I have not been to Morrocco yet, but I feel like I have been with this book. It shows the wonders and mystique of this beautiful land...

"The Voices of Marrakesh," by Elias Canetti, has been translated from German by J.A. Underwood. The copyright page of the 2001 edition notes that both text and translation have a 1967 copyright date. The back cover notes that author Canetti was born in Bulgaria and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.

"Voices," which is divided into 14 short chapters, is the first person account of a visit to the Moroccan city of the title. Canetti tells of encounters with and observations of camels, beggars, donkeys, merchants, and other inhabitants of the city. The book is a fascinating record of cross-cultural contact, and includes an intriguing view into the Mellah, the Jewish quarter of Marrakesh.

The book is full of vividly rendered scenes; Canetti really brings these people and animals to life on the page. The book also has a dark edge as he recounts the exploitative underside of the city. Literacy and linguistic difference are also key themes.

"Voices" is a short text (103 pages), but rich in mystery, tragedy, and wonder. As a companion text I recommend "The Jaguar Smile," by Salman Rushdie.

This book is full of beautiful pictures. The book focuses more on the interior of one's home, then in outside structure. You can get ideas for livingrooms, bedrooms, and more. I really love some of the color combinations used. Stunning! Why 4 stars, not 5? I wish the book had more content. The content was wonderful to look at, but the book is definately not thick, and the pictures come to an end too quickly.

Even before I ever dreamed of stepping foot into Morocco, I was in love with its style. Even before I knew it was a style, it bewitched me. Ornate carved tables, ceilings, doorways, and niches surrounded by vibrant draperies, curtains, tableclothes, and throws- these are the earmarks of Moroccan style (North African style might be a better term). Little hidden bits of whimsy and "mountain" style tucked into corners, window sills and hidden, peeking over doors and from under furniture- these are the details of Moroccan style.

All of this appeals to my inner-ongoing sense of style. As a child, the things I completely and without abandon loved- Morocco, and her style, are these things! We all have an innate style within us, things that appeal to us from the time we might first see it, at a young age and then rediscover upon adulthood, and find to our surprise that we still love it, whether it is current, in vogue or the 'it' style. This is Morocco, indeed all of North Africa, to me.

You'll find, among native pieces, tables carved from Syria, candlesticks from Egypt, billowing fabrics from India, Kenya, and beyond. You'll see motifs that have followed humans since time began. A gathered grass/twig broom on a mantlepiece designed in Spain, coarsely styled wooden bowls surrounded by brilliantly gilded tea glasses used by the King himself. You'll find a niche that you swear wasn't there five minutes ago, painted a moving indigo blue, filled with miniature candle holders, filigree jewelry, and carved wooden boxes. You'll walk on floors painted with the same knotwork you saw at the masjid (mosque). You'll walk into a bathroom covered in tiles ceiling to floor, all 15 different colours. One minute you'll think you're in a palace that has been collecting things for hundreds of years, next you'll be in a tiny home that is so small, you cannot understand how its simple design and vibrant colour makes it feel so extraordinarily huge.

Exasperatingly simple Berber rugs lie side by side topped with exquisite, nearly painfully detailed Zemmouri pillows. A large simple brass tray holds a stunning antique teapot. Your host's simple yellow slippers lie next to his wife's lush velour heeled slippers with glittering jeweled toes.

If I cannot be in Morocco on a regular, that is, daily basis, I can at least surround myself with her beauty. Look at this book and suddenly, you can see the Morocco in every piece you have, whether it is from Taiwan, New Jersey, Finland or Indonesia. Every item that comes to Morocco is granted immediate "Morocco-ness" and believe me, once you look through this book and think about all you know that is Morocco, you'll understand. Once a visitor, you'll be able to confer this feeling on every piece you own. With this guide, it won't be hard at all!

The photography in this book is breathtaking. I hadn't realized that the book was only 96 pages when I ordered it. I zipped through it so fast - the end comes too quickly. A good inspiration for those interested in Moroccan style.

I read this book in preparation for a return trip to Morocco and wish I'd read it the first time. This is a story of what it's REALLY like to move to a foreign country--non-western--and try to live as the people do. For those of us who have read books like "A Year in Provence" and suspect that it all sounds too good to be true, this book is a refreshing change. It's told from a woman's perspective, and focuses on domestic life, the sharp difference between public and home behavior in Islamic societies, the pervasiveness of religion, and male-female roles. I would have liked a bit of a broader perspective--the author's descriptions of public unrest and a strike were tantalizing, and I would have liked to know a bit more about what was going on in the country at the time, but she describes pretty clearly why Europeans or Americans, well-meaning though they may be, wouldn't necessarily be met with open arms.

My long time fascination with North Africa, culminated in the mid 1980s when my husband and I lived in Algeria for one year. Since then I have tried to enlarge that experience by travelling through the area and reading about the different cultures living in North Africa. How I wish that in 1984 I had already read Elizabeth Fernea's account of her year in Marrakech! Marocco and Marrakech are obviously different cultures from that of Algeria, but the detailed descriptions Fernea gives us about feasts, customs and manners, so very sensitively rendered would have helped and would also have alerted me to the minefield of possible "faux pas" -- which in retrospect I committed by the dozens!
From my experience this is a very credible account of life in the region. And most important -- it is not patronizing. Marrakech life is presented with humor, with that perplexing foreignness that is typical to Westerners in North Africa, and with respect for religious differences.
The book reads very well, it is full of curious data and also of excitment. A great read!

I am an American woman who has been living in Marrakesh for the past 9 years. I just read this book. Even though it was written in the early 1970's, I found it to be a very accurate portrayal of life in the old medina, even now. The author and her husband are anthropologists, and both spoke fluent Arabic upon their arrival, from having lived previously in Iraq and Egypt. Therefore, the author was able to converse with people daily, and understand completely, what they were saying. This is something I have never been able to do. Because of this, she is able to give a VERY detailed look at an aspect of life which is nearly impossible for most outsiders to penetrate--the hidden life of Medina women, which takes place behind high, closed walls. What she describes is very similar to what I have experienced here of life with my Moroccan husband's family, and the people who live around them in the Medina. This book is NOT a study of political or historical conditions--it is the detailed, personal history of one family's year-long experience of living, and immersing itself, in the life of Marrakesh.

At ... this is a great buy. The leather is beautiful, but would be more beautiful with more texture. The paper is very fine quality and the gilt edging does not make the pages stick together. It uses heavy paper for colorful maps and family records pages. The best feature is that it nestles in the hand. The Binding is thicker than the pages making it very pleasant to carry. Unfortunately the type is not LARGE PRINT when compared to other large print bibles. I can certainly read it but the words are so close together that the distractions of church make it too hard to follow audible reading.

I was very excited to find a Large Print NIV Bible with a quality leather binding. However, I was disappointed to discover that it was not really a large print Bible. As best as I could tell it was about 10pt font, I was hoping for 12pt. So, I sent it back and my search continues. If large print is important to you this is not the Bible for you, but if 10pt is OK this is a spectacular Bible, I felt very sad that I had to return it.

Expert attention to detail sums up the quality of this Bible! Perfect sized print, lightweight, and even beautiful to look at!

I used Let's Go Europe a couple years ago and am going back to Spain next year. I just bought this guide and it's great! I especially like how they rate the accommodations - very helpful. Let's Go guides are definitely the most helpful for students and low budget travel.

Let's Go Spain is by far the best guide book to Spain I have encountered. It's informative, it's helpful, it's opinionated, and it's damn funny. Best of all, it's the only guide book on the market that's updated every year, which guarantees me the most accurate information and advice available. I'm a seasoned traveler, and whether you're headed to Berlin, Belize, or Bangkok, you should never leave home without your Let's Go guide. It's like having a tour guide, accountant, and best friend in your backpack at all times!

I am currently studying in Spain for the semester. Everywhere I go I bring my Let's Go guide; it is the most dog-earred book I own. My friend and fellow traveler owns both Let's Go Spain and the Lonely Planet Guide to Spain - the Lonely Planet guide sits on her shelf, unused and abandoned.

The format of Let's Go is very logical - the book is organized into countries (Spain, Portugal, and Morrocco), and within countries there are regions, within regions provinces, within provinces cities, within cities the towns surrounding them. Many of the larger cities listed have basic maps as well. Each place listed has a brief introduction/history, and information on transportation, orientation and practical information, accomodations, food, sights, entertainment, and daytrips. The authors attempt to list schedules and such for attractions and buses and trains, but as one will find out, the Spanish are constantly changing their schedules due to some religious holiday or the siesta. It is best to check the schedule of each place yourself, which is suggested in the book. You must take into account that it was written in 2000 for 2001 - that also accounts for discrepencies in times and prices. Despite this unavoidable issue, I have found that Let's Go provides an honest, down to earth, mostly accurate, and cheap guide to getting around Spain. I would really be literally lost without it! The accommations info is particularily useful; there are only about a million pensiones in each pueblo in Spain. Let's Go helps narrow the list down, and guarantee that you get your money's worth. Even if you don't need to travel on a small budget, I would recommend this guide because of the wealth of information.

One of my favorite features of the book is the part that lists daytrips. Sometimes you need to, and want to, get out of the city and explore things that are a little off the beaten track. The daytrip section is perfect for this! Sad to say, I didn't have a Let's Go book for my recent travels across eastern Europe (i had an old copy of a Lonely Planet Central Europe on a shoestring). My friends and I missed Let's Go's commentary and easy to use format. If the guide to Spain is anything to go by, I know I will buy Let's Go guides for my travels across the world!

Paul Bowles' 1949 novel, "The Sheltering Sky" is a phenomenal, terrifying, and exhilarating journey into the depths (or surfaces?) of human existence. That's a lot of work for a novel to do, but this one pulls it off. This is a novel that deals with three Americans on the run from themselves, from each other, and from preconceived notions of identity. Set in the aftermath of World War II, the novel exposes and disrupts firm ideas of national identities and international relationships - between the Americans, French colonials, Arabic African natives, and a wealth of other ethnic/national categories - and shows how they react to and resist each other.

"The Sheltering Sky" begins with Porter and Katherine Moresby, a married couple who have never stayed in any place too long, in a North African city, with the intention to casually move from one place to the next, idealistically hoping to stay away from "the places which had been touched by the war." Accompanied by their wholly annoying friend Tunner, they embark upon an unplanned meander southwards into the vast, forbidding Sahara. The remainder of the novel shows these characters' adventures in Africa, and the resulting changes to their highly individual, naively constructed ideas about being-in-the-world.

Among other points of interest in "The Sheltering Sky," one thing that particularly grabbed my attention was the omnipresence of the main characters' sense of cultural superiority. Despite Port's early insistence that he is a 'traveler' and not a 'tourist,' he and his companions soon discover that knowledge of maps, hastily gathered information about the next town on the route, and knowledge of the French language are insufficient to acclimate them to their surroundings and insure their comfort. The novel does an excellent job of disrupting cultural stereotypes, particularly of the region's Arabic inhabitants, as the travelers make their way south into the Sahara, further and further away from 'civilization' as they understand it. It also forces us as readers to take into account the perceptions of what we consider foreign from the point of view of 'foreigners' in their own element.

The journey southward exposes the characters increasingly to peril - threats of thievery, disease, and existential despair - and the environment plays a large role in this. The sky itself, often characterized similarly to Ahab's 'pasteboard mask' in Melville's "Moby Dick," as sheltering the characters from knowledge of the infinite, looms as a challenge to each of the characters. Continual encounters with sand, heat, hills, and the difficulties of transportation complicate the experiences of Port, Kit, and Tunner. The most independently mobile and problematic characters in the novel, the British/Australian Eric Lyle and his eternally irascible mother, provide an interesting counterpoint to the strictly-considered 'native' or inherently existing impediments to travel and stability.

"The Sheltering Sky" is a very oppressive and depressing novel - but don't let that stop you from picking it up - sometimes oppression and depression are necessary to force us to reconsider our relationship to the world. The novel is as vital and 'timeless' now as it was in 1949, and perhaps even more important now. The philosophical, social, cultural, and geopolitical currents of Bowles' novel make "The Sheltering Sky" worth a careful read.

Shortly after Paul Bowles arrived in Morocco in July, 1947, he began writing "The Sheltering Sky" in the stuffy air of a claustrophobic hotel room in Fez. "The first page had to be part of the airless little hotel room where I was lying." From this inauspicious, but atmospheric, beginning, Bowles created one of the most profound works of Twentieth Century American literature, a deeply disturbing exploration of interiority and the world, of the relationship between mind and culture.

"The Sheltering Sky" tells the story of three Americans traveling in the Sahara following the Second World War. Port and Kit Moresby, husband and wife, and their friend, Tunner, are "travelers," not "tourists," as Port says early in the narrative. "The difference is partly one of time . . . Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly, over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another." Like travelers, Port, Kit and Tunner seem to have little in the way of an itinerary, their days languourously slipping by, one day into the next, without purpose, marked only by a palpable psychic discomfort.

But there is another important difference between the tourist and the traveler. As Port relates, "the former accepts his own civilization without question; not so the traveler, who compares it with the others, and rejects those elements he finds not to his liking." In doing this, however, the traveler runs the risk, if the degree of cultural separation is too great, if the foreign culture is too extreme, that he will become completely untethered from reality. As Bowles once said in a 1981 Paris Review interview: "Everyone is isolated from everyone else. The concept of society is like a cushion to protect us from the knowledge of that isolation. A fiction that serves as an anaesthetic."

It is, ultimately, the removal of this anaesthetic, the removal of societal and cultural moorings, which drives the narrative of "The Sheltering Sky"and determines the fate of Port and Kit and Tunner. One does not survive; another will never be the same again. Disturbances of the interior landscape, the landscape of the psyche, become the catalyst of this psychologically discomforting novel. And this stunning mingling of interior landscape with the landscape of the Sahara-the sands, the sky, the maze-like passages of the cities, the alien culture-brilliantly unfies and completes the narrative of "The Sheltering Sky", marking it as a profound and compelling work of genius.

Paul Bowles' classic novel of the Sahara, "The Sheltering Sky", is perhaps the closest to perfect a book can attain. The characters are absolutely real, and Bowles digs so deep into the American psyche with them the effect is, at times, horrifying. In this book of three American travelers who journey through North Africa, Bowles shows us, with gripping yet subtle tones, how rigid is our comprehension of foreign culture, and how incomplete is our knowledge of ourselves. It is a novel for the mind. As the journeyers separate, first from each other then from their own sanity, we undestand how delicate our grip on reality is, especially when faced with the awesome spectacle of untouched nature. As dialogue and plot imperceptibly give way to long, lush interior landscapes, Bowles charts a course to the heart of human evil for us, much as Conrad did in "Heart of Darkness", but this time with more depth and more passion. There is no mistaking this book or a potboiler, and it is not an easy read, but once begun it is not easily ended, even when the last page is read. It echoes. It will echo one hundred years from now. Pick it up and begin a journey into yourself you will never forget

Even before I opened it, I liked "Cooking at the Kasbah." This is a crash course in Moroccan cooking--a subject that I wouldn't have said interested me particularly, but which is made very inviting by author Kitty Morse.

Listen and learn from just one of the fascinating tidbits within: "Smen, an aged butter similar to Asian ghee, is a prized flavoring ingredient in Moroccan dishes. Berber farmers in southern Morocco bury a tightly-sealed pot of smen on the day of a daughter's birth, unearthing it years later to flavor the couscous served on her wedding day."

The recipes are surprisingly easy and well-thought-out, although the use of a bigger typeface would have been a good idea. Laurie Smith's sumptuous photographs are especially to be commended. Using a lens which seems to have perhaps been coated in honey, she manages to impart a golden, glowing, richly colored look to every dish she shot for this book. "Cooking at the Kasbah" would not have been nearly as wonderful without Smith's photographic contributions.

"Recipes from My Moroccan Kitchen, COOKING AT THE KASBAH", by Kitty Morse is instantly captivating. One is immediately emerged into the heart of a culture through stunning photos and easy to understand recipes. Everything in this book makes it easy for a beginning cook to have immediate success with dishes rich in tradition and flavor. The Shish Kabobs Marraskesh Style were an instant hit and so easy to prepare. I was especially pleased to find mail-order sources as well as detailed explaintion on how to prepare, serve and even eat these Moroccan treasures. Kitty Morse has created a wonderful book for anyone interested in expanding their own tastes. "Cooking at the Kazsbah" also makes a welcome gift.

I used this book to help create a very successful Moroccan dinner party. I used 9 recipes from this book. The Lamb Marrekesh Stew, Tomato and Eggplant Salad, Dates with Almond paste and especially the Chicken B'stila were EXELLENT! The instructions were clear and I liked that Kitty Morse indicates how far in advance the dishes can be made and which ones are freezable.

There was plenty of information about Moroccan dining to help me make the dinner more authentic. We washed our hands at the table with orange blossom scented water and ate with our fingers. Our guests LOVED it.

Kitty has included a list of suppliers which I found very useful. I was even able to order Moroccan wine and beer from an importer on her list.

I hoghly recommend this book. It is the first book I have ever felt motivated to rate. It is that good!

...you see, I am so excited that Sidi Ibn Ajiba's life is in a book! Arent you? But, while reading it, I am not sure if the author -King of the Orientalists puts his own words into it. I will have to check but there are some accounts of the Messenger Peace be upon him that I have never heard before. Rather, the sayings striked me as VERY ODD.

I am refering to his teaching his murid's, Ibn Ajiba is the Master of the Shadhili tariq that still holds it's silsala. But...I am actually more intrigued about his Ijaza's that he recieved and they are documented in the book as well as discourses to his Murid's. It is a nice texts, if I could just shovel out some of the "hadith" accounts that I am not sure are correct. In any case, if you would like to know about the Auliya, and a Master of dicipline, love for the Divine, Sharia' and the history of his tariq, this book is as close as you are going to get. NOT "The Mystical Teachings of AlShadhili"!

A fascinating account of the life of a prolific, yet little known, Moroccan Sufi that casts special light on the socio-cultural and religious milieu of eighteenth-century northwest Africa. By tracing the events of his life between the extremes of the mundane and the spiritual, Ibn 'Ajiba paints a detailed and engaging picture of what a person eager for spiritual fulfillment had to learn, practice, and endure along the path of Sufism. In addition to the details of his genealogy, marriages, travels, contact, the geographical and tribal "maps" of his world (of interest to anthropologists and social historians), Ibn 'Ajiba provides some insightful commentaries on the Islamic exoteric and esoteric sciences and alludes to the canonical texts in circulation. His preoccupation with the intricacies of daily life foregrounds his reflections and experiences gracefully against the rich, and often disharmonious mosaic of the social, intellectual, pedagogical, and moral values of the time. Michon's rendering of the original text into French is masterful and elegant, and Streight's competent translation into English has the subtlety and transparency necessary to reveal Michon's erudite scholarship. The book will be of interest to scholars of Sufism and the socio-cultural history of Morocco and North Africa.

This is a beautiful book. The translation from the French/Arabic flows well. It is carefully edited and produced. I am delighted to have an autobiography by one of the great mystics of Islam, including even a touching chapter on his family life. The footnotes are scholarly; where there is a hadith used for teaching moral lessons, it is traditional to allow less than perfect isnads. I am waiting now for someone to translate Ibn 'Ajiba's commentary on Ibn 'Atallah. What a treasure North African Sufism is!

Long after the expatriate American writer ceased to be a phenomenon in the 20th century, Paul Bowles, composer and writer, lived on in Tangier, Morocco, until his death just a couple of years ago at age 88. DAYS is a journal he kept at the request of the editor of a literary journal that was in the late 1980's planning a theme issue based on personal journals and notebooks. Bowles was not a diarist, and his first entries reflect his lack of purpose or investment in the form. The entries are not daily by any means or particularly long, but once he gets into it, his product is fascinating. He has a flair for nailing a scene or a mood in a quick sketch. Some may wish to read this for the glimpses of his well-known friends and visitors and his perspective of such social events as a Malcolm Forbes' party. I found the picture of contemporary Muslim-controlled Tangier to be striking. This was written from 1987 - 1989 during which time Salmon Rushdie's SATANIC VERSES was published and a friend of Bowles rather thoughtlessly sent him a copy which the mail inspectors confiscated, which put him in the line of fire for a time. It was also the period when Bertolucci began the process of filming Bowles' novel, THE SHELTERING SKY.

I have to admit, I came to this book knowing next to nothing about Bowles. I had hoped it would be more of a travelogue, or something like Steinbeck's working journals, and it was neither. On the other hand, I was intrigued enough to want to learn more about Bowles, to read his work, and to be sorry that the journal ends abruptly. I realized that given his reports of the stream of photographers, interviewers, would-be biographers, aritsts, celebrities and strangers who came to his door like pilgrims, that he was someone of consequence in our visitable past, and I'm sorry I was not more aware when he was alive. For those who share my ignorance of the man, there is an informative short biography...

I picked this volume up because of the references to the Guatemalan writer Rodrigo Rey Rosa; I am very fond of his work. I found items of far greater interest in the day to day activities of Paul Bowles. The challenges of censored mail, time disconnects (e.g. cafe closed when filming is supposed occuring), of ill-tempered fasters during Ramadan, and business concerns (copyrights, translators, contracts ...) make for interesting observations in the hand of Paul Bowles. If you have any interest in Bowles, Mrabet or Rosa, this book is worth your time.

Paul Bowles has been of interest to me ever since I read THE SHELTERING SKY so many years ago. Now with DAYS: TANGIER JOURNAL, the reader gets a behind-the-scenes of one of the most enigmatic writers of the twentieth century. The landscape and people of Tangier, Morocco are expertly painted in all their mysterious charm as Bowles simultaneously deflates and expands upon his own legend. If you are interested in Bowles, this book is a must read for the insight that it gives, insights not necessarily illuminated upon in the average Bowles biography or documentary. Bowles is self-effacing but his contribution to fiction is huge, and this book is like looking through a door, cracked half-open, at the man himself in all his many facets. Morocco itself also figures large in Bowles' art, and the reader gets a real taste of that exotic locale with all its danger and N. African wonder.