annie pointed out, reached the limit (when I click on the Add work... button, it says I reached the limit).

But as for "voting" on the books already on the list, I can't do that either, there's no mechanism to vote/like titles (see >18 LolaWalser:).

No biggie, but it seems most titles will end up with relatively few or single "votes". But I guess that needn't matter for a list that just, well, lists (as opposed to some sort of ranking).

>26 LolaWalser: When lists were updated they removed the option to add works without adding them to your personal list, so adding a work is the same as voting for it. You can add as many books as you want as long as you remove your vote after.

>27 amanda4242:

How can I add books? The Add work button doesn't work anymore, and see the pic in >18 LolaWalser:. No buttons for anything except "Thumbs down".

>28 LolaWalser: You have to remove your votes from the works you've already added. Go to https://www.librarything.com/list/45405/MEMBERNAME/Arab-and-Arab-Diaspora-Litera... and click on the "On Your List" button to remove your vote.

>29 amanda4242:

Oh, but I don't want to do that, thanks! Still better that there are more titles than votes. :)

You can add it back later. You can "game" the process by leaving one of your ten slots for adding and removing, and the titles you remove persist on the group list although they come off of your own.

At the end, you add back the one that you want as your tenth "vote."

Hayy ibn Yaqdhan by Ibn Tufail

>32 Buchmerkur:

You need to add it to the list here: https://www.librarything.com/list/45405/all/Arab-and-Arab-Diaspora-Literature-We...

>32 Buchmerkur:, >33 lilithcat:

I agree, and I added it!

>31 paradoxosalpha:

Thanks, I finally get it. Eh, it doesn't matter.

>35 LolaWalser: I see that amanda4242 and paradoxosalpha explained the process. It's a bit of an unintentional loophole, one we considered closing but then did not, when members expressed a desire to retain it, some ways back.

So many great reading ideas! Thank you for the list, >1 AbigailAdams26:, & thank you to all who are contributing

>34 paradoxosalpha: thanks for adding it as it should - I'm new and still learning ;-).