Middle East/North African Lit discussion

Even if we are not the most active group in goodreads, we are definitely friendly. :)

Hi all! New to the group, looking forward to reading the wonderful selections and making new friends. I have always found World Lit fascinating and will enjoy participating in this group. Thank you for allowing me to be part of this community.

Thank you Libby, appreciate the welcome! I am looking forward to all aspects of this group. Encouraging is good, some groups on here are the opposite.

I'm glad you joined us, Mal!

Marieke wrote: "I'm glad you joined us, Mal!"

Aww thanks Marieke!

Welcome all the new members. I love this group and the good titles that are brought forth. Millicent , Taylor, Sara, Teija, Zaina, Libby, Mal( I am kind of a teetotaler also.) Good reading to all.

Welcome Libby and Mal ! hope you will like it here with us :D

Thx Angela my fellow teetotaler!

Welcome everyone who is new.

Hi -- one of my goodreads friends indicated she was reading a book discussed here. While that book (Pamuk's My Name is Red ) seems to have been read here awhile ago and I haven't found the discussion yet, in trying, I noted that a couple of current or soon to be read books are ones I have read. Since it is much easier to follow discussions on a group as a member, and since this is a public group, I am here saying "hello" and looking forward to seeing the conversations on House of Stone by Anthony Shadid and Children of the New World by Assia Djebar.

Welcome Lily! I'll try to find the thread for Red and link to it. I just can't do it right at this moment. :/

Marieke wrote: "Welcome Lily! I'll try to find the thread for Red and link to it. I just can't do it right at this moment. :/"

THANKS! and no hurry, Marieke.

Welcome Lily! I hope you will like it here with us :)

"My name is Red" was discussed in here :

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Did you read "Children of the new world" ?

Welcome, Lily! I really enjoyed "My Name Is Red" (which you can tell from my long post in the discussion). I'm looking forward to reading "Children of the New World" soon.

Nile daughter wrote: "Welcome Lily! I hope you will like it here with us :)

"My name is Red" was discussed in here :

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Did you read "Children of the..."

Mmm! Looks good! Look forward to coming back when I have some time to explore. Thx much!

It has been a few years now, but I read Children of the New World with another online discussion group, not Goodreads. Even had the privilege of an email from Assia Djebar -- was hoping to find a public lecture where I might hear her speak in NYC where she was on faculty (NYU?), but she was in Europe at the time and I haven't followed up subsequently. The book was introduced to us by a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra -- a co-reader I have since "lost' and would love to find again. This book is generally considered to have a good English translation, along with Women of Algiers in Their Apartment -- which I have not read.

I went to NYU, where she was teaching, but I didn't hear Assia Djebar speak officially. If you ever get the chance to hear her, feel free to share your thoughts :)

Melanie wrote: "I went to NYU, where she was teaching, but I didn't hear Assia Djebar speak officially. If you ever get the chance to hear her, feel free to share your thoughts :)"

If you heard her "unofficially" (or even just see her closeup in person), I think that could have been even more fun than a lecture?

Lily wrote: "Nile daughter wrote: "Welcome Lily! I hope you will like it here with us :)

"My name is Red" was discussed in here :

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

Did you..."

Wow , lily ! looking forward hearing your thoughts about the book in our upcoming discussion :)

Hi Everyone! I go by Jalilah.
My favourite writers from the Middle East and North Africa are probably Amin Maalouf,Naguib Mahfouz and Fatima Mernissi
There are so many authors I have yet to discover so I am really looking forward to being a part of this group!

Jalilah wrote: "Hi Everyone! I go by Jalilah.
My favourite writers from the Middle East and North Africa are probably Amin Maalouf,Naguib Mahfouz and Fatima Mernissi
There are so many authors I have yet to disco..."

Welcome Jalilah ...Ahlan wa sahlan ! Great Arabic name :) hope you will like it here with us !

Welcome Jalilah! I think you will love this group. :)

I am thrilled to join this group, as it is hard to find others with similar interests locally. I am currently an adult student that just received an associates degree. In the next few years I will be obtaining my BA in Music with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. I hope to then acquire a masters in Middle Eastern Studies as well. I think this group will fit in nicely with my personal and academic interests!

Yes, Niki! I am glad you found us! Here's to lots of inspiration for you. :)

Welcome Niki :)

Hello there,
I am Mary Okeke.I blog on African Literature at www.maryokekereviews.blogspot.com
Please feel free to join, follow and leave your comments.

I am looking forward to getting to know you all.
Cheers.

Welcome Mary , hope you like it here .

Hi!
I am Anne from Germany. I'm an aspiring writer.

I love to read books from all over the world, but I have a focus on Southern Asia, Europe and the Middle East. I also read a lot of other things, but as I am currently reading a book a day, I can fit in a lot of books :).

I'm reading my books in English or French (or German), because my Arabic is not yet up to the task. But I'm working on it :).

I'd love to go to Morocco one day. I'd love to go to all the other places as well, but Morocco is #1 on my list, so I like the group reads right now :).

Welcome . l hope you will like it with us . feel free to join the discussions !

Thank you Nile daughter ).

Hi all! My name is Paul, I'm from Belgium. I studied Arabic language and Islam at university, though unfortunately not to the point where I can have smooth conversations in Arabic or read fluently. I'm kind of hoping that one day I'll be able to at least increase my reading level in Arabic to the point where I can read books, so perhaps I'll find an additional motivation for that here. Haven't read too many Arabic books yet, partially because I keep thinking I should read them in the original version instead, while not having the reading level to do so. I should rectify that, even if it's in translation.

Welcome to the group Paul. Many of us here have either no Arabic skills or only basic levels of Arabic through self study of university. Many books we read here are not in Arabic originally anyways but, when they are the translations are usually nearly as good as the original and at least if you decide to try to read the Arabic at a later time you will already understand what's going on and may be able to pick up some new vocabulary through contextual reading. Either way you will at least get some cultural insights into Arabic speaking cultures.

Hi Paul, welcome! There's a group read in the works especially for those working on learning Arabic (this fall, inshallah :)

Welcome Paul! that is my dream as well...to read novels all by myself in Arabic. I have a long way to go...lol. I hope you enjoy it here with us!

Welcome Paul! hope you will like it here with us .

Hi everyone,

My name is Rachel, and I'm so excited to have discovered this group. I'm a cultural anthropologist, and I do most of my research in Morocco, but I absolutely love literature from the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) region. My all time favorite novel from the region: Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North.

Can't wait to participate in discussions and readings!

Welcome Rachel, I'm sure your insights as a cultural anthropologist will be welcome. We were just finishing up some of the Maghrib threads but if you've read any of the picks feel free to share your insights and continue discussions.

Welcome Rachel ! glad you found us :)

Hi all,

I'm a Saudi national residing in New York.

I'm very embarrassed to say that even though I have read hundreds of novels in English (pat on the back), I have never read a single novel in Arabic. So I look forward to the suggestions and discussions here. My American girlfriend was so embarrassed for me as well that she got me two books in Arabic a couple of months ago, but I still haven't gotten around to reading them (sigh).

Hi Everyone,

I am Mahmoud, I am an Egyptian studying in Montreal. Its really an amazing job you are doing here. I have read sum of the Egyptian literature famous work but i would like to dive in more in the middle-eastern literature in general. the last relevant books i have read were Children of our Alley by Mahfouz, For Bread Alone by Choukri, and (sebaak elmasafat eltaweela) the long range race by Munif. I am looking for some Persian literature and Turkish but its hard to know where to start :)

Welcome Rachel (officially), Ameen, and Mahmoud!

Ameen, you made me smile. Which books did your girlfriend give you? We read in different languages here but all the discussions are in English. We will get you reading your Arabic novels, I just know it.

Mahmoud, I recently started reading more Turkish and Persian literature. One great place to get started with Turkish is with another group called The World's Literature, which has been featuring Turkish literature this year. For Persian, I just read My Uncle Napoleon, which was a lot of fun, and now I'm reading Touba and the Meaning Night by Shahrnush Parsipur. I read these because I recently read Jasmine and Stars...but now I can't remember which group I read that with. :/

I'm typing on my phone...I will link to the titles later...

I hope you all enjoy it here!

Mahmoud, Orhan Pamuk is a great contemporary Turkish author to start with. I like "Snow" a lot, and "Istanbul" for nonfiction, but everything I've read by him has been good.

Marieke, thanks for mentioning the World's Literature group - going to go check it out right now.

Asmah, who is a member here, selects really great books for her group!

Welcome Ameen and Mahmoud ...:)
consider yourself at home !

Marieke wrote: "Welcome Rachel (officially), Ameen, and Mahmoud!

Ameen, you made me smile. Which books did your girlfriend give you? We read in different languages here but all the discussions are in English. We ..."

She gave me "Huma" (Them) by Ghazi Algozaibi and "'Alim Bila Khara'it" (A World without Maps) by Abdul Rahman Munif and Jabra Ibrahim Jabra.

I've been "currently reading" Huma for a couple of months now. It seems it's more of a play than a novel, because it consist only of a dialogue.

I'm not sure if I will read A World without Maps next. I'm thinking of reading Cities of Salt, or Season of Migration to the North.

What do you guys think of this list as a starting point? http://arablit.wordpress.com/2010/04/...

I love Season of Migration to the North - it's possibly my favorite Middle Eastern novel. It's short but so rich with ideas about colonialism, and echoes of Heart of Darkness in reverse.

Since you're Saudi, Cities of Salt might be hugely interesting to you. I've read it twice but still have not managed to read the entire trilogy.

I echo Rachel's thoughts on Season of Migration to the North. I've read and enjoyed it twice, lots of stuff to think about...

Anything via ArabLit is a great place to start!

Marieke wrote: "Since you're Saudi, Cities of Salt might be hugely interesting to you. I've read it twice but still have not managed to read the entire trilogy.

I echo Rachel's thoughts on Season of Migration to..."

Thanks for the help, Rachel and Marieke. I'll be sure to read both. So many books, so little time.

Indeed! There is never enough time.

I just finished Cities of Salt, my summer read. i enjoyed it very much, found it very readable. Seasons of Migration is one of my favorites, too.

Kate wrote: "I just finished Cities of Salt, my summer read. i enjoyed it very much, found it very readable. Seasons of Migration is one of my favorites, too."
Cities of Salt as a summer read? You're braver than I am, although that's not saying much :)