Many of the titles are familiar from last month’s list. A few are new: Mekkawi Said’s Downtown Acquisitions (3) is presumably a compilation of his columns for Al-Badeel, titled Moqtanayat Wust Al-Balad, and is new to the list. Said is perhaps best-known for his Arabic Booker-shortlisted Cairo Swan Song, which appeared in English in 2009.
Diary of a Spinster, by Abeer Suleiman, (6) is new to the list, as is Mohamed al-Bisatie’s Rooms for Rent (8).
Film and television director Ahmed El Esseily‘s A Book Without a Name (12) is also new; it was published in August 2009 has apparently exhausted several print runs.
The list:
1 – Arab Theology- Yousef Zeidan
2 – Why Don’t Egyptians Revolt?- Alaa al-Aswani
3 – Moqtanayat Wust Al-Balad (Downtown Acquisitions) – Mekkawi Said
4 – A Chagrined Laugh – Bilal Fadl
5 – The Age of Science – Ahmed Zewail
6 – Diary of a Spinster – Abeer Suleiman
7 – A Cloudy Day on the West Side – Mohamed Mansi Qandil
8 – Rooms for Rent – Mohamed el-Bisatie
9 – Diamond Dust – Ahmed Mourad
10 – Azazel – Youssef Zeidan
11 – Two Rooms and a Hall – Ibrahim Aslan
12 – A Book Without a Name – Ahmed El Esseily
13 – Season of Migration to the North – Tayeb Salih
14 – Ando Mando – Yahya Mukhtar
15 – Chairs – Yusuf Maati
16 – Papers of Sadat – Anis Mansour
17 – Rifai – Gamal Ghitani
18 – When We Love – Ibrahim Issa
19 – Diary of Farah Pahlavi – Farah Pahlavi
20 – Paving Egypt – Omar Taher
And, for those who prefer the list without my messy translations:
1- اللاهوت العربى و أصول العنف الديني – يوسف زيدان
2- لماذا لا يثور المصريون – علاء الأسواني
3- مقتنيات وسط البلد – مكاوى سعيد
4- ضحك مجروح – بلال فضل
5- عصر العلم – أحمد زويل
6- يوميات عانس – عبير سليمان
7- يوم غائم فى البر الغربى – محمد المنسي قنديل
8- غرف للإيجار – محمد البساطي
9- تراب الماس – أحمد مراد
10- عزازيل – يوسف زيدان
11- حجرتان و صالة – ابراهيم أصلان
12- كتاب مالوش اسم – أحمد العسيلي
13- موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال – الطيب صالح
14- اندو ماندو – يحيى مختار
15- كراسي – يوسف معاطي
16- من اوراق السادات – انيس منصور
17- الرفاعي – جمال الغيطاني
18- عندما كنا نحب – ابراهيم عيسى
19- مذكرات فرح بهلوي – فرح بهلوي
20- رصف مصر – عمر طاهر
Last month’s bestsellers can be found here.