New arrivals on the shelves

[DJKeefy]

As the new year is finding its feet, it is time to bring those resolutions into effect and if you planned to turn off the TV and pick up a book every once in a while here are a few new books that might inspire you to do just that.


The Twelve Rooms of the Nile
By Enid Shomer



Enid Shomer imagines a fateful meeting between writer Gustave Flaubert and nursing-beacon Florence Nightingale as they travel up the Nile. Both have not yet become who we will remember, Nightingale has not yet taken a stand, nor has Flaubert written a controversial word of Madame Bovary.

As they travel through nineteenth century Egypt they form a friendship that will affect both their lives even if they are complete opposites in character. Flaubert is a man of the world who has freely sampled the darker sides of society while Nightingale is an innocent with radical ideas about society.

Critics laud Shomer’s prose and storytelling talent as the characters she has created share their hopes, dreams, ambitions and adventures during the novel. In real life both characters were in Egypt but they never met; a fact that might be hard to believe after reading The Twelve Rooms of the Nile.


Casting off The Veil
By Sania Sharawi Lanfranchi



Huda Shaarawi is remembered as being an Egyptian activist and feminist. Instead of leading a life of leisure as her birth in a wealthy family had primed her for, she chose to become educated and be part of the liberation movement against the British occupation.

She became a household name when she led a walk of veiled women across Cairo to free resistance leaders in 1919.

After she returned from a conference of the International Alliance for Women’s Suffrage in 1923 to Cairo she and two companions removed their face veils at the train station, causing many women to follow their example in a historically significant moment for Egypt.

Shaarawi continued to influence the social and political climate during her lifetime, as described in the comprehensive book written by Sania Sharawi Lanfranchi.


Arab America
By Nadine Naber



After 9/11 life for Arab Americans changed, and the misconceptions about this segment of the US population have grown. Nadine Naber explores the lives and stories of young, second generation Arab Americans living in California. Most of the characters are activists, and Naber follows their complicated and intricate political and cultural processes as they carve out a place in American society.

The writer aptly describes how cultural concepts of religion, family, gender and sexuality influence the identities and struggles of the young adults, in ways that are both contrary and similar to the general American population.

In Arab America Naber gives clear descriptions of what life in the US is like for Arab Americans, and she places her story against a context of analysis which creates a deeper understanding of the way these Americans live and think.

Source: http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/01/2 ... shelves-2/

[HEPZIBAH]

Thanks Keefy.

[Who2]

Cheers, as I don't posses a TV and love reading, that 'Flaubert and Nightingale story, rings a bell in my head but not under that title, Florence spent many a year in an ex girlfriends house Claydon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claydon_House
She wrote about masturbating herself whilst there, Florence not my ex, Francesca.....
PS: mind you!....'franny......'no perhaps not, this is meant to be family site...

[LovelyLadyLux]

FYI - Casting off the Veil is NOT available on Kindle but you do have the option to tell the publisher you'd like to read it on your Kindle or E-book

The Twelve Rooms of the Nile and Arab America ARE available for Kindle reading

[Who2]

Kindles, do not make for a good looking library....
PS; kid to dying father; 'what did you leave me ?
father to kid; 'this kindle
or
father to kid: 'this library of knowledge, no batteries required.
You choose.........

[LivinginLuxor]

The other book about Flaubert and Florence Nightingale is Winter on the Nile by Antony Sattin. It's a non-fictional account taken from their letters, but it doesn't prove that they ever met. I bought it from Aboudi last year, and it is excellent.

Here's the description from Amazon.

"In the winter of 1849, Florence Nightingale was an unknown 29-year-old - beautiful, well-born and deeply unhappy. After clashing with her parents over her refusal to marry, she had been offered a lifeline by family friends who suggested a trip to Egypt, a country which she had always longed to visit. By an extraordinary coincidence, taking the same boat from Alexandria was an unpublished French writer, Gustave Flaubert. Like Nightingale, he was at the crossroads in his life that was to lead to future acclaim and literary triumph. Egypt for him represented escape and freedom as well as inspiration. But as a wealthy young man travelling with male friends, he had access to an altogether different Egypt: where Nightingale sought out temples and dispensaries, Flaubert visited brothels and harems. In this beguiling book, Anthony Sattin takes a key moment in the lives of two extraordinary figures on the brink of international fame, and provides a fascinating insight into the early days of travel to one of the greatest tourist destinations on the planet."

[LovelyLadyLux]

Kindles DO make an excellent transportable library available at the fingertips and at the ready anywhere in the world. Pretty hard to drag those stacks of books about although books being somewhat squarish/rectangle do fit in a suitcase which one can then lug about thus becoming a Charles Atlas given the weight. Kindles don't get that musty dusty smell of old books however I will grant that Kindles don't look as pretty as a library of books......BUT is it the actual 'books' that look wonderful in those libraries of old OR is the ambience of the room in general generally?

[Dusak]

Give me a book any day. You can accidentally slop tea, coffee or dribble on to it. Cig ash is no problem. You can sit on a book or drop it in your less lucid times. You don't need to re-charge it, you need not concern yourself about power cuts. All you need with a book is a match, candle and carry on reading. Also there is less chance of some one nicking your book while you splash about in the pool as a Kindle. And while you are sitting in the sun reading your book half the other holiday makers are not crowding around asking you what that is your holding.

[LivinginLuxor]

Kindles will probably never replace the 'coffee table book', but for works of fiction they are excellent. Unlike a conventional book, you never lose your place, pages don't fall out like they do here, the wind doesn't blow pages over, and if the light fades, you can resize the text to make it readable - unless you have one of the newer models with built in lighting!

[HEPZIBAH]

Kindles - true you never lose your place - unless...you download more books whilst you still have a book open because then it closes the book you are reading. "No problem!" I hear you say. "Just go to book in your index, select it and it wall take you back to where you left off." Hmmm BUT!!! That assumes I can remember the title of book I was reading at the time!

Because I have been downloading (free) and reading books from authors and genre I would not normally buy I have difficulty remembering Authors and Titles etc. I've now set up categories to include 'Reading Now' and 'Already Read'. It helps - provided I remember to put each book into those boxes I'm fine!

[LovelyLadyLux]

There are lots of pros and cons to Kindles AND there IS nothing nicer than sitting IN a big formal library in front of a fire reading and, as Stan says a Kindle will NEVER replace the coffee table book OR (for me) cook book, text book, technical book OR any other type book where you want to look up a specific section quickly OR even lay hands on the book quickly. Kindles, for me, are not condusive to quickly finding #1 the book and #2 a specific section but for recreational reading where you're not trying to keep, follow or chart the info they're terrific. Wouldn't go on a holiday now without one cause I never run out of reading material AND weight-wise they don't impact on the airlines weight restrictions. For the home library - I'm still favouring the BIG books aka coffee table type books......you can't appreciate some type of books re: great works or art on a Kindle BUT you can increase the font size to make reading easier......Pros and Cons to everything

Nothing is black and white 'cept the print on a Kindle or Kobo or Nook or whatever else they're called.

I still only have the black and white kindle that doesn't really do graphics. I thought about upgrading to the full colour model but am not sure I want this in Kindle form. IF I want graphics etc I think I'd prefer a laptop or Ipad.

[Winged Isis]

Nothing is black and white 'cept the print on a Kindle or Kobo or Nook or whatever else they're called.

Well actually, not even that; it's called greyscale!

But I agree with you otherwise; they are perfect for travel or in your handbag when you know you will have a long wait somewhere.