The Forty Rules of Love, by Elif Shafak

Good read: good character portrayals; full of good lessons about looking out for the downtrodden in society and rising above the 'what will people say' mentality; justified and considerate criticisms of the Muslim status quo I felt; well edited such that every word seemed to count and I found myself not having to sift through fluff to find the important stuff; and love a book that's split into nice small chapters! My only qualm (and I hope I don't come across bigoted) with the book would be doctrinal (i.e. the heart/sufi and the mind/faqih are not opposing forces and instead [in my opinion] two players on the same team, each to his [or her] speciality and each helping the other to replicate the perfect example of the Seal of God's Messengers [peace and blessings upon him and them all])… but that's not why I read the book nor what I was expecting from it so I guess it's not really a justified criticism of the book given that it is (and sets itself out to be) a piece of fiction. Recommended reading!