Cain's Field by Matt Rees

Cain's Field by Matt Rees (2004)
Read: February 2011

I've read two of Matt Rees' books before - he writes the Yussef Omar detective novels. Scotty got me this for my birthday and I was really pleased when I opened it as you know I enjoyed his other books. Then Scotty pointed out that actually this was really difficult for him to get a copy of as it his first book, an academic text that is out of print- wow!
The full title is Cain's Field - Faith, Fratricide and Fear in the Middle East, and it was written by Rees at the end of his time in the region as a journalist. Rees has a huge insight in to the region from the time spent here and it seems that he concentrated his time on speaking to every day people on either side of the conflict - listening to the real stories of people on the ground. The book is split in to two sections; Isreal and Palestine. The stories that form the different chapters show the conflicts within each territory, rather than between them.

It is a truely fascinating and enlightening book I feel. Rees obviously knows the area and it's people well by the way he can weave their narratives together to form the different chapters. Each chapter is firmly set within a side (Isreal or Palestine) but contains two or more stories that show the conflicts that people are fighting internally. These conflicts are leading to hate, violence, distrust, death and destruction. And so from that sense it is a very sad book. Rees however manages to, through these stories, deomstrate that the way forward in the region, that has the most chance of success, is to first address these internal conflicts. How can two countries come to agreement when they cannot agree within their own walls?

I learnt a lot reading this book and I do feel that I have learnt more about the area; not simply learning an author's views. I hope my trust is not misplaced (and have no reason to think it might be) but the time Rees has spent in the area as a journalist gives me the confidence that these narratives represent a truth about the region. Maybe not the only truth, but definitly a truth and in all cases the stories need to be heard as they represent real people living through this.

Hippo Eats Dwarf by Alex Boese

Hippo Eats Dwarf by Alex Boese (2006)

Read: February 2011

Pasquale lent this to me as he was on his way out of the apartment to Oman. I decided to give myself a lighter read for the next few days and so read it straight away rather than going onto my new Matt Rees.

This book required a lot of internet research and a little bit of writing. It's basically a collection of internet, or other, hoaxes and dissecting whether they are true or not and their affect on the psyche today.

The most interesting aspects were examples that came up from a few hundred years ago of hoaxes, urban legends and old wives tales. And then how these are still around today. I wasn't too impressed though by the sections dedicated to "the number one forwarded picture of 2004" of baby Hitler etc. Dross.

Could be an interesting book for my Theory of Knowledge class - how do you decide if something is true or not? Does it matter if what you believe is true? Can an untruth have more impact than a truth? But mainly this was predictable stuff but it did get me through a couple of days under curfew.

A Passage to Africa by George Alagiah

A Passage to Africa by George Alagiah (2002)
Read: January 2011

Scotty and I do like our news reporter biographies so we picked this up in a charity shop over the summer. Also it's focused on Africa which is another reason to buy and read and hoard!
I grabbed this off the shelf when we were packing a few things to head over to Flossie's to observe curfew. The first day of reading it I didn't get far - we've got the TV on all day streaming news about Tahrir Square - because of keeping an ear and eye open for what is happening. This book takes a little more concentration that the last one. Once into the swing of reading it I got through it in about four or five days I think.

My favourite sections were in the latter half and were about the revolution in Zaire. This was obviously fascinating to read with everything that is going on around us at the moment here in Egypt. Also in general the feeling of being a reporter and so out of place in the country you are reporting in (and sometimes living in, in the case of South Africa for Alagiah). There were definitely parallels that I could draw with today here in Egypt where all westerners are being suspected of being journalists and are therefore being treated with suspicion that they are propagating the uprising that is taking place.

I did enjoy the early parts of the book where Alagiah talks about his family when he was growing up and their journey when they left Ceylon for Africa. How amazing it was to have your first flight be that when you leave your home country, but five flights later you are only just arriving at your new home. Alagiah also talks about his own children in the book (who, according to my mother, now attend my old secondary school). They are growing up as ex-pats in South Africa and it sounds like an amazing time for them to have been there and such a unique and valuable experience for them to have had

I was really interested to read the sections talking about Rwanda. I found the film Hotel Rwanda amazing and have since been interested in the stories of this terrible time. The story Alagiah tells of his translator being accused of genocide and he suddenly not knowing who to believe is fascinating as he becomes aware that his impartiality as a reporter isn't as strong as his humanity for the man who is now a friend.

High Noon by Nora Roberts

High Noon by Nora Roberts (2007)
Read: January 2011

I was sent this book as part of the UKNova gift swap. The swap is designed for you to send/receive gifts that show something about the place that you live in. So I got a copy of High Noon by Nora Roberts. And not just any copy - a signed copy! Apparently it took 12 hours of queuing to get this signed the sender told me and that "it's very American"...
I was a little surprised to get a book, as normally you get some weird food stuffs or tea towels and post cards, but as I am a real booky person since moving out here it was a really great gift (I don't know if the sender knew this or not). I didn't know the book or author, but a little browse on the internet and I think it's been made into a TV series (?).  


Halfway through reading it my thoughts were:

"I'm reading the book that I was sent in the UKNova gift swap at the moment. The sender said that it describes America really well - well only if America is full of "single, female hostage negotiators with a complicated back story and love life that collides with their professional life only to find romance blossom but be under threat by a colleague at the same time" Bleugh! I'll try and finish it to do the swap justice...."

Did my view change? Well I ploughed through it quickly enough - it was an easy read and although it was a bit trashy it was more engaging than some fiction that's all about love and life. This was a cop story with a bit of intrigued and so it was entertaining and I had to think a bit (not much, but a bit).


I'm still not sure how this is "really American". It can't described a typical American life or American Dream, can it? Maybe the dramatisation and love-through-complicated-back-story-with-hang-ups is typically American TV / Book and this is what is popular there. Yes that must be it - kind of like CSI is popular maybe? The fact that this book has the "Nora Roberts seal" that guarantees that it is an original work suggests how prolific this writer is - Americans just can't get enough of it I assume.

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!