Playing Cards in Cairo Hugh MilesAbacus, £10.99 in UK Hugh Miles was an expatriate journalist in Cairo, spending lazy days in the Egyptian capital pulling together enough freelance work to live in the lap of luxury on the opulent foreigner circuit.
But a chance encounter, and a sobering return to a dismal Hammersmith, forced something of a rethink.
This book begins with the irritating, smug complaints of a foreigner abroad, but as Miles ingratiates himself with a group of female card-players it becomes an effective if somewhat naive depiction of life for women under the Mubarak regime.
There is a sense that Miles begins this book as something of a dilettante, and grows up page by page as he falls in love with Roda, a doctor who introduces him to the card-sharking group.
Miles also begins to fall in love with Cairo beyond the expat enclave of hotel restaurants, country clubs and insulated, extravagant neighbourhoods, and struggles to deal with the prospect of an unenthusiastic conversion of convenience to Islam.
The Rough Guide: First-Time Around the World
£10.99 in UK
The allure of a round-the- world trip can be dimmed a little by the thoughts of the preparation involved, so a how-to guide, especially for the unseasoned traveller, is a useful tool. This is not a guide to the hottest spots to trot to on your way around the globe but a handbook for preparing for the ultimate road trip. The chapter on packing is really useful, and there are a number of gems on how to travel thriftily, such as using your baggage allowance for a courier company, and how to blag a bed for the night.