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List 2007 p2 ********************
The
Gardens of Light
A historical novel about Mani and Manichaeism.
It is not so bad, but not so good like
his Samarkand... Actually Mani didn't appeal to
me, he seemed arrogant in the novel, and I
don't like arrogant people.
********************
Istanbul:
Memories and the City
Orhan wrote his memories about his childhood and city in his usual naughty sarcastic subtle style. I appreciated his honest way of talking, his penetrating analysis of the people...
********************
A short story by Jonathan Nolan, about a man forgets everything every ten minutes. I read it after I watched the film 'Memento' directed by his brother and built on his story.
Both, the story and movie, are attractive
and breathtaking. However, the film is more
thrilling focusing on actions, while the
story is profounder focusing on
philosophical theme; all men are this ten
minutes man... we, human being, forget the
flash moment of reality that we see behind
the surface of the life and tend to believe
this illusion again
******************** The Psychology of Peoples
By
Gustave Le Bon
A classical famous book from 1895 Its thoughts are nice and useful. However, it is shallow in discussion and conclusion, not to mention the boring repetition, it could have been summarized into 10 pages. Anyway I shouldn't judge it according to my time, for no doubt the book's thoughts in its time were original and advanced... ********************
Rumi's Daughter
An exotic novel... Sufi atmosphere... secret, codes, whispers, meanings beneath the words, dazzling and dazing:The sacred daughter, Rumi, and his teacher Shams ud-Dian, with the hidden meanings, their rituals, the charm...
Unfortunately, the translation is very bad,
you can hardly understand something... Anyway I am not that much with this kind of Sufism; which grants some people sacred privileges. A small thought I believe in; no human being can surpass his/her humanity, no one can reach the Ultimate... who thinks he has reached, he has fallen! Beware!!!
********************
Hunters in a Narrow Street
He is a real novelist... I read it in few hours... It is in times of fifties in Iraq about Palestinian professor and educated environment, torn between East and West, old and modernity... What I like the most is the optimistic way that Jabra presents life through; his way of giving hope at every end...
********************
Persuasion
As the heroine said in The Lake House: It is about two people who met once, but they were not ready to each other. Then after some years, destiny gathered them again when they were ready to love each other. Simply, I like the theme. and yes I believe in it so profoundly. Maybe Jane Austen's novels are simple, and probably some say girlish, but I like them. I like to get rest in reading them when I get bored of complexity. They give you hope of happy endings.
And YES I
believe in happy endings, and I will keep on
forever
The movie is
nice too, though it is less than the novel,
and I didn't like much the hero and his
heroine
******************** Yusuf and Zulaikha
By Abd ar-Rahman
Jami 1492 A famous version of the Quranic story was re-written in Persian by Jami (1492 C.E).
It was not the poetic style nor the Sufi
connotation that
made my tears fell while reading it, though
I am usually emotionless
Only those who has captured by their night-dreams, their premonition, will understand well how it is so exhausted, almost impossible, to cope with reality when you have dreams telling you something...
Thank God the ending was happy, so happy.
Long live happy endings!
May Allah grant me happy endings too
******************** Lost Stories By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Some thoughts, notes, and old memories by Marquez. It is nice book, though I haven't read by Marquez anything yet, and I don't think I will. I feel he is not my type. Anyway, in general, I like autobiographies regardless I read other works for the writer or not.
******************** Even Angels Ask By Jeffery Lang
I wrote once about it here. This time I re-read this book in English version. Each time this charming man captives me with his enchanting words and thoughts
I
just felt loser; how still I need to be a
fascinating writer like him... I hope I will be able to be someday.
Bless you dearest dear Mr. Lang!
********************
Salma Al-Helali 2008 |
p 2 · Istanbul
Other pages · The Daily Events of Damascus · Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages · Women and Sexuality in Muslim Societies
· The Arab Image in Turkish Eyes · 1984 · The Forgotten Queens of Islam
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