9 books set in Armenia
One of my favorite things about me is that I am Armenian. It comes with so much responsibility and pride that is hard to explain.
Through reading I have found and learned about different countries, cultures, religions and opened my eyes to different ideas and my imagination has traveled from one corner of the world to galaxies. Reading is the cheapest travel agency that is available to us. So I have decided to create a list that would take you to my country, Armenia.
Few facts about Armenia that might be interesting, especially if you have not heard about it.
Armenia is one of the ancient countries in the world, along with Egypt, China, Japan, Greece, Iran, that has survived throughout centuries. 301AD, Armenians were the first country to adopt Christianity and then built the first Christian Cathedral called Echmiadzin in the 4th century. Our language Armenian is one of a kind, it is nothing like any other language you have ever heard, with 39 letters, which was created by Mesrop Mashtoc in 405AD. And if you are into wine, Armenia would be your country to visit, the first winery in the world was in Armenia.
I hope I convinced you to visit Armenia, but you cannot physically visit it, here are the books that would open a little about my country.
Disclaimer: Armenia would make you fall in love with it. Armenian cuisine would make you fat. Armenians would make you party like there is no tomorrow.
Interested?
Here is the list:
- The Sandcastle Girls by Christ Bohjalian
- As the Poppies Bloomed by Maral Boyadjian
- The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
- There was and there was not by Meline Toumani
- My Brother’s Road by Markar Melkonian
- Black Garden by Thomas de Waal
- Mayrig by Henri Verneuil
- The fool by Raffi
- The Hundred-year walk by Dawn Anahid MacKeen
I have included both Armenian and non-Armenian writers. Out of this only The Fool was written in Armenian and then translated into English. While creating this list, I have realized that Armenian books are not widely available to foreigners and hopefully someone or my government will start translating them and make it available to people, including for Armenians who do not speak Armenian, so they can read our amazing authors and fall in love with the Armenian literature.
Our stories are sad, most are talking about real life events, such as the Armenian genocide that had happened in 1915 by Ottoman Turks and two of the books are about Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which I believe is an interesting one.
While we have a painful past and present, but I do not want you think we are a sad or defeated nation, mountainous people are not afraid of strong winds.
Winds come and go, but mountains remain.
Happy reading. I hope you will enjoy the books that I have shared!