Thank you for stopping at my spot on Cairo: The Mother of The World. This Virtual
Book Tour is brought to you by Reading Addiction Blog Tours.
I will provide you with a synopsis of the book,
and a
small bio from Herbert L. Smith. Visit the
other blogs on this Book Tour to learn more about this book.
Travel Narrative
Title: Cairo: The Mother of the World
Author: Herbert L. Smith
Date Published: 2008
Synopsis:
Cairo:
The Mother Of The World explores the heart of a city that most tourists
never see – an affectionate, humorous close-up of the aggregation that
is Cairo, as well as an adventure among the streets, tombs, houses, and
monuments that are the city yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Many
have said that Cairo doesn’t change, but it does; sometimes very
slowly, with a foot in the past and the other stepping toward the
future. At another time, it may explode with a sudden transformation
that boggles the mind, as in the revolution of 2011-2012. Among all the
confusion and noise and sand, it is still the same Cairo that many
expatriates have come to love.
For
anyone who has longed to visit Cairo, but has not had opportunity or
felt a tour was risky at this time, this little book provides an
intimate glimpse into the city that is largely unchanged, even after the
revolution, and is moving forward, bit by bit, into a better tomorrow.
Love
it with us as we walk among the people of Cairo and share the joy and
tumult of the life that only the true Cairene is capable of appreciating
in the midst of the gigantic jumble we call home. It will be an
unexpected treat.
Excerpt:
“Cairo is a kaleidoscope of light
and color. From the air, as I arrived
for the first time, the city looked wearily drab and very much like the desert
it sits on, but Cairo is no desert.
Instead, a thriving, throbbing, turbulent city of tremendous contrasts
and contradictions awaits on the shore of the Nile. Called “The Mother of The World” by her
citizenry, Cairo works, plays, lives, and plans the future as she recalls a
former glory that is still vigorously present.”
“Although
Cairo isn’t the oldest city in the world, it is very old, and has risen from
the past without sacrificing its oldest self.
The city goes on living in a kind of renewed incarnation with each
succeeding era. Cairo is both impossible
and improbable, but it is as strong today as in the past, incorporating the
very newest into the already existing mega-metropolis, and there is always a
sense of the past clinging to the stones, wherever one goes in the city.
Some
of the newest suburbs sit on ancient grounds, where temples and palaces and
long vanished houses once stood, and where apartment blocks filled with
families and hope for the future are fixed to the land today. The oldest parts hold streets and buildings
that were much the same long ago, even as much as an entire millennium in the
past. The oldest mosques and churches
still witness to their grandest days, and the oldest houses are filled with
families, some directly descended from the original builders who lived there
more than five or six centuries in the past.
This is indeed an old city, and although many things have changed, the
spirit of Cairo, the collective memory of its ancient history, is palpable in
the Cairo of today.”
“The
expression that a picture is worth a thousand words may indeed be true,
especially for those who are visually oriented, but I often favor words – words
have a way of insinuating themselves into the consciousness more subtly than
most pictures I have seen. There are
many picture books, sometimes called photo essays, about Cairo, and there are online
sites filled with pictures. These pictures can evoke strong memories, but
written descriptions, filled with evocative phrases and ideas, create a world
that is partly imaginary and partly experiential, whatever that experience may
be. We bring ourselves more truly into
written expressions than we are able to bring ourselves into a photograph or
other realistic representation of a scene or situation.
Bio:
It has been my good fortune to live and work in schools and universities around the world. I
started teaching in the California State University system more than thirty years ago, after a time
working in secondary schools, went on to Egypt and the Middle East, and finally to Argentina. It
has been a fascinating series of events, from one adventure to another, and I loved nearly every
minute of it. (A few of the minutes were not quite so lovable for various reasons.)
Life as an expat lecturer and instructor led me into some unique and sometimes difficult
situations, but my appraisal of the whole was one of amazement that I was able to get to so
many wonderful places and enjoy the life of the people there. I taught English courses to
students who had already developed skills in the language and was always happy to tell them
about life in the U.S., as well as my appreciation of the life I led in their home countries. I would
gladly do it all again with only slight changes here and there.
A sustaining hobby throughout my life is music. I am a pianist, organist and composer with
many years of experience in church music. I found that wherever I went in the world, with the
exception of Argentina, I was almost immediately working with a church, playing the services
(usually on Fridays in the Middle East) regularly. Music is one of my fondest dreams as well as
a ‘forever’ joy.
I now live in Oregon with my wife of fifty years, Glenda, and we love the beauties that surround
us here. I will never tire of reliving the past, of course, either in writing or actually traveling, and
any time I have an opportunity to return to Cairo or Doha or La Rioja, I am excited to go again.
started teaching in the California State University system more than thirty years ago, after a time
working in secondary schools, went on to Egypt and the Middle East, and finally to Argentina. It
has been a fascinating series of events, from one adventure to another, and I loved nearly every
minute of it. (A few of the minutes were not quite so lovable for various reasons.)
Life as an expat lecturer and instructor led me into some unique and sometimes difficult
situations, but my appraisal of the whole was one of amazement that I was able to get to so
many wonderful places and enjoy the life of the people there. I taught English courses to
students who had already developed skills in the language and was always happy to tell them
about life in the U.S., as well as my appreciation of the life I led in their home countries. I would
gladly do it all again with only slight changes here and there.
A sustaining hobby throughout my life is music. I am a pianist, organist and composer with
many years of experience in church music. I found that wherever I went in the world, with the
exception of Argentina, I was almost immediately working with a church, playing the services
(usually on Fridays in the Middle East) regularly. Music is one of my fondest dreams as well as
a ‘forever’ joy.
I now live in Oregon with my wife of fifty years, Glenda, and we love the beauties that surround
us here. I will never tire of reliving the past, of course, either in writing or actually traveling, and
any time I have an opportunity to return to Cairo or Doha or La Rioja, I am excited to go again.
LINKS TO BUY
Visit some of the other stops along the Virtual Book Tour.
December 2 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours - Meet and Greet
December 2 - My Devotional Thoughts - Review
December 4 - Jennifer McConnel - Guest Post/PROMO
December 5 - Reviewing Shelf - Review/Guest Post
December 6 - My Cozie Corner - Review
December 7 - Books For Me - review
December 8 - Crazy For Books - Review
December 9 - Books, Books, The Magical Fruit - Guest Post/PROMO
December 10 - Brooke Blogs - Review
December 11 - Andi's Book Reviews - Guest Post/PROMO
December 12 - Kaisy Daisy's Blog - PROMO
December 13 - Geo Librarian - Review/Interview
December 15 - Books are Cool - Review/Interview
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