Loved it. The samplings of Moroccan life and the
>>> adventures of an educated, Western jewish woman, quite alone but tenacious in her commitment, offering love,
>>> dignity and learning while deftly wading through gritty to funny moments
> , and all the while just a sound
> bite away from a frightening outburst.
>>> Some eloquent passages are a mind's eye moving picture of a Moroccan's
>>> intriguing traditions, breathtaking views and desperate
>>> survival strategies. Even a recipe, such a deal! Men, women, teens can gain a lot from this.

I loved it. I savored it. The adventures of an educated, Western jewish woman offering love, dignity and learning while, alone, deftly wading through gritty to funny moments
, all the while just a sound bite away from a hateful tirade. Some eloquent passages create a mind's eye movie of breathtaking views, intriguing traditions, market life, and desperate survival strategies Moroccans endure. There's even a recipe, such a deal! A good read for teens, too.

This grandmother sees a Morocco that few other interlopers experience. The story is honestly related in a personal tone that makes the reader feel he/she is co-traveler with Ms. Marchick. Her experience with culture shock is classic while her survival is admirable. This is a must read for anyone who finds a good read a good companion. Don't buy one. Buy two and give your best friend a treat.

This book is the "Western-wife-of-Moroccan-husband" dream come true, & is the most well-researched, comprehensive manual on Moroccan cuisine I've seen. The high point is Wolfert's very detailed lesson in properly preparing & steaming Moroccan couscous grains (a far cry from our boxed couscous), a lesson often lacking in other cookbooks. Another gem is her extensively-researched compilation of ras el hanout components. She clarifies western-translation of Moroccan ingredients, provides useful preparation shortcuts, & helpfully suggests alternative ingredients & equipment for the western cook. Importantly, she points out ( & even provides a map with detailed examples) regional differences in preparation of many dishes - differences of which many Moroccans themselves may not be aware. This information is vital for the western wife attempting to prepare her Moroccan husband his favorite home-cooked meal.

The book is also a great read, esp. her stories of life in Morocco, & excellent cultural/religious background information. It has tons of useful reference material, including complete menus, specialty-food suppliers in the US, a full discussion of the spices/herbs/waters used in Moroccan cuisine, et al.

Most importantly, after some practice on my part, my picky Moroccan husband has been thrilled with the results!

I would also highly recommend Robert Carrier's "Taste of Morocco" (see his shebbekia recipe); & for helpful, color photos (& recipes of course), Kitty Morse's "Cooking At The Casbah" & Fatema Hal's "The Food of Morocco" (from the "Food of.." series).

Reading this book is a joy for a Moroccophile because Ms. Wolfert is so passionate about not only the foods of Morocco but the kingdom itself. Although her recipes for couscous, tagines, and desserts are often time-consuming (Moroccan cooks spend long time in their kitchen --- I reserve those dishes for a special dinner or dessert party), they always give excellent results. I have tried cooking couscous in the oven and in the microwave, but they didn't come close to the light and fluffy couscous I made with a couscousiere following her instruction. Her Moroccan salads can be assembled relatively quickly, and they make excellent side dishes for any Mediterranean-style meals.
A local Moroccan restaurant owner highly recommended this book.

Amazing book!! The recipes are authentiques and accurates!
Outstanding job.
YF

After reading this book, now I'm all the more excited to visit Morocco. Hargraves paints such a vivid picture of the people, the culture. It is a complicated society, very foreign to my understanding and experience. And yet, as I read through it, so many times, page after page, I realize that the culture is so familiar, so like my experience. Most of all, I now understand that it will take a lifetime to learn to adapt to Moroccan culture. I am eager to see how the words lift off the pages and into reality.

Almost every page has nuggets and key points to learn and understand, and my copy is mostly yellow from highlighting. One aspect that I wish were different, though- Hargraves appears too often to accept the stratification in Moroccan culture, and the mistreatment of the lower classes, as par the course, and something Moroccans accept, and therefore something that we should accept, and something culturally neutral. There is so much good in Moroccan society, but, just as in any society, some that is not as good as well.

But that's only one small detraction in an otherwise great text. Particularly interesting is the quiz at the end of the book, where you test one's knowledge gained through reading. I've never seen this in any other culture or travel book, and it should really be more common! Hargraves doesn't just repeat information here either- rather, he asks the reader to intuit the answers not yet given, from the information that he's previously provided- and then of course, he provides all the possible correct answers.

I want to learn how to live and eat and talk and think, Moroccan. I want to see what it means to be a Moroccan who is so adept at adaptation to so many different cultural situations. I want to learn to engage in real Arab relationship, and to learn how to politely refuse a request, and how to be a good guest, and a good host. I want to learn how to serve the Moroccan peoples. If you're interested in this as well, then this is a book you need to get.

I have spent 3 summers in Morocco and 5 years with my husband who is Moroccan and this book clarified a lot aspects of Moroccan life for me. No matter how objective one may be about cultural differences, it helps to have a neutral party explain what is happening in a given interaction. I didn't even realize how much I suffered from culture shock until I read "Culture Shock!" Particually helpful were the author's comments on the difference in Western and Eastern concepts of personal space, public space and privacy.

In anticipation of accompanying my close Moroccon friend to his homeland on a business trip with another American, I read this book in one sitting and read it twice more before leaving for Morocco. It proved to be an invaluable tool to better understanding my Moroccan friend here in the states and it provided knowledge, information and tips that proved priceless during my recent stay in Morocco. I have no doubt that had I not read this book, I would have had a very different experience. This book enabled me to have the most incredible travel experience of my life despite the fact that I don't speak arabic or french. At the very least I had an understanding of this wonderfully rich culture steeped in tradition. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Morocco whether for travelling or simply interested in the country, their people and customs. While this book is ideal for someone relocating, I found it to be more useful than any of the other travel companions I purchased for my trip. Any future travel plans of mine will start with a purchase of "Culture Shock..." for that country.

Joan Peterson, the culinary mistress of the EAT SMART series, returns to feed our continuing love affair with foreign foods and flavors in her latest book, Eat Smart in Morocco. As much a travel guide as it is a cookbook, Peterson shares her knowledge of the history and cultural significance of native dishes as well as the traditions and secrets of Moroccan cooks. Her culinary tribute to the land and its people should be part of an official welcome packet given to every foreign visitor when they first step on Moroccan soil. As she writes, "What better way to know a culture than through its cuisine." Particularly helpful to travelers are her bilingual menu, and food and flavor guides. Whether you're a novice or experienced traveler, Eat Smart in Morocco is the perfect reference for a memorable culinary journey. --Kimberly Ouhirra, President, Exotica Oils, Inc.

"Eat Smart in Morocco" uses significant historical facts to trace the rich culinary treasures of Morocco and its land. Readers can become more familiar with the culture and civilization through this guidebook and delight themselves with recipes from various contributors. The guidebook confirms that we can touch the heart of another culture through the flavors of its food and experience a gastronomic journey.
----Rafih Bengelloun, chef/owner of the Imperial Fez restaurant in Atlanta

This book is one of a type I was not familiar with: books for travelers who are also "foodies", that is, people for whom trying the local food is one of their main pleasures while traveling.

This book will let foodies explore Morocco's rich and unique cuisine in thier homes before leaving via descriptions of both the food and its context, and it even provides recipes to try first. Once in Morocco, there is a directory of regional cuisine, and a menu guide with transliterated Arabic names of dishes to help in ordering. I find Moroccan food some of the world's best and most varied, and this book makes it accessible to everyone.

I've traveled and worked in Morocco off and on for the last 35 years, and can attest that the recipes and descriptions are well-researched and accurate. Readers should enjoy this book, as a travel guide or as a 'virtual' trip to Morocco.

In today's world of multi-cultural marriages, the surprises seem to be endless. So many women have joined multi-cultural families in the Middle East to find their viewpoint on women is not the same as we see them here in the United States. Much easier to get into the marriage than to get out of it.

Going back to our post-college days and meeting a wealthy foreigner is such a romantic notion,but when reality strikes for the differences in culture, the romance hits a different level. A most enjoyable read on every page, an insight into personalities, cultural differences and the adventure of youth.

Ms. Dale's story of an 60s American co-ed who marries a Frenchman livingin Morocco really taught me a lot about the country at that time as well as expatriates who lived there. It is a captivating personalized history which easily brings the reader back to that time. A very good read indeed! I wish I, like Ms. Dale's heroine, had gotten to see Algiers then. It sounds so beautiful.

Bowles likes to place his characters in situations where all the usual comforts have been removed. So his locations are remote ones. South America and North Africa are two of his favorite. The characters in these stories are usually sensitive types and so are already fragile and impressionble but in the unusual settings those characterictics are even more evident and make them especially vulnerable. Bowles characters are travelers set against native cultures and in such conditions the traveler is always at a disadvantage because he has left behind those things which have served to stabilize his life. The traveler is merely adrift in the world, while the natives of the visited region have remained rooted to a very old culture. America itself is a very young culture, a colonial culture, and the authors that Bowles admired were those early colonial writers like Poe. Bowles in a way continues with Poe's themes of Americans lost in the untamed wilderness of themselves. But also in Bowles writing one can feel the influence of writers he was contemporary with like Camus, who also experienced colonialism as he was raised in North Africa under French rule. There is violence in Bowles work of many kinds but always along with the violence is some discovery about either an individual or about the nature of the world in general or both as the violent act often serves to strip away a characters long held illusions which kept a certain version of the world in place and reveal a more primitive more vital world beneath. The stories by and large take place in the mind of the traveling westerner, though one story is told through the eyes of an Arab. You can get a complete collection of Bowles stories for about twice the price but this collection contains all the stories he is known for including the title story and Delicate Prey, his two most famous.But there are at least a dozen stories here which once read will never be forgotten.

Paul Bowles will go down as the only writer of the soi-disant "Beat" generation worth a look at. In my opinion, of course, he ALREADY is the only one of them with a mote of talent. And what a talent it is!!-His style is original and inimitable. His writings convey a feeling totally unlike any other writer's....But what is it? The paradox is that since it's so original and unlike anything else, it's difficult to find words and comparisons to convey to the would-be reader why to buy this book. Almost all the reviews aver that Bowles' characters are defined by place. This is eminently the case. In fact, one might say that his characters are SO defined by place that they aren't really "characters" at all, but mere functions of the universes they find themselves in (rather harsh and bleak ones, to understate things a bit). -Reading these stories, you actually begin to lose a sense of self: YOUR self. That's how powerful Bowles' writing is. What you are left with is, of course, a hollowness, on the one hand, in finding that you have lost your sense of identity. But you have gained something: a lost wonder, beautiful and terrifying, of what existence, after all, is, that captures something of what a child feels at times. But the comparison with a child's view is to simplify things enormously. What you really gain, to put things perhaps a bit awkwardly, is the terror and wonder of being alive. The Greeks had a word for this feeling, Deinos. We don't have such a word, a word that so effectively combines the feelings of terror and wonder. - It's where we get the word dinosaur from, if that helps any.-But this may be beside the point. Just read the book...and...you'll see...

Reading these stories, set in North Africa where Bowles lived, is like like roaming some lonely alien landscape while being helplessly asaulted by feelings of dread, wonder, strangeness, and beauty. Lacking much descriptive prose,these stories are naked, simple, raw. Gradualy the self dissolves, the character's behaivor is so defined by their enviroment that they becme part of it . The reader, too, melts into the background. East and west colide violently, explode ; and nothing remains but the stark terror and magic of life. Own of Bowles best. A must forWilliam Burroughs fans too.

I love the nearly lyrical way this translation reads. I prefer this rendering of the Gospel according to John to that of any other translation. Truly a gem for personal study.

This Bible has a wonderful English style. It is one of the most important translations of this century and I wish more people were familiar with it. It reads so well, especially the great OT narratives and the NT. I quibble with it here and there, but it is a wonderful translation for devotional and public reading and study. Again, this is especially so in the NT. I like it so much I will get a leather one!!

A person can only appreciate the Revised English Bible (REB) if they have some knowledge of its origin. The REB is a revision of the New English Bible (NEB), which was pioneered by the late great C.H. Dodd. Before the NEB was published only two English translations were regarded as remotely significant: the King James and the Revised Version. The NEB was pioneering in that it was the first entirely fresh translation of the Bible based on the Greek and Hebrew texts since the King James. It was not merely a revision of a tradition of English Bibles. What made it arguably the century's greatest translation was the fact that it was done by the finest biblical scholars in Britain and at a time when a biblical scholar was someone who specialised in more than the first verse of John's Gospel. Dodd's razor mind is evidenced in his Historical Tradition of the Fourth Gospel, a work of dazzling brilliance, which presupposes knowledge of at least ten languages.

Although the NEB was pioneering, often its readings were too bold for general acceptance. The REB serves as a healthy corrective and as a balanced regression from the bold scholarship of Dodd's day. It keeps all that is best in the NEB and improves things too, by taking out the Thees and Thous and by adding a polished literary style present in no other English translation, with the possible exception of the Jerusalem Bible. In conclusion, the REB is utterly faithful, modern and beautiful. You will read several books before you realise it is time to stop. If you must choose only one translation, choose this one.

Once you enter the smoky world of Bowles' winding alleys and doublespeaking faux guides, you won't remember how to get back to where you were before. Was is this turn? Behind that door?

A wind blows through Bowles stories. It is dark and harsh and speaks of all the buried things in the world. Populated by broken expats, syphillitics, kif heads, castraters, wanderers, the evil, the misguided, and the foolhardy, his stories are gorgeously dark fables with truly stunning morals. The screw will turn and turn and turn and it is only a matter of time before something bleeds.

After reading Paul Bowles "The Sheltering Sky" twice, I could not consume enough of his writing. He was to me, a writer's writer. He has a way of pulling you into his adventures without overloading you with minute useless details. His writing just flows from sentence to sentence while the reader is swept away effortlessly along whatever path he is taking. Obviously I am a big fan and having this huge collection of short stories was something I had to have for my Paul Bowles collection. Also check out "My Sister's Hand In Mine" a collection of short stories written by Paul Bowles wife, Jane Bowles, it's equally intriguing. What a fasinating life they must have had!

Mogador is a Latin American novel set in an imaginary city (Mogador) that belongs in North Africa - complete with an Islamic or Mozarabic culture. It is a tale of sensual self-awareness of a young woman in a cloistered environment. Sanchez's sensual awareness and the ability to convert that awareness into words is sufficient justification to read the book. As a bonus, one does become interested in the young woman (Fatima) as well.

This is the first time I read a book by a man that goes deep into my sexual feelings. Daring and respectful at the same time, sharp and poetic. I want to read all his books. But only found this one (in my favorite bookstore...). This is an author listening to women's desires. I want to meet him.

When I went into the pages of Mogador I discovered a new way of understanding my senses and my desires. As important as learning how to read,through the lenses of a poetic an sensous adventure. Telling thestory of Fatma, in the imaginary and walled city of Mogador, this book opens a question about women's desire that only each one of us,women readers, can answer. This is a masterpiece of subtility, a book to share with the dearest persons, a tale to read and read again. I found a sequel of Mogador in other languages. It's title in spanish is Los nombres del aire. The sequel's title is En los labios del agua. Both books exists in french. Les visages de l'air and Les levres de l'eau. An amazing experience for the senses more than a text to read.