Desperately Seeking Paradise by Ziauddin Sardar

Desperately Seeking Paradise by Ziauddin Sardar (2004)
Read: December 2010- January 2011

Despite being about the length of most books I read, it felt like I was taking an age to read this one. I didn't get much read over the Xmas break, so maybe that's why it feels longer, but for some reason I really wanted to finish this book - and not in a totally good way.


I bought this book in BookSpot which is an expat second hand bookshop here in Maadi. I go in there occasionally, but don't often buy things as recent books can be overpriced it seems. Even though you can sell back any book you buy there (for half the amount you spent on it). This looked interesting and was a good price, so I went for it.
The title of the book is "Desperately Seeking Paradise", with a subtitle of "Journey's of a Sceptical Muslim" with a picture of signposts pointing to Mecca on one side and Hackney on the other. The blurb suggests too that the Muslim author is on a journey that starts in London and takes him to Mecca and beyond in his quest to find meaning in Islam.
Sounds V Interesting, no? Especially as Hackney is not far from my home in London and we're living in a Muslim country I thought this would really shed some light.
But gosh it was far more than that. So much more dense and intense.
The author isn't just a bloke finding his own meaning in Islam, or what Islam means to him, but more an academic - who spends the book moving between various Islamic Research Centres - pondering and lobbying on how Islam should be re-interpreted in this day and age and in seeking to establish true Islamic states.
There were some engaging sections of the book that I enjoyed and found educational. These were on definitions of Knowledge in the context of Islam (I teach a course on Knowledge), discussing how disciplines could be reinterpreted in the context is Islam (an interesting suggestion that sciences, for example, should focus on addressing issues specific to Islamic nations, such as bilharzia in Egypt), responding to Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses and addressing why the Muslim community was so abhorred, but also why the author felt that a fatwa was not the right response, finally reading the responses to huge events such as the fall of the Berlin wall, 9/11 and the first Gulf War. I enjoyed reading fragments of Arabic in the book too; although I didn't recognise all of the words, some of them are those that I have learnt as Egyptian colloquial.
However the majority of the book I found to be a heavily detailed CV following the movements and writings of the author and their friendships and enemies.

Will I sell it back to BookSpot? Probably not now, as I am a hoarder of books, and now a hoarder of books related to where we live. Maybe when we leave and I realise how much I've got to take on!
Will I recommend it to others to read? Not recommend, but I am interested to know what a Muslim here in Egypt thinks of the author and of his opinions on Islam. It seems that he is quite well known - possibly. So I would like to have someone else read this, student or colleague, and find out what they think and whether this take on Islam, and certain issues within it, is common, or not.

12kg in handluggage

I want to read every single one of these books - as they all look brilliant - but 12kg per trip may be boardering on crazy right now! I know we're staying another year, but I've still got books from the summer I haven't read yet!!!

Ice Cold in Alex by Christopher Landon

Ice Cold in Alex by Christopher Landon (1957)
Read: November - December 2010

We picked this up in the summer I think (or was it at half term?) when doing the Charity Shop Run along Spring Gardens in Buxton. Our copy is a trashy paperback book-club-type version, but as we're buying all the books we can on t'Egypt we thought this is a classic we should include. Mum gave us a copy of the DVD about a year ago and I put it on for about 5 minutes, but couldn't get into it.
I knew the title was about getting a beer in Alexandria as when we visited Alexandria with the P's mum wanted to visit the bar featured in the film. We managed to find the bar and had a tea and cake there, as they don't seem to serve beer anymore :(
The story itself though is about the journey from El Alamain to Alexandria of a four-some that are retreating as the Germans are advancing on Tobrok. The story feels as claustrophobic at times as the small ambulance they were travelling in must have been - you feel that the characters rarely get time on their own, living in eachothers pockets, and dialogue often being in pairs as they other pair is resting in the back, or driving toegther up front. You feel these pairs and conversations rotating as the characters rotate their positions giving each a chance to rest or take the front.
The way the story developes you really see these pairs and relationships developing and the talking behind eachothers backs. Is the South African they've picked up what he seems; they can only discuss this when he's asleep in the back, so you feel the quiet whispering in these confined spaces well.

With hindsight I think what I should have done was read the book without taking a drink at all during the month. This would have been a great way for the book to end; with both me and the main character getting their final, long drempt of drink.

I'm up for wacthing the film now and think I'll stick passed the first 5 minutes!