AFRICA NOVEL CHALLENGE - JANUARY 2023

NORTH AFRICA - SAHARAN SANDS

Authors from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco

I am reading a book that was on the 2022 Giller Prize shortlist.
If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga. The author teaches at the American University in Cairo. There are two narrators- one a young woman who has come to Cairo and is teaching. The other is a photographer who took photos of the revolution.

Some Possible writers

Morocco

Tahar Ben Jelloun
Mohamed Choukri
Mahi Binebine
Youssef Fadel
Leila Slimani
Abdelilah Hamdouchi
Laila Lalami
Muriel Barbery

Algeria

Assia Djebar
Yasmina Khadra
Boualem Sansal
Ahlem Mosteghanemi
Amara Lakhous
Jean-Michel Guenassia
Albert Camus
Mohammed Dib

Tunisia

Apuleius
Shukri Mabkhout
Mustapha Tlili

Libya
Hisham Matar
Ibrahim Kuni
Ahmed Fagih

Egypt

Alaa Al-Aswaany
Naguib Mahfouz
Miral Al-Tahawy
Ahdaf Soueif
Taha Hussein
Bahaa Taher
Nawal El-Saadawi

I want to read something from each of the North African Countries.

Morocco up first and I have read The King's Fool by Mahi Binebine, a good start.

>2 torontoc: Welcome Cyrel and happy reading!

I have started reading The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai of Tunisia. I also hope to get to Akhenaten, dweller in truth or Autumn quail by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) and So Vast the Prison by Assia Djebar (Algeria).

Thanks for setting up this challenge, Paul! After I finish my current novel, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi in the next day or two, I'll start reading Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War by Assia Djebar. Later this month I'll read Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by the Moroccan author Laila Lalami.

>6 labfs39: I like the look of The Ardent Swarm, Lisa. I might have to go and seek that one out.

>7 kidzdoc: Nice to see you Darryl. I will hold fire with Djebar and read her a little later in the year for the Francophone month. I have a different author in mind for Algeria this month as she writes in Arabic (Ahlem Mosteghanemi).

Last year, I read Straight from the Horse's Mouth by Meryem Alaoui. It was excellent and given how few of the African authors whose works are available to those of us outside of Africa are women, I thought I'd add that one for consideration.

I was all set to jump in enthusiastically to last years Asian Author project, but life intervened and I did not participate at all. So instead of claiming to be joining in, I'll just say that I've made note of a few titles on my tbr that will fit and that I've put Palace Walk where I can see it. And even if I don't participate at all, I will enjoy seeing what you all find to read and making note of books to add to the tbr.

I've started listening to In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar for a Libyan author.

I also have The Ardent Swarm by Tunisian author Yamen Manai from the library for later this month.

I agree with >9 RidgewayGirl: Kay that I am planning to do better with this challenge than the Asian authors last year. And I love her idea of looking for women authors.

No promises beyond following along and participating when I can. Thanks for hosting, Paul!

I’m also reading In the Country of Men by Hasham Matar.

Lovely idea - I put this message as a bookmark, so I'll find my way back. :)

I was thinking of this thread when I came across Laila Lalomi's discourse on books about Tangier in today's NYTimes book review. I'll join when I can.

Morocco: The Elusive Fox by Muhammad Zafzaf, translated by Mbarek Sryfi and Roger Allen

Reading it was like hanging out with a bunch of stoners when you aren't partaking.

>9 RidgewayGirl: & >10 streamsong: Africa boasts some quite impressive female authors but you are right in that they tend to get less coverage than the men - unfairly so. It will be good to see that put right - here at least!

>15 amanda4242: I love that description - not that I recognize the feeling of course!

I also have The Ardent Swarm lined up for this challenge. It looks like a lot of us picked it up as a Kindle freebie on World Book Day!

>14 ffortsa: I saw that too - an embarrassment of riches there! Thinking about hope and other dangerous pursuits for Morocco, and bird summonswritten by an Egyptian author but does not take place in Egypt

In the Country of Men is great read, picked that up few years ago ..... watching the thread for female or other writers as well.

>17 cbl_tn: Exactly! Have you started it yet? I'm really enjoying it.

For my second ANC read I have devoured The Golden Ass by Apuleius.



Good opening day to 2023

Like many others, I plan to participate as able. My goal is once a quarter.

When I went to gather the January books I chose for this challenge I discovered many were packed away when I had to have all my physical books packed as we stage the condo for sale. Luckily I have found a few appropriate books on my Kindle. For January I will try to read at least one of the following:

The Barbary Figs by Rachid Boudjedra--Algeria
The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi--Tunesia
A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne--NF--a well-regarded history of the Algerian war of independence 1954-1962.

I also have a couple of books by Hasham Matar (Libya) on my Kindle, but I wasn't in love with the one book I have read by him. And I think I have at least one Egypt book on Kindle, but I think all my Morocco books are physical books.

A Bookshop in Algiers / Our Riches by Kaouther Adimi - 3 stars


Author’s nationality: Algerian
Original publication date: 2017
Author’s age when first published: 31
Written in: French
Read in: Dutch translation
Format: e-book

Why I read this :
In my search for suitable books for the African novel challenge in January, this book caught my eye. It wasn't quite what I was looking for, because I actually wanted an Algerian story by an Algerian author in an Algerian context and the French context therefore seemed less interesting to me. But since France is an integral part of Algeria's history and since I have a soft spot for bookstore books, I read it anyway. The fact that it is a short novel made the choice easier.

Summary:
Based on true events, the book tells the story of Edmond Charlot, a young man in his twenties, who opened a bookshop (Les Vraies Richesses) in Algiers in the 1930s and also became a publisher and champion of a literary scene that transcended borders. His bookshop became the place to be for writers, poets, publishers, students, a.o. Albert Camus (who had some of his first works published by Charlot).

My comments:
In this book we follow three storylines: that of Charlot through fictionalized diary fragments, that of Ryad who has to clean up the bookshop in 2017 and the author who's the voice of the Algerian people.
Charlot's diary fragments are interesting because they depict the hectic pace of the entrepreneur and enable the author to give a lot of information in a very concise manner. But sometimes it was a bit too much name dropping without the necessary context. Ryad's story seemed a bit superfluous to me, but perhaps necessary to complete the circle. Perhaps the most impressive was the anonymous voice of the Algerian people, although it is very limited. However decisive the storyline of Charlot's bookstore is, this is also the story of Algeria, a colony of France that tried to become independent and pays a very heavy price for it.
I must admit that I know very little about colonialism and the struggle for independence. That lack of knowledge is one of the reasons I've joined the African Roman Challenge. Ailthough this book offers no more than a very concise look at a complex and painful history, its merits are that it is well written, it rescues Charlots bookshop from oblivion and it has made me curious enough to explore this topic further, so it does have its value.

Recommended for:
Anyone who likes to read about booksellers or wants to take a cursory glance at a small aspect of Algeria's history.

Thanks for doing this challenge, Paul! I am thinking of reading Palace Walk, as it's been on my radar for a long time.

Tunisia: Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi, translated by Charis Olszok

A young man taking up a teaching position in a remote village enters into an antagonistic relationship with the village magistrate. Moody, atmospheric, and with a heady air of the gothic, this is a strange novella, but an excellent read.

>21 PaulCranswick: What a beautiful cover to your edition, Paul. Did you enjoy it? Wasn't it a hoot?

>24 Trifolia: Thank you for the wonderful review, Monica. I am tempted.

>20 labfs39: I haven't started The Ardent Swarm yet. I have a few library ebooks that I need to read before they expire on me. There is a waiting list for each one of them so I won't be able to renew any of them.

>27 labfs39: It was really entertaining, Lisa, and suited my mood perfectly.

Thanks Paul for hosting this challenge for a new year. Africa is not a country I've read that much from, so I'm likely to paper-travel to new places and discover new-to-me authors!
As last year, I will try to stick with books from my shelves for this challenge. It's a great way to finally read books that have been waiting for too long.
I have started January with a bulky non-African book, so I will be late to start the challenge. So far, I have found two books, both from Egyptian authors.
♦ Impasse des deux palais/Palace walk by Naguib Mahfouz
♦ J'ai couru vers le Nil/The Republic of False Truths by Alaa al-Aswani

If I have a bit more time, I'll explore further my shelves as I am sure I have some other books to explore other January countries!

Happy new year and happy reading to all!

My first read for this challenge:

In the Country of Men Hisham Matar ***1/2



Suleiman, a nine year old boy living in Colonel Gaddafi's Libya in 1979, struggles to understand the actions of the adults around him. Why does he see his father in the centre of Tripoli when he is supposedly abroad on a business trip. Why does his mother only become 'ill' when his father is away, and why does she act so oddly once she has taken her medicine:

When she was ill she would talk and talk and talk, but later hardly remembered any of what she had told me. It was as if her illness got the spirit of another woman in her.

In the morning, after I had fallen asleep exhausted from listening to her craziness and from guarding her – afraid she would burn herself, or leave the gas on in the kitchen or, God forbid, leave the house altogether and bring shame and talk down on us – she would come and sit beside me, comb my hair with her fingers and apologise and sometimes even cry a little. I would then be stung by her breath, heavy with medicine, unable to frown or turn my face because I wanted her to believe I was in a deep sleep.'

When the family's next door neighbour, Ustath Rashid, is arrested as a suspected traitor suspicion starts to fall on his friend, Suleiman's own father. But how can a young boy protect those he loves when he does not understand the rules of the 'country of men'? And how can a wife trapped in a marriage she didn't want escape the repercussions of her husband's actions?

A moving story considering the choices made by those living in a police state. Is acquiescence or rebellion the best course when each can have such dangerous consequences?

While most of the book deals with a period of a few weeks in Suleiman's childhood, it then continues on to summarise his later life. So many books do this, and in my opinion it rarely works well. This would have been a better book if it had focused entirely on the events of 1979. But a good read nevertheless, and I'd happily read more by this author.

>31 SandDune: I agree; I like having some things tied up, but I usually don't need to know what happens later. But then I can just ignore this section!

TUNISIA



The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud
Originally published 2017, English translation 2021, 195 p., 4*

Sidi is a beekeeper in the village of Nawa, Tunisia and passionate about protecting "his girls." As the novel opens, one of his hives has been destroyed by massive hornets of a type he has never seen before. He vows to learn about the intruder and not only protect his hives, but breed bees that can defend themselves against the hornets. Sidi is also extremely leery of the new democratic elections, the first after the overthrow of The Handsome One, and the Party of God officials that have come to the village with handouts in exchange for votes. He worked for a time in Saudi Arabia and is aware of the hypocrisy of the zealots. The two plot lines merge as one serves as an allegory for the other.

Yamen Manai was born in Tunis and is a scientist as well as writer. In an interview he said he was watching a National Geographic program about how Japanese bees defend themselves against the giant Asian hornet and had the inspiration that led to his writing this allegorical novel set in Tunisia after the Arab Spring. His writing incorporates both the political situation and environmental concerns, yet is often funny. Manai credits Arabic poetry and the oral tradition with influencing his writing.

Note: I found the prologue off-putting, but it had little to do with the subsequent story and could easily have been cut.

A few other options I found last year for my Reading Africa project, I've only read one of them though:

Algeria: The Meursault Investigation
Egypt: The Queue*, The Open Door, Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories, Zayni Barakat
Libyan: Gold Dust
Tunisia: The Italian, A Tunisian Tale

*a clever blend of dystopia, absurdism and Kafka, but events are mostly conveyed dispassionately.

>33 labfs39: That sounds fascinating...especially since my younger son is a beekeeper so I'm into bees these days. :D

>35 SqueakyChu: I don't know much about beekeeping, but this article talks about the swarm defense mechanism that inspired the book's title: National Geographic story. Pretty interesting, even for a layperson.

Edited to add, that article has a subscription wall, try this instead, Smithsonian article.

>36 labfs39: Thanks for linking that article. It sure is fascinating. Here where I live (Maryland, USA), honeybees surround the queen with activity (hence great warmth) in the winter cold to keep her alive. It's interesting that some bees can regulate their temperature with activity to the effect that they can even use that heat to kill a predator!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...the African novel! :D

Nervous conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) is $2.99 on Kindle (US) today.

First sentence: I was not sorry when my brother died.

I read The Golden Ass for my first African novel, though I kind of think this is more Roman, but the Roman empire covered a large area. A book of humor, mythology, and the adventures of Lucius who is accidentally changed to an ass.

>38 markon: (I cant find your tread, can you give me a link?)

>34 ELiz_M: I read and enjoyed The open door by Zayyat ( pub. 1960, used colloquial Egyptian, awarded inaugural Naguib Mahfouz award 1996.)

I'm curious about The Mersault investigation, but then I'd have to read Camus' The stranger.

>40 cindydavid4: Here is my 2023 Club Read thread Cindy.

I'm finishing La Civilisation, ma Mère!... by Driss Chraïbi set in Morocco, where two brothers recount their mother's emergence from ancestral to worldly beliefs, as she gains her emancipation to create a more peaceful, more just world. It's a beautiful, luminous, optimistic novel, and a wonderful homage to women.

>41 markon: It definitely helps to read The Stranger but knowing its premise is enough.

I wanted to love The Mersault Investigation and it certainly shows the pain behind Algerian-French relations. Personally, however, I would have enjoyed it much more had it been more streamlined, more raw, more action-oriented... it seems to evoke all sorts of emotions from different readers so I'd be curious to read about others' reactions!

I just purchased The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai (Tunisia) and will try to read it this month. It's quite short and looks excellent!

I completed Bridges of Constantine yesterday, my third challenge read of the year and almost certainly the most hyperbole filled I have read or will read in a long time.

Hi Ellen, long time no see. I still remember fondly our trip to Powell's with some other intrepid LTers years ago. Hope you enjoy The Ardent Swarm.

>14 ffortsa: I saw that too, lots of interesting titles there

>31 SandDune: While most of the book deals with a period of a few weeks in Suleiman's childhood, it then continues on to summarise his later life. So many books do this, and in my opinion it rarely works well. This would have been a better book if it had focused entirely on the events of 1979. But a good read nevertheless, and I'd happily read more by this author.

Ive long been frustrated by this technique in writing. Most of the time the actual event/ person is much more interesting than more recent times. Ive rarely seen it done well. But glad it was still a good read

I've begun Palace Walk and it's a lovely, atmospheric look at Cairo in the 1940s so far.

>31 SandDune:. Thanks for the review! I really liked The Return so I think I will look for this one.

>50 RidgewayGirl:. I am planning to start this one soon!

>25 banjo123: Just finished Palace Walk and found it very impressive. Definitely want to read rest of the trilogy.

Friend with whom I was reading Palace Walk mentioned that “only 20% of college-educated males read novels.” Can this be true?

>53 booksaplenty1949: I can't say regarding the general population, but 100% of the college educated males in my family read novels (that would be my husband and my son-in-law).

>54 laytonwoman3rd: In North America “English” was the #1 undergraduate major until fairly recently. Now it has been replaced by Business and Kinesiology. That is not to say that English majors continued to read novels after graduation, of course.

>55 booksaplenty1949: Well, one of them was an English major back in the olden days; the other was pre-med. 20% is, sadly, probably a lot higher than the number of non-college-educated males who read novels.

>53 booksaplenty1949: Possibly true, but that still leaves non-fiction, short stories, poetry, etc. they could be reading.

Just received Hope and other Dangerous pursuits and will start tomorrow (Morocco)

>57 amanda4242: If they’re not reading novels I very much doubt they’re reading poetry or short stories. More likely non-fiction like The January 6 Report and Grit.

I selected Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian author, to read for this challenge. I've read and enjoyed some of his other writing, but many, many years ago. This is a small book, but it's very interesting to me. It has political undertones with which I had to do some research as the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 was way under my radar because I was only a small child at that time. However, it does refer to enmity with Israel and a war in 1967. Having lived in Israel a mere five years afer that, I found it interesting to read about that situation from the Egyptian point of view. I'm only halfway through this book now, but find it an intriguing read because of the characters and the structure of this novel (in which separate chapters are given to different individuals).

It's a very short book (only 110 pages) so if anyone else here wants to share reading it with me, I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say about it.

Paul, I bailed on three other books (which I actually liked) so I could get a chance to jump into your challenge this month! :D

>60 SqueakyChu: You've sold me on it!

>61 quondame: Cool! Let me know what you think of it, Susan. I see it’s not that highly rated here in LT, but I’m enjoying it!

>53 booksaplenty1949: I cannot conceive of a world without the undimmed joy of reading fiction.

Has anyone one read the girl with the louding voiceThe author is Nigerian. the book was recommended to me by a fellow book group member, looks interesting

>61 quondame: I finished the book. I sped read through it! I disagree with those who gave it a mediocre review. I thought it was excellent. I’ll post my review of it to my thread later.

>64 cindydavid4: I read The Girl With the Louding Voice and had mixed feelings about it. Read my review of that book for more of my thoughts.

Just lowered myself in to Palace Walk.

>66 Caroline_McElwee: I love it when I read it a few years ago and found myself reading the entire trilogy.

>65 SqueakyChu: ok thanks, I usually don't care for books written in dialect. A friend recommended it to me, I may check the library and see what I think

>68 cindydavid4: Let us know what you decide about The Girl With the Louding Voice! :)

>9 RidgewayGirl: Based on this recommendation, I finished Straight From the Horse's Mouth which has an irresistible protagonist and gives a street-level view of life in Morocco. I loved it. Onward to something from an Egyptian writer, I think.

>70 nancyewhite: I'm glad you liked it!

>60 SqueakyChu: Gosh, Madeline, that is humbling.

>9 RidgewayGirl: & >70 nancyewhite: That is exactly what I hoped this challenge would do!

>60 SqueakyChu: Paul, I finished Karnak Cafe and thought it was excellent. One of my friends was very upset by a new visitor to the Cafe in the last chapter of the book. She thought what happened was not realistic. I can now see why others did not care for this story that much, but it worked very well for me.

So Vast the Prison by Assia Djebar, translated from the French by Betsy Wing
Originally published 1995, English translation 1999, Seven Stories Press, 3*

If I had to describe this book in a single word, it would be "gaze." Assia Djebar, a filmmaker as well as writer, is always aware of sightlines and who is gazing at whom.

My full review is here.

>73 SqueakyChu: I adore Naguib Mahfouz. I read a goodly number of his books and they are uniformly excellent. Karnak Cafe though is not one I have so far read.

>74 labfs39: I am looking forward to reading some of her work this year, Lisa. Thanks for the review. x

>75 PaulCranswick: Karnak Cafe is a very small book, Paul. That's why I chose it for this challenge. Surely you can fit it in somewhere among your other reads! :D

It's funny, book choice is so personal. I am really not getting along well with Palace Walk. So slow and the characters so unpleasant. I am going to give it a bit longer, but it may be a DNF for me.

But on the positive, I got a copy of In the Country of Men from the library, and pretty sure I will like it.

>77 banjo123: I'm liking it a lot -- I'm on Team Ex-Wife and there's a lot that is enraging from a Western feminist point-of-view. But I do like a novel full of unlikeable characters.

>77 banjo123: I hope you persevere with it Rhonda and you get something from it. Like so many I really liked it.

>77 banjo123: Al-Sayid Ahmad’s character grows more nuanced as the book progresses. Apparent power imbalance becomes more complicated, and the book moves from the personal to the political in a very interesting and subtle way. Don’t give up on it.

Zeina by Nawal El Saadawi

A beautifully written rage scream of a novel. I moved from the streets of Casablanca with Straight from the Horse's Mouth to the home of a privileged family in Cairo. El Saadawi writes with the cadence of holy books. Doubling back, telling the same stories over and over, staccato lists of sins, switching between daily life, dreams and stories she pulls the veil off the suffering of women at the hands of men empowered and encouraged to abuse them with fists and sexual violence by patriarchal religions.

The story doesn't sound as powerful as it is - a privileged young woman has a brief affair with a young activist before he is executed by the state, she has a baby which she leaves on the street so that she can retain the softness she is used to. Neither her miserable marriage nor her career satisfy her, and she longs for her child as she writes a novel while her husband sleeps. In El Saadawi's more than capable hands this story becomes a brick thrown through the window of the powerful men of Egypt. From lengthy descriptions of the life of street children to an offhanded reference to female genital mutilation, she is relentless in her quest to open the reader's eyes.

Honestly, I'm reaching for words to describe the emotions evoked by reading this novel. It was published in 2009 - late in her prolific career. She'd been subject to circumcision, imprisoned, educated, lauded, stripped of her credentials, exiled, repatriated and haunted. To retain this level of passion and righteousness and translate it into a beautiful, poetic book is beyond belief.

This one is definitely reminder of what literature can do and why books are always among the first things to burn.

>81 nancyewhite:. Great review!

>78 RidgewayGirl:. >79 PaulCranswick: and >80 booksaplenty1949:. I will keep at Palace Walk a bit longer.

Finished hope and other dangerous pursuits and liked it very much. powerful look at why people want and need to take desparate measures to immigrate, and what often happens when they do.
my review is here

Would like to read the moor's account as well

Next up birds summons

>81 nancyewhite: Added to the list Nancy.

Frustratingly I need something with more momentum than >66 Caroline_McElwee: at the moment, but I'll get back to it.

From Egypt, I am reading Brooklyn Heights by Miral al-Tahawy largely about the Arab immigrant experience in New York but also with long reflections of a Bedouin past in Cairo. So far so good.

I just finished The Stranger for this challenge. I didn't learn much about Algeria except that it can get very hot there, but I know more about Absurdity.

>85 Caroline_McElwee: I loved The Cairo Trilogy when I started reading it years and years ago, but I only made it halfway through the last book. I just yesterday bailed on a slow book, but I’m hoping to have enough time to read Leaving Tangier by the Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jalloun within this month.

>87 Donna828: I didn't learn much about Algeria except that it can get very hot there, but I know more about Absurdity.

LOL!

>87 Donna828: I like that, Donna!

>88 SqueakyChu: I read The Blinding Absence of Light by Ben Jelloun a number of years ago and it was pretty harrowing, Madeline.

>89 PaulCranswick: That book sounds creepy, Paul!

>89 PaulCranswick: I was so moved by This Blinding Absence of Light. It's a book that stuck with me long after I read it. I just went and looked up my review, from 2008, and my memory matches the review.

I've finished The Golden Ass, so with Karnak Cafe, that's two.

My copy of The Cairo Trilogy arrived in the mail today. Resisting diving in to parts 2&3 until I have read February’s Lusophone novel, The Last Flight of the Flamingo.

>1 PaulCranswick: ever since reading novels by Paul Bowles I’ve been fascinated by Northern Africa and have been fortunate to have spent some months traveling in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. My current favorite novelist is the French-Morrocan Leïla Slimani. I thoroughly recommend In the Country of Others. I’ll be watching this topic for ideas on newish North African novelists.

>87 Donna828: I recommend The Meursault Investigation which gives the pov of the Algerian in Camus favorite novel.

>94 kjuliff: I have some of Bowles books as well; esp loved his travel narratives Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue Its been a while, I may reread it for this month

>94 kjuliff: I have the same interest, Kathleen. There is a strong possibility of my next sizeable project being in Casablanca and I am really looking forward to the possibility of travelling there.

>95 kjuliff: That does look like one I should go and seek out.

Lovely to see you here, by the way.

>97 PaulCranswick: If you are planning to go to Casablanca for the waters, you have been misinformed.

>98 booksaplenty1949: No I am going there for business. Implementation of aviation related projects.

Finished The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz. This author creates great atmosphere and the perfect antisocial, narcissistic victim.

I finished The Ardent Swarm. Here is my review: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347249#8048758

While one of the main tags for this book is "satire", I would call it more of a fable or parable. Any thoughts?

Still listening to In the Country of Men. I should be done in the next day or two.

>101 streamsong: I agree, streamsong. I would call it an allegory, not satire.

I have started reading Women Writing Africa: The Northern Region. It is a huge anthology organized chronologically. I am reading all the selections from Tunisia first. Quite a wide variety of selections.

Reading Coffee House tho I am mindful of other peoples notes on it.

Egypt: The Illustrator's Notebook by Mohieddine Ellabbad, translated by Sarah Quinn

The thoughts on art and insights into Ellabbad's own work were mildly interesting, but this one didn't make much of an impression on me.

Algeria: The Dictator's Last Night by Yasmina Khadra, translated by Julian Evans

An imagining of the last days of Muammar Gaddafi. Read only if you're interested in the banal thoughts of a petty tyrant.

Libya: Gold Dust by Ibrahim al-Koni, translated by Elliott Colla

A young man is given a marvelous camel and suffers much.

I kind of liked this one, but I think a great deal was lost in translation. Reading the translator's afterword before the book probably would have helped.

I am reading The Bottom of the Jar by Abdellatif Laâbi, set in Morroco in the mid-20th century. There is supposed to be a good deal of humor in it, but I feel it may be getting lost in the translation. Still, an interesting look at life in the medina at that time.

>105 laytonwoman3rd: Hmm, I didn't find The Bottom of the Jar funny, but rather warm and nostalgic. I quite enjoyed the vignettes of childhood, especially after having read Laâbi's memoir of his young adulthood spent in prison for "crimes of opinion".

>106 labfs39: I am enjoying it for the same reasons, Lisa, although I haven't read the other memoir. La Vie Economique said it was "imbued with humor", and J. M. G. Le Clezio called it "inventive and philosophically amusing"...I'll let them have their assessments, and just go with Jeune Afrique's "Created with gentleness and with fury, with words that thrill the soul, that cry out with the urge to live, with hope and with suffering." Can't do much better than that.

Leo Africanus and the coffee house appeared in my mailbox. Trying to read the latter; but feeling like there is way too many details about the palaces they have. But Ill continue. That former looks really interesting but the print is so tiny! (yes Im planning to get a kindle soon) but im willing to try

Started The Last Flight of the Flamingo. A little ahead of February, when we turn to Lusophone writers, but book is due at the library February 9 so no use starting something else. First discovery is that author Mia Couto is from Mozambique, not Angola. So much for my grasp of Lusophone Africa. Opening pages full of puns and double-entendres. Translator must have had his work cut out for him.

I did read In the Country of Men, which I liked. I thought the author portrayed the difficulty and confusion of living under Qaddafi as a child very well.

Leo Aficanus(wrong touchstone, author is Amin Maalouf) is turning out to be very interesting; the first part focusing on the Muslims in Granada and that history before they were expelled. My only real beef is no map, and no family tree of some type or glossary on characters. I can google. I did wonder if this was a real person and he is; this is an imaginary autobiography of the geographer. part of his travels take us to Fez in Morocco. The author is Lebanses so not sure if this book counts; if not there are a couple of othre places it can go!

>101 streamsong: and >102 labfs39: I'm glad to see those comments. I haven't started The Ardent Swarm yet (it may be February in which I read it) but I tend to prefer allegory or parable over satire.

>101 streamsong: >102 labfs39: >112 EBT1002: I just finished The Ardent Swarm and I would call it allegory as well. Ellen, it's a very short novel that probably qualifies as a novella. You might be able to read it in one sitting.

Just finished Palace Walk and it was magnificent. So glad this challenge had me pull it off of the tbr pile.

I finished Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War by Assia Djebar last week, which was very good. It was mainly centered on several women in a mountainside village in Algeria, in which rebel soldiers, including some villagers, conducted warfare against French and Algerian soldiers in the hills and around the town. I'll write a review of it later this week.

I would still like to read Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by the Moroccan author Laila Lalami, but I'll do so next month.

>115 kidzdoc: Ooh, I was going to put off reading CotNW, but your review has me regretting that decision.

>116 labfs39: I admittedly had a bit of a hard time getting into Children of the New World at first, possibly because of its numerous characters, but roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through it began to gel, and I enjoyed it from then on. Several past and current LTers whose opinions I highly respect gave it 4 or 4 1/2 stars as well.

I finished my third North African novel written by a woman just in time for the month to end. This time I read Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami.

Composed of character sketches of folks who escape Morocco on a crowded and dangerous raft, this short novel focuses on what led them to the raft and what happens to them after they reach Spain.

As in the other two books poverty, sexism and Islam play more than a small role. Very good, but not as earth shattering as Zeina was for me.

>117 kidzdoc: I borrowed it from Lois, and I see she, Barry, and Tad all rated it highly. I'll keep it in my sightlines from my reading chair and try to work it in.

>3 PaulCranswick:

I am impressed by Algerian writer/journalist Kamel Daoud and would add him to this list. His The Meursault Investigation is a must for Camus fans. The novel tells the story of Camus’s The Stranger, from the perspective of the brother of the Arab killed by Camus’ anti-hero, Meursault.

Unfortunately a lot of Daoud’s work is not yet translated. He has written a number of op-eds on Islam and assimilation, the damages done by colonialism, and the issue and implications of free speech.

>119 labfs39: Right, Lisa. Larry (@lriley) and Charlotte (@charbutton), two other friends whose opinions I highly respect, also rated Children of the New World 4 stars or higher.

Leaving Tangier by the Moroccan author, Tahar Ben Jelloun



I didn't care for this story that much. It had such disagreeable characters, each one having his or her own chapter relating that persons's story. I personally do not like this way of storytelling.

The general story was about Moroccans, specifically two siblings from Tangiers, who were determined to leave Morocco and make their lives better in Spain. The main character Azel graduated as a lawyer in Morocco but could find no work there; his sister Kenza had a dream of going to Spain, finding love, and then coming back home to Tangiers ready to have children with a husband she loves. Life in Spain did not turn out well for either of them nor for Miguel, a wealthy Spanish citizen. He promised to set up Azel for a life of luxury in Spain, although his ulterior motive was to use Azel as a servant and later as a lover.

I was glad the story ended when it did. I was exhausted from the misery of it all. I was also exhausted from all of the various characters and everything that they did to make their own lives as miserable as possible.

The writing was not the problem; the depressing story was, though. I might try another book by this author in the future, but I will need a story Moroccans in their own country as their immigrant experience in Spain was a bit too much for me.

While the author is not from Algeria, Richard Powers' GENEROSITY
offers a compelling story of a young girl's life after her family waits too long
to escape from Kabyle.

She also mentions that St. Augustine was Berber (Amazigh).

Starting the book of chameleons