Last week I went to Cairo for a short weekend trip and stopped at On the Run, a little green book with a white bride caught my eye and I bought it. Titled “Ana 3ayza atgawez” meaning I want to get married, the book is the funny stories that Ghada has been through meeting different potential grooms. I had no idea that the book was originally a blog, my husband pointed that fact to me and then my mother. Obviously the book was all over the news and I was just the last to know. I went out and got the other two books in the series by Shourouk publishing “Orz Belanaban lesha5sein” and “Ama hazihi faraksati ana” and was definitely impressed.
I’ve always thought that the blogging medium is a superb outlet for young Egyptians especially girls because it was a place where they could write, be creative and let it all out.
I instantly fell in love with (3ayza atgawez). Ghada’s style is hilarious, the stories are just so Egyptian and everything about the book is fresh and refreshing.
Orz Bellaban, is more about little stories that Rehab writes. Some are sad, some are funny and some are on the verge of crazy, but all of them grouped together point out very clearly that Rehab is talented and definitely on her way to a literary future.
The shortest book and in my view the simplest is Ama Hazihi faraksati Ana. Simple it might be but, shallow it is not, the book has lots of depth and is very easy to relate to, or maybe I related to it on a very strong level. Ghada (a different one) is obviously a very down to earth girl who’s head lives in the real world but has a very romantic heart.
Apparently the blogging trend is here to stay so definitely kudos girls!
You can visit the original blogs:
Ma3a Nafsi >> Ama Hazihi faraksati ana
Orz Bellaban lesha5sein >> Hawadeet
Wanna Be a Bride >> Ana 3ayza atgawez
You can also part of the interview the girls did with Mona El-Shazly on El 3ashera Masa2an here:
: The story of a child and The story of a return, by Marjane Satrapi the Iranian Author/Artist. I am not sure if author is the right words here because the books are more of a graphic novel than a book. In just black and white graphics Satrapi tells her story of childhood through the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war and going to school in Austria and the coming back to Iran and doing the rest of her growing up.
