Books acquired; Mahfouz

Bought several books today. I know I am obssessive.

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence, on Modern Library 100 Best English Fiction of 20th Centuray list. $1.

The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett, a thriller set in Egypt. Will take with me to Egypt. $0.5

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. $1.

The Bacchae and Other Plays by Euripides. I want to read more plays, but the library does not have many used books under drama, and I don't want to read Ibsen or Shaw. There is a play by Agatha Christie. $1.

Beginner's Arabic Script by Teach Yourself. (I also got Arabic Alphabet--How to Read & Write It by Awde and Samano, but it looks too simple. I can't believe I am not a total beginner anymore!) I should take this book with me to Egypt and learn more Arabic while there. $10.95 + tax.

Reading Children of Gebelaawi by Naguib Mahfouz, published by Passeggiata Press. The book gets better and better, but this edition is full of errors. Very annoying. I know there is another translation which might not be "authorized" by the author, but looks like a more decent publication. Personally I think this work is not sensitive to translations. The stories are told in very straightforward ways. All characters and plots are intrinsically symbolic, so there is no need to be precise in translation.