In a new episode of the initiative “From My Library, I choose for you.” Qatari Forum for Authors had writer, Ahmed Alwi as guest, on the Forum’s Youtube channel, shedding light on the book “A Reading Diary” By Alberto Manguel.
At the beginning, writer Ahmed Alwi talked about a group of books with characters leaving a mark on him. Then he chose three books from the ten literary works appearing on “A Reading Diary”. He took Manguel example and started by “The Invention of Morel” written by Adolfo Bioy Casares. He pointed that Manguel’s journey with this novel started in his city, Buenos Aires, the Capital of Argentina, where the protagonist of the novel is in fusion with the place as Mangel said that the writer’s experiences are the same as the hero’s. Then the guest mentioned the novel “The Tartar Steppe” by Dino Buzzati. It is a novel that tells the story of Giovani Drogo, a young officer and his life at Bastiani Castle, which is an ancient castle, where he spends 30 years and every day he hoped that something would change in his life so that he could get out of this castle.
Alwi concluded his presentation of “A Reading Diary” with an overview of the novel “Don Quixote” by Cervantes. He devoted more time for this story that was equivalent to the space Manguel dedicated for the Spanish writer in his book. Alwi explained that the protagonist is Alonso Quixano, a farm owner who has enough money to have a good life, thus spends most of his time reading. He mostly reads books about knights, so he dreams to become one of them. He wears an armour introduces himself as Don Quixote. He rode his horse and started wander in the country looking for adventure, and as dragons and giants exist only in his head, he began to see windmills as enemies and giant monsters.
Qatari Forum for Authors continues to discuss a group of international books every Wednesday, following the discussion of “Emotional Intelligence” and “Guide to Greatness” by media professor Hissa Al Suwaidi during the past weeks.