posted
hey guys & gals u almost speak about everthing here, why not about literature, or have I missed it. I love all kinds of literature form all cultures, what about u? what's ur favorite novel or drama? or don't u like literature in the first place???
Posts: 219 | From: cairo, egypt | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by penelope: hey guys & gals u almost speak about everthing here, why not about literature, or have I missed it. I love all kinds of literature form all cultures, what about u? what's ur favorite novel or drama? or don't u like literature in the first place???
nice topic I am book lover ..but i think i will wait a while and see what others will say ..but my two fave writers are mustafa mahmoud and william shakespeare
posted
Pretty much love anything by Edgar Allen Poe... so twisted!! However, not so good to read before nodding off to sleep...
quote:Originally posted by penelope: hey guys & gals u almost speak about everthing here, why not about literature, or have I missed it. I love all kinds of literature form all cultures, what about u? what's ur favorite novel or drama? or don't u like literature in the first place???
quote:Originally posted by american gal: Pretty much love anything by Edgar Allen Poe... so twisted!! However, not so good to read before nodding off to sleep...
try reading "the raven" before you sleep I bet Edgar Allan Poe looks down at us now and says MUAHAHAHA I am your worst nightmare
posted
Or perhaps (given his twisted state) Poe's looking up???
quote:Originally posted by Serendipity: try reading "the raven" before you sleep I bet Edgar Allan Poe looks down at us now and says MUAHAHAHA I am your worst nightmare
posted
well I love sooo many writers, as I've studied the works of a lot of them, but I think that the greatest literature is the russian, there r so many masterpieces in it, the russian have an elevated taste, u really can enjoy when reading, although I read the translated versions ( of those written originally in russian). wish I knew russian.
Posts: 219 | From: cairo, egypt | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
hi, thats a great topic! my favourite writer is ihsan abdel kodous. i've read all of his books at least two times. naguib mahfouz is amazing. youssef el sebaiy, and tawfiq el hakim are also some of my favourites. taha hussein is also great, but a bit boring. as for english books, i love sydney sheldon and pual coelho! do you guys know that coelho is visiting egypt soon inshallah?!
best
Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
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I was here from the moment of the Beginning, and here I am still. And I shall remain here until the end Of the world, for there is no Ending to my grief-stricken being.
I roamed the infinite sky, and Soared in the ideal world, and Floated through the firmament. But Here I am, prisoner of measurement.
I heard the teachings of Confucius; I listened to Brahma's wisdom; I sat by Buddha under the Tree of Knowledge. Yet here I am, existing with ignorance And heresy.
I was on Sinai when Jehovah approached Moses; I saw the Nazarene's miracles at the Jordan; I was in Medina when Mohammed visited. Yet I here I am, prisoner of bewilderment.
Then I witnessed the might of Babylon; I learned of the glory of Egypt; I viewed the warring greatness of Rome. Yet my earlier teachings showed the Weakness and sorrow of those achievements.
I conversed with the magicians of Ain Dour; I debated with the priests of Assyria; I gleaned depth from the prophets of Palestine. Yet, I am still seeking truth.
I gathered wisdom from quiet India; I probed the antiquity of Arabia; I heard all that can be heard. Yet, my heart is deaf and blind.
I suffered at the hands of despotic rulers; I suffered slavery under insane invaders; I suffered hunger imposed by tyranny; Yet, I still possess some inner power With which I struggle to great each day.
My mind is filled, but my heart is empty; My body is old, but my heart is an infant. Perhaps in youth my heart will grow, but I Pray to grow old and reach the moment of My return to God. Only then will my heart fill!
I was here from the moment of the Beginning, and here I am still. And I shall remain here until the end Of of world, for there is no Ending to my grief-stricken being.
[This message has been edited by Serendipity (edited 09 May 2005).]
posted
I love Jane Austen as well as Shakespeare, Poe reminds me of high school but it was good. Steinbeck is great, too.
Posts: 1706 | From: Dallas, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
i love Jane Austen too, read "sense and sensibility" and "pride and prejudice", BUT she drives me crazy!! through the whole novel i tell myself...why dont she love him and why arent they together! they should be together!!! :s
Nooralhaq wich ones of shakespeare do you like? mostly i love his sonnets..
[This message has been edited by Serendipity (edited 09 May 2005).]
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Well I must admit, I'm a softie and I LOVE Romeo and Juliet. I think I know every line written about it. His sonnets are incredible, too.
For Jane Austen I LOVE Emma and probably Pride and Prejudice are my favorites. Even with Pride I keep telling myself, too, that Elizabeth won't end up with Mr. Darcy and somehow everytime I read anything by Jane Austen I am in love with the characters.
I love how her writing really revolves around social status and women's issues, for that time and in some ways even now.
Mansfield Park was nice, if you get the chance to read it. I have not read Sense and Sensibility, but I saw the movie (for shame, I know!!), and I could watch it everyday.
Has anyone read NORTHANGER ABBEY? I was told from a good friend that it was a lovely read, but have yet to partake myself.
Along the same lines, I really enjoyed Little Women, can anyone remind me who wrote it??? It's been years~
Posts: 1706 | From: Dallas, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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I don't really read belletristics any more, though maybe should start again but I quite liked Isabel Allende as one of the few last I remember http://www.isabelallende.com/
It was her "Aphrodite", click on cover to read an excerpt if want. Perfect for over-30/40 females with feet firmly on ground, not totally strange to ironies of life, and always a lover or husband comfortably at hand . It is also a very beautiful book, with rich illustrations.
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lol...serendipity, you took the words from my mouth...I didn't want to say it...but.....
Posts: 1706 | From: Dallas, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' is my all time favourite. It's the only book I've read more than once.
Posts: 372 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I read Jane Eyre in high school and enjoyed it! That's the only work of Charlotte Bronte that I have read though. Did any of you read"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte? What about Dicken's "Great Expectations"? Posts: 27 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Ok, to answer the original question, my favorite novel is....... any novel by James Herriot (real name James Wight). The books tell about his experiences as a country veterinarian in England. I know, they aren't classics, but they are still my favorites. Posts: 27 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Khentiamentiu333: I read Jane Eyre in high school and enjoyed it! That's the only work of Charlotte Bronte that I have read though. Did any of you read"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte? What about Dicken's "Great Expectations"?
Hi Khent, I loved Great Expectations, we read that in high school. I never got my hands on Wuthering Heights, however; with all of this literature talk lately, it's making me salavate for the library. Might have to check it out
Posts: 1706 | From: Dallas, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I also love Gibran khalil gibran...and of course crime queen Agatha Christie...she always suprise me with whom the murderer is.
I have read a lot of arabic books..but i am wondering is there any arabic books that you recommend me to read. I have read books by Mustafa mahmoud and Naguib mahfouz so far..and i like their style of writing ...Any books to recommend me? i will travel back to egypt soon and i want to buy as many books as i can
quote:Originally posted by nooralhaq: What was it about?
The Daughter of Fortune? I believe you'll find an excerpt if follow the aqbove link, I do not even remember so clearly any more, but was something about a young woman leaving Chile on own on board of a ship, to follow her love or something, to America (LA or SF), somewhere back in times of gold rush. Well, the hardships of travel of life when finally arriving, do not even remember if prostitution was involved or in any case covered, she did not even find him I believe just followed the rumours of where he'd been spotted by people another victim of gold rush... this type of story
Another book I am waiting to read perhaps was named among the 10 something books that Economist recommended last year ai believe, and is going to be shortly translated into my language, is a Turkish original, written by somebody grown up in US I believe then returned to Turkey, about islam and a journey somewhere into the far depths of Turkey also to find his love, and experiencing a revolutionary or violent situation there or something etc etc, a kind of glimpse into the world in parts where it brushes with islam. Its so good that this type of books are being translated I think and more knowledge spreads.
Just glimpsed there myself too and noticced an expression like "urban secularist elite" I guess this is my most likely reference group who more or less would not devour me in any muslim society
posted
[A book which I enjoyed a lot and from which I got much information about Egypt was "A WOMAN OF EGYPT" by Jehan Sadat
Posts: 523 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I have lately read 2 great books about forigners and islam:
one was written by Carmen bi Laden (who`s husband was brother of Osama) and it talked about her love and life in Saudi in 70s and 80-s. Fabolous book! The other one is Leap of Faith written by Queen Noor of Jordan (originally from America) and her life and faith change and a bit of politics in Middle east. Both very good nformation sources and emotioanl reading fro foreign women who are interested in Islamic world!
[This message has been edited by Just a Lady (edited 12 May 2005).]
quote:Originally posted by Just a Lady: I have lately read 2 great books about forigners and islam:
one was written by Carmen bi Laden (who`s husband was brother of Osama) and it talked about her love and life in Saudi in 70s and 80-s. Fabolous book! The other one is Leap of Faith written by Queen Noor of Jordan (originally from America) and her life and faith change and a bit of politics in Middle east. Both very good nformation sources and emotioanl reading fro foreign women who are interested in Islamic world!
[This message has been edited by Just a Lady (edited 12 May 2005).]
My boss read this book on Queen Noor, he says it was very interesting...
Posts: 1706 | From: Dallas, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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I am happy that I have met a "readers' club" because I do also love reading. I can come with my list of preferences and recommendations as well : Dostoievski.The Idiot(my favourite one), Crime and Punishment;Karamazov Brothers;The Demons as well as his short stories( I love The Gambler) Tolstoi: Anna Karenina; War and Peace,The Revival Thomas Hardy: Tess D'Uberville, The Major of Casterbridge; Jude the Obscure ; Maupassant: Bel-Ami and all his short stories (all are really great) Gabriel Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude,The Autumn of The Patriarch; The Chronicle of an Announced Death; Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie; An American Tragedy Balzac: Madame Bovary, Germaine, Perre Goriott; The Woman at 30 Thomas Mann: The Bewitched Mountain Huxley: Leavs of Grass(beutiful) John Galsworthy: Forsythe Saga (there are 3 trilogies)-you will love it. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose And because you said you love poetry, try Byron, Shelley, Robert Burns, Goethe, Pushkin, Lermontov,Essenin OK now, I think it's enpough and I would love to share ideas. I would also love to find out names of Egyptian or other nationalities writers and titles of their opus, which have been translated into English, so that I can read them. So, have a good day all of you. Vi
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What a highbrow lot you girls are!!! Wish I was brainy.. I can just about cope with Harry Potter!!! Posts: 4238 | From: USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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I bet you've also tried The Happy Prince or at least the newspaper now and then.Please confirm because I do really want you in the brainy's club. He-he, have a sunny day there!
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hi all, sooo happy to read all thaose posts, wow, we have in that forum lots of smart ladies, any guys want to join the club?
hay were r u salama? or r n't u a reading lover.
noor u must read wuthering heights, it's a real masterpeice, it's my favorite u know, but befor going through it u should read some about the bronte's, u'll find it v.interisting & helpful.
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Serendipity said: "I have read a lot of arabic books..but i am wondering is there any arabic books that you recommend me to read" unfourtunatley I'ven't reda much arabic novels, being a student of e.literature, we used to study lots of e.books, american, irish, russian, but not much arabic. still I read some & studdied them thoroughly, so I strongley recomend for u all the books of dr.radwa ashoor, she is a genious, & her "tholatheit ghernata" is the best, u'll enjoy reading it a lot. there is also a palestenian writer named email habiby, he is a v.good one also. when u finish these tell me to recomend others ( in case u liked my taste ).
hey everone what do u think about the irish literature????
I bet you've also tried The Happy Prince or at least the newspaper now and then.Please confirm because I do really want you in the brainy's club. He-he, have a sunny day there!
Vi
I read the Beano!!! I'll stick to the thickys club... it's more satisfying!!
posted
My favorite piece of literature is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge... "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". It is similar to John Bunyan's story "The Pilgrim's Progress" in that they both tell stories about good vs. evil.
Samuel Coleridge writes a more interesting work because the story tells a wedding tale of a sailor who joins a ship for a journey. In the poem the sailor kills the albatross, causing ill fortune upon the ship. The irony is that although the ship is surrounded by water, none is useful for drinking..
"Water, water everywhere And all the boards did shrink Water, water everywhere Nor any drop to drink"
Paul Bunyan writes about a pilgrim who makes a journey and he meets characters named after human attributes. Some are good and others are bad. Each land he passes through tests his character.
Both are oriented toward Christianity and Bunyan is more difficult reading.
If neither of these interest you, my suggestion is to read works from the Pulitzer Prize Lists on the internet. There are some very bizarre works to read. Where I worked, the women often brought books from these lists and we often traded.
posted
I would really recommend Gibran Khalil Gibran. Especially his short novel "The Cry of The Graves" he can be a bit sentimental sometimes. But this one it really teaches you the real value of not only believing what the eye can see. Its one of his masterpiece in my views. http://leb.net/gibran/ check this site if youre interested in his works. most of his works is written there.
I also like "Hamlet" by shakespeare. Shakespeare make his pain soo real that you could allmost feel his anxiety and hoplessness.
I also like Henrik Ibsen.. he is just a genius..soo much psychology in his pieces. and no matter if you wanted or not you keep thinking about your moral views. I like specially "Ghosts". He is just amazing.
Well i hope you get the time to explore some of those writers books.
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I am book lover ..but i think i will wait a while and see what others will say ..but my two fave writers are mustafa mahmoud and william shakespeare 
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