Recommendations

Five Books Al-Abbad Recommends Reading

In this column, Fawaz bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Abbad—a writer and avid reader with cultural and critical contributions to Al-Arabiya magazine and Al-Faisal magazine, holding a bachelor's degree from Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University—takes us into the worlds of reading through what he has recently perused and recommends reading.

A Thirsty Daughter by Amal Al-Faran.. A novel built with economical language and excessive impact. Atmospheres on the fringes of Agota Kristof; erupting in the stillness of "Fardah," houses are labyrinths and reality is harsh imagination. Al-Faran opens her novel with an unforgettable prologue that immediately implicates us in the heart of an ominous childhood ritual. A narrative crafted with such precision that I wish for it nothing less than the highest Arab awards and a place in readers' memory.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.. In building bodies, destruction precedes construction; muscle fibers must be torn, then recovery rebuilds, making the body stronger. "Piranesi" is a novel that tears the tissues of imagination, implicating the reader in mental recovery and intellectual struggle, after which cracks heal and perceptions settle into a steady state. Susanna Clarke builds a bizarre world inside "the House"—halls and mazes, silent marble statues, and an ocean battering the walls. She weaves a novel that CBS described as "destined to become a fantasy classic." Published in 2020, it won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.. Identifying the origin of beauty, the mini-series "Olive Kitteridge" that lingered in memory has its roots in a mature text. The work unfolds in thirteen short stories, with Olive as the central axis. The novel delves into the anatomy of deadly isolation, suggesting that existence leans on "big events" like marriage and childbirth, but those paths carry hidden risks, forcing us to rely on small events—like meeting a friendly worker or a waitress who remembers your coffee order. Delicate, complex details ward off the bleakness of days and weave subtle threads that pull us into the core of existence.

Celine by Louis-Ferdinand Céline.. Despite the rumors of Céline's nihilism and bitterness, the reader stands astonished at a surprising tenderness surfacing in the depths of the text. Tenderness emerges when he laments the character "Justin," that unique heart: "Justin had known me closely since his youth, never ceasing to give me valuable advice. He was an expert in beautiful composition, so I could rely on his opinions. He was utterly innocent of envy. Ascetic in this world, asking little of it. For a long time, a betrayed love's sorrow had settled deep within him, which he did not wish to abandon. He rarely spoke of it. She was a reckless woman he was attached to. Justin was a unique heart, and it would not change as long as he lived." Thus we read Céline: a mass of sarcastic anger mixed with human fragility.

Literary Theft by Héctor Aguilar Camín.. The Mexican builds his novel on a threshold that unsettles certainty: "Everything narrated here is true, except for the proper names, which are also false." From this paradox springs a harsher opening, where the hero exposes his lust for cultural power, transcending culture itself, admitting he has precision of craft but lacks the flash of inspiration and beauty. Driven by envy of geniuses to write, the novel manifests as Machiavelli's "Prince" in the realm of narrative and a legitimate descendant of Dostoevsky's "Demons"—a disclosure in darkness where writing becomes a laboratory, and literary editing sheds its corrective shell to become an arena where ethics are tested and aesthetics questioned. At its core is a nod to Voltaire, who left me averse after reading Jean Orieux's "Voltaire or the Kingdom of the Mind"—I, who am fascinated by "Candide."

Fawaz bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Abbad