#basma abdel aziz

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[fairuzfan]

Almost done with witches by Brenda Lozano. Good book, I enjoyed it. Next up is "never whistle at night" and then "brothers Karamazov". I should probably formally finish "go tell it on the mountains" i do this thing where I read different parts of books randomly and I technically read the book already but my official stopping place was halfway through. Did that with witches. But I read the end and then parts of the middle at random times and the first half completely. I feel like i gotta sit down and finish it all at once to observe the linear storytelling rather than the way I usually read.... so I'll add that to my list. I'll read go tell it on the mountains and never whistle at night at the same time because I get bored easily if i only read one thing at a time and i think i need a break from "trinity of fundamentals". I also need to read "the queue" by basma abdel aziz and "hijab butch blues" but those are on my phone and not physical and i don't like reading digitally. i do that with posts often, i scan parts of the middle and dont read the beginning and i sometimes reblog things that i shouldnt so i go back to delete them when i realize. Idk i just dont like reading things digitally i prefer it in my hands. Also need to read "if beale street could talk" as well. And "salt houses".

I keep trying to finish "supplication" by Nour abi-nakhoul but for some reason I stop partway through everytime. It's interesting but idk what makes me stop.

Oh and I gotta read "the white book" by han kang because I told my friend I would tell her what I thought about it. I'll get that when the library notifies me.

And of course I'm slowly paging my way through the "trinity of fundamentals".... can't say i enjoy it but it's another important book.

Gotta find time read George Jackson "blood in my eye" and the palestine history books i have but I'm just not in the mood to read them right now. I really want to read them soon tho. Been reading palestine research papers for school so I think my brain is craving fiction lately.

I'm gonna turn on asks so send me your book recs for fiction especially magical realismmmm and things with poetic prose. Bonus if it has an audio book version I can get from the library since my job is. Really boring lol.

[andnowanowl]

Daily Click for Arab.org

Some Fundraisers From Gaza

Reminder that there has been a polio outbreak in Gaza due to the horrible conditions there, and children are especially at risk for infection.

Ibtisam Al-Habil - has several children, including immunocompromised daughter, Nour, who has congenital heart disease. $13,707 CAD of $70,000. URGENT.

Ahmed Aziz - needs funds to have an operation for infant son, Abdul, who has Hirschprung's disease (affects intestine). €231 of €5,000. URGENT.

Sameer Al Khaldi - family of 17, including 9 adults and 8 children. $632 USD of $50,000.

Mohammed Almanasra - married father of three young children: Abdulrahman, Sarah, and Lina. $8427 CAD of $50,000. Vetted here, 8th one down.

Motaz Jad Al-Haq - Gazan nurse and father of three children: Mohammed, Omar, and Nima. Married to pediatrician Fedaa Al-Nadi. $14,189 SEK of $250,000. (55 SEK = 5 USD.) Vetted here.

Salem Alanqar - father of Bakr and Laila, husband to Hadeel. €4542 of €38,000. Vetted here.

Nour Alanqar - wife of Ashraf Ismail and mother to three: Hussein, Rajaa, and Yousef. €18,824 of €40,000. Vetted here.

Ahmed Halas - father of at least two children. €4986 of €80,000. Vetted here.

Fatima Alanqar - wife of Bilal Dader and mother of five: Yazan, Fadl, Zina, Rajaa, and Basma. €4198 of €20,000. Vetted here.

Hanaa Jad Al-Haq - wife of Muhammad Hammad and mother of Youssef. £8596 GBP of £20,000. Vetted here, #246

Jehad Abuhamda - father of three: Sama, Loai, and Yousef. Son of Ahmed and Fatin. $13,898 USD of $50,000. (Donations have stagnated.)

Kareman Dohan - mother of Hamoud and wife of Ayman Olwan. $4409 USD of $50,000. Vetted here.

Abdel Muti Al-Habil - Father of Juri and husband of Shaima. €8110 of €50,000. Vetted here.

Mahmoud Khalaf - has 8 members of his family that need evacuating. €20,957 of €30,000. Verified here, #151.

Mahmoud Alkhaldi - Fiancé to Sajood, brother to Mohammed (married) and uncle to Yasser. $9,158 USD of $50,000. Vetted here.

Noureddine - Father of two and husband. $7,025 USD of $45,000. Vetted here.

Ehab Ayyad - Has 20? members of his family that need evacuating. €699 of €50,000.

Ahmed Abu Al-Rish - Recent high school graduate. Wants to attend university. $4,340 USD of $10,000. Vetted here.

Haya Alshawish - family of eight: parents, wife, and six children. €68,907 of €100,000. Vetted here.

Mohi & Family - Has six members of family. $12,380 USD of $31,000. Vetted here.

Safa'a Abd - wife and mother of two. €26,459 of €50,000. Vetted here.

Ashraf Alanqar - husband of Widad Issa and father of Bakr. €17,183 of €20,000. Vetted here.

Munna Tashmali family - has 5 children, including Rima, Salah, and Lina. £12,940 GBP of £30,000 goal. Vetted here.

Sohaib Asfour - has several members of family that need evacuation, including two teens. £682 GBP of £6,000.

Shymaa Taiser - wife of Deaa and mother to four, including Amal. $10,788 USD of $50,000. #141 on vetted fundraisers.

Muhammad Atalla - injured by IOF, needs bone graft and home rebuilt. 4 adults and 10 children will get remaining proceeds. €10,983 of €82,000. Vetted here.

Mohammed Hijazi - displaced with his parents, injuries. €8,663 of €20,000.

Ahmed Al-Habil - displaced physiotherapist with wife, parents, and two children, including Joan. £1,431 GBP of £81,000.

Aseel Asad - mother and father need medical attention. $8,360 USD of $20,000. Vetted here.

Alaa Al Khateeb - an engineer with a husband and two children. £26,629 GBP of £56,000.

Bilal Abdul Hadi al-Saqa - displaced from Khan Younis and Rafah. $23,210 USD of $25,000. (Donations have stagnated.)

Abdulkarim Al-Madhoun - college student with a family of five. €14,238 of €20,000.

Mahmoud Al-Balawi - has five siblings and five nieces/nephews in need of aid. €33,397 of €50,000

Youssef - has a sick father being treated and a younger brother ill from hepatitis. $2,417 USD of $15,000. Vetted here.

Mohammed Shurrab - medical doctor with at least 12 family members in need of aid. €3,454 of €100,000.

Bilal Salah - needs to evacuate at least 20 members of his family. €95,730 of €100,000. (Close to completion.)

Asmaa Majed - computer engineering student in need of evacuation. $2,877 USD of $50,000. Vetted here.

Osama Al-Anqar - has a wife, Rana Raed Al-Anqar, and a small daughter. £105 GBP of £50,000.

Ahmed Jehad - married and has a baby daughter. $907 CAD of $40,000. #32 of vetted fundraisers under prenatal/perinatal section.

Ezzedine Salem - needs evacuation with family. €43 of €25,000.

Kefah Rizq - widow with six children whose husband was a nurse. $585 of $40,000.

Ghada - wants to evacuate with her husband and daughter. €80 of €30,000.

Amal Ashour - master's student with a wife and daughter, Maryam. €24,563 of €30,000.

Mohammed Hassouna - has a wife, Reham, and three daughters: Toleen, Wateen, and Rateel. £1,269 GBP of £35,000.

Hossam Saleh Mohamed El Bardawil - needs to evacuate with nieces and nephews, and their mothers. $7,414 CAD of $20,000.

Osama Basil - web developer who needs funds to rebuild his living in Gaza. €245 of €15,000.

Ayah - has a cousin and cousin's wife, Lina, and his two young children, Saif and Sidra, in need of evacuation. €33,270 of €45,000. Vetted by Lina's friend Mohiy here.

Nada Al-Farra - needs evacuation with spouse and four year-old son. €268 of €20,000.

Shadi Sameer Ashour - needs evacuation with two children. €45 of €50,000.

Tahrir Rezq - mother who needs to be evacuated with six children. $10 USD of $65,000.

Rana Hassan - mother of three children, one of whom has Down syndrome. €170 of €25,000.

Mohammed Almadhoun - needs evacuation with ten family members, including four minors: Sarah, Yomna, Massa, and Misk. €5,014 of €50,000.

Yahya Ahmad - pharmaceutical student who needs funds for his sick father and brother. $1,228 USD of $50,000.

Ola Ferwana - mother of three children: Yamen, Qusai, and Mira. Husband got stuck in Egypt because of Oct. 7. €1,924 of €35,000.

Mohammed Helles - needs aid for himself, his wife, and children. €140 of €45,000.

Abdallah Mousa - needs to be evacuated with family. $909 USD of $30,000. Vetted here.

Mohamad - medical student in need of funds for tuition because father is trapped in Gaza. $791 AUD of $12,000.

Mohammed Naser Ayyad - seventeen year-old high school student who needs to evacuate his seven siblings and mother. €1,702 of €38,000.

Ahmed Hassan Al-Sir - needs to be evacuated with wife Lubna, and sons: Mohamed, Hassan, and Yazan. €395 of €50,000. Vetted here.

Mohammed Abu Zour - father of three with a pregnant wife currently suffering from pre-eclampsia. One son was tortured by IOF along with Mohammed. €981 of €30,000.

Ghazi Younis - needs help evacuating family from Gaza, including an elderly aunt named Alan. $3,619 USD of $50,000. Vetted here.

Mohammed Alanqar - needs to evacuate with wife, Walaa, and children: Zina, Salma, Omar, and Batoul. €35 of €50,000.

Hazem Shawish - needs to evacuate with sixteen members of family. €1,492 of €50,000.

Samar Saed Kamel Saed - the brother of @90-ghost, Ahmed, who has been working tirelessly to verify fundraisers. Ahmed's family is still in Gaza.

Hamdi Al-Shaltawi - small business owner and college student who needs help evacuating. €660 of €20,000

Oday Alanqar - needs to evacuate with his family, including his five year-old sister Rafif. €2,307 of €50,000.

GoFundMes from Sudan

Khartoum Aid Kitchen - fundraiser to feed people from Sudan undergoing genocide. £395,198 GBP of £400,000.

Asjad - needs to be evacuated with 2 sisters, a brother and her parents. $17,311 USD of $20,000.

Abeer - needs aid for her extended family, including 15 children, 2 babies, 10 women, and 5 elders with chronic conditions and in need of medical attention. $23,262 USD of $50,000.

Refugees in Cairo - need funds for meals due to poverty in Egypt. $6,465 USD of $25,000.

Musab Eltayeb - raising funds for students displaced during current crisis. €1,586 of €350,000.

[librarycards]

todays book haul :33333

Pictured: roaming by mariko & jillian tamaki / just like home by sarah gailey / lives of the monster dogs by kristen bakis / I died too but they haven’t buried me yet by ross jeffery / clementine (2) by tillie walden / here is a body by basma abdel aziz / the fifth child by doris lessing / go tell it on the mountain by james baldwin

[alt-air]

13 Books

Saw this floating around and wanted to do it

1.) The Last Book I Read

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman trans. by Ros Schwartz

2.) A Book I Recommend

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

3.) A Book That I Couldn't Put Down

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

4.) A Book I've Read Twice (Or More)

The Bone Key by Sarah Monette

5.) A Book on my TBR

The Gideon Testaments Trilogy by Freydis Moon <- found out this author is a white brownfacing as a latinx author so I will not be reading their books anymore. Another book on my TBR is If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu

6.) A Book I've Put Down

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

7.) A Book on my Wish List

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

8.) A Favorite Book From Childhood

All my favorite books from childhood have super racist/transphobic authors unfortunately

9.) A Book You Would Give to a Friend

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga or The Last One by Fatima Daas

10.) A Book of Poetry or Lyrics You Own

I don't read poetry really

11.) A Nonfiction Book You Own

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Daley

12.) What Are You Currently Reading

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. and Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa

13.) What Are You Planning on Reading Next

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

[whilereadingandwalking]

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette, is a political satire that has fast become a modern classic. In an unnamed surveillance state, a confusing, never-ending system of bureaucracy paralyzes an entire nation. Like hundreds of others, Yehya is waiting in line for a government office that—they’re promised—will open any day now. He needs to get a permit to get a bullet removed from his gut.

Aziz’s novel is brilliant. It shows in expert, devastating detail how a system of “order” can tranquilize an entire country. It’s a novel all about the banality of evil—when these acts of cruelty become normalized, put into forms, when you can always shrug and put the brunt of the blame on someone else, the government barely need to repress society—people begin to police each other, spread misinformation, and the people who rightfully should be protesting en masse are all too preoccupied maintaining their spot in line, making sure that when the office opens, they’ll get the permit they need to live a life they’ve been promised.

I suspect people will have mixed feelings about the ending. I have now read many interpretations of what happens at the end, but no matter the explanation, it seems a bit abrupt, and you have to do a little work no matter which ending you want to envision for the book. I don’t mind ambiguity, but I think the abruptness of the ending is what makes it more jarring than compelling.

Still, the genius of The Queue holds steady, making us think about the systems that hold us in place that we are willing to follow simply because we believe the next form will solve our problems.

Content warnings for sexual harassment, violence, gaslighting, psychological torture.

[je-ne-suis-perceivable]

UPDATE: To Read Pile

It’s halfway through the year, and I thought it would be good to go through my To Read Pile for the rest of the year. This is just a running list in mostly alphabetical order (I won’t decide what I want to read until the beginning of each month)

Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock

The Communist’s Daughter by Dennis Bock

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mansfield Park by Jane Austin

Persuasion by Jane Austin

Emma by Jane Austin

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott

The Last Patriarch by Najat El Hachmi

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

Nick by Michael Farris Smith - started and set aside

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - started and set aside

QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling - started

Pat of Silver Bush by L.M Montgomery - started

Mistress Pat by  L.M Montgomery - planned for July

The Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin- planned for July

Earthsong by  Suzette Haden Elgin- planned for July

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo -  planned for July

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - planned for July

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini - planned for June

Great Northern? by Arthur Ransome - planned for June

[arablit]

Lit & Found: An Excerpt of Basma Abdel Aziz's 'Here Is a Body'

Lit & Found: An Excerpt of Basma Abdel Aziz’s ‘Here Is a Body’

This is Egyptian novelist Basma Abdel Aziz’s follow-up to her award-winning novel, The Queue, which was translated by Elisabeth Jaquette: In an interview about Here Is a Body, which has been translated by Jonathan Wright, Abdel Aziz said: The idea for Here Is a Body had been flourishing in my mind over the past few years. It grew out of an event I had witnessed closely, at least partly, and I…

[universitybookstore]

Our celebration of “Women in Translation” continues with The Queue, by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette, published by Melville House. Set in an unnamed city in the Middle East, the novel is an eerie and unsettling distopia that can feel all too real.

[ukdamo]

A bit of life

Basma Abdel Aziz

I probably did—

observe one day

the fall of the sun and caught the gold that was scattered in the palm of the sea and enclosed my ribs about the last escaping heat as I searched for a farewell sifting through piles of sand

And I paced the city back and forth I hung around in the old cafes sipping at bottles of beer I met with friends and passers-by sat with literati and revolutionaries and among the crowded tables I spent long hours

I went up and down streets and discussions but I remember that once I bought from the other end of the street a mizmar! And I stood under a balcony observing wet newspapers and the heavy clothes shifting my feet in a puddle making endless circles

*mizmar - reed instrument

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

A few suggestions

Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones – it was originally marketed as fantasy and there are minor magical elements, but is set in a "15 minutes into the future" setting and it has a lot more SF elements, like cybernetic brain implants, immersion holograms, and lights powered by people's cellular energy. It was also reprinted as part of SF Masterworks.

Counterweight by Djuna

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

The Restoration Game by Ken Macleod

Red Spider White Web by Misha

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Windswept by Adam Rakunas

hello! these are all queued. two questions:

were you looking for just Bold as Love itself, or did you also want the rest of the series?

likewise, did you just want the first Windswept book, or did you also want the sequel?

[notsoterriblymisanthropic]

Egypt talks a great deal about terrorist threats, and with good reason. But to the guardians of the state, the real threat comes not from anti-Brotherhood activists, as Morsi claimed during his short-lived tenure as president, or pro-Brotherhood operatives, as Sisi’s administration claims now. It is to be found among the holdouts, both Islamist and otherwise, for whom submission to state power is not a norm: people like Tarek Hussein, a revolutionary in his mid-twenties known to his friends as Tito. ‘The revolution for me was personal and social, not just political,’ he told me last year. ‘It was about rejecting plans set out for me by others, whoever those others were.’ In March 2013, Tito was arrested for allegedly attacking the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood. The following year, with Egypt under military rule once more, he was arrested for allegedly being a member of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood. This summer he was snatched and forcibly disappeared for five weeks, a much shorter period of detention than his younger brother Mahmoud underwent after being stopped at a checkpoint for wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Nation without torture’. He was detained, tortured and incarcerated without charge for two years. ‘It’s a black comedy,’ Tito said. ‘Very black, and very comic.’ Visiting Mahmoud in jail last year, he took a bundle of books with him by some of Egypt’s leading contemporary novelists: Ahdaf Soueif, Radwa Ashour and Abdel Aziz. All the novels were allowed through by the security guards, except for The Queue. ‘The officer in charge explained that this was because the book appeared to “contain ideas”,’ Abdel Aziz says, ‘and ideas cannot be allowed inside the prison.’

Jack Shenker, The bullet mistakenly came out of the gun

[therumpus]

As Aziz takes her story toward its close, she reminds us that the autocrat is only a person, with a human body and human powers. This is a shallow solace, however, because Aziz also reminds us that humans, given too much power, are dangerous, even lethal, and capable of irreparable harm, and when one autocrat falls, there is always another willing to take his place.

THIS WEEK IN SHORT FICTION, Claire Burgess reviews “Scenes from the Life of an Autocrat” by Basma Abdel Aziz.

You can read “Scenes from the Life of an Autocrat” at World Literature Today.

[gigiglorious]

Review | The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Review | The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Title: The Queue Author: Basma Abdel Aziz Translator: Elisabeth Jaquette Published by: Melville House My rating: 4 out of 5 stars Where I got the book: Public Library Content Warning:  State and police brutality, imprisonment, death (from injury) “Set against the backdrop of a failed political uprising, The Queue is a chilling debut that evokes Orwellian dystopia, Kafkaesque surrealism, and a…

[sshannonauthor]

Hi, Ms. Shannon. I saw on your Instagram that you are planning to read a book from every country, focusing on queer and/or women authors, and I was hoping you could recommend some of the ones you’ve enjoyed? I would love to take up that challenge as well, but I’m not sure where to start. 🧡

Within the challenge I've only read The Country Where No One Ever Dies by Ornela Vorpsi, from Albania, but some others I've read in recent years that fit the bill:

China – Goodnight, Rose by Zijian Chi. I bought the English translation in Beijing, and I'm not sure if it's easy to get hold of it elsewhere, but it's worth looking for a tale of an unlikely female friendship

Egypt – The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz

Ireland – Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran, Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill

Portugal – A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha

Sweden – The Circle by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg

(Also, it’s fine to call me Samantha or Sam!) 

[oumcartoon]

The Strange Case of the Arab Whodunnit

Our radio doc is today's "seriously interesting story" on BBC Radio 4. Here’s the gist of it:

Journalist Jonathan Guyer examines the different forms of noir fiction addressing the failed revolutions, jihadism, and chaos in Egypt.

Away from caliphate building and sectarianism, a neo-noir revolution has been creeping across the Middle East, allowing artists and writers to act as ombudsmen in the current political climate. Jonathan meets the writers who are latching onto the adventure, despair and paranoia prevalent in genre fiction to tell stories that transcend the present. He looks at Ahmed Mourad's novel, Vertigo, and Magdy El-Shafee's graphic novel, Metro, which Egyptian authorities seized all copies of before release.

Drawing parallels with the golden age of noir in America, Jonathan argues that, while the Middle East offers an ethereal backdrop like that of post-war America, the Middle East's neo-noir revolution is anything but nostalgic, giving authors and scholars an opportunity to critique imported wars, local autocrats and arrested revolutions.

What's surprising, he finds, is not that detective fiction is showing a sudden popularity in Cairo and beyond but that the genre has been relatively dormant for the last several decades. Sorting through the discarded vintage dime novels in creaky Cairo bookstalls, he discovers that detective fiction has had a long relationship with Arab readers.

The program features interviews with Basma Abdel-Aziz, Sonallah Ibrahim, Ahmed Mourad, Magdy El-Shafee, Jonathan Smolin, and Ambassador M.M. Tawfik. 

Hitchcock and Scheherazade also make an appearance.

🕵🏻 🎙 Listen with a 🥃.. Neat.

The soundtrack behind the real-life noir is available on Spotify. 🎧 🎶 Special thanks to producers Sean Glynn and David Waters.

As the host says at the end of the program: ”It’s like Cairo is the new Chinatown.”

***

Above: Tourist guide to Cairo circa 1970s (undated).