Open Books Challenge 2026: By a Muslim Author

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "By a Muslim author."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Between two moons : a novel
Abdel Gawad, Aisha
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARD * A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF 2023 * Set in the Arab immigrant enclave of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, following three siblings coming of age over the course of one Ramadan, "a moving look at...
Martyr!
Akbar, Kaveh
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and...
Homeland elegies : a novel
Akhtar, Ayad
Paper Book
This "profound and provocative" work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced and American Dervish followsan immigrant father and his son as they search for belonging--in post-Trump America, and with each other (Kirkus Reviews). "Passionate, disturbing,...
Love from Mecca to Medina
Ali, S. K.
Paper Book
On the trip of a lifetime, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to each other in this surprising and romantic sequel to the "bighearted, wildly charming" (Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author) Love from A to Z that's a "contemplative exploration of faith, love,...
Courting Samira : a novel
Awad, Amal
Paper Book
Set in Sydney, Australia, Courting Samira is a charming, big-hearted rom-com about a twenty-seven-year-old Palestinian woman who finds herself in an unexpected love triangle--a sparkling ode to meddling best friends, traditional courtship, The Princess Bride, and, of course, the possibility of...
The city of brass
Chakraborty, S. A.
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Library Journal | Vulture | The Verge | SYFYWire Step into The City of Brass, the spellbinding debut from S. A. Chakraborty, an imaginative alchemy of The Golem and the Jinni, The Grace of Kings,...
Song of a captive bird
Darznik, Jasmin
Paper Book
LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * A spellbinding debut novel about the trailblazing Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, who defied society's expectations to find her voice and her destiny "A complex and beautiful rendering of [a] vanished country and its scattered...
A tempest of tea
Faizal, Hafsah
Paper Book
*An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller* "Brewed to perfection." --Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals Now available in a deluxe paperback edition with gorgeous stenciled edges, Hafsah Faizal's deliciously...
Exit west
Hamid, Mohsin
Paper Book
One of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century FINALIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE & WINNER OF THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION and THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE "It was as if Hamid knew what was going to happen to America and the...
The Jasad heir
Hashem, Sara
Paper Book
"A remarkable, razor-sharp debut that cuts straight to the heart."―Chelsea Abdullah, author of The Stardust Thief A fugitive queen strikes a bargain with her greatest enemy that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever in...
The kite runner
Hosseini, Khaled.
Paper Book
A deluxe collector's edition of the phenomenally bestselling The Kite Runner, filled with striking and memorable photographs that bring Khaled Hosseini's compelling story to life. Since its publication in 2003, The Kite Runner has shipped over four million copies and spent...
Detective aunty : a novel
Jalaluddin, Uzma
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, The Washington Post, Library Journal, The Globe and Mail, and the Chicago Public Library "I'll read anything Uzma Jalaluddin writes."--New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn When her grown...
The map of salt and stars
Joukhadar, Zeyn
Ebook
This powerful and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart--a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and an adventurous mapmaker's apprentice--"perfectly aligns with the cultural moment" (The...
Unmarriageable
Kamal, Soniah
Paper Book
"This inventive retelling of Pride and Prejudice charms."--People   "A fun, page-turning romp and a thought-provoking look at the class-obsessed strata of Pakistani society."--NPR Alys Binat has sworn never to marry--until an encounter...
As long as the lemon trees grow
Katouh, Zoulfa
Paper Book
A love letter to Syria and its people, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility. Perfect for fans of The Book Thief and Salt to the Sea.
Like the moon loves the sky
Khan, Hena
Paper Book
Inshallah you are all that is gentle and good. Inshallah you feel safe, like all children should. Like The Moon Loves the Sky is Hena Khan's daily wish for her children. With lyrical lines, each based on a verse of the Quran, and narrative illustrations that trace the life of a child...
We are big time
Khan, Hena
Paper Book
SWISH! Cheer courtside for a Muslim teen in this graphic novel-inspired by a true story-as she joins an all-girls, hijab-wearing basketball team and learns that she's much more than a score. Aliya is new to Wisconsin, and everything feels different than Florida. The Islamic...
Thorn
Khanani, Intisar
Paper Book
Hunted meets The Wrath and the Dawn in this bold fairytale retelling--where court intrigue, false identities, and dark secrets will thrill fans of classic and contemporary fantasy alike. Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life, but when her mother...
The dream hotel : a novel
Lalami, Laila
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami--the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)--comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in...
This woven kingdom
Mafi, Tahereh
Paper Book
New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller from the acclaimed author of the Shatter Me series! Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people--Tahereh Mafi's first in an epic romantasy series inspired by Persian mythology. To...
The bad Muslim discount : a novel
Masood, Syed
Paper Book
Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. "Masood's novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of...
My friends : a novel
Matar, Hisham
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE * A "masterly" (The New York Times, Editors' Choice), "riveting" (The Atlantic) novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return ...
A place for us : a novel
Mirza, Fatima Farheen
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD "5 UNDER 35" NOMINEE * NEW YORK'S "ONE BOOK, ONE NEW YORK" PICK Named One of the Best Books of the Year: Washington Post * NPR * People * Refinery29 * Parade * BuzzFeed "Mirza ...
The fortune men
Mohamed, Nadifa
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST * Based on a true event, this novel is "a blues song cut straight from the heart ... about the unjust death of an innocent Black man caught up in a corrupt system" (Walter Mosley, best-selling author of Devil in a Blue Dress). In Cardiff, Wales in...
The boldest white : a story of hijab and community
Muhammad, Ibtihaj
Paper Book
In this call to bravery from Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, Faizah learns to overcome her fears and stand in front of the crowd in this beautiful celebration of family, fencing, and community.   Faizah loves being part of the community at her mosque, and...
This is what America looks like : my journey from refugee to Congresswoman
Omar, Ilhan
Paper Book
Named a Best Political Book of the Year by The Atlantic "This Is What America Looks Like is the origin story of a leader who, finding no set path that would take a person like her to the places she wanted to go, was forced, and free, to chart her own." -The New York Times...
Nights of plague : a novel
Pamuk, Orhan
Paper Book
From the the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Part detective story, part historical epic--a bold and brilliant novel that imagines a plague ravaging a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire. It is April 1900, in the Levant, on the imaginary island of Mingheria--the...
You truly assumed
Sabreen, Laila
Paper Book
"You Truly Assumed is a beautiful portrayal of the multitude of ways to be Black and Muslim while navigating our contemporary world. A must-read for everyone."--Adiba Jaigirdar, author of The Henna Wars   In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a...
Grounded
Saeed, Aisha
Paper Book
When a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Feek is stuck babysitting his younger sister, but he'd rather be writing a poem that's good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper. Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the...
Best of friends
Shamsie, Kamila
Paper Book
"A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces." --Madeline Miller "A shining tour de force about a long friendship's respects, disrespects, loyalties and moralities." --Ali Smith  From the acclaimed author of Home Fire, the moving and surprising...
The Good Immigrant : 26 Writers Reflect on America
Shukla, Nikesh
Paper Book
By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, troubling and uplifting, these "electric" essays come together to create a provocative, conversation-sparking, multivocal portrait of modern America (The Washington Post). From Trump's proposed border wall...
The bird king
Wilson, G. Willow
Paper Book
From Hugo Award¬-winning author G. Willow Wilson comes an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian Peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.
Fundamentally : a novel
Younis, Nussaibah
Paper Book
A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with a one-of-a-kind job offer--only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself. *AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* *AN NPR BOOKS WE LOVE PICK* *SHORTLISTED FOR...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.