OOPS! I switched two books in my mind -- so I meant a comparison of Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih with Portait of the Artist. But Chinua Achebe's book would also be interesting in juxtaposition. A lot depends on what you can get away with regarding sexuality and religion. As soon as I try to think of books, I end up having a secondary motivation of why they would be interesting to read -- mostly as cultural commentary including on the status of women. For example, I would expect the perception of and reaction to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale to be very different there then in a typical US English course. (I decided to browse the AP English recommended reading lists as part of responding to your post).