Ostensibly in Syria to study the Muslim Jesus on a Fulbright, the 26-year-old Stephanie Saldana seeks solace at a desert monastery, reads the Quran with a prominent woman scholar (a chic Shiekha), teaches at a madras -- and falls in love. Her remarkably candid memoir, full of memorable characters, is also a portrait of life in the old Christian neighborhood in Damascus, where she found a room in a crumbling courtyard complex off Straight Street (the most beautiful house in Bab Touma).  (SYR20, $15.00)