Lemony Snickett A Series of Unfortunate Events

I am in the middle of ploughing through this series of ebooks.  I started with the first of the series and quite enjoyed it so decided to go onto the next one...and here I am now on book nine!  They are good reads and now I am in the swing of things I am trying to get through them all before I move onto anything else

Struggling to get through

I've been struggling to get through a couple of heavy tomes recently.  I don't like to give up on a book once I've started it, but these are set to gather dust on the bedside table for some time now I feel.
The Revenge of Geography
A History of the Arabs

Baby Led Weaning Cookbook by Gill Rapley

Baby Led Weaning Cookbook by Gill Rapley (2012)
Read (kindle): March 2013

We wanted to get a book to read more about BLW to be sure we wanted to give it a go rather than go for purees with Leila. But it was only after we returned to Egypt that I realised it would be good to have a BLW book so we needed to get this on the kindle.  It's a bit fusrating to have it on the kindle when it comes to the recipes themselves, so I think I might end up printing parts of it out!  I read it in just a few days but as it is a cookbook I will be jumping back into it when we start trying the recipes.

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket (2012)
Read: February 2013

DaddyP bought us this book for Christmas as it had got good reviews even though is was a young adult novel really.

I must admit, the fact that it was a young adult novel made it easy for me to read in small chunks at bedtime when I was quiet tired after being with Little Miss all day.  But even though it was young adult I found it engaging to read and did want to try and work out what was going on! And what the right questions could be?!

I liked the style of the book - it was quite dark in a way, which meant that it felt 'older' than maybe it could be.  The writing and characters were somehow very 'quick' and 'snappy' which meant the story moved along and you had no time really to ask the wrong questions.

I'll probably try and get the resty of the series on kindle to read - although the little hardback has a lovely feel.

The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry

The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry (2007)
Read: November 2012 - January 2013

This took me a loooong time to read.  I pulled it out to start reading the week before Little Miss was born, but didn't actually get a chance to pick it up until she was a month old, and even then I didn't manage to read much in the evening before my eyes started to droop!

I had obviously picked this up because of the word 'Alexandria' in the title, but in fact only a small segment of the book was located in Egypt.  The theme of Middle East though did run through the books concept (but not locations)

At first I thought the book read too much like it was written to become a film.  There was too much description of the action and too many different locations and situations and not enough 'story'.  After a while though it did start to grow on me.  What grew on me was not the characters, or the multiple location / story strands (which were rather annoying) but was the concept behind the novel. The premise was that the location of the Holy land in the bible was incorrectly translated and located on the Mediterranean by mistake (intention?) rather than on the Arabian peninsula. I thought that this was a really clever idea and am fascinated by the suggestion that place names and physical features could be reinterpreted.  There is some historical support for this theory, but not enough for it to get much mainstream grounding.

This is the last trashy Egypt/ME-themed book that I have on the shelf...but the CSA have another book fair this week where I may be able to pick up a few things!

The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne

The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne (2006)
Read: October 2012

I picked this book up at the CSA when their library was having a book sale.  I was trying to be selective and so only bought two books from the sale at 5LE each.  I picked this one out because, although it wasn't along our favoured theme of Egypt/Middle East/Travel, I had read a book by the same author over the summer.

The story follows Will, a reporter for the NY Times, who's wife gets kidnapped and the finds himself then trying to figure out a series of clues to find her - and, it turns out, stop the end of the world!  It was a pretty good concept to be honest, and the grounding in Jewish tradition and folklaw seemed well based.  I did also like the clues that he had to solve via text and computer and the chase of finding these around New York.  My only problem with the book was that it felt like there was a significant section in the middle where Will was concentrating so much on solving the clues that he forgot that he was actually meant to be looking for his wife.

A 1/4 Gram by Essam Youssef

A 1/4 Gram by Essam Youssef (2008, English translation 2009)
Read: September – October 2012

We were lent this book by a friend after they raved about it and as it isn’t published by the AUC Press it’s doubtful that it would have otherwise come up on our radar. I’m glad it did though because it is a very real story and one that feels well set and well told.

The book follows Salah from his days with his mates in school until he is an adult, but this journey is not one of growing up, but one of growing addiction. As a reader you can see it coming; that the group of friends first try one drug and then another, until not only their friendships but their lives revolve around drugs.  The book itself is very lengthy, but this is necessary in order to tell the full tale, I feel.  It shows that the pathway to addiction is not linear and that the road to recovery is much the same.  There are many times in the story when you hope that Salah will make a different decision but when he doesn’t you know that it is just the addiction ruling his life rather than he. I did find Salah a believable protagonist and his complicated story is required, as it would not have ‘worked’ if he had simply been on drugs and then come off them.

As a reader I found it frustrating when Salah was trying to check out of the rehabilitation hospital.  This was a clear turning point in the book – and in his life.  I really wanted him to succeed, but I also felt his attitude towards rehab showed a real arrogance.  I would like to have seen him credit for doctors more for his progress and role in recovery.  Salah does succeed (in checking out, and in staying clean) and the credit for the work of the doctors is then there.  As Salah journeys along the road to recovery he finds a sponsor to guide him.  I really liked that the sponsor is younger than Salah as this emphasised the importance in the Programme of experience over anything else. The author clearly understands addiction and the Programme and is passionate that others should be exposed to the realities of both through the story.

I am not really a fan of the preface/post-script for the book trying to emphasise that this is a true story and manuscript approval etc.  I don’t feel this is required for the book to have power and impact. 

You don't often find a novel with appendices, but I did think it was important to have the NA steps in, as and this does give book power and grounding. It was interesting to see the history of NA in Egypt and I hope that this book inspires others and enables NA to expand here.  I thought that it was a missed opportunity that there were no links to encourage readers to find out more about NA in Egypt e.g to help themselves/others.