I'm reading *Two Lives,* by Vikram Seth. Autobiographical account of an Indian man who went to live with his Indian uncle and German/Jewish aunt in England in the 60s....really cool view of intercultural marriage...
Posts: 8794 | From: 01-20-09 The End of an Error | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
i'm reading "the Great Gatsby" by Scott Fitzgerald. But i've just read the two first pages, i can't talk about it today.
I've just read Julian Barnes 'BEFORE SHE MET ME', i must say it freaked me out, how a man consumes himself because of jealousy. I don't like the style and the atmosphere of the book but the message is interesting.
In the same time i read 'four-and-twenty-hours in a woman's life', written by Stefan Zweig, it was just...captivating, it's the story of a woman helping out a man consumed by his passion for games at casinos, she fells in love with him but ends up so deceived when she sees the man cannot quit games. The style is great, fluid, and the author shows a great knowledge of human nature.
Posts: 1473 | From: France | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: I've just read Julian Barnes 'BEFORE SHE MET ME', i must say it freaked me out, how a man consumes himself because of jealousy. I don't like the style and the atmosphere of the book but the message is interesting.
How do you get through a book you find laborious to read? I've tried to force myself through books like this, but just can't do it. Posts: 8794 | From: 01-20-09 The End of an Error | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: I've just read Julian Barnes 'BEFORE SHE MET ME', i must say it freaked me out, how a man consumes himself because of jealousy. I don't like the style and the atmosphere of the book but the message is interesting.
How do you get through a book you find laborious to read? I've tried to force myself through books like this, but just can't do it.
Well, the style is boring, even painful, but as soon as there is a thought between the lines, i feel like there is an interest to continue. It's like watching a boring film but you keep on watching because you want to see the ending and get the whole picture.
Posts: 1473 | From: France | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
i'm still reading the "six days" i bought it two months ago, but my dad took it from me and read it twice! now i finally have it!
Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by 7ayat- magnona khales taralaly: i'm still reading the "six days" i bought it two months ago, but my dad took it from me and read it twice! now i finally have it!
who is the author? what is it about?
Posts: 1473 | From: France | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
the author is jeremy bowen, and its about how the 1967 war shaped the middle east. he's a really good writer, and tells it like a story, so you dont get bored
Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Alaa Al Aswany "The Yacoubian Building". A gem. Old Gatsby hard to read??? It is a great book, loved it. Posts: 2238 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Karah_Mia: Alaa Al Aswany "The Yacoubian Building". A gem. Old Gatsby hard to read??? It is a great book, loved it.
yeah its a great book, and i got to interview the author. he probably hates my guts by now Posts: 4446 | From: Egyptian in Sydney | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Love Vikram Seth, Snooze-his A Suitable Boy is my favorite book ever. Also Julian Barnes I love-I really liked Flauberts Parrot. Love Martin Amis more though-esp The Rachel papers and London Fields. Best best best Im reading a dumb book called Marching Powder-soemone at work gave it to me..are they trying to say something to me? I never go to south america LOL. Can I recommend to all a book called Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo -its just so funny and sad-about chinese immigrants in london in the 60s.Really excellent. Might be out of print or whatever. I want to read that one that was written by the 3 people who worked in the UN and exposed all the disasters and terrible things about UN in mogadishu? Does anyone know what its called I forget. And when Im bad at work I read website "overheard in new york"-its funny .
Posts: 872 | From: Sydney | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Just finished English Harem by Anthony McCarten. Bought it as a lighthearted post Christmas read but in fact its a very good look at Mulicultural Britan from a very interesting angle and the whole subject of Polygamy when it is used in the way it was intended.
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: i'm reading "the Great Gatsby" by Scott Fitzgerald. But i've just read the two first pages, i can't talk about it today.
I've just read Julian Barnes 'BEFORE SHE MET ME', i must say it freaked me out, how a man consumes himself because of jealousy. I don't like the style and the atmosphere of the book but the message is interesting.
In the same time i read 'four-and-twenty-hours in a woman's life', written by Stefan Zweig, it was just...captivating, it's the story of a woman helping out a man consumed by his passion for games at casinos, she fells in love with him but ends up so deceived when she sees the man cannot quit games. The style is great, fluid, and the author shows a great knowledge of human nature.
i finished 'the great gatsby', it's portraying a microcosm of the american society during the twenties, but it's dealing with universal questions. The style is great, modern, and facilitates the visualisation and the understanding of the emotional flows in the different scenes.
Posts: 1473 | From: France | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm on a Milan Kundera's novel (a Tchek writer), "Unbearable Lightness of Being".
Great book. Great author.
Quote from the text:
"It was the weak that had to know how to be strong and to leave when the strong was to weak to be able to beat the weak"
Posts: 1473 | From: France | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: I'm on a Milan Kundera's novel (a Tchek writer), "Unbearable Lightness of Being".
Great book. Great author.
Quote from the text:
"It was the weak that had to know how to be strong and to leave when the strong was to weak to be able to beat the weak"
That's a great book, JC, I agree. After that if you liked Kundera try his "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting"
I am currently reading "One Hundered Years of Solitude" by Garcia Marquez. It is the third time I read it and I have never enough of it...
Do you ES people have books that love to read over and over again because they mean something special to you?
Posts: 285 | From: Milano, Italy | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: I'm on a Milan Kundera's novel (a Tchek writer), "Unbearable Lightness of Being".
Great book. Great author.
Quote from the text:
"It was the weak that had to know how to be strong and to leave when the strong was to weak to be able to beat the weak"
That's a great book, JC, I agree. After that if you liked Kundera try his "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting"
I am currently reading "One Hundered Years of Solitude" by Garcia Marquez. It is the third time I read it and I have never enough of it...
Do you ES people have books that love to read over and over again because they mean something special to you?
Mousse, read Marquez' "Of Love and Other Demons", it is a book that will make your head spin! Solitude, of course, is a classic...
Ps. I sure read some book many times, most of the time because I forget I have read it already and remember half way through! I am not kidding! Posts: 2238 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Jesus Cesar: I'm on a Milan Kundera's novel (a Tchek writer), "Unbearable Lightness of Being".
Great book. Great author.
Quote from the text:
"It was the weak that had to know how to be strong and to leave when the strong was to weak to be able to beat the weak"
I love this book as well! If you have a chance, watch the movie with Juliette Binoche (she is irresistible!) under the same title. It is unbearably mind poking and superbly acted as well.. Posts: 2238 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've been reading Gandhi's autobiograpy. It's very interesting from both a historical standpoint and as a wealth of information about his thoughts and how he chose to live his life.
Posts: 1283 | From: Cairo | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I am really not into books, takes too long to get through them. Although when I read one it's usually biographies of celebrities (stuff what interests me). I usually get all information about my other hobbies (fossils, mystery animals) over the internet. I think the internet in general is such a fine thing filled with anything you want to know, always accessable...... I can't even remember when I bought myself the last time a newspaper.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Brownie: These days i am reading a book by Jeanne M. Eck called I am Happier to Know you.
That is a book I have been looking for. How do you find it ? Is it interesting at all.
Posts: 523 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have bought it from Cairo cause i couldn't find it in my country also. You can also order from amazon.com as far as I know.
I think it is interesting, it's about daily living,culture,habbits etc. of egyptian people from the eyes of western women. I am still reading it and will let you know my comments when i finish.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Unknown Model: Secrets of epilation
My those testicles have to be so tender by now. I mean is it the same sensation headless chickens have when they are being plucked? Posts: 3168 | From: If you don't like it, don't look or read it! | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I could recommend "The return of the spirit" by Tawfiq al-Hakim. Nasser was influnced by this book before the 1952 Revolution. I recommend it because the language is vivid - although the text is translated - and the reader has a view about how life in Cairo was (and perhaps still is).
Another book I finished recently was "The days" by Taha Hussein. For those who do not know, Hussein was one of the best writers and intellectuals in Egypt. This book is his autobiography and I have to say that I did not expect it to be so interesting. Taha Hussein really was a remarkable person.
Posts: 327 | From: balad alnour | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Check out also this book: "Cairo House" by Samia Serageldin. I read it around two years ago, but I liked it so much it still lingers in my memory. You will not regret buying it, I promise Posts: 327 | From: balad alnour | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
"We need to talk about Kevin" [Lionel Shriver] about a 'school massacre'. Very nicely written.Clever prose. plus.... 'Audrey Hepburn' has lent me a couple of books.[gold dust here!!]
Posts: 1399 | From: alexandria | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
The book I'd take with me anywhere (It's in my Egypt suitcase) "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy", by Douglas Adams. I'm also working on "The Battle for God", by Karen Armstrong--it's a history/explanation of religious fundamentalism in Christianity, Judiasm, and Islam. I'm trying to finish "Truth and Bright Water", by Thomas King, one of my favorite Native American authors--he has a very strange sense of humor.
Posts: 22 | From: Phoenix | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
The book I read over and over would have to be Tuesdays with Morrie... It is amazing. Also the Once and Future King (very good, well written). For fun I must agree with treesloth "Hitchikers Guide" is amazing, loved it (though the producers and director of the movie should be shot)... But my current reading would be the English translation of the Qur'an... slow going but working on it. A million and ten questions later... lol.
Posts: 120 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I never read Hitch hikers guide, saw the movie, but my brother swears by the book too . He too said the movie didn't live up to the book.
Posts: 13440 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I recommend: One hundred years of solitude By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Very good book. I couldn't put the book down. And its a book that really takes you back in time and you can really imagine your there.
Its a story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town, and a family who was there in the beginning of this place.
I had heard it was a good book a couple of years ago, but I was reminded one day last year when I was watching Oprah's Book Club.
Posts: 19 | From: Egypt | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by With a name like Smuckers: I never read Hitch hikers guide, saw the movie, but my brother swears by the book too . He too said the movie didn't live up to the book.
That is true, the book is fantastic. Was looking forward to the recent film after having read the book, and was really disappointed!
posted
Anyone intersted in early English/Middle Eastern history would love "Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach. It tell about the life of Gertrude Bell an English woman adventurer, adviser to kings and Shieks and an friend of Lawrence of Arabia. She was truly an amazing woman in her time.
Posts: 91 | From: Egypt/Wisconsin | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by garfield: Anyone intersted in early English/Middle Eastern history would love "Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach. It tell about the life of Gertrude Bell an English woman adventurer, adviser to kings and Shieks and an friend of Lawrence of Arabia. She was truly an amazing woman in her time.
Yes read "Desert Queen" it was very interesing and educational. Also recommended "A Woman of Egypt" by J.Sadat
Posts: 523 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by garfield: Anyone intersted in early English/Middle Eastern history would love "Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach. It tell about the life of Gertrude Bell an English woman adventurer, adviser to kings and Shieks and an friend of Lawrence of Arabia. She was truly an amazing woman in her time.
Yes read "Desert Queen" it was very interesing and educational. Also recommended "A Woman of Egypt" by J.Sadat
I find the topic and title's of those two books to be hilarious!
I just can't get over how the occupying English felt there were in the right and were "civilizing" the Arabs.
Jihan Sadat has to be the most loved so-called Arab women by westerners, but she is one of the most hated by everyday Egyptians.
I can't understand why people read books that reinforce some pretty darn Politically Inccorrect mores of a century ago.
Those books were written for a certain audience.
Posts: 3168 | From: If you don't like it, don't look or read it! | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by With a name like Smuckers: I'm reading an older book called The Shell Seekers
By Rosamunde Pilcher? I'm reading it, too! Do you like it?
Nour, I haven't been feeling well so all I have had was time to read, I finished it, great book, I cried a lot but also loved the characters and the descrptions of the gardens and cottages...very lovely English setting type of book. My mom mailed it to me from the states to keep me busy, I'm next beginning The Last of the Mohecians. Posts: 13440 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Smuckers, I hope you feel better, ensha'allah. Where do these old threads come from? Hmmm... I wonder... I'm presently reading "Raising Dairy Goats" by Jerry Belanger in an effort to avoid overloading the rumen. Also, "North Atlantic Seafood" by Alan Davidson, author of the Oxford Companion to Food. I just can't deal with fiction most of the time, although I am writing a fiction book, mostly for a friend and I find it way more interesting than reading smut of the same ilk.
Posts: 1161 | From: wo xiang xiao bian ji si le | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic