Best of 2014: Books

If there had to be a book of the year, it’s Turkish novelist Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love, a bestseller in both English and Arabic. Diwan Bookstores and AUC Press share their best-selling books of 2014.

  Diwan Bookstores Bestsellers Forty Rules of Love By Elif Shafak Elif Shafak’s novel about the famous Sufi mystic Rumi, Shafak effortlessly blends East and West, past and present, to create a dramatic, compelling, and exuberant tale about how love works in the world. The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, sets out on a journey in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. Along the way he discovers the wisdom of listening to his heart, reading the omens strewn along life’s path, and above all, following his dreams. 1984 By George Orwell Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, where Big Brother stares out from every poster and the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari By Robin S. Sharma W ritten by motivational speaker Robin Sharm, this book tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life, and the subsequent wisdom that he gains on a life-changing odyssey. AUC Press Bestsellers Nasser: My Husband By Tahia Gamal Abdel Nasser • translated by Shereen Mosaad Featuring photographs from the family archive, this biography follows Gamal and Tahia’s life from their marriage in 1944, through the revolution and Gamal’s career on the world stage, revealing an intimate picture of the man behind the president. Butterfly Wings By Mohamed Salmawy • translated by Raphael Cohen A chance encounter throws together Doha, unhappily married to a leading figure in the Mubarak regime, and Ashraf, an academic and leading dissident. Salmawy’s novel was first published in Arabic by al-Dar al-Misriya al-Libnaniya as Ajnihat al-farasha. immediately prior to the events of January 2011, and has been celebrated as ‘the novel that predicted the revolution.’ Diary of a Jewish Muslim By Kamal Ruhayyim • translated by Sarah Enany This Egyptian novel accompanies Galal, who has a Jewish mother and a Muslim father, through his childhood and boyhood in the popular quarter of Daher from the 1930s to 1960s. Arabic Language Al Fil Al Azrak (The Blue Elephant) by Ahmed Murad 1919 by Ahmed Murad Hebta by Mohamed Sadek Guantanamo by Youssef Ziedan