Book description
This winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize and national bestseller is āan innovative reimagining of the family saga . . . Celestial Bodies is itself a treasure house: an intricately calibrated chaos of familial orbits and conjunctions, of the gravitational pull of secrets" (The New York Times Bookā¦
Why read it?
1 author picked Celestial Bodies as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
In this lyrical novel, winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize (the first novel in Arabic to do so), the Omani writer Altharthi captures the rich complexity of a country caught between the past and the future.
Her characters embody various aspects of Omanās historyāits slave trade, its maritime prowess, its close-knit village life, its rapid modern developmentāwhile at the same time debunking Western stereotypes about Arab women, society, and culture.
I visited Oman in early 2023 and everywhere I went, I saw Alharthiās novel brought to life. Time and memory, religion and magic, poetry and proverbsāall swirl hypnoticallyā¦
From Christiane's list on The best books about the intriguing country of Oman.
If you love Celestial Bodies...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa storiesāall reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argueā¦
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