Books

Beer In The Snooker Club

Waguih Ghali takes us on a trip back in time to an era where today’s taboos used to be the norm. It is somewhat considered a semi-autobiography since the main character is based on Ghali, going through a time of discrimination and soul searching trying to find an identity. The book is set during Gamal…

A Thousands Splendid Suns

A story of intense beauty and strength buried under the surface of the cruel life imposed upon two Afghani women. A Thousands Splendid Suns, a staggeringly beautiful, outstanding, sad, deep, dark and infuriating novel. I started this books with great expectations and it certainly lived up to all the hype about it.  The story revolves…

Egypt Before Tahrir

Author Nael Shama explains exactly how most Egyptians feel about The Land of The pharaohs in a carefully articulated yet easy to read language that makes reading this book an edu-taining experience. From Egypt’s greatest business men to the “parasitic class” and “nightmares of the wretched present”; Shama’s reflections on Politics, Culture and Society are…

A Thousand Splendid Suns

In our opinion, one of the best novels ever written; Afghan-American Author Khaled Hosseini tells the story of how the fate of two women with complicated pasts becomes intertwined under horrible circumstances, yet their coincidental union manages to become their salvation. A mother-daughter story so intense it’ll have you laughing, crying and empathizing all at…

Habebty

In his third book, Zap Tharwat writes about the five loves in his life; his mother, sister, unborn daughter, unmet wife and Egypt. In a series of short stories and anecdotes, he explains what it means to him to have these women in his life, and how even though he might take their love for…

The Butcher Boy

One of the most intriguing novels ever written, The Butcher Boy puts the reader in the front row seat of a preview of a life so interrupted and desensitized by society that the deviant actions and wrong doings of the characters seem justified. The book revolves around the fictional story of a troubled schoolboy, Francis…

Untha Ma’a Sabq Al Esraar

The book started as a personal dream of the author’s. The Marital Apartment Law chapter was something which the author has always thought is vital to protect women (and men) who are married.  The book includes many other chapters that tackle difficulties which women face in Egypt. And they do face plenty of that. From…

The Wedding Night

The Wedding Night is an extremely Egyptian novel. The author tells the story of Houda, a deaf-mute young man living in a small town in the Delta. He and his brother are butcher apprentices. The sexually frustrated Houda leaves no chance to let out his sexual frustration on women in his area. It isn’t until…

Maddaddam

Margaret Atwood’s last book in the Maddaddam trilogy came out in August 2014, much to fans’ delight. The book definitely did not disappoint. Picking up from where the previous book, Year of the Flood, left off, the book follows Toby, Ren, Amanda and Zeb. Maddaddam focuses more on Toby and Zeb’s side of the story.…

Pegasus

Danielle Steel spins quite a story in her latest saga Pegasus. A rich historical novel about a family of a widowed father, Nicolas Von Bingen, and his two sons and the journey they were forced into when a long gone secret catches up with them and forces them into leaving Germany during World War II,…

1919

Talanted author Ahmed Murad takes readers all the way back to a time when Egypt was up to its brims in political turbulences, religious debates and ethical dilemmas. Between the archives of “El-Wafd” political party leader Saad Zaghlool, underground movements in covert cafes and a time where prostitution was at its prime, emerges a dialogue…

Panic

The best-selling author of the Delirium trilogy, Lauren Oliver, is back with a new gripping and spellbinding novel called Panic. Heather lives in a poor town and has never thought of herself as fearless. However, she chooses to compete in panic, a legendary game where senior graduates must face their worst fears. When she finds…

Maybe Someday

Every now and then an author comes up with new ideas that wow the readers. This idea will not only wow the readers, but also leave them breathless. When Sydney Blake finds out her boyfriend cheated on her, she unexpectedly decides to stay with her neighbor Ridge, whom she has never met before. Author of…

The Fault in our Stars

Everywhere you go you will see people holding and talking about a mystery book called The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Although it has been published in early 2012, everyone is still obsessing about it until now. But what makes this book different from any other book? 16-year-old Hazel Lancaster manages to live…

Status Emo

A liberating story about life experience and letting go of the confines of our Middle Eastern society, Status Emo talks about an Egyptian boy in his twenties who is sick of his monotonous life. On Facebook, he meets an interesting girl called Emmie who is an emo and who has a completely unique lifestyle to…

Earth Weeps Saturn Laughs

Although it starts off rather slowly, this book is a complete must read. It takes you into the life of an Omani man who is going back to his small home town after returning from working in the city, after he recovers from a scarring love affair with a woman he truly loved. The whole…

The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian post-apocalyptic worlds are intriguing as they are disturbing. The Handmaid’s Tale is no exception. It is a story of a woman forced to live in a world which has changed so rapidly around her to the extent that her only chance for survival is by completely disregarding her past life and accepting…

Poe’s Children

Horror literature was looked-down upon for years. Many have openly criticized the genre for being too juvenile while completely disregarding that some of the world’s most influential writers came up with great horror tales. A man like Edgar Allen Poe changed the way poetry, short stories and horror tales were told and until now his…

Breakfast on Pluto

This is a Patrick McCabe classic. The Irish author writes this book with his trademark wit and zest. The story revolves around Patrick “Pussy” Braden, a transvestite whose quest for love is unstoppable. Not even the IRA is going to stop her from living her life! Pussy lives in the exciting, albeit troublesome times of…

Grenada Trilogy

This trilogy is one of the most popular in modern Arabic literature. Radwa Ashour’s Grenada Trilogy consists of three books; Grenada, Maryama and Alraheel. The trilogy is of the historical fiction genre, which means that fictional stories take place during real historical events. The three books follow a number of main characters during the fall…

Dracula

The blood-chilling story written by Irish author Bram Stoker is a true horror classic. The Gothic horror novel was written in 1897. It follows the story of the mysterious, charismatic Count Dracula. The Count turns out to be a vampire, of course (spoilers!). The archaic style of writing is mesmerizing. The Gothic atmosphere made by…

The Forty Rules of Love

The concept of a story within a story has been done before. However, Elif has done it brilliantly. With two stories mirroring one another. One set in modern times and the other set in the thirteenth century. Ella Rubenstein is a forty year old woman, stuck in an unhappy marriage. She is given the chance…

Carrie

Set in 1979, Carrie is Stephen King’s first published novel – although it was the fourth novel he wrote. It follows the story of Carietta “Carrie” N. White, a high school outcast who discovers her telekinetic powers after a brutal bullying incident. Her hyper-religious mother’s abusive behavior, combined with her classmates’ bullying, may lead to…

Angela’s Ashes

One of the most moving memoires in modern literature, Angela’s Ashes tells Frank McCourt’s story. In the book, McCourt initially describes his childhood saying “It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the…

Because I am a Girl

Seven authors have visited seven different countries and spoken t young women and girls about their lives, struggle, and hope, the result is an extraordinary collection of writings about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience, and changing attitudes. Proceeds from sales of this book will go to Plan, one of the world’s…

The Consequences of Love

Nasser is a in a dead-end job in Jeddah, he spends most of his time writing his mom in Africa and yearning to meet a woman in a country that separates men and women with walls and veils until he meets a black-clad woman drops a piece of paper at his feet instructing him to…

Banat Fi Hekayat (Girls in Stories)

Rasha Samir writes an epic novel spelling out all the tests and trials of girls growing up and facing the harsh reality of what it takes to be a woman. The novel tells stories of mostly teenage girls, who were pushed into various situations due to their fate and place in society, the book invites…

Remember Me?

Lexi wakes up in a hospital bed after a car accident, thinking it’s 2004 and she’s a twenty-five-year old with crooked teeth and a disastrous love life.

The Time Keeper

The great author of the best seller ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ Mitch Albom is back with a captivating new release. The book titles ‘The Time keeper’ it takes an unusual spin on the investigation of time, how each person has a certain amount of time on earth for a reason, don’t ask for less or more.…

Nady El Sayarat

Turning his pen from the political scene in Egypt and after nearly four years away from fiction, Alaa El Aswany releases his talked about novel ‘Nady El Sayarat’. El Aswany travels with his readers from the invention of the first car in the world by Mercedes Benz to Egypt in the 40’s where Nady El…

Hezb Elkanaba (The Couch Party)

‘Hezb elkanaba’ (The Couch Party) is a new book by Ezzat Amin, co-host of the TV show of the same title on El Gomhorreya Online TV. In his book he talks about his journey from the couch to the square. A simple and easy read that is broken into small chapters, he discusses different phenomena and…

Out of It

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been going on for more than 50 years. This novel very clearly displays the conflict. However, it also brings in different Palestinian liberation organizations such as the PLO as well as an Islamic religious movement; it depicts how there is not only an Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also a Palestinian versus Palestinian one…

Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt

From the simplest hand-written messages, through stencils and martyr portraits, to the elaborate murals of Mohamed Mahmoud Street, the messages on the walls are presented in themed sections – Revolution & Freedom, Egyptian & Proud, Cross & Crescent, Martyrs & Heroes – punctuated by interviews with some of the individual artists whose work has broken…

Life on Hold

Saudi writer Fahd al-Atiq explores Riyadh city that he describes as the city of masks “like a pressure cooker that’s about to explode,” a city that sleeps on a pile of words that no one dares to utter. Saudi society has split into two camps, one adopting the slogan that God is strict in punishment,…

The Great Transformation: The Beginning Of Our Religious Traditions

Karen Armstrong traces the development of the Axial Age chronologically, examining the contributions of such figures as Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the mystics of the Upanishads, Mencius, and Euripides. All of the Axial Age faiths began in principled and visceral recoil from the unprecedented violence of their time. Despite some differences of emphasis, there…

How To Have A Beautiful Mind

Use the power of creative thinking to become more attractive with a makeover for your mind! It doesn’t need IQ, or means of knowledge. All it needs is creativity, imagination and empathy – all techniques that anyone can learn. Here Edward de Bono, world-famous for changing the way people think, shows you in clear, practical…

The Righteous Men

Murders at opposite ends of the world, in America, India and Cape Town. There can’t possibly be a connection. That’s thee instinct of Will Monroe, a young British-born reporter on the New York Times- until the morning his wife Beth is kidnapped. Desperate, Will follows a trail that leads to a mysterious sect right on his…

The Kite Runner

Twelve year old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him – for he always helps Amir – but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely…

The Book of Secrets

This book is not of esoteric knowledge. It is a book of hints, reminders, stabs of insight and imagination – whatever it take to help you turn the key. That moment will arrive when you can truly say, I must know. I can’t wait a moment longer. This book is a crystalline distillation of insights…

How To Have Kick-Ass Ideas

What if you could find a way to become incredibly successful in your career, and have ridiculous amounts of fun doing it? What it you became a master at problem-solving and could apply that to every aspect of your life? What of you could make it happen right now? This book gives you 50 ideas…

Da Vinci Code

Louvre curator and Priory of Sion Grand Master Jacques Saunière is fatally shot one night at the museum by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who is working on behalf of someone known only as the Teacher, who wishes to discover the location of the “keystone,” an item crucial to the search for the Holy…

Fi Ard El Helm

Mena Fawzi, the author, tells the story of an Egyptian girl, Habiba in her twenties, who migrates to America in hopes of finding what is called the “American Dream.”  Escaping the adult supervision of her uncle and searching for better possibilities, she decides to go study in the US while living with a Hispanic roommate,…

El Feel el Azra’

After Vertigo and Torab El Mas, El Feel EL Azra’ is a new addition to any book lover’s shelf! Thrilling, manipulative, and provocative to your brain cells, this book will make you want to return home from whereever you are to break the mystery code.  Ahmed Mourad’s latest bestseller takes us on a journey to…