Naguib Mahfouz

My birthday was two weeks ago, and on my wishlist was The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz. The man was a huge deal--internationally known, Nobel Prize winner, translated works, contemporary writer, etc. I don't remember how I heard of him and his writing but it wasn't much earlier than a few months ago.

I'm sitting here trying to do homework for my middle east history class, and I somehow ended up looking up Naguib Mahfouz's bio. I can't wait to start reading--the book is sitting at home, the size of an encyclopedia, because I knew if I brought it to my apartment I'd be way too distracted to study. I can't wait until it's after finals and summer so I can just get completely lost in the writing. I can't read official formal Arabic well enough yet, so I'll have to stick to the translated English version, but I know it'll still blow me away.

I'm just really excited to feel connected to Egypt again. I'm excited to be able to talk about all of this with my dad--every chapter or quote or scene that evokes something in me, that I know only he will understand. I can't wait til I read something that makes me feel like it's okay that I spent only 3 years out of my now 21-year old life in that country, but that I can't get away from it. I wish my feelings were socially acceptable, even though it really doesn't make a difference to me, because I feel what I feel and I know most people just will never be put into my situation to understand how I feel, let alone evaluate me for it.

I don't know. I'm not as depressed as this post probably makes me sound. I just can't wait to get started. This will probably be the first book I've picked up since I got to college that I can probably get through--double majoring (double degreeing) in humanities will make you lose all desire to read for fun very quickly.

Here's til I get started...