Best Books to Read About Morocco

9 Best Books to Read Before You Visit Morocco , Morocco’s Trendsetting books

Morocco is exclusive . a rustic characterized by its geographic diversity and cross-cultural influences. Morocco still epitomizes an exotic old-world atmosphere lost to numerous destinations.
A place where vibrant souks overwhelm first-time visitors with their chaotic rhythm and therefore the heady aromas of spices and native cuisine. sometimes with an overwhelming intensity.
Here may be a collection of books about Morocco which will transport you to the present enchanted land. Books that remind us that we will still invoke the sights and smells of a faraway place from the pages of a well-written book.

Whether preparing for or considering a visit to Morocco, these books will assist you gain a far better understanding of Morocco’s rich history, culture, customs, and geography. These books are the essential reading list beyond the guidebooks.
From the dunes of the Sahara to the cosmopolitan cities of Casablanca and Tangier, there’s something here to inspire you and provides you a deeper understanding of this unique country.

Titles and Writers Names

Travels by Paul Bowles

Inmore than forty essays and articles that range from Paris to Ceylon, Thailand to Kenya, and, of course, Morocco, the good twen-tieth-century American writer encapsulates his long and full life, and sheds light on his brilliant fiction. Whether he’s recalling the cold-water artists’ flats of Paris’s Left Bank or the sun-worshipping eccentrics of Tangier, Paul Bowles imbues each piece with a deep intelligence and therefore the acute perspective of his rich experience of the planet . Woven throughout are photographs from the renowned author’s private archive, which place him, his wife, the author Jane Bowles, and their many friends and compatriots within the landscapes his essays bring so vividly to life.
With an introduction by Paul Theroux and a chronology by Daniel Halpern.

A House in Fez by Suzanna Clarke

When Suzanna Clarke and her husband bought a dilapidated house within the Moroccan town of Fez, their friends thought they were mad. Located during a maze of donkey-trod alleyways, the house – a standard riad – was beautiful but in desperate need of repair. Walls were in peril of collapse, the plumbing non-existent. While neither Suzanna nor her husband spoke Arabic, and had only a smattering of French, they were determined to revive the building to its original splendour, using only traditional craftsmen and handmade materials. But they soon found that trying to try to to business in Fez was like being transported back several centuries in time then began the remarkable experience that veered between frustration, hilarity and moments of pure exhilaration.

But restoring the riad was only a part of their immersion within the rich and vibrant lifetime of this ancient city. A House in Fez may be a journey into Moroccan culture, revealing its day-to-day rhythms, its customs and festivals; its history, Islam, and Sufi rituals; the lore of djinns and spirits; the colourful life-filled market places and therefore the irresistible Moroccan cuisine. And in particular , into the lives of the people – warm, friendly, and hospitable.

Beautifully descriptive and infused with a unprecedented sense of place, this is often a compelling account of 1 couple’s adventures in ancient Morocco.

The Secret Son by Laila Lalami

Youssef el-Mekki, a young man of 19 , lives together with his mother within the slums of Casablanca when he discovers that the daddy he believed to be dead is, in fact, alive and wanting to befriend and support him. Leaving his mother behind, Youssef assumes a life he could only dream of: a famous and influential father, his own penthouse apartment, and every one the luxuries related to his new status. His future appears assured until an abrupt reversal of fortune sends him back to the streets and his childhood friends, where a fringe Islamic group, known simply because the Party, has found out its headquarters.
In the spirit of The Inheritance of Loss and therefore the Reluctant Fundamentalist, Laila Lalami’s powerful first novel explores the struggle for identity, the necessity for family, and therefore the desperation that overtakes ordinary lives during a country divided by class, politics, and religion.

In Morocco by Edith Wharton

In 1917, amid the turmoil of war I, Wharton , the author of The Age of Innocence and therefore the House of Mirth, travelled to Morocco. A classic of travel writing, In Morocco is her account of this journey through the country’s cities and thru its deserts. The Ecco Travels edition of In Morocco brings this previously rare and hard-to-obtain Wharton classic back to print after an absence of the many decades.

The Caliph’s House – A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah

In the tradition of A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, acclaimed English travel writer Tahir Shah shares a highly entertaining account of creating an exotic dream come true. By turns hilarious and harrowing, here is that the story of his family’s move from the grey skies of London to the sun-drenched city of Casablanca, where Islamic tradition and African folklore converge–and nothing is as easy because it seems….

Inspired by the Moroccan vacations of his childhood, Tahir Shah dreamed of creating a range in that astonishing country. At age thirty-six he got his chance. Investing what money he and his wife, Rachana, had, Tahir packed up his growing family and purchased Dar Khalifa, a crumbling ruin of a mansion by the ocean in Casablanca that when belonged to the city’s caliph or leader .

With its lush grounds, cool, secluded courtyards, and relaxed pace, life at Dar Khalifa seems bound to fulfill Tahir’s fantasy–until he discovers that in some ways he’s farther from home than he imagined. For in Morocco an empty home is thought to draw in jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world. The ardent belief in their presence greatly hampers sleep and renovation plans, but that’s just the start . From elaborate exorcism rituals involving sacrificial goats to handling gangster neighbors bent stealing their property, the Shahs must deal with a replacement culture and every one that comes with it.

Endlessly enthralling, The Caliph’s House charts a year within the lifetime of one family who takes an incredible gamble. As we follow Tahir on his travels throughout the dominion , from Tangier to Marrakech to the Sahara, we discover a world of fierce contrasts that any true adventurer would be thrilled to call home.

The Last Storytellers- Tales from the Heart of Morocco by Richard Hamilton

Marrakech is the heart and lifeblood of Morocco’s ancient storytelling tradition. For nearly a thousand years, storytellers have gathered in Jemaa el Fna, the legendary square of the city, to recount ancient folktales and fables to rapt audiences. But this unique chain of oral tradition that has passed seamlessly from generation to generation is teetering on the brink of extinction. The competing distractions of television, movies, and the Internet have drawn the crowds away from the storytellers and few have the desire to learn the stories and continue their legacy. Richard Hamilton has witnessed first-hand the death throes of this rich and captivating tradition and, in the labyrinth of the Marrakech medina, has tracked down the last few remaining storytellers, recording stories that are replete with the mysteries and beauty of the Maghreb.

Lords of the Atlas by Gavin Maxwell

Set in the medieval city of Marrakesh and the majestic kasbahs of the High Atlas mountains, `Lords of the Atlas’ tells the extraordinary story of the Madani and T’hami el Glaoui, warlord brothers who carved out a feudal fiefdom in southern Morocco in the early twentieth century. Quislings of the French colonial administration, they combined the aggression of gangland mobsters with the opulence of hereditary Indian princes, and ruled with a mixture of flamboyance and terror. On returning from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, T’hami ordered the severed heads of his enemies to be mounted on his gates. Yet in 1956, when the French left Morocco, the Glaoua regime toppled like a pack of cards.A classic story of history, intrigue, mystery, and action.

The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun

In this lyrical, hallucinatory novel set in Morocco, Tahar Ben Jelloun offers an imaginative and radical critique of contemporary Arab social customs and Islamic law. The Sand Child tells the story of a Moroccan father’s effort to thwart the consequences of Islam’s inheritance laws regarding female offspring. Already the father of seven daughters, Hajji Ahmed determines that his eighth child will be a male. Accordingly, the infant, a girl, is named Mohammed Ahmed and raised as a young man with all the privileges granted exclusively to men in traditional Arab-Islamic societies. As she matures, however, Ahmed’s desire to have children marks the beginning of her sexual evolution, and as a woman named Zahra, Ahmed begins to explore her true sexual identity. Drawing on the rich Arabic oral tradition, Ben Jelloun relates the extraordinary events of Ahmed’s life through a professional storyteller and the listeners who have gathered in a Marrakesh market square in the 1950s to hear his tale. A poetic vision of power, colonialism, and gender in North Africa, The Sand Child has been justifiably celebrated around the world as a daring and significant work of international fiction.

the alchemist by paulo coelho

Paulo Coelho’s enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.