Morocco

The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca, by Tahir Shah (2006). Tahir Shah's witty memoir about moving his family to a jinn-infested fixer-upper in Casablanca is A Year in Provence with a dose of Eastern superstition, Arab bureaucracy, Mediterranean sun—and a gaggle of gangsters and thieves.

Glory in a Camel's Eye: Trekking Through the Moroccan Sahara, by Jeffrey Tayler (2003). Peripatetic writer Jeffrey Tayler sets off on a 300-mile journey through Morocco's scorched Dra Valley on mule, camel, and foot, to get a rare glimpse of Bedouin customs and worldviews. He offers insightful commentary on daily life, from poverty to prayer to politics.

In Arabian Nights, by Tahir Shah (2008). Inspired by The Thousand and One Nights—also known as the Arabian Nights—Shah interweaves descriptions of his adventures in his adopted Casablanca and around the country as he pursues a time-honored Berber quest: to find the story in his heart.

*Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua 1893-1956, by Gavin Maxwell (1961). Set against the background of Marrakech and the castles of the High Atlas, this is the story of a legendary tribal warlord (the barbaric and ostentatious son of a concubine) and his ascent to power in Morocco at the end of the 19th century.

The Spider's House, by Paul Bowles (1955). Set in Fez, this subtle novel follows two main characters—a pious Arab teenager who is the son of a local healer and a passionate American expat writer—during Morocco's 1954 national uprising. Bowles's familiarity with Morocco (he lived in Tangier from 1947 until his death in 1999) manifests in his rich details of Fessian alleys, cafés, and ordinary homes, and his insights into traditional culture and the country's troubled colonial legacy.