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25 October 2010

Bafflement leads to a change of reading plans

A week or so back I began reading CITY OF VEILS by Zoe Ferraris (set in Saudi Arabia) on my Kindle.
I found it difficult to get into and even started again.
Most of you will know that I very rarely DNF a book, and so I looked for reasons why I was having a problem.

I came to the conclusion that the main reason was that I felt I was missing too much back story about the main investigator, and in particular his relationship with one of the other characters in an incident that had occurred some months before.

I knew that CITY OF VEILS was Zoe Ferraris' second book, so I thought the cure was probably to try to locate a copy of her first. It is not available on Kindle, but I eventually tracked it down at my library.

That was after I discovered it had been published under 2 titles.
The Night of the Mir'aj (2008)
     aka Finding Nouf
The bonus: Macavity Awards First Novel nominee (2009) : The Night of the Mir'aj

And finally, why am I reading THE NIGHT OF THE MI'RAJ (aka FINDING NOUF) ?
- as part of the 2010 Global Reading Reading Challenge - where I have 5 books (out of 21)  to go.

Here are my plans:

Africa
  • BAIT, Nick Brownlee (Kenya) - Kindle
Asia
  • ANARCHY AND OLD DOGS, Colin Cotterill (Laos)
Australasia
  • BEAT NOT THE BONES, Charlotte Jay (New Guinea)
North America (incl Central America)
  • HAVANA BLACK, Leonardo Padura (Cuba)
Wildcard  novel
  • THE NIGHT OF THE MI'RAJ, Zoe Ferraris (Saudi Arabia)
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 October 2010 at 21:53

    Kerrie - I'm glad you mentioned that about City of Veils. I haven't read that one yet, but I have read Finding Nouf IT looks like it's a good thing I did if I want to read the second one...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joe Barone26 October 2010 at 01:36

    We all have different reactions to books. I thought City of Veils was one of the best books I've read this year. But I have to admit I found the story painful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. bermudaonion26 October 2010 at 02:09

    I really liked City of Veils, so I'll be interested to see what you think of Finding Nouf.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kerrie26 October 2010 at 07:16

    At this stage I intend to read both. I usually do like to read a series in order but haven't been aware of the real need to so much as apparently on this case.
    Joe and BermudaOnion, have you read the first book?

    ReplyDelete
  5. KATHY D.27 October 2010 at 21:23

    I was having trouble getting into "City of Veils," for about 50 pages, for various reasons. For one, reading about women's position in that society.

    However, I pushed past it and am now on my way, ensconced in the book. It is good. It gives one cause to stop and think sometimes, about women and men and the society in which they live.

    I had read "Finding Nouf," so I was familiar with some of the main characters, but some are new.

    It's a good book, worth the time and effort. (And, I'm a fussy reader.)

    ReplyDelete

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