Want to know what books Humphrey Davies recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Humphrey Davies's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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The first graphic novel of the Arab world, a brilliant portrait of a bank robbery and two friends' breakneck escape through an edgy, pulsing Cairo on the brink of explosionWhen Shihab runs afoul of a loan shark, all avenues of salvation in Mubarak's corrupt, oppressive Egypt are closed to him but one: robbing a bank. Things go wrong: In their blow against their crumbling society, Shihab and his friend Mustafa happen on evidence of vice that points to the upper reaches of the regime.On a wild chase through Cairo's metro system, Shihab and Mustafa turn to family and friends for refuge,... more The first graphic novel of the Arab world, a brilliant portrait of a bank robbery and two friends' breakneck escape through an edgy, pulsing Cairo on the brink of explosionWhen Shihab runs afoul of a loan shark, all avenues of salvation in Mubarak's corrupt, oppressive Egypt are closed to him but one: robbing a bank. Things go wrong: In their blow against their crumbling society, Shihab and his friend Mustafa happen on evidence of vice that points to the upper reaches of the regime.On a wild chase through Cairo's metro system, Shihab and Mustafa turn to family and friends for refuge, which is offered only by Dina, a muckraking journalist who, for Shihab, will take the greatest of risks.In art as alive and immediate as Cairo itself, Magdy El Shafee has delivered an arresting and prescient portrait of a crumbling society and Egypt's coming eruption. A powerful story of comrades on the lam and an impossible love, Metro also sounds the cry for a better, freer future. less 
Humphrey DaviesThis is the first graphic novel in Arabic…Magdy deals with corruption, street demonstrations, frustrations of young people. (Source)
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Khaled Al Khamissi | 4.04
تاكسي: حواديت المشاوير الذي لاقى نجاحا نقديا وجماهيريا كبيرا وغير متوقع، فأثنى عليه الكثير من الكتاب والنقاد واستضافت مؤلفه عدد من البرامج التلفزيونية مثل العاشرة مساء والبيت بيتك والقاهرة اليوم، ووصفه د. عبد الوهاب المسيري بأنه "عمل إبداعي أصيل ومتعة فكرية حقيقية"، وقال عنه د. جلال أمين أنه من أجمل ما قرأ من كتب في وصف المجتمع المصري كما كتب عنه صفحة كاملة بجريدة المصري اليوم. والكتاب عبارة عن حوارات بين الراوي وسائقي التاكسي بالقاهرة يتناولون فيها بصراحة بالغة أوضاع البلاد والسياسة والاقتصاد والتطرف والمظاهرات والجنس وحياتهم وهمومهم الشخصية. كتاب ممتع ومرآة صادقة لفئة لماحة تتعامل مع... more تاكسي: حواديت المشاوير الذي لاقى نجاحا نقديا وجماهيريا كبيرا وغير متوقع، فأثنى عليه الكثير من الكتاب والنقاد واستضافت مؤلفه عدد من البرامج التلفزيونية مثل العاشرة مساء والبيت بيتك والقاهرة اليوم، ووصفه د. عبد الوهاب المسيري بأنه "عمل إبداعي أصيل ومتعة فكرية حقيقية"، وقال عنه د. جلال أمين أنه من أجمل ما قرأ من كتب في وصف المجتمع المصري كما كتب عنه صفحة كاملة بجريدة المصري اليوم. والكتاب عبارة عن حوارات بين الراوي وسائقي التاكسي بالقاهرة يتناولون فيها بصراحة بالغة أوضاع البلاد والسياسة والاقتصاد والتطرف والمظاهرات والجنس وحياتهم وهمومهم الشخصية. كتاب ممتع ومرآة صادقة لفئة لماحة تتعامل مع المجتمع كله. المؤلف خالد الخميسي حاصل على ماجستير في العلوم السياسية من جامعة السوربون، إعلامي ومنتج ومخرج وكاتب سيناريو، له العديد من الدراسات الاجتماعية والسياسية، ويكتب في عدة صحف less Humphrey DaviesTaxi is a delightful book. It’s 58 short passages each of which is a taxi ride during which the author gets into conversation with the driver. These conversations range over just about every aspect of Egyptian life, but with a very strong political flavour too — which is the way that conversations with taxi drivers tend to go. It’s very much the view from the street. Obviously the writer is a... (Source)
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In 1986, when this autobiography opens, the author is a typical fourteen-year-old boy in Asyut in Upper Egypt. Attracted at first by the image of a radical Islamist group as "strong Muslims," his involvement develops until he finds himself deeply committed to its beliefs and implicated in its activities. This ends when, as he leaves the university following a demonstration, he is arrested. Prison, a return to life on the outside, and attending Cairo University all lead to Khaled al-Berry's eventual alienation from radical Islam.
This book opens a window onto the mind of an... more In 1986, when this autobiography opens, the author is a typical fourteen-year-old boy in Asyut in Upper Egypt. Attracted at first by the image of a radical Islamist group as "strong Muslims," his involvement develops until he finds himself deeply committed to its beliefs and implicated in its activities. This ends when, as he leaves the university following a demonstration, he is arrested. Prison, a return to life on the outside, and attending Cairo University all lead to Khaled al-Berry's eventual alienation from radical Islam.
This book opens a window onto the mind of an extremist who turns out to be disarmingly like many other clever adolescents, and bears witness to a history with whose reverberations we continue to live. It also serves as an intelligent and critical guide for the reader to the movement's unfamiliar debates and preoccupations, motives and intentions.
Fluently written, intellectually gripping, exciting, and often funny, Life Is More Beautiful than Paradise provides a vital key to the understanding of a world that is both a source of fear and a magnet of curiosity for the west. less Humphrey DaviesThis is a very interesting counterdose to On Being Abbas El Abd. It’s not fiction, but the autobiography of a young man who grew up in a city in Upper Egypt. His parents are middle class and he drifts into joining one of the most important Islamist groups, the Jama’a Islamiya. A few years later, after spending six months in prison, he drifts out again, as he becomes acquainted with, and attracted... (Source)
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"The millennial generation's most celebrated literary achievement." Al-Ahram Weekly "The first glimmer of hope for a true fictional renaissance an instantly rewarding read embraced by an unprecedented range of literary figures" The Daily Star "What is madness?" asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidy's jittery, funny, and angry novel. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairo in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the city's pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency. But lurking... more "The millennial generation's most celebrated literary achievement." Al-Ahram Weekly "The first glimmer of hope for a true fictional renaissance an instantly rewarding read embraced by an unprecedented range of literary figures" The Daily Star "What is madness?" asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidy's jittery, funny, and angry novel. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairo in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the city's pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency. But lurking under the rocks in his grouchy, chain-smoking, pharmaceutically-oriented, twenty-something life are characters like his elusive psychiatrist uncle with a disturbing interest in phobias. And then there's Abbas, the narrator's best friend who surfaces at critical moments to drive our hero into uncontrollably multiplying difficulties. For instance, theres the ticklish situation with the simultaneous blind-dates Abbas has set up for him on different levels of a coffee-shop in a Cairo mall with two girls both called Hind. With friends like Abbas, what paranoiac needs enemies?
less Humphrey DaviesThis book is totally different, conceptually and in style, from the one we were just talking about. It’s a wickedly complex tale. People debate what actually takes place in the book. It’s about a terminally grumpy twenty-something negotiating Cairo’s shopping malls and high-rises. The book as a whole reflects a culture that will be familiar to anybody in Egypt, who sits, as so many here do, at... (Source)
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This controversial bestselling novel in the Arab world reveals the political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism, and modern hopes of Egypt today.
All manner of flawed and fragile humanity reside in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor now slowly decaying in the smog and bustle of downtown Cairo: a fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed "scientist of women"; a sultry, voluptuous siren; a devout young student, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism; a newspaper editor helplessly in love with a policeman; a corrupt and... more This controversial bestselling novel in the Arab world reveals the political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism, and modern hopes of Egypt today.
All manner of flawed and fragile humanity reside in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor now slowly decaying in the smog and bustle of downtown Cairo: a fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed "scientist of women"; a sultry, voluptuous siren; a devout young student, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism; a newspaper editor helplessly in love with a policeman; a corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify his desires.
These disparate lives careen toward an explosive conclusion in Alaa Al Aswany's remarkable international bestseller. Teeming with frank sexuality and heartfelt compassion, this book is an important window on to the experience of loss and love in the Arab world. less Humphrey DaviesThe Yacoubian Builiding is celebrated, possibly even notorious, for being a real bestseller — originally in Egypt and the Arab world and subsequently in the West, in English and in many other languages. It tells the story of a building in downtown Cairo, and the changes that have affected the building and its inhabitants. So it encapsulates the last 80 years of Egyptian history and it provides a... (Source)
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