The Cairo Gyro

Are you book-crazy? You’ll most likely catch the book-fever when you get here. Most of the books I purchased here were out of necessity…until the Cairo International Book Fair rolled into town (January 23 through February 4th). That event was definitely one of the highlights of my stay here. Publishers from around the Middle East and elsewhere come to sell and display their books. There are all kinds things to browse, buy, and eat! Poets reciting poetry from all over the Arab World, Newspaper companies, the World Health Organization, Meet the Authors and book signings, as well as an entire section of the fair sectioned off for USED BOOKS alone! It was an amazing experience and couldn’t help but go to it on four different days.

Tips for those of you who get the chance to attend:

* You can find things in the nahr (river) you don’t find in the bahr (sea).

Make sure you don’t let your eyes overlook the booklets. I’m referring to small books that cost between 1-6 LE and are packed with gems. These won’t weigh much at all and yet you can keep them with you on the go. I recommend the 40 Hadith of an-Nawawi, Imam ash-Shafi’ees Diwan (abridged), and ????? ??????? ???? ??????  by Imam Burhan al-Islam Az-Zarnuji.

* Don’t forget dictionaries!

The Book Fair is the best place to buy that big, fat, beautiful al-Mawrid super edition you’ve always wanted. I also picked up an extra copy of the pocket edition for just 5 LE.

* Be Picky

Don’t buy a book from the first publisher you see that sells it. Stick to the more reliable ones. I purchased Imam Ibnul-Uthaymeen’s sharh of al-Aajrumiyyah from a publisher that wasn’t so great and later on regretted it when I studied that book at Fajr Center. My copy was messy, had typos, and the font chosen was unnecessarily too big so the page layout wasn’t easy on the eye. The rest of the students had a wonderful copy by a better publisher and often I’d have to share with one of them for ease in following along.

* Don’t buy everything right away

Take my advice and use the first couple days to scope out the scene. It’s unbelievably huge and you’ll spend hours just walking around and getting to know the selection and what the prices are like. Just like the ISNA Bazaar, the Cairo international Book fair slashes down it’s prices in the last days. Books that are easier to find are better purchased in that time, you’ll end up saving as much as 75% on them! But be sure to ask a certain publisher what day they’ll be selling until because some pack up and leave earlier than others.

* Take a Backpack

You’ll recognize the Azhari students at the book fair right away. They’re the ones with the push carts, trolleying their STACKS of purchased books around. You may or may not need one of those. I recommend a backpack at least.

* Go Prepared

Have a list of recommended books with you. Remember you can find things in all languages and those will entice you…but don’t forget your purpose of being there. You’ll want to buy material to help you further your studies in Arabic so plan carefully and think about your future. You may not get this chance again.