With a Blank Paper: SEPTEMBER 2017 TBR: ARAB WORLD

...with one exception

Slovensky
Zoznam kníh, ktoré by som chcela v septembri čítať, je zameraný na arabské krajiny Blízkeho východu a Afriky. Hoci, je tu aj jedna výnimka. Knihy, ktoré vyšli aj v slovenskom preklade, sú opísané aj mojim komentárom v slovenčine.

English
My September 2017 TBR has a regional focus on Arab countries of Middle East and Africa. Though, there's one exception.

Slovensky
Jedinou výnimkou na mojom septembrovom zozname kníh o arabských krajinách severnej Afriky a Blízkeho východu je kniha Svetlany Alexijevič: Vojna nemá ženskú tvár. Kniha je autentickým opisom Veľkej vlasteneckej vojny z pohľadu žien - vojačiek, zdravotníčok, na fronte a v okupovaných oblastiach - ktoré zažili jej hrôzy.

English
The only exception on my September TBR list of books about Arabic countries of the Middle East and North Africa is the Slovak translation of The Unwomanly Face of the War by Svetlana Alexievich. This reportage book recounts stories of women - soldiers and nurses, on the front lines and in the occupied territories - who experienced the horrors of the World War II.

In the forefront of my September Arab World TBR stands Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart by Scott Anderson, which I requested and was kindly sent for review by Penguin Random House.

In his reportage book Scott Anderson examines causes of ruptures in countries of Middle East and North Africa through the eyes and experience of six people: the matriarch of a dissident Egyptian family; a Libyan Air Force cadet with divided loyalties; a Kurdish physician from a prominent warrior clan; a Syrian university student caught in civil war; an Iraqi activist for women's rights; and an Iraqi day laborer-turned-ISIS fighter.

Slovensky

V slovenskom preklade tiež vyšla kniha Denníky z Rakky: Útek z "islamského štátu", ktorú som si v anglickom originály kúpila ešte v apríli a som rada, že sa ju konečne chystám začať čítať. Autorom knihy je 24-ročný Sýrčan, vystupujúci pod pseudonymom Samer, ktorý prežil hrôzy počas okupácie mesta Raqqa takzvaným Islamským štátom, a rozhodol sa o nich podať svedectvo a to aj napriek hrozbe trestu smrti. Okrem nesmierneho prínosu samotného svedectva a odvahy autora, je prínosom aj forma, ktorou je kniha spracovaná. Príbeh je doplnený ilustráciami v štýle urban art, ktoré robia knihu prístupnejšou a adresnejšou pre súčasnú spoločnosť.

English

I purchased The Raqqa Diaries: Escape from 'Islamic State' some time ago and I am glad that I am finally about to read it. The author of the book is a 24-year-old Syrian with pseudonym Samer, who survived horrors during occupation of Raqqa by the so called Islamic State and decided to testify even under the threat of death penalty. Besides the enormous contribution of the testimony and courage of the author, the asset of the book lies also in the form it was put together. The story is accompanied by urban art illustrations, which makes it even more accessible and designed for contemporary society.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2017. Some say it is a love story and some say it is nothing like that. And though, it certainly begins with a love story of a young couple, it is most of all a kind of magical realism planted into today's troubled world of a Middle Eastern country on a brink of civil war. And when the war erupts mysterious doors into faraway countries begin to appear for people to flee into safety.

Khomeini, Sade and Me by Abnousse Shalmani is a fiction with elements of a memoir, originally written in French. Shalmani was born in Iran but she refused to conform to Islamic rules for women. However, when her family emigrates to France she finds rules connected with religion being no less restrictive. I suppose this being a personal story of a woman and her attitude towards rules imposed by religion, formed under the influence of Islamic law and streams in French society.