author - oman observer

To mark the 11th anniversary of Arab Spring this year, I decided to watch a movie that talks about it from a different perspective; that of a poor woman called Nawara. Nawara (played by Menna Shalabi)...

Whenever I hear the book title: The Catcher in the Rye, the first image that came to mind was a story set in the 1800’s US — in a cornfield specifically — with a Bogeyman hiding amidst it...

The mini-series series Troy: Fall of a City (2018) is much different from the movie Troy that came out in 2004. The movie was loaded with beautiful stars yet never did justice to the original myth....

When my friend Peter came back after vacation, he gave the best gift ever: another book by his compatriot writer and Noble Prize winner Ivo Andrić. Peter had decided to gift me his personal favorite:...

2021 was the worst year when it came to reading and finishing books. I managed to finish 14 books only, that’s half what I finished the year before it with its endless lockdowns and curfews. In...

2021 was the worst year when it came to reading and finishing books. I managed to finish 14 books only, that’s half what I finished the year before it with its endless lockdowns and curfews. In 2019...

This winter was a busy one in Kitzania. When the weather started getting cooler, it was time to start our Winter in Kitzania yearly ritual that both humans and cats looked forward to: taking out warm...

If you are a fan of The Coen Brothers movies, then you shouldn’t miss The Unknown Saint. Set in a remote drought-ridden area in Morocco, the movie’s opening scene is of a man reaching the place...

My first encounter with Alexander the Great history was exactly twenty years back, reading Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s trilogy: Alexander the Great. Manfredi’s depiction of Alexander was dreamlike:...

In his book Disconnect and Live (original title: Desconéctate y vive (2019), Spanish author Víctor Martín Font invites you to abandon urban life for a second and delve into nature, as it has all...

Lila Cassen is a famous pop star from the ’90s who suffers amnesia after a failed suicide attempt. While recovering, she’s informed by her manager Blanca that she hasn’t produced any songs since...

When my four-month-old Basma started fussing and kicking for no good reason, I suggested to Mom to play her the nursery rhyme that every living Arab must’ve listened to at least once in his/her life...

While reading the book Bombay, Meri Jaan: Writings on Mumbai (2003), the first thought that came to mind was: every major city in the world deserves a book like this.The book includes a variety of...

‘Down and out in Paris and London’ is the book that saw the birth of the famous alias George Orwell, who didn’t want to use his own name Eric Blair when publishing the book in 1933.It starts in...

If you’d never watched a Tamil movie before, then I’d suggest that you start with the movie Interrogation (Visaranai) that’s available on Netflix.The movie follows four migrant workers from...

Three months ago, on my way home driving on the 18th of November Street, I stopped at the traffic lights. While waiting for the red lights to go green, I turned my head to the pavement on my left that...

While reading the book Bombay, Meri Jaan: Writings on Mumbai (2003), the first thought that came to mind was: every major city in the world deserves a book like this.The book includes a variety of...

678 is a movie that is set in Egypt yet talks about an issue that affects women globally: sexual harassment.The opening scene is of a hand making a decorative brass wire figurine of a man and a woman...

When we started getting constant messages on Mom’s phone regarding a tropical storm that might be hitting us on the weekend, we were hopeful that it might change its course at the last minute and...

When we started getting constant messages on Mom’s phone regarding a tropical storm that might be hitting us on the weekend, we were hopeful that it might change its course at the last minute and...