Good morning dear hoddlers, and welcome to another edition of ‘What are you reading right now?”. The premise is simple: Your hoddler-in-chief wants to know what the well-read commentariat is currently reading. Let’s get into it.
——
I am currently flipping through two separate books from the Middle East and North Africa.
First is a novel by the Algerian novelist Yasmina Khadra, perhaps best known for his book The Swallows of Kabul.
Except I’m not reading that - I’m reading The Angels Die. I first picked up this book almost a year ago at the Foyles on Tottenham Court Road, and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf unread for far too long.
It’s about an Arab boxer from Algeria between the first and second World Wars. And, of course, it deals with the racial/religious/class divides between Arabs and Europeans during this time.
Our hero Turambo finds his way out of poverty through boxing. But can he sustain it, or will The Man come around? These kinds of stories don’t have happy endings and I’m not expecting one, but we’ll see. Fitzie is pretty close to finishing it (hopefully this weekend or the next).
Other than that, if I’m able to I’ve been carrying around a book of Persian poetry with me on the metro in Washington DC. I usually don’t read on the metro because I hate leaving chapters unfinished, but poetry is much more suitable for these short trips.
This book of poetry features three Iranian writers, led by the great Persian lyric poet Hafez. His collected works are considered to be the apex of Persian literature and I was told by one librarian in Washington that to understand Hafez is to understand the heart of Iranian culture.
This collection of poetry, called Faces of Love, also features Jahan Malek Khatun and Obayd-e Zakani, two other writers from Shiraz in the mid-fourteenth century, all of whom came from different social/economic spectrums and thus create a fascinating look into poetry from that period.
To get to the actual poetry, though, the book’s guardian Dick Davies first guides us through a 100-some page introduction of all three writers, Shiraz, and the socioeconomic and cultural conditions that shaped these writers. It’s a fascinating insight into a part of the world whose literary heroes have not been as celebrated in the west as those from Europe, the US and elsewhere.
It was a good find at the Capitol Hill bookstore.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Etazalt El Gharam, by Magida El Roumi
And now for your links:
BBC: “Why Spurs made Kudus their first signing from West Ham in 14 years”
The Athletic ($$): “Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White set for Tottenham medical”
Alasdair Gold: “Unusual Tottenham move secures Morgan Gibbs-White transfer amid £120m splurge”
The Independent: “Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe woes show the problem with modern football”
Front Office Sports: “Gareth Bale Group Makes New Offer for Cardiff City “