Why a "Fingan" and Not a Mug
Finishing a good story and having it stay with you can feel like reading the remnants of coffee grounds
Growing up between cultures mean there are things I missed.
I’m a Middle Eastern Midwesterner. It’s a blessing and sometimes a curse to see the world through a kaleidoscopic third culture kid lens. But my education, though robust, was lacking. I couldn’t get what every reference was about. I couldn’t fully understand every single thing either in America where I grew up nor in Egypt where my parents came from. I had to take to educating myself. So here we are.
1. Enough fighting, I want to go deeper
Whether it’s Ridley Scott or Jada Pinkett Smith, there is a long tradition of outsiders telling Egyptians who we are and what our values should be rather than accepting what they already are. I got tired of all the self satisfying and self serving iterations. All my life being surrounded by it made me second guess everything about myself from how I speak, what my ancestry and my very skin color. No one should have to endure that kind of identity crisis. But at the same time, we have stories that are worth reading to counter it. For some reason that doesn’t get as much attention because it’s not nearly as confrontational. A direct response or even a screaming match isn’t needed for our voices to be heard. We just need a spotlight and then we make peace with the results.
2. Don’t fear the subtitles
What I want is to share a learning journey with people who are interested in reading and watching with me. Many times these stories come in response to political and historical events and I’ll try to fill in those gaps as best as I can. History and entertainment go hand in hand if any of you are aware of The Academy hands out awards. The layers and poetry that come with it give way to a type of meditation the way a bankable YA dystopian fantasy can’t compare to; at least for me.
3. Always a work in progress
I don’t think I’m going to have anyone pay for anything any time soon. I think I always want this part of my writing to be free and open for people to see. Much like the books that we’re going to read and the films we’re going to watch this should be accessible and easy to find. I’m thinking every payday I could add to the fun with a new review of a film or novel. Then again I have no idea what I’m doing and putting myself out there is kind of scary.
4. The reading list! (in no particular order)
The movie list mostly comes from Sameh Fathy’s book Classic Egyptian Movies: 101 Must See Films. And the cover looks like this:
I think I’ve stalled long enough
Vertigo by Ahmed Mourad
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Maryam’s Maze by Mansoura Ez-Eldin
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif
Utopia by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik
Black Magic by Hamdy el-Gazzar
Beer in the Snooker Club by Waugh Ghali
The Magnificent Conman of Cairo by Adel Kamel
The Jokers by Albert Cossery
A Splendid Conspiracy by Albert Cossery
Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shadow Expounded by Yusuf al-Shirbini
Love and Silence by Enayat al-Zayyat
Qantara the Unbeliever by Mustafa Musharafa
In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
Blue Lorries by Radwa Ashour
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
Akhenaten: Dweller of Truth by Naguib Mahfouz
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al-Aswany
On Being Abbas El-Abd by Ahmed Alaidy
Taxi by Khalid Al-Khamissi
Metro by Magdy Shafee
The Three Novels of Ancient Egypt Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
City of Love and Ashes by Yousef Idris
Rama and the Dragon by Edwar Al-Kharrat
A Man of Letters by Taha Hussein
The Granada Trilogy by Radwa Ashour
Brooklyn Heights by Miral Al-Tahawy
The Open Door by Latifa Al-Zayyat
Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat
The Wiles of Men and Other Stories by Salwa Bakr
The Call of Curlew by Taha Hussein
Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz
The Man Who Lost His Shadow by Fathy Ghanem
War in the Land of Egypt by Yusuf Al-Qa’id
Siraaj by Radwa Ashour
Stealth by Sonallah Ibrahim
The Committee by Sonallah Ibrahim
Stillborn: Notebooks From a Student Movement by Area Saleh
The Heron by Ibrahim Aslan
Houses Behind the Trees by Mohamed El-Bisatie
The Golden Chariot by Salwa Bakr
Zayni Barakat by Gamal Al-Ghitani
The Other Place by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
The Collar and the Bracelet by Yahya Taher
Moon Over Samarqand by Mohamed Mansi Qandil
The Tent by Miral Al-Tahawy
Tales From Dayrut by Mohammad Mustagab
Memories of a Meltdown: An Egyptian Between Moscow and Chernobyl by Mohamed Makhzangi
Tales of Yusuf Tadros by Adel Esmat
In the Spider’s Room by Mohammed Abdel Nabi
The Law of Inheritance by Yasser Abdel Latif
Embrace of Brooklyn Bridge by Ezzedine Choukri Fishere
The Book of the Sultan’s Seal by Youssef Rakha
I Want to Get Married! by Ghana Abdel Aal
Solar Grid by Ganzeer
Chicago by Alaa Al-Aswany
The Dictatorship Syndrome by Alaa Al-Aswany
Friendly Fire by Alaa Al-Aswany
Azazeel by Yousef Ziedan
Beautiful article Reem.
Good job