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Collected Fictions

Collected Fictions

(1999) Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Spanish-language writer of our century. Now for the first time in English, all of Borges’ dazzling fictions are gathered into a single volume, brilliantly translated by Andrew Hurley. From his 1935 debut with The Universal History of Iniquity, through his immensely influential collections Ficciones and The Aleph, these enigmatic, elaborate, imaginative inventions display Borges’ talent for turning fiction on its head by playing with form and genre and toying with language. Together these incomparable works comprise the perfect one-volume compendium for all those who have long loved Borges, and a superb introduction to the master’s work for those who have yet to discover this singular genius. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Blindness

Blindness

A driver waiting at the traffic lights goes blind. An opthamologist tries to diagnose his distinctive white blindness, but is affected before he can read the textbooks. It becomes a contagion, spreading throughout the city. Trying to stem the epidemic, the authorities herd the afflicted into a mental asylum where the wards are terrorised by blind thugs. And when fire destroys the asylum, the inmates burst forth and the last links with a supposedly civilised society are snapped. No food, no water, no government, no obligation, no order. This is not anarchy, this is blindness.

Double

Double

Watching a rented video, Tertuliano M-ximo Afonso is shocked to notice that one of the actors is identical to him in every physical detail. He embarks on a secret quest to find his double and sets in motion a train of events that he cannot control. Saramago’s novel explores the nature of individuality and examines the fear and insecurity that arise when our singularity comes under threat, when even a wife cannot tell the original from the imposter

Cave

Cave

Cipriano Algor, an ageing potter, lives with his daughter and her husband in the shadow of the Centre, a nebulous, constantly expanding conglomerate that provides his livelihood – until it decrees that it is no longer interested in his humble wares. Together with his daughter, they craft a new line of small ceramic figurines and, to their bafflement, the Centre orders vast quantities. But once the figures are complete, the Centre recants: there is no market for them. Resigned to idleness Cipriano moves into the soulless megaplex, until late one night he comes across a horrifying secret in the bowels of the artificial city. The Cave is a harrowing, joyful masterpiece: an Orwellian nightmare, a family fable and an uplifting love story.

Winner Stands Alone

Winner Stands Alone

The Winner Stands Alone is the enthralling new novel by the incomparable Paulo Coelho. The story is set during the Cannes International Film Festival and the entire action plays out over 24 hours. Igor is a wealthy Russian businessman. His wife Ewa left him two years ago and Igor has never really come to terms with their break up, especially as Ewa is now remarried to a famous fashion designer, Hamid Hussein. Igor is insanely jealous and when Ewa left him he told her that he would destroy ‘whole worlds’ in order to get her back, and he intends to keep his promise! Igor has followed Ewa and her new husband to Cannes and his plan is to cause as much violence and destruction as possible until Ewa realises how much he loves her and comes back to him. Ewa loved Igor but she was absolutely terrified of him. She knows that Igor has killed people in the past when he was a soldier, but she also knows a dark secret – that he once cold bloodedly murdered a beggar who was bothering them in a restaurant. Igor is clearly unhinged and he will stop at nothing to regain her love and so he goes on a ruthless killing spree until he tracks down Ewa! The star-studded film festival acts as a backdrop to Igor’s maniacal murdering spree and we are ntroduced to various characters along the way, all of whom are desperately trying to get their big break in the shallow world of show business; Gabriela a young and naive actress who is being exploited by her agent and Jasmine a troubled young Rwandan refugee working as a model. The Winner Stands Alone is a gripping, fast-paced thriller, and Coelho cleverly weaves in elements of social satire, poking fun at our celebrity and money obsessed culture.

بريدا

بريدا

من أنا؟ أول سؤال تطرحه بريدا… سؤال بسيط للوهلة الأولى لكنه الأخطر حين يتعلق الأمر بالإنسان وقدره. لم تقنع بريدا حياتُها، فكانت تبحث عن الأغرب، واستدرجها السحر وطقوسه، لكنها كانت تدرك في قرارتها أن ما تبحث عنه كان أبعد من السحر وأعمق منه كثيراً. اتجهت إلى المجوسي الساكن في الأقاصي، وفي أجواء ممزوجة بالرهبة وحب الإطلاع، تعلّمت الكثير، وغادرت لتلتقي ويكا التي أدخلتها في تجارب لم تكن آمنة فقط. بريدا أجواء أسرة لما فيها من غرابة في الطرح وفي أشكاله: وتتضمن بحثاً دائباً عن المعرفة، لكن تفلت أفكار خطرة تكشف بعضاً من أسرار الحياة، وتفسّر ظواهر مرّت بنا ووقفنا أمامها مراراً ولم تستطع تفسيراً لها أو فهماً لكنهها. هل نحن روح واحدة توزَّعت على كل هذه الأجساد؟!.

الزهير

الزهير

تدور القصّة حول الراوي صاحب الروايات الأكثر رواجاً، وبحثه لزوجتِه المفقودة. يتمتّع بطل الرواية بكلّ الامتيازات ومن ذلك المال والشهرة ولكنه مشكوك فيه من السلطات والصحافة بسبب الاختفاء الغير قابل للتوضيح لزوجته من بيتهم في باريس. يستكشف كويلو معاني مختلفة للحب والحياة من خلال الرواية.

A Little Life

Little Life

(2016) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance. When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.

From Cairo to Tel Aviv

From Cairo to Tel Aviv

“Mamdouh Sakr is a British/ Egyptian architect and Islamic architecture historian, who is addicted to travel. In addition to his academic research, he wrote three travel books published in English, (Did you try Qat? 2012, Spaghetti in Harar, 2014 and From Cairo to Tel Aviv, 2015). Where he gathered his experiences and encounters in a number of countries. Then by the beginning of 2016, he began writing in Arabic, a he wrote a slightly different version of, “From Cairo to Tel Aviv”. This book is a bit special as it tells his journey to Palestine, where he visited Jerusalem, al Khalil, Bethlehem, Acre and Jaffa. His wanderings are woven by long conversations with Palestinians living under different circumstances, some are funny, some are heartbreaking and others are simply intriguing.”

Khul-Khaal

Khul-Khaal

Five contemporary Egyptian women, ranging in age from early twenties to mid-sixties, members of Cairo’s impoverished middle to lower classes, told their life stories to Nayra Atiya over a period of many months. Their stories are fresh and vivid, recording the various roles of being co-wife in a polygamous marriage, the complications of divorce, the rituals of female circumcision and marriage, the loss of children, life-long hate and its source, the position of witchcraft and superstition in their daily lives, primitive health practices, and managing a family’s meager resources, including gold or silver khul-khaal anklets worn by married women.
These self-portraits are fascinating reading and a mine of information for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Egyptian life. A foreword by anthropologist Andrea Rugh and many photographs by Asma el-Bakry are included.