Palace of Desire

The Cairo trilogy follows what happens to an Egyptian family in the 20th century. Palace of Desire is the second book. Yasin has managed to get sleazier. His second marriage fails and he marries the woman, a lute player, that his father had been having an affair with. Kamal is getting into philosophy and is becoming a teacher. He thinks he knows everything which is typical of twenty something year olds. You do feel pity though for him when the love he feels for a girl is unrequited. Kamal also finds himself slipping into his father's ways. Kamal has desires of becoming a writer. I wonder if he's modeled after Mahfouz. This was a good follow up to Palace Walk

Palace Walk

This took me a while to get into it but I have to admit this is Mahfouz's masterpiece. I read two of his books years ago. This is about al-Sayyid Ahmad and his family. He runs a store in town and is a beloved figure but at home he's a bully. He's a complete hypocrite, an adulteror, and a drinker. His son Yasin starts following in these ways and wonders how his father gets the people's respect while he is looked down upon. The book also looks at Ahmad's daughters who are waiting to get married. The most tragic character has to be his son Fahmy whose political activity gets him in trouble. This is probably one of the best examples I've read of the saga of a family, the dilemmas and yet the bond that brings people together. I started the second book and if anything it is getting more interesting. Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize and deservedly so. I can't think of another Egyptian writer that's been as influential. It was the movie Midaq Alley that got me into him. It was interesting seeing an Egyptian book adapted to fit Mexican culture but it worked.

Abarat

This was an ok young adult fantasy book by Clive Barker about a teenager in an abusive household who escapes to another world. At the world she meets a bunch of eccentrics and also there are bad guys like Christopher Carrion after her. I liked my previous reads The Thief of Always and The Hellbound Heart more. This was a lot less dark than the later though. I'll eventually get through the sequels as I thought Candy was a likable character.

Women in the American Revolution

This short history book covers the lives of some of the women who shaped the American Revolution. All I knew was Betsy Ross so I learned something. It briefly goes over the impact they had and then there are summaries of individuals including African Americans and Native Americans. What surprised me was that they even covered some women who supported the British side. It was ok. Captivating History's book on Women of the French Revolution was a lot more interesting though.

Four Novels by Marguerite Duras

This book contains four novellas by Duras. The first one "The Square" was way too chatty for me and that made it hard to follow. A man chats with a woman who thinks that marriage will magically solve everything wrong with her life. The second story "Moderatro Cantabile" is about a boy playing piano lessons and his mother and him hear a murder going on outside. The third story "10:30 on a Summer Night" concerns a woman helping a criminal. The fourth "The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas" is about a man building onto a house for his daughter and the relationships between the four characters of the story: the contractor, his wife, the man, and his daughter. These stories were ok but they don't match Duras' work on The Lover or the screenplay she did with Hiroshima, Mon Amour. If you just come in with average expectations then you will be satisfied.

The Hellbound Heart

This isn't my normal read. I read The Thief of always a couple of years ago. It was Clive Barker's children's book. I decided to see what he was famous for which is horror. So I chose the book he based his movie Hellraiser on. It was a violent read but I have to admit it was done well. An evil guy Frank finds a puzzle box which contains Cenobites, a group of demonic beings. He finds his way back to Julia who is married to his brother Rory. Only she isn't happy with the marriage and prefers Frank a heck of a lot more. She doesn't mind murdering people so that Frank can feed on them. But a woman Kirsty, who has a thing for Rory, destroys it all when she tries to save the day. The book ends pretty much in a be continued fashion.

Quicksand

I decided to read a book from the Harlem Renaissance. This novel is about a half white African American woman trying to find meaning in her existence. When she finds dissatisfication in teaching she eventually turns to religion and marries a preacher. Only the woman wakes up one day realizing she's been brainwashed and hating the man she's married. But she can't turn away from the obligation she has with the five kids she's raised. Indeed, she finds she's fallen in quicksand. I think this is more than a book from the 1920s it can apply towards today as finding the meaning of life is still a relevant subject. It's too bad that Larsen only wrote two books and a couple of short stories.