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What Members Thought
A true masterpiece is what Tahir Shah has given us with this masterful tour-de-force of the human story. In these tales-within-tales Tahir has woven nothing less than the essentials of life. Part of the mastery of what he has accomplished is that the reader doesn't even have to have a clue that anything important is contained within the story. It is sufficient unto itself in that it is immensely entertaining to read and experience - similar to a white-water rapids ride that is perilously close t
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Scorpion Soup: A story in a story
I was wondering how Tahir Shah would follow Travels with Myself and he switched direction and produced Timbuctoo. Now another switch, a book that he himself describes as " a hymn to The Thousand and One Nights". It is much shorter than that classic , around 33,000 words but it is so rich and multi-layered that it feels so much longer. A hymn yes, but a choir of angels,grotesques, hermits, princesses, children and all sorts of magical creatures to sing it.
Here we ...more
I was wondering how Tahir Shah would follow Travels with Myself and he switched direction and produced Timbuctoo. Now another switch, a book that he himself describes as " a hymn to The Thousand and One Nights". It is much shorter than that classic , around 33,000 words but it is so rich and multi-layered that it feels so much longer. A hymn yes, but a choir of angels,grotesques, hermits, princesses, children and all sorts of magical creatures to sing it.
Here we ...more
Scorpion Soup: A story in a story was released earlier this year by travel writer and novelist Tahir Shah. It is a marvelous collection of intricate tales, each one serving as the nest for the next, and the next, until they come around to – but read the book and you’ll see. The stories are magical, practical, full of suffering yet vivifying, gentle yet strong. They remind me of mosaic tiles, each one carefully made, and all carefully combined to make a pattern. Or a number of patterns. The tales
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This book of 18 tales ("...a small hymn to The Thousand and One Nights," writes Shah) is gorgeous to behold. The signposts along this fantastic journey of tales within tales are fold out reproductions of Wilhelm Blaeu's 17th century maps. You could spend hours studying them, pouring over the Latin names to orient yourself to a world you think you know, if the sheer magnetic pull of the stories didn't steer you back to the next adventure with a Djinn, a witch or a questing knight. A book to read
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I love Tahir Shah's books, but this one did not impress me. Sorry!
I am giving 5 stars for the great design, cover and quality of the print. ...more
I am giving 5 stars for the great design, cover and quality of the print. ...more
Mar 27, 2013
Kristie Dunleavy
marked it as to-read
