Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

Apparently Islamic holy scriptures tell us that "nine parts of desire is woman" in explanation for the unfair burdens that women must bear in order to remain cloistered and separate. Not unlike blaming Eve for the discovery of human sexuality. But if you're tired of reading about women's horror stories from the Middle East, or like me you're just too scared to start, this is the book for you. It is an Australian reporter's personal account, impressions, research, etc. of her time stationed in the Middle East. And although some of her material is definitely painful to read, it is not the all out depression-fest like some of the books that you can find on the shelves (for some reason, these books were extremely popular in Malaysia, and could be found even in the most humble of stationery stores). Frustrated by the restriction she was encountering as a woman professional in that region, Brooks decided to take advantage of her (ahem) qualifications, to gain access into the secluded women's world of various Middle Eastern and North African muslum cultures. The result is an un-scholarly and extremely readable account of women's status and lives in Islam in that region during the late 1980s.

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