author - oman observer

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...

Have you heard of Ali Cogia before? Well, I haven’t until a few weeks back, while browsing children’s books for my niece. Assuming that the story was of Persian origins because of the name Cogia,...

One of the things I like about historical mysteries is the limitation of the methods: murders were always executed by strangling, stabbing, drowning or poisoning.Detectives didn’t have much to work...

Whether you’ve heard of Indian classical music before or not, Chaitanya Tamhane’s movie The Disciple (2021) sets you on an amazing journey with a complete immersion in the joyful experience of...

Having one of the worst summers this year — with temperatures reaching 47˚C almost daily — meant that I had to keep the pack and other wadi creatures (cats and myna birds) hydrated.Every morning,...