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.

Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam

Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learnt in School by Andrew Hallam (2011) 
Read (Kindle): September 2012

When Scotty first mentioned this book I thought it was just about a teacher who was a millionaire, and didn't realise that it was also actually about 'teaching' people to be able to do the same.  Scotty was so keen to read it that he downloaded it onto the Kindle within a few hours of discovering it and he read it in less than a week.  I then started it a few days later on Scotty's recommendation, and also finished it within a few days.

We both found the book to be really informative and really relevant for our situation.  Hallam is an international teacher like us, and we have been trying to work out what to do with our savings recently so finding this book and ideas linked in perfectly.  The ideas in the book helped us be more confident about taking control of our own savings, rather than having others manage them for us.  It also helped us understand the stock markets and shares a bit more and how different savings styles work.  We weren't looking to have a huge understanding of the stock markets, so this book was just right, as it does not go in to detail about 'buy and sell' etc, but just enough to get the understanding you need to play the 'long game' of savings and investments.

I'd definitely recommend this book for other people who are interested in taking control of their savings (however small or large) and who want to invest for a significant period of time.

Overland to Egypt by Gordan G May

Overland to Egypt on a 1952 BSA Bantam by Gordan G May (2012)
Read: September 2012

We'd been waiting to read this book for quite a while as we'd assumed Gordan would publish it soon after his adventure finished (summer 2010) but in fact it was only published nearly two years later.

The reason we were so keen to get our hands on the book is because we followed Gordon's adventures on his Overland to Egypt blog at the time of the trip and in fact met him when he finished his (outward) journey in Cairo.  It was really great to meet Gordan as we got to learn loads about his journey and got to show him around our favourite part of Cairo; the Bab Zuweyla area.  On reading the book we were honoured to find we had two mentions; one for our meeting and wander, and a second when Gordon followed a tip-off from us about looking in to the SS Thistlegorm wreck.

The reason behind the delayed publication of the book was one of the things that actually makes the book so unique and 'of a time'; the fact that six months after completing his trip the Arab Spring took place.  Gordon felt that he could not publish the book until he knew that everyone he had met in the region was safe and well.  The person he worried the most about was his guide whilst in Libya who had travelled the breadth of the country with him and welcomed him in to his life.  It was another six months or so after the Arabi Spring that Gordon finally heard from Ezzat that he was safe and well. As a result of the change in the region, it is just no longer possible to do the trip that Gordon did because of security concerns and boarder regulations.

I found the first half of the book itself rather difficult to read.  This was because it is so 'bike' heavy. This is to be expected I guess because the focus of the trip was to travel to Egypt on a vintage motorbike.  I found this first part of the (two) journeys to be very technical with details of the set up and maintenance required on the bike.  At the end of the book, Gordon notes that he learnt a lot about himself, the countries he visited and about motorbike maintenance (!) and I feel that in this way I did too!  Gordon doesn't go on about this aspect of his journey unnecessarily, as the bike seems to break down / need maintenance a few times each day as well as a large overhaul each morning it seems.  By the end of the book I really did question how wise it was to do the ride on this bike in the first place.  I understand his sentimental reasoning, but considering all the problems that there were (even from the first day of the ride!) I think that for any future ride he should really consider a far longer 'test' period to get the bike 'worn in' whilst on familiar turf.  It took him four days to travel to the Channel when it should have taken two, but surely some of the problems he came across could have been identified (or he could have gotten used to) beforehand.

The journey travels through Europe before hitting North Africa and then returning via the eastern Mediterranean, and my preferred section of the book was definitely when he entered Libya and then Egypt.  I found this to be the most interesting because of the personal connection to that coastal road that we too have travelled on, and of course this was my preferred section of the book as it involves us meeting Gordan!

We get a mention on two different days in his journals - first from our meeting and the lovely evening we spent together. And then a few days later too, when he follows up our tip that BSAs were carried and shipwrecked on the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea. We truely did have a wonderful evening when we met Gordan. We love wandering around Downtown and to meet up with him in a small ahwa outside his hotel was brilliant.  We got to meet Peggy too, of course, and after a wander together we had dinner.  I think we got along really well - considering he is someone we effectively 'met on the internet'! - and we weren't left wanting for conversation.  In fact we even walked back to his hotel for a nightcap at the bar there.

After finally getting to his destination (and I am proud to say that we gave him the tip-off about visiting Saqarra pyramid which is where he got the cover shot from) he is still under pressure to keep moving, but seems to be a lot more at ease with the bike.  This makes the journey a lot more enjoyable it feels and he utilises a whole host of different methods for getting the bike to where he wants to me (lifts on the back of lorries, boats, trains etc).

Tropic of Capricorn by Simon Reeve

Tropic of Capricorn: A Remarkable Journey to the Forgotton Corners of the World by Simon Reeve (2009)

Read: September 2012

This book had been sitting on our shelves for about nine months and so I thought that it was about time to get round to reading it.  I wanted a good read to get me back in to reading here in Cairo and this story of a journey around the tropic of Capricorn seemed to fit the bill. What I hadn’t realised when I first picked it up was that this book actually accompanied a TV series – which I now think we should get a copy of!  The author seems to have had an interesting background, as he has presented a TV series before visiting the ‘places that don’t exist’ i.e. places that are not recognised by different organisations like Fifa, the UN, Eurovision – now that programme I’ve got to see!

What was interesting about this book was the range of different countries and hence experiences that are encountered on route, as Capricorn hits southern Africa, Australia and South America.  The author is quite daring in his food and activity choices during the journey as he meets and spends time with local people.  But he is probably more daring in the fact that he is getting married in the middle of the journey and so the first half of the trip he spends planning the wedding from a distance or with his fiancée accompanying him, and the second half he spends trying to get back to her before Christmas!

Although I found some chapters a little too long and needing more breaking up (or maybe this just reflects my need for sleep sooner in the evenings!), the book hangs together very well and the style is very accessible and understanding about the issues and peoples come across. Without revealing what he will find in other countries too soon, Reeve manages to draw out some similar tales that unite these apparently very different countries.  Although the journey is much about meeting the people who live along Capricorn it is not surprising that it is the (changing) climate that they all have in common, and as such the tale turns from a human one to an environmental one.  One that has implications beyond the belt of countries visited.

The Last Testament by Sam Bourne

The Last Testament by Sam Bourne (2007)

Read: August 2012

We had a good trawl of the charity shops in New Malden and Wimbledon one weekend as we realised that we had  returned to the UK without anything much to read for the whole summer!  We had actually brought back a range of books from Cairo, but these were to store in our ”keeping” collection though. This book was found after much browsing of what was on offer and honed in on because of the setting of the story (between Israel and Palestine) and the subject (old artefacts) and the credits (the bloke with the crazy hair and beard at the British Museum was credited because of his help with the cuneiform in the book).

There was not as much on the topic of the artefact itself in the book as I had expected, as for much of the book the tablet is being looked for, rather than being looked at.  It was interesting to see its journey from discovery through looting of the Museum of Baghdad, to illegal selling, transporting and finally translation. 

The real journey that was being followed though was that of Maggie as she tried to trace this object that had caused so much interest.  She, and the reader, had to follow a series of clues, some more obvious than others, that took them from present day to the past, from one country to another and one world to another (I’m still not sure whether the foray in to Second Life was an inspired, or infuriating device)

I was not so interested in Maggie’s love life and personal conflict / attempted redemption in returning to her role of negotiator, but the backdrop of political sensitivity and attempts to bridge the divide between the two countries was good.

I might not rush to pick up another of his books, but this one definitely filled a gap in the summer with something that was engaging and had a little bit of intrigued and mystery in.

Sandstealers by Ben Brown

Sandstealers by Ben Brown (2009)

Read: July - August 2012

This book looked like my cup of tea when we found it in a charity shop in SW London.  I’d enjoyed reading biographies of various journalists in the past (John Snow, Kate Adie and the likes) and this seemed to combine journalism with conflict in areas of the world that we are interested in (the Balkans and the Middle East).

As it was a novel, rather than a biog I knew I’d have to put up with some kind of love story / personal dilemma taking place amongst the characters, but I was able to get over this (even though every character seemed to have their own personal trauma / conflict – much like what people claim with international teaching; that everyone has a backstory).  I found that the book moved with difficulty at first between the present day and the history, but after a while it settled in to a rhythm and pace that I found easy to read.

I did enjoy the settings; the Balkans and then the Middle East, and intense relationships between the journalists, as well as their approaches to their work were well conveyed.  One of the reasons behind buying this book was that the author biog showed that Ben Brown’s alter ego was a conflict correspondent himself.

The twist towards the end of the book was a little disappointing in that everything came back to relationships, rather than the setting itself, but I guess that working in such an intense environment means that relationships are actually important – even though you try not to make them so.

The Village by Nikita Lalwani

The Village by Nikita Lalwani (2012)

Read: July 2012

 

This is one of the few books that I have gone out of my way to buy within the first few months of it being published.  This is because the author is the sister of a good friend from university.  The Village is her second book; the first being Gifted which I also read soon after it was published and enjoyed.

The ‘blurb’ for the book described the story as being about a film crew in India and the ethical decisions they have to make.  This sounded really up my street as it would be more than your simple' ‘film crew abroad’ story. And it was.

It was more than a simple narrative about documentary makers, but there was more about the group dynamics and the relationships between characters within the crew than I expected there to be.  I thought that there was potential to focus more on the protagonists decisions and thought processes around the process of documentary making, than on whether or not she fancied the presenter.  For me, this meant that I enjoyed the first and third sections of the book more than the middle section.  It was the closing section that I found the most interesting in terms of the moral dilemmas that it explored.

What was also interesting with this book, and like Gifted before it, was the dual nationality aspect of the protagonist; someone existing in two cultures but feeling like they don’t quite fit in either.  In a way it reminded me of Alaa Al Aswany, in that Lalwani’s first novel was about an British-Indian family set in Cardiff, but this was about a British-Indian woman returning to India. Both books featured the complex expectations that are unknowingly placed on your shoulders when in such situations.

Overall I did enjoy the book and have recommended it to some friends. I was hoping to recommend it to a media studies teacher, but I haven’t done so yet as I’m not sure the ethical aspects of film-making featured as highly in the book as they could have done compared to the relationships aspect of the story.

I Walked The Line by Vivian Cash

I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny by Vivian Cash (2008)

Read: July 2012

I picked this up ages ago as we’d really enjoyed the Johnny Cash film biog with Joachin Phoenix.  This book thought focused on Johnny Cash’s life with his first wife, but I thought would still be a good read.

When setting down to read it the blurb focused heavily on the fact that she was ‘setting the story straight’ and ‘telling her side’ which had ‘never been told before’.  I couldn’t really work out what preconceptions or stories I’d heard before about Johnny’s first wife and his early career that needed setting straight, but I’m sure she had a good reason to feel hard done by and the need to write the book.

It turned out that over 75% of the book is actually transcripts of three years worth of letters that Johnny had written to Vivian when he was posted in Germany.  He went there just a few months after they met and they were married just a month after her returned from his posting.  To be honest I didn’t read every word of all the letters, but I did skim through them and read some in more detail.  The effect of included them all was seeing a relationship develop (although only being able to see one side of the relationship was weird) and seeing how tough life is when you are posted away from your loved ones.

What the narrative in the book then did show, was how Vivian had to be the stay-at-home mum or their one, then two, then three, then four girls, while Johnny went on tour.  It seems that as the family grew in size Johnny had to be away more often and this naturally led to the strain on the relationship. What led Johnny to drugs I don’t know, but the relationship suffered further from the drugs and then from June Carter.

This is probably the area that is in dispute and that Vivian feels the need to justify, but it is clear that it was not a good situation to be in; four girls, two women, Johnny and the drugs.

I’ve passed this book on to MummyB and warned her that it is interesting, but the bulk of the book is the letters and can be skimmed through to get the rough idea, rather than ploughing through which won’t lead to much more of a deeper understanding.

The Hunger Games (trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games (2011) by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (2011) by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (2011) by Suzanne Collins

Read: June 2012

I rattled through these and really quite enjoyed them so was greatful to have been loaned them by a friend.  At first I had though they were going to be trashy a la Twilight, but there was a lot more to them and I am glad that I didn't dismiss them.  I really want to see the movie now to compare it to the books and I'd like Scott to read the books too, as I think he might like them being a bit sci fi.

To the Baltic with Bob by Griff Rhys Jones

To the Baltic with Bob by Griff Rhys Jones (2005)
Read: May 2012

Scotty read this book quite a while before me, and we bought it in a charity shop spending-spree quite a while before that too. Scotty was not too impressed with it, but persevered through. I think I enjoyed it more than he did, but it wasn't the rip-roaring adventure that the cover promised.

I was prepared for the wit and self-deprecating humour of Griff having followed his adventures in the Three Men In A Boat specials on TV. This definitely featured in the pages, along with his knowingly poor nautical knowledge being made up for by enthusiasm and determination (read as sometimes pig-headiness). So I was prepared for the book and liked this aspect of it - it reminded me of what I enjoyed about the Three Men in a Boats.

As with the Three Men in the Boats, there were very different personalities on the boat and there were differences of opinion (apart from in the case of Griff, who always had a high opinion of himself). I am sure that Griff intended most of the humour to be self-deprecating, but it often turned out to also appear condescending to his crew mates on board. The weird dynamic between the crew becomes clear about half-way through the book when it transpired that Griff was going to have to start paying Bob & co. to join him. It was never clear where the relationships really stood - friendships or professional?

For a travel book though there wasn't enough about the interesting places they visited - most of the action stayed on the boat. What I might have liked would have been a photo of the boat to help me as a non-nautical type get an idea of what Griff was writing about. But maybe that would have taken the emphasis off his descriptions.

Save Way Book Corner

Save Way is the small corner-shop-cum-supermarket where we do nearly all our shopping. It's very 'local' which means it doesn't have five different flavours of Betty Crocker icing like the more expat stores (well it doesn't have any Betty Crocker icing come to think of it) but it does have what we need day to day; bread, eggs, veg and water.

Sometimes we do go to other places to get our veg, but we keep coming back to Save Way for the main items because although it doesn't have the range (you can be sure to get potatoes, tomatoes, onions and courgettes or carrots there all the time, most of the time you can get peppers too, but anything else tends to be short-run), the veg is much better quality than anywhere else.

In the front corner of Save Way when we first moved in they used to have a newspaper and magazine rack, but that gradually faded out of use about two years ago (possibly because the kiosk on the other side of the Grand Mall started selling papers).  Since then the area has been used as a storage area piled high with boxes of crisps or crates of soft drinks. Last week though I noticed that they were starting to clear part of it up.

What has sprung up is a small book store! It's all new books and imported titles (apart from a small AUC Press section) but it looks very good.  As the guy was arranging the books I took a look around and they had an 'Egypt' section which I browsed. Since finishing the Matt Rees series that I loved, I have been on the look out for something else to read that might be similar. On Amazon I managed to find an author with a similar character/setting, Barbar Nadel's series set in Istanbul.

Then by chance I noticed that in the stands was one of her books, quite reasonably priced I thought at 65LE. It was a random book from the mid-series and so I asked the guy if he might be able to get the first in the series. I've asked at bookstores for them to order me books, but not had much luck, so I wasn't holding out too much hope - I knew I could always pick it up from Amazon in the UK in the summer if I wanted to.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I went in to Save Way to pick up some things for lunch today and he came up to me to say he had the book! Well, he didn't actually say he had the book. He actually held another of her books and said to me '10 minutes' and then he dashed off. Ten minutes later (I'd already paid for my shopping so was just browsing his books again) he did indeed come back with the book I'd asked for. Brilliant!

Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih Ghali

Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih Ghali (1964)
Read: April 2012

I picked this book up at the Diwan book fair at work. I know I'm not meant to buy any new books until I've finished the ones I've already got on the shelves (!) but I couldn't resist buying a book with the word 'beer' in the title (and picture on the front cover) that was on sale in a school!

This is the only book by the author who died young and it had some rave reviews on the back about the potential of this writer and comparisons in style to some other literary greats. The book follows a young man as he is trying to make his way in life, discover women and continue his love of beer (and general lounging at the snooker club).

I would have liked more of the novel to be set in Cairo, the middle section is set in England, but this does offer an alternative view on the situation in the middle east at that time and British perspectives on Egypt to come through also which I must admit was interesting. Even those who had visited Egypt, as part of the army deployment there, were still unfamiliar with life there and came back with the preconceptions that they had started with at home.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995)
Read: April 2012

People rave about this musical and so when I saw the book on the shelf at work (we have an 'open library' in the staff room with books of varying age and quality!) I thought I'd pick it up.  Ironically when Lis and the kids came over on holiday she was reading it too!

The premise of the book is that it is a side-story from the Wizard of Oz tale as it tells the story of where the Wicked Witch of the West came from.  It follows her birth and growing up as she goes to school and is a young woman. The story though jumps about a bit and the exact purpose of the tale is hard to follow at times. It doesn't provide as clear an introduction to her back story as I'd expected. Maybe it would have helped my understanding if I'd swatted up on the Wizard of Oz again, but I thought my general knowledge would have been enough for the story to make sense.

Maybe this is what the Lord of the Rings books are like - that as you have to create a whole fantasy world you have to work hard to follow the story and the rules of this new world that the characters inhabit. It's a lot more than just following the characters because you actually have to introduce the characters and the setting to the reader. I coped with the 'other world' of Harry Potter, but maybe that is an unfair comparison!

There are others in the series / style by the same author, but I think that fantasy is not my genre.

Playing Cards in Cairo by Hugh Miles

Playing Cards in Cairo: Mint Tea, Tarneeb and Tales of the City by Hugh Miles (2004)
Read: March - April 2012

This book came courtesy of DaddyP and the cover looked strangely familiar, but on reading the blurb is wasn't one that I had heard of before.  I really enjoyed this book though and it felt like I whizzed through it. I've actually already passed it back to DaddyP as I think he should take a read of it and it will definitely be going in our 'keeper' collecting of Egypt books.

The book is a biography is sorts in that it follows Hugh's time living in Cairo. He was in Cairo as a journalist, but on returning to a rainy UK decides that he wants to be back in Cairo - and besides, he's just met a girl he'd like to get to know more.

What follows is sort of a Cairo-based version of the Girls of Riyadh. It is told from Hugh's perspective which shows his struggle to get to know this Egyptian girl better and overcome the restrictive views on male/female interactions.  But what he does see is more about how the lives for young Egyptian women are shaped by the society they live in and how they shape their lives to cope with their families and the city.

There are some great tales of trying to stay out late or trying to snoop in on each others dates, and what makes this such a great book is that it is all so every-day and so real.

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell (2008)
Read: March 2012

I was sent this book by a UKN friend who had read it and wanted to pass it on to me.  There are two UKN links within the book which made me smile - the most obvious is that the story focuses on a lady visiting and discovering herself in Cairo, Egypt and the Middle East. The second link is that the protagonist (and the author) lives in Cleveland, Ohio - where another fellow UKN lives!

What was interesting about the book was that TE Lawrence appeared again - this time being called Teddy. he had the same character of someone who was passionate about the area and the people, as well as showing it to those who were interested. In this case it is Agnes who is interested and he takes on various adventures.  These are 'adventures' for her, coming from small-town America with very limited outside experience, but nothing compared to those I read of in Empire of Sand. 

It is this that is meant to be the attraction of the book I think; that you emphasis with this lone woman traveller as she discovers the Middle East and her herself.  It is a dreamers dream that they too hob nob with Teddy, Churchill, and the like, then find companionship with a German spy. My imagination and desires go beyond this slightly and so this book definitely left me wanting more.

The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

The Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea (2005, translated 2008)
Read: February 2012

I saw this on a friend's bookshelf and did the 'Oh, can I read that?' Luckily they had already read it and so I didn't feel so bad about jumping in to request a loan. I took it with me when we travelled to the UK at half-term and managed to finish it during the week we were there. It was a quick read, but a good read. One that I am pleased that I did read, especially after hearing it mentioned so often, and luckily it did live up to my expectations.

I knew that the book was about the 'life' of girls in Saudi and although the culture there is a lot more strict than that in Egypt, I could see a lot of what I imagine some of our student's lives are like - the privileged class.

What I think was popular about this book was the style it was written in - this e-newsletter that was being sent weekly to its readers that included the story as it had developed, but also a small commentary from the writer based on the feedback she'd had that week. I personally wasn't to enamoured by this style, and would have been happy to just read the main story itself. The only aspect of this format that was interesting to me was thinking about which of the four girls was the 'author' in this scenario. The book never reveals this and tries to get around it by talking from the pov of all three.

I did enjoy the different stories of the girls and seeing how their lives progressed. They all had their shares of ups and downs and although I sometimes felt they were naive there were genuine moments of unfairness that you could see in their lives, the way they were treated, or the way others reacted.

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz (1947, translated 1966)
Read: February 2012

Another classic that I think DaddyP picked up for me months ago and I've only just got round to reading. This was challenging at times, but I got on with it pretty well (helped along by the fact that our flight to the UK didn't have any in-flight entertainment!)and finished it within a few weeks.

It was great to again be reading about areas I knew in Cairo as the story is set off Mueizz / Muski near Midan Hussein. I can just imagine the narrow alleyways that you don't realise are there until you take a gamble and step between two shops, only to find yourself walking in a dark street (because the balconies of the floors above almost meet across the street) with small shops or businesses set back in the buildings, or, in the case of the ahwa's, spilling on to the street.

What this book revealed to me was more about the honours / loyalty / respect that women and families strive for, as well as the role of brothers and fathers in families and maintaining the public image. This was something that would come up again in the next few books that I chose to read; the Girls of Riyadh and then Playing Cards in Cairo.

Maryam's Maze by Mansoura Ez Eldin

Maryam's Maze by Mansoura Ez Eldin (2004, translated 2007)
Read: February 2012

Wow - I'm speeding through books at the moment it feels! This feeling may be helped on by the fact that I'm keeping up to date with the blog and by the fact that this last book was a slim volume!

I picked this book up a few years ago (gosh - that shows how long we've been in Egypt!) when I went to Makan for the second hand book fair.  If I had picked it up post-'Being Abbas El Abd' then I might have been more turned-off by the likening to Poe or Palahniuk in the blurb. Unfortunatly this was another one of those 'modern' arabic novels that actually takes it too far for me - I can't do with the psychological stories where dream and reality can't be distinguished and the characters are all fleeting and may be part of their imagination or real. There was nothing familiar in this book that I could identify with in terms of the content or the setting. It's one I'll be passing on, I'm afraid.

Kayaks down the Nile by John Goddard

Kayaks down the Nile by John Goddard (1979)
Read: February 2012

The front cover on this books shows the rollocking adventure that is in store - white water and elephants suggest that this is a real 'boy's own' adventure.  DaddyP passed this on to us and it has been sitting on the shelf for a while waiting to be read. I wasn't in a rush to read it as I thought it might be a bit dated and not really what I was in to, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It also went quite well to read this account of boating along the Nile just after reading a more recent expedition tale Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff.

This book is very readable and Goddard's style is very accessible even now many years after his adventure. It is presented as his diary and some entries are longer than others, sometimes days are grouped together, or just missed out if they remained in one place for a period of time (to fix the kayaks for example).

What is amazing about the journey itself is the equipment and support that they had / didn't have.  They arrive late to their first major stop and are greeted by concerned citizens who had been expecting them days before. The rips that they sustain to their crafts - and their ability to patch them up - show just how good the technology was and makes you think about how such a journey might be carried out today.

The progress of their journey was really clear and divided into three sections. The changes in wildlife, settlement and the river marked each day as unique. The number of people too along the way who aided their journey was amazing too. The network of missionaries and foreign links along the way meant they had someone to look out for in villages along the way. It was also touching to read of the kindness of strangers as every time they asked they would be offered somewhere to stay and sleep the night and helped with food along the way.

I was surprised to find that their journey, in many ways, got more treacherous the further along it went.  As they paddled in to the more populated areas of the Nile in Egypt they got more and more attention. In the first two parts of the book they human interaction was very positive and showed only friendliness and curiosity (naturally), but there were two incidents described when the kayaks were chased and almost ambushed and left a very sour taste in the mouth when reading.

What I would have liked to see more in the book was hearing the perspective of the other two Nileteers who were taking the expedition with Goddard. He mentions numerous times, more so towards the end of the book, about how the three of them might paddle separately during the day. This might be due to speed, or just stopping off at different villages or spots that take their interest. The group even have different over-night stop-offs at times and I would have been interested to know more about what the rest of the group saw and experienced. I understand why this was not included; this was Goddard's book after all and written in a 'diary' style, but it could have provided a more full account of their journey.

I would have also liked to have seen the map having a few more details added to it, and one or two of the pictures that accompanied the text were out of order (showing the Sphinx before they've reached Abu Simble?). A total breakdown at the end of the book showing the dates and the locations / distances would have been interesting, as would a 'kit' list.  I've seen these in the more recent Long Way round / Down series and they made you realise what goes in to a trip like this.

Jack, Watching Clouds by Jonathan Todd

Jack, Watching Clouds by Jonathan Todd (unpublished)
Read: February 2012

The Cliffs of Cairo by Elsa Marston

The Cliffs of Cairo by Elsa Marston (1981 /1998)
Read: February 2012



I strumbled upon this in Volume 1, the bookstore at the end of our road in Maadi. It is a small paperback and has the shape and feel of a self-published book. It's actually published by Hoopoe books - which is interesting as I'm currently tracking down some other Hoopoe publications for my I Spy Egypt side-project.


The book is about Tabby who is an expat teenager living in Cairo but who enjoys exploring the Old Cairo that the rest of her family aren't too fussed with.  It's very well observed in terms of conveying the life of an expat in Cairo as well as of the people of Cairo in general. I kept having to turn to the front of the book to confirm when it was written because, apart from the prices mentioned, it sounded like the Cairo I know. What I enjoyed about the book also was recognising the places mentioned (where she lived, describing the old antiques shops and the boats on the Corniche as well as the hills of Moqattam) as well as the people she met (the friendly bowab, the surley tourist policeman).

It was only small parts of the book didn't chime true to me, but maybe things have changed since it was written. She mentions taking the public bus and I don't think I've seen a single westerner in Cairo on a public bus, let alone a teenage girl. Other elements were added to give suspense, such as being followed and intimidated by those after her ikon.

The story itself was somewhat lacking. I found that there were realy two stories and the author couldn't seem to decide which to give the lead to. Firstly there was the ikon that Tabby found and then found herself being followed for as the antiques dealer tried to reclaim it. Then there was her fascination with the mosque on top of the Moqattam hills that she visited and wanted to explore again. Whilst the author tried to weave these together I felt that it might have been better to simply focus on one, or the other.

Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney

Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney (2007)
Read: January - February 2012

We picked this book up new (not common for us!) but from a discount bookstore (of course!) I was attracted to it for two reasons; being about travelling in Egypt and also being about rowing. I didn't have high hopes for it though, as we bought it at the same time as the Cleopatra's Needle / Cycling book which I thought was a bit naff. Finding that this book had a 'reader's guide' of questions for your book group to consider didn't really help either!

But I was pleasently surprised and found that I enjoyed this book and read it in about two weeks. While Rosemary was very confident at first about the prospect of being able to find a boat that she could buy, she soon realised that this was a difficult task - and another difficult task to convince people that she could/would row it!  It was a really nice character study to read about her befriending the receptionist at the hotel she was first staying at - and finding out more about her life and the life of a women in Upper Egypt. Rosemary had a clear understanding of what a white woman walking around by herself in Egypt could expect and took all of this with grace. She became fustrated at times, but didn't let attitudes get to her, which was reassuring.

Her realism and positivity paid off when she met Amr who was 'not like the other guys' as he wasn't fazed by a western woman asking him about his boat. He let her try his boat out and asked a reasonable price and by letting her into his home as well, the book contains further insight into life in Upper Egypt.

Rosemary starts her journey with help from Amr and once she has got over the hurdle of getting started, she is abel to finally get on with her journey as she imagined it; being alone on the Nile. This journey wasn't about proving physical fitness, or about going somewhere specific, it was just about having the chance to really see part of Egypt.

The issue that I felt wasn't addressed in the book was whether Rosemary realised that it may have been a slightly selfish act to try and buy a boat from someone. Yes, in the end she did just leave her boat on the bank for someone to find, but for the fisherman who's boat she bought I don't know if she considered that this boat was his livelihood. OK she was giving him a fair amount of money for it, but he would then have the trouble potentially of finding another boat. I see that she wanted to be authentic - rather than just have a boat made for her.

Her night-time incident in her second rowing trip did highlight the fact that anyone on their own could be vulnerable, but as the events evolve it's clear that she has been very lucky.  Without this incident though and you might question whether she was right to be cautious - I think it is always right to be cautious in situations unknown!

The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy

The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy (2002)
Read: January 2012

Scotty really enjoyed this book - and his last one - so it was about time that I got on to it.  I did enjoy this book and got through it in only a few weeks back in Cairo.  I hadn't got into the first book as much, partly because it wasn't clear where it was going. To an extent this book was the same as each chapter was very distinct, but actually this worked well to show the different stories within his travels.

Each chapter sees McCarthy travel to a different corner of the globe on the trail of the McCarthy clan. He ends up in Tazmania, Morroco, Alaska and America which shows how far flung McCarthys have managed to get! It's part clan (not quite family) history and part travel books as McCarthy tries to dig into the tales of various ancestors and meet peope and see places along the way.

I love the idea of him performing a reading to the rowdy game crowd in the lead-up to Paddy's Day and the tiny town of McCarthy where he is invited around for dinner. His tales of trying to shake eager local guides off in Morroco sound exactly as I've expereinced and all of these are told in a great style.

Davies: translator of Arabic literature

This article was in this week's Al Ahram: Davies: translator of Arabic literature

I recognised the name Humphrey Davies as he has indeed translated many of the modern Arabic novels I've read.  It's interesting that he doesn't want to be drawn into a conversation about what should or shouldn't be translated, and also that he's booked up with translating work (rightly so!).

An excert from the article (below) mentions one book I wrote about on this site, being Abbas El Abd. When writing about the book I did mention the translation and the translator's note!

"Davies says that he makes a point of calling on living writers whose work he translates for advice, among them Ahmed Alaydi, whose novel Being Abbas El Abd ( An takun 'Abbas al-Abd ) is written in a mixture of styles, including parodies of the standard language, the Cairene vernacular, the speech of the country's young people, and the langue de bois of the Egyptian national press. In this work in particular the challenge for the translator lies in finding apt equivalents for these styles in contemporary English, bearing in mind that the readers of the translation may in themselves be used to different varieties of English vernacular"

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (2002)
Read: December 2011

I read this in about two weeks over the break in the UK. I was given a soft paperback version by MummyB in the summer as she had read it; having been given this copy by her sister who had read it too. I was a little skeptical about the 'get all the women you know to read this book' message that I'd heard about this book, but was willing to give it a go. I knew in the back of my mind that a film had been made of it, so it must be half decent.

Indeed it was. It was a classic female tale of identity, discovery and sisterhood. The story is framed by the politics of race, but while they feature they do not dominate the story. There are only three male characters (all of whom are minor) but this does not make the book lacking. I had some frustrations at times with Lily, as I wished she would be as honest as she could be with the others, but I understood her worries about telling the truth at times. It was a feel-good book and one that gives you hope to do well and be done well by others.

I must admit to having passed it onto a charity shop, rather than onto another woman directly, but I think I have done my bit to get the good book around. Will I see the film? No. But that's more because I enjoyed the book and don't need the film to reaffirm that, rather than not wanting to repeat the story again.

The Devil's Paintbrush by Jake Arnott

The Devil's Paintbrush by Jake Arnott (2009)
Read: December 2011

I picked this book up that had been on our shelves for about a year, as I knew it was one that would end up back in the UK. So if I managed to read it and finish it during the holiday I could just leave it there.

It was only after I picked it up that I realised that it was actually a signed copy (!) and that it was actually signed to my dad (I'd thought it was ours, but maybe it was more of a 'loan' copy).

I didn't think it would be such a hard read, but it was difficult to keep track of the characters and where the story was going at times. It was another book of flashbacks and characters that would wander in and out of the narrative. I'd hoped that it would give some more insight into colonialism in Egypt during this time period, but there was very little mention of the setting (and very little set here) which was disappointing.

I did manage to finish the book back in the UK and passed it back to dad. Reassuringly he also wasn't too impressed with it. Guess that was why it ended up on our bookshelf!