Saud Al Sanousi. Pawan Singh / The National
Saud Al Sanousi. Pawan Singh / The National

Ten books to read in 2015



FICTION

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (March)

To say that a new Ishiguro book is eagerly awaited is an understatement. The multi-award-­winning author of The Remains of the Day hasn't published a novel for 10 years. The short-­fiction collection Nocturnes was all we have had since Never Let Me Go in 2005.

As in that million-selling novel, Ishiguro remains in a dystopian world with The Buried Giant, but this time it is Arthurian Britain after the Romans have departed. With a fantasy, fable-like feel, there's a quest for an estranged son and encounters with knights and dragons – not usual Ishiguro territory, but intriguing ­nonetheless.

Incidentally, it took 10 years to complete because his wife made him rewrite it. Thankfully, she likes this version.

Purity by Jonathan Franzen (September)

Like Ishiguro, it's been a while since we've heard anything from one of the most celebrated authors of the 21st century. And similarly, Franzen's new novel – ­released five years on from 2010's Freedom – is something of a stylistic departure for the author of the influential The ­Corrections.

His publisher told The New York Times that Purity – which follows the titular young woman as she searches for her father in contemporary America, South America and East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall – has a "fabulist quality ... it's not strict realism. There's a mythic undertone to the story."

Nevertheless, it promises all the Franzen tropes we’ve come to know and love – family histories and secrets, and achingly sharp insights into the modern world.

Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh (May)

This is the final part of Ghosh's bestselling Ibis trilogy, which began with Sea of Poppies in 2008 and was followed three years ­later in River of Smoke.

It continues his stories of South Asian seafaring hopefuls caught up in the opium trade of the mid-19th century – this time it's 1839 and The Hind sets sail from Bengal for China, to take part in the First Opium War.

Bringing together his usual cast of fascinating characters, the seafarers include a poor sailor searching for his lost love, a company of Indian sepoys and a widow desperate to reclaim her husband’s wealth and reputation.

Meticulous in its historical detail yet committed to satisfying storytelling, this should be a fitting end to a remarkable series.

Chaos of the Senses by Ahlem Mosteghanemi, translated by Nancy Roberts (January)

You don't have to wait long for one of the biggest books by an Arab writer to surface this year. The follow-up to the Algerian author Mosteghanemi's international bestseller The Bridges of Constantine is out in English in just two weeks and, once again, it provides a vivid portrait of Algeria in the midst of civil war.

Chaos of the Senses has all of the hallmarks that have made Mosteghanemi the most successful female writer in the Arab world – forbidden love, political strife, strong female characters and plenty of commentary on the nature of freedom.

When we spoke to her last, she had three million Facebook followers. She’s doubled that in only 13 months. Influential.

A Spool of Blue Thread

Anne Tyler (February)

Jonathan Franzen might steal the literary headlines this year, but it’s actually the increasingly large pool of fantastic American women writers that is really ­noteworthy.

From a much-anticipated debut novel by director Miranda July to new work from the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Toni Morrison, Jane Smiley and Anne Tyler, there’s plenty to look forward to, and Tyler certainly heads the class.

A Spool of Blue Thread is classic Tyler. Forty years on from her first novel, she's still unpicking American life, this time working through three generations of an ordinary Baltimore family who "like most families ... imagined they were special."

No one depicts domestic life quite like Tyler, and it will be sad indeed if she goes through with her threat to make this her final novel.

The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan (February)

Highly regarded work from Kevin Powers, Ben Fountain and Michael Pitre suggests there is something of a genre developing in distraught servicemen returning to the West from overseas wars. So it will be fascinating to see how the Booker-nominated Scotsman approaches the story of a captain who comes back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan to visit his grandmother, Anne, who was a pioneer of documentary photography.

It turns out she has a secret story that begins to emerge, which opens up a tale of love and regret, pain and sacrifice.

O'Hagan's previous book – written from the perspective of Marilyn Monroe's dog – divided opinion, but early talk suggests The Illuminations has him right back on form.

She Will Build Him a City by Raj Kamal Jha (February)

It can sometimes feel a little like any Indian author writing in English is automatically categorised as peddling "state of India today" narratives. But when the celebrated author Pankaj Mishra calls She Will Build Him a City "the best novel from and about India that I have read in a long time", it's worth sitting up and taking notice.

Kamal Jha ambitiously draws a fractured picture of life in Delhi, with his interwoven characters tangled up in secret love and murderous intentions set against the exceedingly rich and the crushingly poor. You'd expect the chief editor of The Indian Express to know his patch, of course, but Kamal Jha shows that he understands the importance of compelling storytelling, too.

The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Al Sanousi, translated by Jonathan Wright (April)

The latest winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction to be translated, Al Sanousi’s book is the most relevant novel for English-speaking readers based in the Middle East in some time.

A timely look at foreign workers in the Arabian Gulf, a Filipino maid falls in love with a Kuwaiti man and they have a child. The embarrassment leads to ­mother and son leaving for the Philippines. When the child finally returns to Kuwait and begins to fit in, his history is revealed, causing further shame for the ­father’s family.

The Bamboo Stalk is a novel about identity and a search for home and Al Sanousi was widely praised for making the original Arabic version so accessible – and, at times, amusing. If Jonathan Wright can translate that tone to the English version, it could well be one of the ­biggest-selling translations from the region of the year.

NON FICTION

Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer by Ann Morgan (February)

It was a wonderfully simple idea. When London hosted the Olympics in 2012, Morgan set herself the challenge of reading a book from every one of the world's 196 independent countries. A Year of Reading the World began as a blog, on which she asked people to recommend a list of books – classics or contemporary – from which she would choose one to read from each country. That's not as easy as it might sound when some countries barely have anything that has been translated into English. Reading the World is the product of her journey and it explores big questions about the nature and power of storytelling, as well as celebrating literature from around the world. Sounds fascinating and we won't spoil it by revealing the choice from the UAE.

Visitants by Dave Eggers (March)

One of the most satisfying developments in Dave Eggers' career is how far he's spread his wings from the Californian microcosm of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

What Is the What was largely based in Sudan, Zeitoun was about a Syrian-American caught up in Hurricane Katrina and A Hologram for the King was all the better for Eggers' proper insight into the Arabian Peninsula.

So it’s great to see this first collection of travel writing begin with him speeding across the desert of Saudi Arabia at 140 kph with a maniacal hired driver.

He also takes in Syria, South Sudan, Cuba, Thailand and Croatia on this endearing and humane jaunt across the world – but it’s the characters he meets along the way who become the stars rather than Eggers himself.

artslife@thenational.ae

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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now

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Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

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RESULT

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2
Arsenal:
Aubameyang (13')
Chelsea: Jorginho (83'), Abraham (87') 

THE SPECS – Honda CR-V Touring AWD

Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder

Power: 184hp at 6,400rpm

Torque: 244Nm at 3,900rpm

Transmission: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)

0-100kmh in 9.4 seconds

Top speed: 202kmh

Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km

Price: From Dh122,900

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Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Francesco Totti's bio

Born September 27, 1976

Position Attacking midifelder

Clubs played for (1) - Roma

Total seasons 24

First season 1992/93

Last season 2016/17

Appearances 786

Goals 307

Titles (5) - Serie A 1; Italian Cup 2; Italian Supercup 2

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Company%20Profile
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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Sui Dhaaga: Made in India

Director: Sharat Katariya

Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav

3.5/5

Williams at Wimbledon

Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)

Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

RIVER%20SPIRIT
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Andor
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tony%20Gilroy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDiego%20Luna%2C%20Genevieve%20O'Reilly%2C%20Alex%20Ferns%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%205%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key developments

All times UTC 4

The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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