Middle East/North African Lit discussion
2015 cruise
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2015 cruise summary
Great! I've ordered The Harafish for January!
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Here are a few books from Pakistani authors from the DSC Prize for South Asian literature lists:Nadeem Aslam: The Blind Man’s Garden
Uzma Aslam Khan: Thinner Than Skin & Trespassing
Bilal Tanweer: The scatter here is too great
A Golden Age & The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anan (really set in Bangladesh, about the civil war between East & West Pakistan where Bangladesh becomes independent)
Others -
The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
In other rooms, other wonders short stories by Daniyal Mueenuddin
A case of exploding mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
Sadkia's way by Hina Haq
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
novels of partition
Ice-Candy man (Cracking India) by Bapsi Sidhwa
Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
also check out this page
non fiction
Children of Dust by Ali Eteraz
Bed of red flowers by Nelofer Pazira
PS I plan on joining in on Harafish.
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The second poll is over , We will be reading In the Eye of the Sun starting from February 15 and until April 15 .
Are you sure we have time to read all the "stan" books? It is not that I don't want to read them, but it just seems a bit much. Personally for 2015 I'd rather just focus on the books of the countries of the Nile this time. That leaves me more choices in 2016!
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We are not planning to read all the "stan" books in 2015 but we will study your point and see how things will turn out :)
Nile daughter, I hope to be around a bit more consistently in 2015. I have good intentions and then real life gets in the way . . . I am definitely interested in the January & February reads. The "stan" books - I think we'll have to choose one or two when we get there. I put a bunch up so I would have a place to look for them later in the year.
Ardene wrote: "Nile daughter, I hope to be around a bit more consistently in 2015. I have good intentions and then real life gets in the way . . . I am definitely interested in the January & February reads. The..."
Same here. I haven't been participating much in group activities lately. I hope I can make it up this year.
As for the "stan" readings, I own a copy of The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam and I'll be so much grateful if I got to read this in a group.
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Marwa , I really hope to see more of you too :) more recommendations for the "stan" readings ! I think we will open a special thread for it soon .
HAPPY HOLIDAYS ...MERRY CHRISTMAS ...HAPPY NEW YEARS ! :D
Nile daughter wrote: "Ardene , Great !:DMarwa , I really hope to see more of you too :) more recommendations for the "stan" readings ! I think we will open a special thread for it soon .
HAPPY HOLIDAYS ...MERRY CHRI..."
I'll do my best :)
Merry Christmas everyone and wish you all a happy new year.
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https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I will be so grateful :)
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We will be reading The literary atlas of Cairo: One Hundred Years on the Streets of the City from April first until the end of May .
#13 Done. (Sorry it took so long, I was out of town early in January, and am trying to get caught up on my online book conversations.)
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Hi Again, Well I finally finished Time of White Horses (which I think is how I found this group) and have started on In the Eye of the Sun (did MENA authors ever hear of a 300 page novel?)Just one admin question if I may: Am I supposed to create a MENA or a 2015 Cruise bookshelf or some such?
Thanks again.
Steve
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Stevemid wrote: " (did MENA authors ever hear of a 300 page novel?)..."
They sure did :D , our upcoming reads are shorter .
Stevemid wrote: "Just one admin question if I may: Am I supposed to create a MENA or a 2015 Cruise bookshelf or some such?"
As you wish , but you must create a one if you want to participate in any challenge , that is how Goodreads challenges work , we have this one for now and we are working on anther one .
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
Where's the discussion for the Literary Atlas of Cairo, or will it be posted when the group finishes reading?
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It will be opened soon , hopefully in a day or two .
Ok, great. I actually own that book, so looking forward to discussion.
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I am not sure where they fit , may be we can make a thread in this section "cruise special tours -not books
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
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Wonder if you're considering reading Tayeb Salih's 'Season of Migration to the North' as part of your cruise? (btw, love the idea of a gentle literary cruise through all of these countries in North/East Africa! You could go all poetic and draw parallels between words, their flow, and the flow of the river - but I'll stop there...) The Nile is a central reference point for Salih constantly throughout the novel - and especially at the very end, which i won't reveal for anyone who hasn't read it. A deeply interesting and at times, puzzling read - but as some of my Arabic friends tell me, a real classic in Arabic fiction.
Hope I can come along on your literary journey - problem is, I'm a pretty slow, plodding reader, so it'll take me a while to get through the big, heavy novels. Maybe I can follow behind the cruise ship in a dinghy? Haha.
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Welcome Niraj :) here is the link to Season of Migration to the North discussion thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I would love to see any discussion revive again :) and don't worry about being late ;)
Thanks for that link Niledaughter - I'll definitely be adding my thoughts to that thread. I wanted to write a thorough review of the book, but life's ups and downs/bits and bobs have been stopping me from doing so so far. Typical life, screwing up my reading plans! It's a novel I will definitely revisit - there are so many ideas, so many things, going on in the pages of the novel. I almost felt, something I'll elaborate on the thread, Salih's playing a 'game' with you, the reader - what is colonialism/postcolonialism/modernity/tradition/development/non-development etc.
I wonder what Salih would make of Sudan's current situation and position in the world today too - I think Season would still speak volumes about Sudan, the Middle East in general, even the entire history of post-colonisation across the world.
My Arabic friends told me it's incredibly moving in the original Arabic - but also quite controversial. I'll have to take their word for it...
So it's kickstarted my interest in reading more North African fiction, novels from Egypt, Sudan. A friend recommended Women At Point Zero to me too (anyone who has read that have recommendations too?)
Marieke, think of it as flowing with the tides! Yes, I am a crazily slow reader - how I made it through an Eng Lit degree is still beyond me...
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Marieke wrote: "Najib, you should definitely checked the group's shelves and mine as well. I have read Woman at Point Zero but there is another one of hers I liked so much more but I'm blanking on the name of it--..."Thanks for all those suggestions Marieke, I'll hunt down as many of them as I can do! These Goodreads forums are certainly Broadening my literayr knowledge outside of the few authors/writers I knew from North Africa - Naguib Mahfouz, who I do want to read at some point, and Tayeb Salih.
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Niledaughter wrote: "we will be reading The Translator from July 1st until August 31 ."It's yummy. Just finished.
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Melanie wrote: "Oh! Steve, please feel free to share more of your ideas with us! I'm looking forward to reading The Translator soon!"Thanks Mel, you all are so welcoming. Here's what I said about The Translator on my review:
"If you know that the politics of the West with respect to the Middle East are wrong, then stop reading political analysis and start reading historical fiction. Books like The Translator will connect you with the heart and soul of this land. You'll be richer for having gained a glimpse of humanity."
After I finished The Translator, I went straight back to the 2015 Cruise summary looking for what I could download next. I made a great find on Amazon: The Conference of the Birds for 99 cents! And 20 beautiful illustrations! http://www.amazon.com/Conference-Bird... Because of the illustrations I'm having to read this on my iPad - which is too heavy to read with in bed really, but my Kindle just doesn't do colour. I'm leary of translated poetry but I must say my initial impressions are very positive.
Stevemid wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Oh! Steve, please feel free to share more of your ideas with us! I'm looking forward to reading The Translator soon!"Thanks Mel, you all are so welcoming. Here's what I said abou..."
Steve,You do know that there is a thread open for the Conference of the Birds under medieval texts. Do drop by and visit.
Thanks Mel, I just started reading, so not I'm ready to contribute yet but I'll go there soon.s.
Oh I'd love to join that read Niledaughter...
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Great ! I want to read it too .
Looks like a really good book...and I can get it through interlibrary loan.
Tahmima Amin visited Manchester (UK) where I'm based for the Literaure Festival two years back, and I heard her read from A Golden Age then. Sounded very interesting from what I can remember hearing from way back then! Hope I can join all of you with that - at the moment, I'm making my way through a Ben Okri novel, with a hefty number of pages, so will take me some time to get through all that... Hopefully also squeeze in The Translator if I can!
Haha good luck finding your way out of Okri, rather you than me with that! ;-)
Marieke wrote: "Poll results! We will be reading The Railway, beginning in November!"That looks great! I will definitely read it with the group!
The discussion for The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel has started! Is anyone still interested in reading it! I just read it this year and can highly recommend it. It is very epic, based on Both Ethiopian history and mythology. I will definitely be joining in on the discussions.here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Middle East/North African Lit
Books mentioned in this topic
The Railway (other topics)The Railway (other topics)
The Diary of a Social Butterfly (other topics)
The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel (other topics)
The Railway (other topics)
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**We will have three stops this year :
- Egypt ....(January - June)
- Sudan and Horn of Africa ( Somalia or Djibouti )... (July - September)
- Reading from Central Asia and south Asiaand south Asia countries (Afghanistan , Kazakhstan or Pakistan ) ... (October - December)
** Updates :
- Our first read from Egypt The Harafish - January first until the end of February 2015
- Our second read from Egypt is In the Eye of the Sun starting from February 15 and until April 15 - 2015
- our third read from Egypt will be The literary atlas of Cairo: One Hundred Years on the Streets of the City from April first until the end of May .
- Our fourth read from Egypt will be Diary of a Country Prosecutor from May first until June 15 - 2015.
- Our last read from Egypt Brooklyn Heights from June first until July 15 - 2015
- From Sudan we will be reading The Translator from July 1st until August 31 .
- We are having a guest book from Ethiopia to read , we will be reading The God Who Begat a Jackal: A Novel from August 15 to September 30 - 2015 .
- About Pakistan and Bangladesh We will be reading A Golden Age from September 15 until November 15 .