The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata

The Lake is the second book of Nobel laureate Kawabata that I have read. Unlike the House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories, which I thought to be a remarkable text particularly the title story, The Lake came across as a frustrating work in terms of style.

Briefly, it is the story of a homeless stalker, Gimpei, who follows certain women that he finds posses a certain quality of beauty. What we know of Gimpei is that he was a former school teacher until he stalked one of his students, and that he had committed some ambiguous crime in the past.

A Month and a Day by Ken Saro-Wiwa

Courtesy of Wikipedia

This memoir by writer and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa is an account of his one month and a day in detention (21 June – 22 July 1993) during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Ironically, after Babangida seized power from a coup in 1985, he appointed Saro-Wiwa in 1987 (who had then returned to the political scene) to  assist in aiding the country’s transition to democracy. When Saro-Wiwa realized the sham of Babangida’s policies and foresaw that he had no actual intention of actually relieving his rule and handing back democratic power to a civilian government, he resigned this post and eventually became an outspoken critic of the self-appointed military ruler.

Samir’s Favorite Reads of 2012

Well as we round off 2012 and look forward to another year of literary delight (and occasional disappointment), I’d like to share my favorite reads this year. The titles are not necessarily of books published in 2012 but just titles I happened to read. In no particular order here are the books that awed me in one way or another:

1. In the Time of Love by Nagib Mahfouz

This is the first novel I read by Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz and it certainly won’t be the last. The story is set in Cairo where the author is from and the flavor of the city is felt throughout the text. The story begins with Sitt Ain (mother of the protagonist: Ezzat) who is the engine of the story and the link to all the events. Considered a great woman in her neighborhood due to her charitable role, she is immediately drawn as a person with superior morals and manners.