The 15-Minute Book Club

For many years, Matthew Knott worked as a private tutor for  extremely wealthy and privileged children in the heart of London. In this book, he retells stories from his first three years in this unusual industry.
 
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Omar El Akkad's book is an urgent and necessary reckoning about what it means to live in the West today. As an immigrant, Omar believed his whole life that the West offered freedom and justice for all. But now, watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, he comes to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. 
 
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Mohammed El-Kurd Addresses the UN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xuan2uAQg0 
 
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, This Is Not a Humanising Poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdDPcKH_KA 
 
Zeyne - 7arrir 3aqlak/Asli Ana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhH6CON3SD8 

Margaret Atwood's iconic novel is set in a dystopian future where world-wide environmental collapse & disease have caused a widespread infertility crisis. This gives rise to a radical fundamentalist group called The Sons of Jacob who stage a coup against the United States government and replace it with the Republic of Gilead. The new regime forces the few fertile women into reproductive servitude as handmaids. The novel is narrated in the first person by a handmaid referred to as Offred. 
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Mentioned book:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
 
Mentioned podcast episode from week 5 (The Red Tent):
https://salmaintb.podbean.com/e/week-5-the-red-tent/

Alice Walker's classic novel is set in the rural south of America, in the state of Georgia, in the early 20th century. It revolves around two sisters, Celie and Nettie. This is a beautiful epistolary tale of love, forgiveness and the road to strength. 
 
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First published in America in 1937 during The Great Depression, Napoleon Hill's timeless book claims to have uncovered the secret to great wealth. The book outlines a 13-step formula to help the reader identify their goals, master the secret of true lasting success, obtain whatever they want in life and join the ranks of the super-successful. 
 
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Jeanette Winterson's classic coming of age story is a semi-autobiography. She is adopted by strict Pentecostal evangelists in the north of England, and from a young age she’s raised to be a missionary and is immersed in a rigid religious worldview. But as Jeanette gets older, she discovers that she’s a lesbian, which puts her in direct conflict with her church and her adoptive mother. 
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15minbookclubMentioned book:Why be Happy When You Can be Normal by Jeanette Winterson.
 

Graham Swift's prize winning novel is set in the Fens of eastern England and fluctuates across multiple timelines. The narrator, Tom Crick, is a 52 year old history teacher who recounts stories of his family history and their deeply buried secrets. At its heart, the novel reflects history's purpose, not as simply a record of facts, but a fragile and necessary attempt to give meaning to chaos. 
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Ken Kesey's classic novel is set in a state mental institute in 1950s America. Nurse Ratchet runs the ward like a military operation, weaponising shame, fear, and manipulation to keep the patients compliant. She maintains this façade of politeness and professionalism while emotionally castrating the men in her care, who have internalised the notion that they are deeply broken and can’t survive freedom outside the hospital. All this changes at the arrival of a new patient named Randle Patrick McMurphy.
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Lois Lowry's modern classic in young adult literature is a dystopian novel that takes place in a seemingly utopian society that has eliminated pain, fear, war, and hatred by converting to "Sameness"— which is a plan that erases all emotional depth and memories of the past. It follows the main character, Jonas, he’s a 12-year-old boy who lives in this tightly controlled community. Everyone is assigned roles in the community when they turn twelve, and Jonas is given a unique and prestigious role: he’s to become The Receiver of Memory. 
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Khaled Hosseini's critically acclaimed novel follows Amir, a young boy from a wealthy family in Kabul, and his close friendship with Hassan, the son of his father’s servant. Despite their bond, class differences and societal pressures strain their relationship, and a pivotal moment of betrayal by Amir changes both of their lives forever.
 
A Thousand Splendid Suns Review: https://salmaintb.podbean.com/e/week-33-a-thousand-splendid-suns/ 
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