Good stories but some are erotic. Read a selection. ( )

I read almost 300 pages, and decided to call it quits. It's interesting from a historic perspective and to see the source of all the references from these stories, and I'm sure at the time, they were very entertaining, but for a modern reader, for pure reading enjoyment, it's a bit tedious. The stories are all very similar, and by today's storytelling standards, they're not that well written. They're spectacularly unbelievable, and I'm not referring to the jinnees (apparently how "genies" is really spelled) or mermaids. The reactions of the characters are ALWAYS over the top to a point you have trouble focusing on the plot. I'm sure this comes across as picking it apart, and that's not my intention, but I went into this to read another classic (which I usually enjoy), and also to see what these stories are all about (basically, what the big deal is, as I do with most classics I read). From that perspective, and for pure reading enjoyment, I didn't find this to be worth the time to finish. I felt like I had gotten the feel and gist of the book by then, and not much more was going to happen. Of course, I could be wrong. It was educational to learn what an incredibly racist society this was then, too. The descriptions of African characters in the book (a.k.a. Moors) are always stereotypically evil and ridiculous and licentious. It was a pretty jolting and sobering element of reading this book for me. ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2008/11/30/arabian-nights-a-selection/ ( )

Exotic chronicles. Not so much of a chronicles, but the story started with a cruel King who kills his bride the next day He marry her. So the wise Scheherazade saved the other potential brides from their unfortunate death by entertaining the King with tales of magical transformation, genies and wishes, terror and passion. Somehow similar to the Aesop’s tales that my dad used to tell as bedtime stories. Aesop demanded to tell some enchanting stories to the King before his death penalty. However, his life was prolonged because of his entertaining stories that the King kept him to tell stories.

Anyway, that’s Aesop who told the tales of animal kingdom. Reverting back to Arabian Nights, my friend told me that the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp was not supposed to be in the book. While the translator writing the script, he added Aladdin which he heard from the locals. I believe that can be true because most of the stories are set in Persia, whereas Aladdin was set in China.

My personal favorites are The Ebony Horse and Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia.

http://reading-now.blogspot.com/2007/07/arabian-nights.html#links ( )

Some great seperate stories but read all together you feel an over whelming sense that women are hated in that world. I'm so far from been a feminist but that book made me want to stand up and burn my bra. Awful sexist drivel. ( )