This month’s reading adventures come to you from Egypt, the land of the pyramids!
I’ve recently signed up for the Shelterbox book club. You pay £10 per month and get sent a book every six weeks. You can vote for the book you want to read out of a selection of three, and they run a week of online events with discussions, etc. The best part is that your money goes towards supporting emergency shelters and essential items for victims of disasters worldwide.
I’ve now received a welcome book (The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar – India), and my first monthly book (Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller by Nadia Wassef – Egypt). As the letter E was my next stop on my literary tour of the world, this was a promising sign. I didn’t realise till I received it that Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller was a memoir, so this provided me with my first opportunity to get outside my literary comfort zone as I read my way around the world.
The other option which I’d been eyeing up for Egypt was If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga, but I saw a review which described the style as similar to Sally Rooney. I have very conflicting feelings about Normal People, and I don’t really feel ready to relive the emotions that book brought out in me, so I was pleased when another Egyptian choice dropped into my lap. Nadia Wassef actually mentioned If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English in a Q&A I was lucky enough to attend, so that is still on my to be read list for a later date.
Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller
This is Nadia’s story of her role as one of the three female co-founders of Diwaan, an Egyptian chain of bookshops. It’s also about Egyptian culture, politics and the challenges faced by the Egyptian publishing industry and Egyptian women.
Each chapter in this book is loosely focused on one of the departments of the bookshop, which I found made it more engaging than a straightforward chronological memoir. During the Q&A, Nadia said this structure is in part because the book came from two short stories she’d written while studying for her masters. However, this set up does make things confusing at times, for example with regards to some of the policies in place for staff, which are mentioned, but only explained in a later section.
I find it difficult to review memoirs; I want to be honest, but this is also a book that a real person has written about themselves. I guess a diplomatic way to say what I want to is – Nadia is brutally honest about her own shortcomings. She is very direct. She’s sometimes uncomfortably rude about people she doesn’t like, and because we don’t have the context of their working relationship, this is quite jarring. I’m a white woman who hasn’t worked in Egypt, so I don’t have any right to criticise her behaviour. I’ve worked in other African countries, and I know women in positions of authority often have to behave in a certain way to be able to get their jobs done. Having now listened to Nadia’s Q&A I think I have a better grasp of her as a person, and feel more kindly towards her than I did while reading.
It was very interesting to read about the setting up of a bookshop. I could at least partially relate to the challenges with bureaucracy (UK government funded aid projects in Africa are a bureaucratic web that cannot be untangled). Another element which I was interested in was what felt like Nadia’s love-hate relationship with Egypt. As someone who is the product of two cultures, this speaks to me in a way I can’t explain.
While Nadia recognises her privilege in terms of her education and class in Egypt, I would have liked to see more about this class divide. I’m not sure if I can blame a book for not being about something it’s not about, so I will have to do some further research on this myself. On the subject of further reading, Shelterbox have kindly put together a list of all the books mentioned by Nadia. These come from all categories of the bookstore, but a lot formed part of the Egyptian Essentials department at Diwan.
Egypt Travel Inspiration
I don’t have plans to visit Egypt in the near future, but one day it would make an amazing trip. I can’t imagine what it would feel like being surrounded by such amazing ancient history! When I do finally make it there, I’d love to see the following. Looks like it’ll be a long trip!
Cairo/Giza:
- Pyramids
- The Sphinx
- Egyptian Museum
- Museum of Islamic Art
- Khan El-Khalili Bazaar
- A Modern Art Walking Tour!
Aswan:
- Temple of Horus
- Temple of Kom Ombo and Crocodile Museum (!!!)
- Aswan Botanical Gardens
Luxor:
- Temple of Ramses II
- Valley of the Kings
South Sinai:
- St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai: I studied Crusader Art from Saint Catherine’s, so visiting is high on my list!
- Dahab: Alex in Wanderland has influenced me on this one.
The New Valley:
Egypt isn’t the first stop on my reading around the world adventure. Check out all of my posts so far (and some other suggestions) here. My favourite book so far has been Retrospective, set in Colombia.
What’s your favourite Egyptian book?
