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.
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.
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