« more discussions

• 

  Next Read for June: 40 Days & 1001 Nights by Tamalyn Dallal

  I am very excited about this book. I have read her memoir from her travels in South America and really enjoyed it (I was wishing they had published the entire story and not just the first quarter of it). Her writing style is personal, funny, and intelligent: giving lots of perspective on the people and place she visits. She has sympathetic heart that truly honors those she meets with sincerity and respect.

  In 40 days and 1001 Nights she takes an Arbabic proverb as literally as she could: "to know a people you must live among them for 40 days" (something to that effect) and so she does! What a remarkable trip to be able to live among strangers for 40 days each. She visits Indonesia, Jordan, Egypt, China, & Zanzibar. That is at least a 200 day journey.

  I have always had dreams of traveling along the gypsy trail and experiencing all of the places and cultures that have contributing to the intricate tapestry of Oriental Dance, so the memoir of a belly dancers travels all over exotic places is a read I can't possibly resist.

  I hope you'll join me. I plan to start it June 1st. The first read of the Summer!
  For all of you who, like me, dream of travel but don't have the funds: this will be a summer vacation in an armchair... or hammock as the case may be.

  If you plan to join in, please leave a comment about your thoughts on this upcoming read.
  

  Stephanie B started this discussion 8 months ago. ( reply )

• 

  Stephanie B 

  I read it & it was definitely interesting. I love how amazingly objective Tamalyn managed to stay. Sometimes it aggrivated me though because I found myself shouting at her "What did you think of that???" It was remarkable, her ability to stay so unopinionated regarding certain topics but I really her appreciate her reporting on views with an unbiased tone.
  Her life fascinates me- that she able to just get up and go anywhere at any time, dancing the whole way. Wow.
  I hope she continues to write and to travel... it's like getting to go there for yourself... well, at least in your imagination. ;P
  And because I was reading 'Dreaming of te East' at the same time, I found it curious that her descriptions of being able to move around in society as not a woman but something equal to but not the same as a man- that was how women of the 1800s-early 1900s described their experience in teh Middle East.
  It was curious that the reaction of Middle Easterners toward western women still remains the same in that respect.

  posted 7 months ago. ( reply )

• To reply to this discussion, please sign in or join now.

Return to top