Mai Al-Nakib recommends 6 books that play with memory and time
The award-winning author recommends works by Virginia Woolf, Salman Rushdie, and more
![Mai Al-Nakib.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zS4yNN3aGGsGUBZGKLeE5D-415-80.jpg)
Mai Al-Nakib is the author of the award-winning story collection The Hidden Light of Objects. In her debut novel, An Unlasting Home, a professor in Kuwait who is facing blasphemy charges revisits the globe-spanning lives of four women who raised her.
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (1913)
Proust, the master architect of memory, is my touchstone. He loops together lived experience, recollection, and writing, as epitomized in the well-known scene with the tea and madeleine. He died at 51 but managed to preserve the specificity and beauty of his world forever. Buy it here.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1927)
This is a novel as much about novelistic form as it is about grief over lost parents and the brutal transition to the modern era. I have never read a more original depiction of the passage of time than in the short middle section, where the deaths are bracketed, even as the neglected family home and the objects left behind keep score. Buy it here.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)
I have always believed in the extraordinary powers of literature, but never imagined what Rushdie made it do here. His exuberant explosion of language, narrative, and history cracked open English literature like never before. I will be eternally grateful that this book exists in the world. Buy it here.
The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)
When I first read Kafka's novel about Josef K., caught in an absurd and terrifying net of bureaucratic indifference, I thought he could have been writing about the Middle East. The Trial remains as terrifying as ever, and K.'s final words — "Like a dog!" — still burn. Buy it here.
Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar (1985)
In this novel about an Algerian girl growing up during the French occupation, Djebar creates a lyrical contest between the written and oral, history and autobiography, occupation and liberation, self and nation, and — especially important to me — French and Arabic. A trailblazer, she pushed against the narrow expectation in the Middle East that Arab writers should write only in Arabic. Buy it here.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (1984)
I read this novel when I was 14, and didn't get most of it, but intuited that something about it would draw me back. As the years pass, I return to Kundera's writing, especially this book, for its tragic gaiety in the face of a doomed world. Buy it here.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Big Tech's answer for AI-driven job loss: universal basic income
In The Spotlight A new study reveals the strengths and limitations
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'I will not be silent' on Gaza, says Kamala Harris
Speed Read In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris supported Israel's right to defend itself while expressing a desire to end Palestinian suffering
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
'How long can TikTok dominate as a social network?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Peng Shepherd's 6 favorite works with themes of magical realism
Feature The author recommends works by Susanna Clarke, George Saunders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Laura van den Berg's 6 favorite books with hidden secrets
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Lockwood, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published
-
26 of America's most unexpectedly banned books
In Depth From 'Harriet the Spy' to 'Little Red Riding Hood,' these books have all fallen afoul of censors
By The Week Staff Published
-
Conn Iggulden recommends 6 unforgettable books with historical themes
Feature The British author recommends works by Patrick O'Brian, Richard Dawkins, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Five books chosen by Nina Stibbe
Feature The author recommends works by David Sedaris, Alba de Céspedes and more
By The Week UK Published
-
Julia Phillips' 6 favorite books that explore the beauty and brutality of life
Feature The Novelist recommends works by Alice Walker, Colson Whitehead, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Joseph Earl Thomas's 6 favorite books that tackle social issues
Feature The author recommends works by Fernanda Melchor, Adania Shibli, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Ivy Pochoda's 6 favorite books that explore the dark side of human nature
Feature The thriller writer recommends works by Cormac McCarthy, Rachel Kushner, and more
By The Week Staff Published