Books about Morocco, recommended before traveling
Books about Morocco, The journey does not begin when you set foot in the destination. However, it begins long before when you dare to dream how the places you want to visit are going to be. And to imagine what your next trip to Morocco will be like. Nothing better than reading a novel set in this country.
You just have to choose one of the many and varied books that you will find.
Fortunately, there are many national and international authors who have focused on Arab-Berber cultures to contextualize their novels.
Therefore, the best Books about Morocco before embarking on your trip are those that manage to transport you to any of its corners without having to leave your armchair. The ones we suggest below are the ones we liked the most. Which one are you going to read first?
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho wrote this work in 1988, six years after his first trip to Morocco, and was impressed by his first contact with the Arab and Berber world. The Alchemist is a philosophical tale, or a novel of apprenticeship, as the author likes to call it.
Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd, sets out on a journey in search of a treasure buried at the foot of a pyramid in Egypt. Starting in Tangier, after a boat trip from Tarifa, he will travel through different places to reach his final destination. And on the way, he will meet wise men who will teach him the secret of life.
The Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
The Naked Lunch was written in 1953, in room number 9 of a small inn in Tangier known as El-Munira. The book is composed of a series of vignettes that follow a non-linear structure and take place in different settings, including Tangier.
The work, in addition to its great beauty, is a denunciation of today’s society. And of course its advance towards a world without hope or future. By the way, if you want to stay in the room where Burroughs wrote the book, you will not be able to do so. That’s where the owners of the boarding house sleep today.
Folk Tales and Legends of Morocco, by Antonio González Beltrán The work describes, through 93 stories, places as magical as the Jemaa El Fna square or the Dar el-Makhzen palace. Awakening our curiosity and an immeasurable desire to know them in person.
If you like to listen to stories and want to go out to meet the flavors, smells, and sensations that Morocco awakens, this book is the right one to immerse yourself in all of them.
The Doctor of Ifni, by Javier Reverte
Clara, a 28-year-old woman, receives the news of her father’s death in Madrid. Following his trial, she decides to travel to Sidi Ifni, the place where he practiced as a military doctor when it was a Spanish colony. And the camps of the Polisario Front near Tindouf, where he met his death.
On the way, Clara will get to know the desert, the people who inhabit it. And the melancholy that envelops everything. A book with the rhythm of a thriller and the charm of a poem that will hook you from the first page.
The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles spent much of his life in Tangier and hence his love for Morocco. The Sheltering Sky, written in 1977, narrates the journey of a young married couple in crisis through the desert in search of inner stability.
As the author unravels the secrets of this relationship, he describes the beauty of the Sahara desert. A place on the planet where there is no future or time. And where the sky seems to be the only protection.
El tiempo entre costuras, by María Dueñas
The time between seams narrates the life of Sira Quiroga. A young dressmaker who by the whim of fate is forced to found an haute couture workshop in Morocco. Although her life will soon take an unexpected turn.
It is a delight to walk with the protagonist through the different scenarios in which this novel unfolds. A book that, through its descriptions, suggests what places to see in Tetouan or Tangier to feel, like Sira Quiroga, that you have found your place in the world.
Literature about Morocco allows you to travel through this beautiful country. Even before you have reached your destination.
There are numerous books about its atmosphere.Its culture and traditions, its streets, its landscapes. And its people. You just have to choose the book you like the most and let your imagination fly.
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