Goosebumps... beware! You're in for a scare!

Back in the 1990s Goosebumps was something big, a phenomena, it was so big that it became a brand by itself. I remember when I used to drink Goosebumps' weird fizzy drink while visiting Woolworth (RIP my friend), and till now I remember the Goosebumps pajamas that my mum brought to me, in other words the book series was so successful that they made pajamas out of them!!! 

I started to read Goosebumps when I was 8, and I was addicted to them. I fell in love with the series so much and I vowed to finish them all. What made things cooler is that I found out that there was a Goosebumps' TV series, I used to borrow them from the library. 

I was hooked up that I even read the damn series in arabic, in other words I was really obsessed with them (till now to be honest). So since this year we are expecting a goosebumps movie why don't I talk about my 10 favourite Goosebumps books!!  

1- Phantom of the auditorium

One hell of a book!! Some what inspired by phantom of the opera, the novel is about Zeke who got a role in the school play, The phantom. And as usual get ready for a hell of a twist at the end of the story. 

2- Say cheese and die

Imagine having a camera that takes photos of your future but not in a good way, yup that was one hell of a disturbing story, it's a Goosebumps classic, an essential book to read. I remember while watching final destination 3 when they used the photos that they took at the fun fair to see who will death attack and how, guess they were inspired by this book (maybe) and if you have no idea what am I talking about then watch the movie. 

3- Ghost beach 

God, I love this book!! I read the book in both Arabic and English, that's how much I love this novel. If you are into ghost and hunted caves then give this one a try, it's one of my personal favourites. I love the cover so much!! A kick ass cover, I love it.....

4- The haunted mask

One hell of a story!! Imagine wearing a mask that turns out to be alive and wants to take over your body. Creepy?! Yes but a damn good one, the TV episode was really good as well. I really don't know what is wrong with Halloween masks?? Even halloween 3's plot was about creepy masks and shit. 

5- Stay out of the basement 

This book sealed the deal to me, I was officially hooked after finishing this book and at some point it even gave me nightmares!! The plot is simple, daddy is working on an experiment, daddy doesn't want you any where near the basement, daddy is actin weird and well you were foolish enough to get into the basement, didn't daddy tell you to stay away?? The twisted ending was really epic, it's underrated though. 

6- One day at horror land!! 

So imagine going to an amusement park that is actually managed and ran by real live monsters!! Yeah, not a really good thing especially if they are trying to kill you. The TV episode was really great, give it a try. 

7- Don't go to sleep

Who would think that sleeping in the attic is a bad idea?? Poor Matt, he only wanted to have a bigger room, but sleeping in the attic proved to be a decision that he will regret later. Imagine that every time you wake up, you live in a brand new nightmare??? A life of never ending nightmares!! Poor Matt...

8- Night of the living dummy III

Slappy is one of R.L Stine's best characters, it's creepy, disturbing and yeah it's alive. Buying a talking dummy isn't a good idea, especially when it's Slappy. Out of the 3 main night of the living dummy books, the third one is my favourite. 

9- Vampire breath 

Imagine having a secret room in your basement that contains a bottle of vampires breath, now I guess that you are foolish enough to open the bottle, if so, congratulations!! Now you have a real ass vampire in your basement. God, I really love this one, I have it in Arabic and English. Not the strongest book out of the bunch but it's an interesting one.

10- Welcome to camp nightmare

that ending, that weird ass ending!!! 

Those are my top 10 favourite books with their covers, there are other Goosebumps series like Give yourself Goosebumps and Goosebumps 2000 so I might write other posts and entries about them. The guy wrote like a gazillion Goosebumps titles, hope you like my picks and if you haven't read them before then give em a try.... 

We can be Heroes, just for one day,,,,

Dear Friend...

I don't really know you and you you don't really know me but I just needed someone to tell him about this really great novel that a good friend friend of mine gave to me a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago I was going through movies to see what to watch and I decided to give ''The perks of being a wallflower'' a chance. I cried, I laughed, and I was speechless by the end of the movie. I didn't tell anyone about me feelings at the time, but I was in this dark place and this movie gave me this nice feeling that I haven't felt in a while especially when David Bowie's heroes played ad the end of the movie. I've heard that you are a great listener so I decided to tell you all of this. I love music and I love David Bowie so the whole movie was a great experience. 

After watching the movie I wanted to read the book so a friend of mine decided to give it to me and she told me that you'll be shocked but I wasn't sure why, what could be different?? And to be honest with the book did shock me, this might be one of the saddest novels I've ever read. The novel is so raw and sad and I felt sorry for the hero, Charlie. I know you might think that I am mad but I hope you understand what I want to say. The book is so well written that I felt Charlie's emotions and confusion throughout the book. What made me love Charlie is that he loves to read like me and he wants to be an author. I want to be a writer one day, may be one day I'll write my first ever novel with my future wife or girl friend or may be I'll be able to work in an online magazine or something. 

Now you might ask me, why would I recommend this book to you?? I will assume that you love reading plus the novel has a lot of interesting themes. The novel discussed the meaning of true friendship (the relation between Charlie, Sam and Patrick). I also like that Charlie wasn't your stereotype teenager who hates his parents, on the contrary Charlie loves his mum so much and his whole family and on every occasion he just wants to make them happy. And this might be Charlie's problem that he wants everyone to be happy and this leads to him neglecting himself, it is really sad don't you think?? It made me sad and I think you might be sad as well. So I guess happiness might be the real theme here, how everyone of us sees happiness and how to pursue it.

I don't really want to spoil the story for you but I guess denial might be another theme here. You might love someone but you don't want to admit it, you might have experienced a bad experience when you were young that affected you badly but you just deny the whole thing and forget it. But the thing is such things might lead to a snowball effect that might take it's toll on you and destroy you. Denial isn't a solution, you have to face your problems and conquer them (sorry, I'm being corny here).

Love is also one of the novel's main themes and like what Bill said to Charlie ''We accept the love we think we deserve'' I love this quote and so do my friends and I really hope you like it too, you will understand how strong it is when you read the book. I think the author here doesn't only mean love as in a relationship but he talks about love in general. Family love, friends love, and yes love between two different people. ''We accept the love we think we deserve'' Sometimes you think that you have chosen the right person to love and care about while in reality this person doesn't suit you, and I've been there before but it's something that I'd rather keep to my self.

So I don't really want to bother you more, I know you have things to do so let me wrap this up. The novel is raw, simple and has really great characters who got developed really well to a point that you could relate to them. Charlie's words are simple, his feelings are so mixed up and sometimes you might be disturbed by what he is writing, poor kid. After finishing the novel my feelings were so mixed up and I was feeling really emotional that I decided to tell somebody about them. Was the ending happy or sad?? I think it was an open one, you'll have to draw you own conclusions but I hope Sam, Patrick, Charlie and others are living great lives and are happy. I'm not making any sense now so I should stop writing. Oh, the author has a really great taste in music, I loved his choices of songs in the book.Hope you won't be annoyed by this long letter or mail, okay Now I've to end this, thank you for reading this...

Love always..

- Sam,,, 

Farida's mirror...

  So last week I decided to write about the wonderful world of Naguib Mahfouz which gave me this nice idea, let's dedicate this month to Egyptian authors. I took sometime to think about who should I talk about??? until I found a post on my time line that talked about Riham Rady's signing session at Alef book store so I told my self, well why not?? Lets talk about Riham Rady and her novel ''Farida's Mirror''. 

Working at a book store gives me the chance to know about the latest releases and new authors to check out and read. And that's how I came across the novel, the cover and the novel's overview made me want to read it and see how good the novel is. The plot is really simple yet it was an interesting read and showed me how talented Riham is. The novel talks about a young journalist who goes by the name Pinar?! (Hope this is how you pinar in English, not a common name tbh) and her life after her mother's death. The turning point in her life came when her boss asked her to make a new and interesting report for the magazine that she works with. The thing is Pinar is more into celebrities than making serious reports and interview but after a while she decides to take on this new challenge and come out of her comfort zone by making a report about an Egyptian slum area,  and how this report will be the key to changing her life. The interesting thing is that Riham decided to talk about Al- Dwika and make it the center piece of Pinar's report. When made me relate to this part is the fact that I went to this area when I was a political sciences student. I had this projects about slum areas and the culture of poverty and we were asked to go to a slum area to study it and apply what we have studied on our projects. It wasn't an easy experience, I was really shocked of what I've seen there. As they say, you have to see it to believe it. I couldn't imagine that people could live in such places. 

Imagine living your life in a house that could kill you at any time, no electricity, dirty water and having your whole family to live in one room without a bathroom so the question that the author tried to answer here ''can we make a difference to these people?!'' Yes, it's the government's duty to provide better lives to such people but we as citizens have a role towards these people and that's what Riham tried to prove through Pinar and her report. The thing is the whole experience was a life changer to Pinar, it made her question her life, her goals and aims. There are other sub plots in the novel that contributed in changing pinar's life but I don't want to spoil it for you guys. But I found Pinar's relationship with her boy friend really interesting, Stephen Chbosky was right when he said that we accept the love we think we deserve, it's a common problem that we choose to love and date the wrong people. I think what Riham wanted to say the love isn't everything, you might love someone so much but he isn't treating you right or just doesn't care but still you just keep hanging on to him/her which reminded me of Chbosk'y quote. So as a whole the novel is really simple, depressing a bit but the ending was happy and satisfying. I really do believe that Riham is a really talented author with a great gift in her hands, I liked the novel so much and it is one of my favourite novels in 2014. By god, I was so happy when I met Riham this year in her signing session at the book fair.

So yeah, give this book a try. It's simple, interesting and yes uplifting. It covered a wide range of topics like family relations, slum areas, love and women in the Egyptian society, I really liked how Riham tied all of these topics together without making it long. Hope you guys like the novel, and here is Riham's facebook page so check it out: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A-Riham-Rady/458077604294084?ref=ts&fref=ts 

About the author:

- Born in 1987.

- Graduated from the Faculty of mass communication science. 

- Farida's mirror is her first novel as an author. 

- Besides being an author she works as a business developer as well... 

Naguib Mahfouz... It's louder than words..

I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.

Naguib Mahfouz

I always had this weird habit since I was young. If I read a novel by a certain author and I liked it then I'll read everything written by this author. I remember when I was 9 years and I discovered R.L Stine's goosebumps, I was obsessed with the guy that I nearly bought all of his books. This might not be a bad thing but on the other hand this caused me missing the opportunity to read other books. The same could be said about Stephen King, I'm so obsessed with the guy that I spent a lot of time reading and collecting his books. 

But today I won't be talking about King or Stine, today is a different type of article. I won't talk about John Green or why did Veronica Roth botch the divergent series, nop, today I will introduce to you the world of THE most IMPORTANT Egyptian Author in the history of Egyptian literature, Nagiub Mahfouz. Yes, I've been obsessed with the guy and his work since my dad introduced me to ''Children of the alley'' 4 years ago. 

Since then, I started reading everything written by him and I created this small Mahfouz library because such books and novels should be reserved for the future. Mahfouz's words and novels are immortal and even though he is dead, it is his work and words that is keeping him alive among his readers and the world of literature. So what made Mahfouz so interesting and famous??

1- The way he described the Egyptian alleys and the changes that happened in these areas is so real that will make you feel as if you are there. Plus such novels play a role in giving you an idea about the Egyptian society in the past and the way people were thinking and acting.

2- His themes, most of the times Mahfouz used his novels and heroes as a way to express his ideas. In his novel ''Adrift on the Nile'', Mahfouz expressed for example his dissatisfaction with Naser and his regime. Or when he talked about the youth and their problems in his short story ''Love above the Pyramid Plateau''. 

3- Mahfouz didn't only talk about the society and politics, he also talked about deep ideas like God, religion and Existentialism. In other words, Mahfouz broke a lot of taboos in the Egyptian society especially in the 60s when he published one of his most controversial novels ''Children of the Alley''. And from my point of view the main theme of this novel is why did God leave us like that?? Did God really abandon us?? And the idea of going to the promised land aka heaven. Some suggested that this novel also attacked Naser's regime but in a thematic way. Anyways, if you read this you'll understand why it was banned. Fun fact: Someone tried to assassinate Mahfouz because of this novel even though he didn't even read the novel. 

4- His ability to write really great short stories. Mahfouz is like Stephen king, both of them have A LOT of ideas on their minds that they want to express. Mahfouz has written a lot of short stories and a lot of collections and like his novels, his short stories are interesting and full of great themes. for example in his collection ''Echoes of an autobiography'', Mahfouz managed to express a lot of thoughts and ideas through micro stories, every story is about a half or a quarter of a page with different themes like life and death and the meaning of our existence and other things. The most interesting part is when you get introduced to  Abdullah Al- Taih and his interesting words of wisdom. 

5- Mahfouz isn't a one trick pony, his novels don't only take part in old Cairo and it's allies, but he also talked about ancient Egypt. Like in his novel ''Dweller in Truth'' which was released in the 80s, he talked about Akhenaten and his search for the one true god. Fact is, his old novels were about ancient Egypt and its rich history.

6- Like King, a lot of Mahfouz's novels and short stories were turned into movies and TV shows. Like the Cairo Trilogy, One hour remains and Miramar.

7- The fact that he has won the Nobel prize in literature (the only Egyptian author to do so) made him a god in the world of literature. 

8- Some small facts about Mahfouz: 

- He was born in 1911 and died in 2006.

- He studied philosophy in Cairo University. 

- He wrote small columns and short stories for Al- Ahram, for example the book ''Dreams of a rehabilitation period'' is a collection of short stories he had written for Al- Ahram.

- He didn't get married until he turned 43. 

9- What to read?? Okay guys, here are some books that I suggest you should check out:

- Miramar.

- The Cairo Trilogy.

 - Echoes of an autobiography. 

- Love above the Pyramid Plateau. 

- Children of the Alley. 

10- Some quotes: 

There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.

If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

"افة حارتنا النسيان"

"the world is not a wish granting factory"

Young people tend to have massive dreams about having a good job, a nice girl friend, a nice group of friends to hang out with and goof around with and seeing their favourite bands or sports teams live. Or may be have dreams about travelling the world, and live long enough to see robots taking over the world. Dreams and wishes are what make us want to live, it's this idea of being happy. All of us have different perspectives about the idea of happiness. Some see that meeting the love of their lives is the way to happiness, some might see happiness through a good job and having money while others might see happiness through stuff like reading and listening to music. So yeah, all of us want to live long enough to satisfy our selves with  the things that make us happy, to try to fulfill our hopes and dreams. Lets be honest who thinks that he might die so young?? Almost all of us think that we will die at 70, or may be 80, or may be 100, who knows??? But God, John Green was so right when he said that life isn't a wish granting machine. 

I had a friend of mine who had the same dreams, he wanted to have a job, get some money and travel. He wanted to go back to KSA and see Mecca again. I'm also sure that he wanted to meet someone to love or may be he already had one, may be he wanted to get married, have kids, live till he is 70 or 80 and see his grand children. All of these are maybes that we won't get to see because he is dead now. You see I really don't think that being dead is something he had on his mind especially he is 23. And why would anyone of us think about such a thing?? Why would a 23 year old dude think that well all of his hopes and dreams will be squashed because he will die tomorrow??  That's what makes death an asshole, he just comes and go, just like that. I really would have liked to tell you guys that my friend fought the good fight and died as a hero, an inspiration. But no, the reality is that he didn't even get the chance to fight, he died suffering from a coma caused by a car accident. He didn't fight, he didn't say any memorable last words, he just went into a coma and died. I wish I could say that we all got the chance to see him before dying, I wish I could say I had the chance to tell him good bye. I wish I could say that I had the chance to know him more. But the truth is we didn't get the chance to do anything. 

At this point people will start saying stuff like he is in a better place now but this is what people want to hear and convince themselves with. Death is cruel, I can imagine him having a normal life like each and everyone of us. Yes, I do feel that he got robbed, death robbed him, death didn't give him the chance to live and see the world. The death of a friend or a young one makes you think about life and yourself?? Will you get the chance to fulfill your hopes and dreams?? Leave a mark?? I really don't know, all I know is that I'm sure how I feel and that by God I'll miss you my friend, it's rare to meet someone that pure and friendly, I haven't seen anyone as optimistic as he was. Rest in peace my friend. Part of me wants him to be able to see how much we all love him, I really hope he does. 

“Because there is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor in dying of.” 

― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars