Books Without Borders
This book club started, very simply, as an in-person sisterhood of readers in Amman.
I wanted a room full of women from different backgrounds, nationalities, ages, first languages, and life stages, coming together around books that stretch us beyond what we already know. Books from different regions of the world. Books in translation. Books by writers whose voices don’t always make it onto the bestseller lists, or in celebrity book clubs.
So, Books Without Borders was born.
For now, the actual book club—meetings, WhatsApp chatter, tea refills, borrowed copies—is still only open to women who live in Amman. We will meet once a month, rotate whose house we gather in, and give ourselves a generous hour and a half to talk. My suspicion is that this will stretch longer over time, because the conversations deserve it and because connection needs space.
There’s a WhatsApp group for local logistics and coordination (and lots of lots of jokes), and for the first couple of months the group will stay open. After that, we’ll gently close it to people who are actively participating, so it stays small enough for real relationships to form.
That part matters to me.
This is not a “drop in whenever” kind of book club. It’s not a wine club. It’s not a space dedicated to complaining about our spouses (though that may happen on the margins). It’s not about small talk, even if small talk is how we warm up.
This book club is about reading.
It’s about discussing books seriously and respectfully. About going deep rather than wide. About honoring the authors, the work, and the written word. About reflecting on how stories shape us, how they change how we see ourselves, each other, and the world we live in.
Here’s the unexpected part: once I started talking about this book club, I heard from women all over asking if they could join.
Different time zones. Different cities. Different lives.
I can’t magically fit everyone into a living room in Amman, but I can do the next best thing: make the spine of the book club available online, in this blog.
Click here to find a curated list you can use to create your own book club, read quietly on your own, or follow along from wherever you are.
Think of this as the “read-along without the logistics” version of Books Without Borders.
The goal from the start was to move beyond the familiar orbit of the Oprah and Reese picks (both fine, both limited). I wanted us to stretch—to read work from less-well-known authors, translated literature, and writers from marginalized communities. To learn more about the world we actually live in and the people who live alongside us, not just the slice that already feels familiar.
Our first book is Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq.
And if—by some small-world miracle—you know someone connected to this book who would want to join our discussion in Amman on January 28, please reach out. ;)
In Amman, the group includes women of different nationalities, cultures, languages, and ages. That diversity isn’t an add-on; it’s the point. The conversations are richer because of it. The interpretations are broader. The silences are meaningful too.
Outside of Amman, this list is for anyone who wants to:
Read beyond the usual recommendations
Explore translated literature and global voices
Build a more intentional relationship with reading
Use books as a way to understand the world, not escape from it
You can mirror the structure or ignore it completely. Start your own circle. Read solo. Dip in and out. There’s no right way to do it.
The only real invitation is this: read with curiosity and respect.
Once we pick the calendar for the year, I’ll share it here and be sure to update you regularly on what is happening in the IRL clubhouse.
Books Without Borders is, at its core, about staying open—to stories, to people, to perspectives we don’t yet hold. And that part doesn’t require living in the same city at all.
