Currently Reading ...

The Last Juror by John Grisham

Book Heaven

So many books so little time.

A list of new books for this month!

Here is a rundown of the books waiting in line:

1. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
   
2. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
   
3. The Juror by John Grisham
   
4. Harry Potter (the final book)
   

Can't wait to start losing myself in a good book!

Thanks Gardens of Sand for inspirig me to check out my list of books!

Love,

Soul

The Good Earth

I'm currently reading this amazing book. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.

Its the kind of book that speaks to your soul. A story that is universal in many aspects.

I've been up many nights reading and wondering what would happen next...

Wang Lung and O-Lan working hard on their land, and experiencing life as it unfolds before them. A timeless classic

A Must read...

Peace,

SoulSearch

The Secret...

Just finished reading "The Secret".

Good marketing campaign... but blown out of proportion.

Its not that big of a secret...huh?

I guess somebody really wished to make millions, and got their wish!

Peace,

Soul

On Books & Reading

I treated myself to the final Harry Potter book. I have devoured the previous 6 Harry Potters and loved every page, line and dot!

Can't wait to start it...

... I'm currently reading Patricia Cornwell's Blow Fly! A bit too gruesome for me, but I like the mystery element!! ...

Reading Treat

Every night, I get to go somewhere, to follow a story so tremendously amazing and heartbreaking, that I am having trouble sleeping. My mom lent me this book the other day and urged me to read it. It was in Arabic so I was kind of finding it cumbersome. But then I decided to stop being silly and decided to start reading more Arabic novels in order to strengthen my dwindling Arabic skills.

But once I started, I couldn't stop.

As much as the story is amazing, it sends shivers down my spine.

Its called "The Prisoner" (in Arabic) by Malika OuFakir and Michelle Fitoussi. I found an English version of the book on Amazon. com called "Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail" which was also listed in Oprah's Book Club.

It scares me to read the devestation that happened to this poor family, inflicted upon them by a sel-centered king who has no value for human life. It scares me to know that this has happened in the Arab World, and it scares me even more to think of the other untold stories.

The story is told by Malika, the daughter of a Moroccan General back in the 1970s. Malika was adopted by the King Hassan II and went to live with his siter Lila Mina in a lavish palace where she spent all of her childhood. Although she lived extravagantly, she missed out on her life with her real family. Its heart-wrenching to read the worries from a child's point of view. Her parents were helpless because what the King wants, the King gets.

*Spoiler ahead*

Later on, her father stages a coup against Hassan the Second and is executed on the spot, leaving behind his family who get to experience a rainbow of torture in prison. Her mother, her 3 sisters and 2 brothers, one of them only 2 years old, get whisked away to a Desert prison where they spend 20 years of their lives behind prison gates.

They go through hell, their lives stolen by an unruly, narcasistic King who did not care about the least of any himan rights. Imagine a child who has never seen a newspaper, a car, or the asphalt of the road. They feed on the grass that grows near the prison bars, since they don't get enough food supplies. They get separated into 4 prison cells and they spend 11 years of their lives in separate cells never seeing each other. The mother with Abdulatif, her youngest, Malika with her 3 sisters, and the eldest brother Ra'ouf is locked up in a separate cell. the psychological torture that they go through is heartbreakingly inhuman. They are so close yet so far away. The 2-year-old boy is 22 by the time they escape, having never set eyes on a toy or on a real football field. He grows to love football from the radio that they have to hide so elaborately.

But they device an intricate plan to dig a 5-meter hole to freedom, they have to get past the guards outside, the stray dogs in the desert and they have to get to the city to reach the French Embassy where they plan to take political asylum.

And that's where I reached last night!

I want to go back home as soon as possible, get the kids to bed so I can continue my reading. Will keep you posted on the events of the story when I'm done.

A true page-turner, the book is an excellent read, and an invaluable insight into the injustices that take place behind the media frenzy and the galmor and the politics.

Its a jungle out there.

Peace,

SoulSearch

Books II

Dear World,

I've treated myself to more books this week. I just finished reading a hefty novel by Steinbeck called East of Eden, which was deep and amazing.

I've started reading Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, in which the main character is an ambassador's daughter "India" living in the States.

Now, many of you may know that Salman Rushdie is not very popular in this part of the world, after his reference to the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), in his Satanic Verses. But I was intrigued by the reputation behind the author. This is the first time I read anything by Salman Rushdie, and so far so good. Nothing special thu.

Another book I want to read soon is "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. This book won the Pulitzer prize in 1932.

I love diving into the world that is a novel. It takes me into a realm of imagination and excitement and rolls like a movie in my head. I can't say enough about reading. To be surrounded by the comfort of my library of books is so amazing. It just gives me warmth and comfort and feeling of peace and serenity.

Other books that have won a special place on my bookshelves are A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice, Lightning by Danielle Steel.

These are treasures I want to keep for my children. I want them to find my tagged pages, my notes at the back of the book, my name signed on each one, and the date I purchased or started reading the book.

Love,

SoulSearch

Books

According to Time magazine, the top ten books of all times are as follows:


Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
Middlemarch by George Eliot

I love books, I love to be lost in the plot, to shut out the world and indulge in the lives of the characters. I love the way my book always waits for me faithfully by my bedside, just waiting to roll out the events in my head. Books are my great escape. I love every book in the list above, and I love much much more.

Below is a list of my Favorite books of all times:

The God of Small Things, by Arundathi Roy
A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey
Master of the Game, by Sidney Sheldon
RoseMadder, by Stephen King
The Bluest Eyes, by Toni Morrison
Not Without My Daughter, by Betty Mahmoody
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

There are loads more that I would love to add to that list. I will continue in another post.

List your favorite books! I would love to hear from you.

Love,
SoulSearch