Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



A reader's retrospective
Published in Daily News Egypt on 30 - 12 - 2007

Bookshelves are stacked with nostalgia. Browsing through the books is a flash from the past year. Readers everywhere were treated to a literary rollercoaster of emotions.We witnessed the end of an era with the final installment in the Harry Potter series (though there are hints at an encore) while Middle East politics heated up with the launch of Jimmy Carter's controversial book on the Palestinian situation. The local literary scene was just as eventful, as Alaa El Aswany's latest novel hit the stands unleashing the expected gasps from shocked readers. Fans of Naguib Mahfouz were not left out in the cold. "The Children of the Alley was finally released in Egypt in Arabic. The beauty of books is that as we turn the final page of the year, we can still glance at our bookshelves and get the same rush of emotion we felt when we first read them. After all, there's always more room on the shelves for the exciting year ahead.
Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsBy JK RowlingWe saw the tears from JK Rowling - and her fans - as she bid farewell to the blockbuster Harry Potter series. Leading up to the publication of the seventh - and supposedly final - installment, the book hit stores among speculation, internet leaks, and lines of children dressed in Hogwart uniforms. Even months after the book's publication, Rowling triggered controversy by revealing that Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay.USA Today named "Deathly Hallows its book of the year, "wands down. "Rowling gave her story an ending that was as graceful, unpredictable and satisfying as the series itself. She made us believe that the imagination - like her own little wizard, now all grown up - still lives, wrote USA Today.
Palestine: Peace Not ApartheidBy Jimmy CarterThe crowning achievement of Jimmy Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords, and he has continued his public and private diplomacy ever since, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work for peace, human rights, and international development. So it was no surprise when his insider look at the Palestinian issue grabbed readers' attention.The book's title spurred a huge controversy. In an interview with Amazon, Carter said, "Forced segregation in the West Bank and terrible oppression of the Palestinians create a situation accurately described by the word. I made it plain in the text that this abuse is not based on racism, but on the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land."My surprise is that most critics of the book have ignored the facts about Palestinian persecution and its proposals for future peace and resorted to personal attacks on the author. No one could visit the occupied territories and deny that the book is accurate.
The Grass is Singing By Doris LessingBritish novelist and Nobel laureate was described by the Swedish Academy as "that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny. The 88-year-old author - too ill to travel to Sweden for the ceremony - concluded in her acceptance speech that the "storyteller is deep inside every one of us. Her first novel, "The Grass is Singing (1950), set in South Africa under white rule, tells the story of human disintegration through Mary Turner, a confident, independent woman who is transformed by depression and frustration spurred on by the failure of her husband. The monotony of farm life drones on until the arrival of a vigorous black servant. Mary is suddenly trapped in a web of attraction as well as repulsion as she battles with racism in colonial South Africa.
A Thousand Splendid SunsBy Khaled HoisseiniHosseini's first novel, bestselling "The Kite Runner, was a hard act to follow. But his newest novel has dominated the bestseller lists since its publication last summer. This Afghan epic tells the story of the nation's tumultuous times from a female perspective. Hosseini's style is sweet and simple, tugging at his readers' heartstrings.
ChicagoBy Alaa El AswanyThe Arabic publication caused quite a stir earlier this year with its reference to the G-spot (written in English for want of a familiar Arabic term). El Aswany tackles the tough societal issues in his own frank manner as a mosaic of Egyptians and American lives run into each other at a university campus in Chicago. The English translation just hit bookstores.
Awlad Haritna (Children of the Alley)By Naguib MahfouzThis year, Mahfouz's most controversial novel finally launched its local, Arabic publication. Originally issued in 1959 as a serial in a local newspaper, it was never republished in Egypt until this year.The allegorical novel tells the story of the multi-generational struggle of the descendants of the patriarch Gabalawi against social, political, and economic injustice. It provoked religious leaders in Egypt who opposed it because of its reference to the Prophet Mohamed (though Mahfouz did not refer to him specifically by name).


Clic here to read the story from its source.