Category: Books

– Arab countries’ output of books represents just 1.1 percent of the world total, although Arabs constitute 5% of the world’s population. This is less than what a country such as Turkey produces, with a population about one-quarter that of the Arab countries.

– The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates.

– Print runs of Arab books are very low, ranging for the average novel between 1,000 and 3,000 copies only. A book that sells just 5,000 copies is considered a bestseller.

– Arab book publishing has been threatened by three factors: censorship and the practice of banning books among the 22 Arab states; low readership, blamed on economic stagnation and competition from the mass media; and the lack of adequate distribution of books across the Arab world.

– Arab websites amount to 14,000 websites, representing only 0.01% of world content.

Something has to be done about this!
It’s a shame to see numbers like this coming out of the Arab world.
More importance should be given to book writing, publishing and reading. Children should be brought up to read more, writers should be given more freedom and more encouraging circumstances to write, more effort should be put into translating important works of art, literature and science.

The responsibility falls on the Arab governments, universities, cultural and scientific institutions, publishers, writers, translators, bloggers, readers and families who have to all work together to change this shameful reality to a brighter one.

[Sources: Arab books and human development, Guardian Unlimited]

I just finished reading “The Gardens Of Light” by Amin Maalouf.

The book tells the story of Mani – the painter, mystic, physician and prophet – exploring his life and journey.

It’s a very interesting book that takes the reader back to those times when the great Roman and Persian empires were in their battle to control the Middle East, and followers of different religions were fighting against each other for ascendancy.
It lets you live the journey of Mani while he preached his doctrine of humility, tolerance and love.

I really liked the way the story was told and how you really start feeling and understanding the characters.
I wish there were a bit more details about Mani’s teachings, as the book only hinted at some of the ideas.

Anyway, it was very interesting to me reading about Mani, learning about his life, beliefs and religion.
I thought his message of tolerance and love between all people, no matter what their religion is, no matter their caste and race is a very powerful and important one that we really need nowadays.

Harry Potter’s creator J.K. Rowling said that she is ready to release the sixth installment of now famous ‘Harry Potter’ series of novel.

The sixth book in the series is entitled “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince“. Rowling has already revealed that the sixth book will see one of the characters killed, but she has given no hints as to who is doomed.

J.K. Rowling added more spice to the occasion by unveiling some excerpts from the novel:

1. Half-Blood Prince was neither Harry nor Voldemort.
2. She also told names of three of the chapter titles:
– Chapter two – Spinners End
– Chapter six – Draco’s Detour
– Chapter 14 – Felix Felicis
3. And there’ll be a new Minister for Magic.

The book is set to be published on July 16, 2005 in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The retail price is $29.99 but if you order now from Amazon you get 40% off, so just $17.99. So Pre-order now.

Rowling has plans to release one more Harry Potter novel after Half-Blood Prince. She has already written the last chapter of the seventh book, where she describes what happens to the characters who survive until the end.

I haven’t really made time to read any of the novels yet, but I’ve truly enjoyed the movie adaptations of them up to now and can’t wait for the next one to come out.

[Sources: DCE Cinemas, Reuters]

Last Night, or to be more precise, early this morning, I finished reading “Life of Pi”, a great novel by Yann Martel.

I heard a lot about this book and read a number of reviews about it, so when I found it in Prime Megastore, I bought it right away and jumped into it immediately.

I was sucked into the story, and I loved the way it was flowing and how the writer was telling it.

It’s an amazing story, beautiful and amusing too.
It’s about a teenage Indian boy called Pi Patel and his journey with religion, his life in India in his father’s zoo and his survival after a ship wreck.

It’s a truly magical story that is very well painted for imaginations to build and live in.

If you’re a book lover and need a nice good book to enjoy, I suggest “Life of Pi”. I really enjoyed it.

Moroccan author, Tahar Ben Jelloun, was named the winner yesterday of the $120,000 International Impac Dublin Literary Award, the world’s richest prize for a single work of fiction published in English.

Mr. Ben Jelloun won for his fact-based novel, “This Blinding Absence of Light”, about a soldier imprisoned in a desert concentration camp after taking part in an abortive coup against King Hassan II of Morocco in 1971.
The book was written in French, and Mr. Ben Jelloun will receive three-fourths of the prize money, with the rest going to Linda Coverdale, who translated the novel.

Mr. Ben Jelloun, born in Fez in 1944, has lived since 1961 in France, where he won the Prix Goncourt in 1987 for his novel “The Sacred Night.”

Ok, so I’m a book worm. I bought the book “Le Retour de l’Eléphant” (“The Return of the Elephant”) by Abdelaziz Belkhodja on Sunday, and finished reading it yesterday, Monday.

As I wrote yesterday in my Reading section on the left, this is a nice futuristic humourous fiction about a time when Carthage is the richest and most powerful city in the world again, immigrants come from the north to the south, Iraq watches over the embargo on the U.S. and the hottest university in the world is the University of Tozeur.

I like the humour in it, the idea and how the author is actually using a twisted future to actually portray and criticize how things are today in the Arab world and Tunisia.
Still, I don’t think the main storyline is strong enough. It would be a lot better if the story was worked on a bit more and given more depth and spice.

Still, I think this is a very good effort from Abdelaziz Belkhodja, and I really enjoyed reading the book.

I think it’s worth buying and reading, even if it’s just for the sake of dreaming and believing that there always is hope for a better future.

I just finished reading Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell yesterday afternoon, and WOW, that was one hell of a read.

It’s one of those books that suck you in to them and paint the world and the images all around you, where you and the main character become one and live the story together.
I truly loved reading it.

Big Brother, Thought Police, NewSpeak, Changing the past and the Ministries of Love, Peace and Plenty …etc.
There’s such a great attention to detail in this book, it simply makes you feel, see and live what the writer is talking about.

George Orwell’s anti-socialist and anti-communist feelings come through very strongly in this book, as they also did in Animal Farm.

The story was a futuristic one when it was written and still can be applied to our time too.
It touches upon so many issues and sheds light on worries we should have till this very day (especially about privacy).

I also think it could make a great movie. It has all the elements of a cool hollywood movie: Good story, suspense, love, hate, sex, betrayal, politics, sci fi, …etc.
It could even be a big blockbuster hit if someone like Spielberg took it and played around with it

I think ideas like this are great and very constructive. More and more people should think this way and try to bring peace and understanding through literature, art, music, theatre, …etc.
Politics has proven to be of no real use.

Bill Clinton’s book “My Life” is still a month away from hitting the bookshelves and it’s already ranked 8th.

It’s virtually a bestseller before it’s even released.

That’s the power of pre-ordering.

The book description says: My Life is a “riveting personal drama as well as a fascinating look a the American political arena,” chronicling Clinton’s life through his White House years.

Seems quite interesting. I wonder how much details he’ll dig up though 😉

Amazon are giving a sweet 40% off the price of the book if you order now. Maybe that’s why it’s becoming a bestseller quickly.