Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz
Read: May 2010
Rather than a novel this feels more like an extended moral. The story does start with a foreshadowing that then plague Khufu's reign. The reader knows the secret and wonders how long the pretence will last and will it ever be found out. The story is really one of nature vs. nurture; what does "parent" mean, and I think that this tale shows that for the individual biological is only a small aspect of who you are compared to how you are raised. For Khufu though biological and foreshadowing is everything and he cannot see beyond this.
This was one of Mahfouz's earliest novels. I understand that he wrote tales about ancient Egypt, to gain a steady footing as a writer, before moving into the more contentious modern world.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz
Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz (1974, translated 2007)
Read: May 2010
A short story, retold to the narrator from three different perspectives.
Karnak Cafe hosts the young and the old, those who sit and drink tea, those who come for shisha, those who come to talk, those who come to look and those who come to be alone. Mahfouz's descriptions takes me to any number of cafes that I see along the streets (those of real Cairo) as the locals while away their time their. The characters too are fascinating to read. I think I see them in the cafe's themselves, but to have them translated into print means I do know when I am looking at the hostess, the lady who runs the cafe and then the man who runs after her, the quiet and regular and the outspoken. But the outspoken can't stay for long and soon the cafe's dynamic is turned upside down after police raids. Young friends and lovers aren't the same and its' only once we get the second story starting do we begin to understand why. It is then the final story that lets us see the full picture of the cafe. Everyone has a different desire and a different price they can pay.
A really great book here that paints a stunning picture of this cafe and the life that takes place in, around and through it.
Read: May 2010
A short story, retold to the narrator from three different perspectives.
Karnak Cafe hosts the young and the old, those who sit and drink tea, those who come for shisha, those who come to talk, those who come to look and those who come to be alone. Mahfouz's descriptions takes me to any number of cafes that I see along the streets (those of real Cairo) as the locals while away their time their. The characters too are fascinating to read. I think I see them in the cafe's themselves, but to have them translated into print means I do know when I am looking at the hostess, the lady who runs the cafe and then the man who runs after her, the quiet and regular and the outspoken. But the outspoken can't stay for long and soon the cafe's dynamic is turned upside down after police raids. Young friends and lovers aren't the same and its' only once we get the second story starting do we begin to understand why. It is then the final story that lets us see the full picture of the cafe. Everyone has a different desire and a different price they can pay.
A really great book here that paints a stunning picture of this cafe and the life that takes place in, around and through it.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks
Read: April 2010
A final Dahab read that was mostly devoured on the bus home. We decided at the end of this break to get the public bus back as flights were getting too expensive So with five hours of reading time ahead of me I got stuck into this (journey was longer than five hours, but darkness led to looking out of the window rather than trying to squint at the text).
You can't go wrong with Tony Hawks to be honest. He's just a normal guy who does random things and writes about them. Now there are a few of those around (Danny Wallace, Dave Gorman etc) but Hawks is surely the original. He decides (in a bet of course) to try and find the Moldovan football team and play them all at tennis. The story is fun and entertaining but as it's Moldova he's exploring you get to find out more than say he was travelling across America (although reading about all the arse-end-of-nowhere towns that DG visited was pretty cool). The book was written a fair few years ago and so Tony seems to have bagged himself the only translator and tourist visa to get there. Getting around is fun and reminds me of Cairo as he walks pot-holed streets in the dark to get home. He struggles with public transport, boarder bureaucracy and jobsworth officials. Reminds me of Egypt again, but with a Eastern Europe flavour.
Read: April 2010
A final Dahab read that was mostly devoured on the bus home. We decided at the end of this break to get the public bus back as flights were getting too expensive So with five hours of reading time ahead of me I got stuck into this (journey was longer than five hours, but darkness led to looking out of the window rather than trying to squint at the text).
You can't go wrong with Tony Hawks to be honest. He's just a normal guy who does random things and writes about them. Now there are a few of those around (Danny Wallace, Dave Gorman etc) but Hawks is surely the original. He decides (in a bet of course) to try and find the Moldovan football team and play them all at tennis. The story is fun and entertaining but as it's Moldova he's exploring you get to find out more than say he was travelling across America (although reading about all the arse-end-of-nowhere towns that DG visited was pretty cool). The book was written a fair few years ago and so Tony seems to have bagged himself the only translator and tourist visa to get there. Getting around is fun and reminds me of Cairo as he walks pot-holed streets in the dark to get home. He struggles with public transport, boarder bureaucracy and jobsworth officials. Reminds me of Egypt again, but with a Eastern Europe flavour.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Aberystwysth Mon Amour by Malcom Price
Aberystwysth Mon Amour by Malcom Price (1991)
Read: April 2010
Another one started/finished in the Dahab break - holidays and bus rides are great for reading :)
Now the cover of this really reminds me of the books my dad has; pulp-y. It's intentional as the book is a pulp crime novel...it just happens to be set in Aberystwyth in the 1980's! Sounds dubious, I know, but it actually turns out to be very good.
The writing style is really mmy thing here. It's just so tongue-in-cheek and totally serious about the crime in question, being a detective etc which might be otherwise difficult when it invovles ice cream and kids! It's got the right number of twists and turns too. So easy to read, but not simple, just engrossing. Funny in many places and really funny in more.
We were lent this by JT and after I'd finished I did email dad to see if he'd heard of it. I think dad would approve as it's pulp but very tongue-in-cheek. It turns out that dad has actually got this (amybe I've subconsciously already seen it on the bookshelves) and knows that there are a few others in the series. He'll keep an eye out for them at car boots / jumbles for us. It's also be turned into a radio play too....I feel we're behind the times in Cairo.
Read: April 2010
Another one started/finished in the Dahab break - holidays and bus rides are great for reading :)
Now the cover of this really reminds me of the books my dad has; pulp-y. It's intentional as the book is a pulp crime novel...it just happens to be set in Aberystwyth in the 1980's! Sounds dubious, I know, but it actually turns out to be very good.
The writing style is really mmy thing here. It's just so tongue-in-cheek and totally serious about the crime in question, being a detective etc which might be otherwise difficult when it invovles ice cream and kids! It's got the right number of twists and turns too. So easy to read, but not simple, just engrossing. Funny in many places and really funny in more.
We were lent this by JT and after I'd finished I did email dad to see if he'd heard of it. I think dad would approve as it's pulp but very tongue-in-cheek. It turns out that dad has actually got this (amybe I've subconsciously already seen it on the bookshelves) and knows that there are a few others in the series. He'll keep an eye out for them at car boots / jumbles for us. It's also be turned into a radio play too....I feel we're behind the times in Cairo.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Read: April 2010
Mum bought me this for Christmas as she'd read it and really enjoyed it. I think it was a few years ago and remember seeing it around...and often getting confused between this David Mitchell and the other David Mitchell (from Mitchell and Webb). Having seen the title around, and front cover, I had misconceptions about what the book was about. Now that I've read it, can I say what it's about? (now feeling bad for writing this review months after having read it) but generally it's hard to say exactly what the book is about.
Cloud Atlas is a series of stories that at first make sense individually and seem to have things in common, but it is only when you are a few stories in that the links really become clear. To my reading (and maybe I missed something here) they aren't overly connected, but there is a tie between each consecutive story. I really got into the book in the second half where the stories start going back on themselves. A bit complicated to explain, but somehow it works.
The story I enjoyed most was that of Somni - who is discovering the world for the first time through new eyes so to speak. One of the stories was written in a regional dialect type thing and this was difficult to read - probably like Trainspotting is. I really enjoyed the Louisa Ray story which was that of a whistle-blower-cum-detective. Great read.
Read: April 2010
Mum bought me this for Christmas as she'd read it and really enjoyed it. I think it was a few years ago and remember seeing it around...and often getting confused between this David Mitchell and the other David Mitchell (from Mitchell and Webb). Having seen the title around, and front cover, I had misconceptions about what the book was about. Now that I've read it, can I say what it's about? (now feeling bad for writing this review months after having read it) but generally it's hard to say exactly what the book is about.
Cloud Atlas is a series of stories that at first make sense individually and seem to have things in common, but it is only when you are a few stories in that the links really become clear. To my reading (and maybe I missed something here) they aren't overly connected, but there is a tie between each consecutive story. I really got into the book in the second half where the stories start going back on themselves. A bit complicated to explain, but somehow it works.
The story I enjoyed most was that of Somni - who is discovering the world for the first time through new eyes so to speak. One of the stories was written in a regional dialect type thing and this was difficult to read - probably like Trainspotting is. I really enjoyed the Louisa Ray story which was that of a whistle-blower-cum-detective. Great read.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Sphinx by T.S Learner
Sphinx by T.S Learner
Read: March 2010
This book inspired an article in the Grauniad Travel section about the sites in Alexandria. We were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves as we've done most of those mentioned in the paper. There was a competition, which we entered, but didn't win (to get tickets from London to Cairo), but we thought we should go and buy the book to see what the hype was about - if the Grauniad like a book this much, surely it's good?
Sadly not. It was OK, but nothing special. It was likened to The Da Vinci Code but for Egypt and I can see where this has come from as the central character is running around the country trying to solve a mystery. It is rather like the Da Vinci Code in that an artifact is discovered, everyone wants it and one man is trying to solve it. Instead of clues in paintings and museums though, the clues are around Alexandria and ancient Egyptian texts.
For me the most interesting parts of the book are in the early section to do with scuba diving (the protagonists wife discovers said artifact on a dive), and the city of Aexandria in the 1970's...which is not so different from the Alexandria we know.
The story moves at a pace enough, but the ending is dissapointing; wrapping up the story in a mysticism that was unsolvable earlier on.
Never-the-less this books has unwittingly started our collection of Egypt/North Africa/Middle Eastern-based fiction. We're not being fussy about quality (although maybe we should be), but will now pick up books in charity stores that fall along our theme.
Read: March 2010
This book inspired an article in the Grauniad Travel section about the sites in Alexandria. We were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves as we've done most of those mentioned in the paper. There was a competition, which we entered, but didn't win (to get tickets from London to Cairo), but we thought we should go and buy the book to see what the hype was about - if the Grauniad like a book this much, surely it's good?
Sadly not. It was OK, but nothing special. It was likened to The Da Vinci Code but for Egypt and I can see where this has come from as the central character is running around the country trying to solve a mystery. It is rather like the Da Vinci Code in that an artifact is discovered, everyone wants it and one man is trying to solve it. Instead of clues in paintings and museums though, the clues are around Alexandria and ancient Egyptian texts.
For me the most interesting parts of the book are in the early section to do with scuba diving (the protagonists wife discovers said artifact on a dive), and the city of Aexandria in the 1970's...which is not so different from the Alexandria we know.
The story moves at a pace enough, but the ending is dissapointing; wrapping up the story in a mysticism that was unsolvable earlier on.
Never-the-less this books has unwittingly started our collection of Egypt/North Africa/Middle Eastern-based fiction. We're not being fussy about quality (although maybe we should be), but will now pick up books in charity stores that fall along our theme.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve (1998)
Read: March 2010
We were left this book by MJ when she came to visit. I was thankful that although it was fiction it wasn't the trashy kind, but looked more thoughtful than that.
The story follows a photographer on assignment to document the site of a murder in the 1870's on a small island. As she composes her shots, her story is intertwined with that of the survivor. Their family situation different, but similar themes emerge.
The scenes on the island, both in present day and in the survivors' letters, describe a bleak place where you have to work to survive. Maybe that is why the murders were motivated and why this group of five are drawn to it.
I feel sorry for the protaganist who gradually feels that she is being sidelined by her husband for another women. She often describes a scene implying she is just an observer, not active in it, and this is all happening around her. But then I also feel frustrated that she has let it come to this and wonder why she doesn't work harder at staying together for their daughter's sake.
But actually I realise that she is herself lost. Lost in emotion, lost in memory.
I surprised myself by generally enjoying this book - maybe it has helped put some of my faith back into reading fiction. As long as I need to think a bit then fiction is an option.
Read: March 2010
We were left this book by MJ when she came to visit. I was thankful that although it was fiction it wasn't the trashy kind, but looked more thoughtful than that.
The story follows a photographer on assignment to document the site of a murder in the 1870's on a small island. As she composes her shots, her story is intertwined with that of the survivor. Their family situation different, but similar themes emerge.
The scenes on the island, both in present day and in the survivors' letters, describe a bleak place where you have to work to survive. Maybe that is why the murders were motivated and why this group of five are drawn to it.
I feel sorry for the protaganist who gradually feels that she is being sidelined by her husband for another women. She often describes a scene implying she is just an observer, not active in it, and this is all happening around her. But then I also feel frustrated that she has let it come to this and wonder why she doesn't work harder at staying together for their daughter's sake.
But actually I realise that she is herself lost. Lost in emotion, lost in memory.
I surprised myself by generally enjoying this book - maybe it has helped put some of my faith back into reading fiction. As long as I need to think a bit then fiction is an option.
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