Thursday, December 20, 2018

Cruising the Nile


    The drive ended up at a bookshop, where they were to lay in a sufficient store of literature to last, at any rate, as far as Luxor.
    "We want really serious books about Egypt," declared Eve.
    "Then you must begin with Breasted's History," said Jeremy, "and go on to Moret's 'Nile and Egyptian Civilsation.'"
    "Of course we must," agreed Eve, but Serena sighed a little when she saw the size of the volumes. While Jeremy added Weigall, Flinders Petrie, and several more to the growing pile, she wandered away to the other side of the shop, and came back with a couple of novels in her hand.
    "Let's have these, too," she pleaded. "I've always heard Robert Hichens writes so wonderfully about the desert."
    "He does," agreed Jeremy, "but the two you've chosen happen to be about Algeria."
    "Oh, well," said Serena placidly, "I expect the desert is much the same everywhere."

I love traveling with fellow readers! Eve is visiting Egypt for the first time, with her sister Serena and brother-in-law Hugh, and their friend Jeremy. They are in Cairo, preparing to set sail on a luxury houseboat, the dahabeyahs of so many stories. Cook's has it fully stocked with most of the necessities, but they can't set off without books. A walk through the city with Jeremy earlier that day left Eve eager to learn more about Egypt.
    By now Jeremy had forgotten all about Eve as an individuality, and was fairly launched on a subject near to his heart. Eve listened entranced, and it seemed to her that she was beginning, very incompletely and faintly, to grasp what Egypt had meant to the world by seeing what it meant to Jeremy. Touch by touch, as they strolled back to the hotel in the the freshness of the pearly morning, he built up for her the wonder of the most ancient of civilisations, its unsurpassed art and its strange religion, forerunner of all others. She had known in a vague sort of way that Egypt was called the "cradle of civilisation," but what before had been only a phrase to her, now became a real and intelligible fact.
    Back once more at the hotel, they stopped for a moment at the foot of the steps. Jeremy noticed what a glowing pink the keen air had brought to Eve's cheeks.
    "I say, I've talked an awful lot," he said apologetically.
    "Oh, I loved it!" Eve was enthusiastic. "I've always longed to come to Egypt, and now I'm actually here I'm going to learn all about it that I possibly can. There are lots of things I've always wanted to see, and I ought to find some of them here."

I couldn't help wondering though if the bookstore carried the monumental history of Egypt authored by the greatest Egyptologist of the modern era, Professor Radcliffe Emerson. Serena would more than sigh at the size of it.

 I can't remember whose blog first featured this book, and sent me rushing off to order my own copy, but I'm thankful she did. I do wish though that the photographs illustrating the book, taken by Stella Tennyson Jesse during her own voyage up the Nile in 1926-1927, were just a little clearer!

15 comments:

  1. What a fun book! I wish I'd known about it when I went to Egypt last spring. It would have been a fun one to take along with me.

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    1. I am still so envious of your trip to Egypt!

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    2. It was the highlight of my year. :)

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  2. Every time I see someone write about this I am reminded of how much I want to read it! Something to look forward to in 2019, I think.

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    1. I think you would really enjoy this, Claire!

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  3. Will you be making TBR goals for the new year, Lisa ?

    For the last few years I've been whittling away at my stacks, and actually making small dents. Some books have been donated after reading too - not enough to balance the others coming in though !

    Wishing you (all) a wonderful reading year in 2019 !

    Karen
    who usually lurks and appreciates the reviews, suggestions and comments

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    1. I think my main goal will be to put down my phone with the Kindle Unlimited subscription. I have read a lot of books that passed the time but were not memorable enough to write about. Meanwhile my TBR stacks still sit there - and I've actually run out of space on my shelves again. One of my resolutions is definitely to focus on those again, and try not to add too many more.

      Happy bookish New Year :)

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    2. My tablet and ereader are weighted down (metaphorically speaking) with unread (and read) books. Bookbub is my downfall. Those aren't the ones that concern me when it comes to TBRs. It's the ones lurking on shelves, in tote bags and boxes. I've been slowly reading many of them but they mostly don't leave as they are parts of ongoing series, or by writers I love. 2019 will also produce many follow-ups to series I'm reading so I am definitely doomed to squeezing at least another linear foot of books onto the shelves.

      Lisa, you are also a Bujold reader, right ? Did you see LMB's latest project - an addition to her Sharing Knife books. She said it might be out by late January.

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    3. It seems easier to overlook the books on my e-reader, and much too easy to quick-click and acquire them! I haven't been counting them in my TBR totals but I really should.

      I am definitely a Bujold reader, and so excited for the new Sharing Knife story. It was her publishing the Five Gods stories only in e-format that really pushed me into reading e-books.

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    1. It's such fun, not to mention educational. I'm impressed with how open-minded and respectful the travelers are toward Egypt and its peoples.

      And it was Stella Tennyson Jesse's only published book!

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  5. I love traveling with fellow readers too! This sounds absolutely wonderful. What an age to travel in.

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    1. Those wonderful houseboats! I want to visit Egypt very much, but I wish it could be a 1920s style voyage up the Nile.

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  6. Thanks so much for reviewing the book Lisa - and really glad you enjoyed it so much. We did the best we could with the photographs, which weren't absolute top quality in the original.

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    1. I can certainly understand that, working with 90-year-old amateur photographs! I work in archives, and I have some sad specimens in our collections.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!