By Joumana Khatib
New York Times
February 21st, 2019
Let your favorite movies of 2018 guide your next reading choices.
With the Oscars coming up on Sunday, you may be revisiting films that are up for awards this year. Some, like “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Black Panther,” were adapted from books, while others, like “Roma” and “Capernaum,” may encourage you to learn more about their subject and time period. We’ve rounded up a reading list inspired by some of 2018’s biggest films.
Capernaum
Nadine Labaki’s movie, the latest Lebanese film to be nominated for an Oscar, follows a young refugee, Zain, and the horrors he faces, from cutthroat traffickers to the realities of being stateless.
The refugee crisis in Lebanon dates back decades, the result of longtime instability in the region. For an overview of the Middle East’s political and cultural upheavals, consider “HOUSE OF STONE: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), by Anthony Shadid, a former Middle East correspondent for The Times. Shadid, who died in 2012 on assignment, was of Lebanese descent. His book examines the long-lasting effects of the region’s convulsions.
Wendy Pearlman’s “WE CROSSED A BRIDGE AND IT TREMBLED: Voices From Syria” (Custom House) brings together accounts from refugees scattered across the Middle East and Europe, showing the extraordinary heroism of ordinary people.
In her highly personal graphic novel “BADDAWI” (Just World Books), Leila Abdelrazaq explores the childhood of her father, who grew up in a Lebanese refugee camp in the 1970s.
