lundi 11 juillet 2016

Reading updates #3 : three reviews at once




- La derniere odalisque: 


This book is a biography of Lella Safiyé (Princess Safiyé) from the husseinite dynasty of Tunisia , Fayçal Bey (her grandson)  tells about her struggle from her early teenagehood in the rough caucasus mountains where she miraculously escaped the  murder spree in her village ,the harsh time she spent in Istanbul witnessing the decline of the ottoman empire and learning how to be a proper odalisk (concubine) and then , how she made it all the way to Tunisia and was treated as the daughter of Lella Kmar (Wife of Naceur Bey and former Odalisk from the caucasus as well ) . These are just snippets from her story , but to dive deeper into it was a complete roller coaster . This book showed me a side of history that has always been neglected by the history books of our schools  , a part of history that we hardly know anything about ...

- Banco : further adventure of papillon by Papillon (Hénri Charriere ) : 






This is  one of those off-the-beaten-track autobiographies , it  has been given to me by a dear  traveller friend that I highly appreciate :
Henri Charriere  aka Papillon is a french citizen who has been condemned to be imprisoned  in a french penal colony  because of a crime he never committed , sentenced at the age of 24 he gains his freedom after 13 years only to be submerged with the idea of revenge , to take down all those who wronged him and made him spend the years of his youth inside the walls of a prison and in the outskirts of a penal colony . In  order to carry on with his revenge plan Papillon  had to get hold of a certain amount of money ,so he dived in illegalities. One day, after years of failure , solitude and despair. someone enlightened his life .
This is one of the stories that shows how those who are supposed to protect (police,  governments ...) can one day frame those same people they claim to protect  and be the reason of their downfall . 


-The war of the worlds by Herbert G.Wells : 




Here is another Sci-Fi  made by Herbert G wells the precursor of the genre , a classic illustrated version of War of the worlds 


 The Story itself was simple , however  it is initially the source of inspiration of a lot of scientists , writers and filmmakers ,what makes it special is the classic illustrations and the fact  that Herbert G wells is a pioneer in the genre . 
The Story talks about a martian invasion on southern England and London, and how the unnamed narrator and his brother survived the attacks .





classics such as this , have a special part in my little bookish heart .

see you soon with other updates, 
I am currently reading The invisible man by Herbert G. Wells and Al jazia-al Hilalia by Mohamed  marzouki