Arabic Literature reprinted the list of Best 100 Arabic Books according to the Arab Writers Union into readable English with a commentary on each book. Here are the first 10 books. You may want to read the rest at the Arabic Literature site.
1. The Cairo Trilogy by Egyptian (Nobel-prize winning) author Naguib Mahfouz.
2. In Search of Walid Masoud by the Palestinian author Jabra Ibrahim Jabra.
3. Honor by the great Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim.
4. War in the Egyptian Homeland by the Egyptian Yousef Al-Qaeed
5. Men in the Sun by the Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani
6. The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist by Palestinian Emile Habibi
7. The Desolate Time by Syrian author Haidar Haidar
8. Rama and the Dragon by the Egyptian Edward al Kharrat
9. Thus Spoke Abu Huraira by the Tunisian author Mahmoud Messadi
10. Beirut Nightmares by Syrian author Ghada Samman
About Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy:
Naguib Mahfouz's magnificent epic trilogy of colonial Egypt appears here in one volume for the first time. The Nobel Prize—winning writer's masterwork is the engrossing story of a Muslim family in Cairo during Britain's occupation of Egypt in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The novels of The Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons–the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching intellectual Kamal. Al-Sayyid Ahmad's rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination in Palace of Desire, as the world around them opens to the currents of modernity and political and domestic turmoil brought by the 1920s. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz's vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician.
Throughout the trilogy, the family's trials mirror those of their turbulent country during the years spanning the two World Wars, as change comes to a society that has resisted it for centuries. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, The Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.
1. The Cairo Trilogy by Egyptian (Nobel-prize winning) author Naguib Mahfouz.
2. In Search of Walid Masoud by the Palestinian author Jabra Ibrahim Jabra.
3. Honor by the great Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim.
4. War in the Egyptian Homeland by the Egyptian Yousef Al-Qaeed
5. Men in the Sun by the Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani
6. The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist by Palestinian Emile Habibi
7. The Desolate Time by Syrian author Haidar Haidar
8. Rama and the Dragon by the Egyptian Edward al Kharrat
9. Thus Spoke Abu Huraira by the Tunisian author Mahmoud Messadi
10. Beirut Nightmares by Syrian author Ghada Samman
About Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy:
Naguib Mahfouz's magnificent epic trilogy of colonial Egypt appears here in one volume for the first time. The Nobel Prize—winning writer's masterwork is the engrossing story of a Muslim family in Cairo during Britain's occupation of Egypt in the early decades of the twentieth century.
The novels of The Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons–the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching intellectual Kamal. Al-Sayyid Ahmad's rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination in Palace of Desire, as the world around them opens to the currents of modernity and political and domestic turmoil brought by the 1920s. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz's vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician.
Throughout the trilogy, the family's trials mirror those of their turbulent country during the years spanning the two World Wars, as change comes to a society that has resisted it for centuries. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, The Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.
