book reviews

Whether you’re on vacation or just relaxing in the garden at home, these five new light fiction novels will provide…

“Araq Motaqati” (Irregular Insomnia) comes off as a literary experiment, an atypical collection of short stories. Recently published by Dar…

Mohamed El-Baz's new book, "The Last Pharoah," discusses the reign, corruption and eventual fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. But…

Literature has always been fascinated with politics, power and the police, and Egyptian literature is no exception. Police officers have…

"Aalashan el-Sennara Teghmez" (How to Get Hitched) is a duo of pocket self-help guides (one for men and one for…

Set in a nameless Egyptian city in the early 1960s, “The Jokers” (NYRB 2010) is a ruthless send-up of power, corruption…

The Fond Mercator, a renowned Belgium publishing house specializing in art books, has recently published “Heliopolis,” a 240-page richly illustrated…

Etgawezni Shokran (Marry Me…Thank you); a short book by Omnia Fawzy was launched on 4 November with a  book signing…

In the early 1970s, Abdel Moneim Abou el-Fotouh was enrolled at Cairo University’s medical school. Back then, he did not…

The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering by Melanie Thernstrom (Farrar,…