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Petra It's a year now, still in a dark place's Reviews > The Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights
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Petra It's a year now, still in a dark place's review
bookshelves: 2015-reviews, children, books-read-a-long-time-ago, reviewed, getting-a-bit-personal-here
May 04, 2015
bookshelves: 2015-reviews, children, books-read-a-long-time-ago, reviewed, getting-a-bit-personal-here
When I was a little girl my grandmother gave me a big, blue, cloth bound edition of this book. It had the most exquisite coloured plates protected by tissue paper interleaved with the printed sheets. It was the perfect storybook for a bookish, fanciful child living in an abusive home. I spent a year reading this book. Every night I would read it and disappear from all the fear and unpleasantness around me into this realm of people in exotic clothes who could do magic. I cherished the book. I took it everywhere. It was never on display but always kept in the airing cupboard where it would be warm and dry. (view spoiler)
One year I rented my London flat to a thieving pig. He looked very nice, tall, handsome, very well-spoken and lived with his girlfriend and their baby. Her father would phone me from time to time as he was worried that the man was not a good person for his daughter. He was right, but she was his match, just as dishonest and also lazy. He would write cheques with the sixes and nines reversed (in his favour), ones he'd 'forgotten' to sign.
I phoned his father. He was all shock/horror on the phone. But when he came round he threatened me. If I took it further he and his sons would make me very sorry. I phoned her father, he came round in his taxi (he was a taxi driver), paid me the owed rent. I gave the man notice. He had the cheek to ask me for a reference so he could get another place. When I refused and eventually got possession of the place, he superglued the bedroom doors locks, ripped the panelling off the bathtub, and threw black paint on the mattresses. And stole all my rare books. One was an amazing underground banned book on Turkey, a sort of guide book to what they don't want you to see, went missing and another one was this one.
I kind of wish I had a book like this again. One with the capability of taking me far away into another realm where the troubles of the day just don't intrude. But I'm grown up now and books no longer have that amazing, all-encompassing, lost for hours effect.
Rewritten June 2021
One year I rented my London flat to a thieving pig. He looked very nice, tall, handsome, very well-spoken and lived with his girlfriend and their baby. Her father would phone me from time to time as he was worried that the man was not a good person for his daughter. He was right, but she was his match, just as dishonest and also lazy. He would write cheques with the sixes and nines reversed (in his favour), ones he'd 'forgotten' to sign.
I phoned his father. He was all shock/horror on the phone. But when he came round he threatened me. If I took it further he and his sons would make me very sorry. I phoned her father, he came round in his taxi (he was a taxi driver), paid me the owed rent. I gave the man notice. He had the cheek to ask me for a reference so he could get another place. When I refused and eventually got possession of the place, he superglued the bedroom doors locks, ripped the panelling off the bathtub, and threw black paint on the mattresses. And stole all my rare books. One was an amazing underground banned book on Turkey, a sort of guide book to what they don't want you to see, went missing and another one was this one.
I kind of wish I had a book like this again. One with the capability of taking me far away into another realm where the troubles of the day just don't intrude. But I'm grown up now and books no longer have that amazing, all-encompassing, lost for hours effect.
Rewritten June 2021
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Reading Progress
May 4, 2015
– Shelved
May 4, 2015
– Shelved as:
2015-reviews
May 4, 2015
– Shelved as:
children
May 4, 2015
– Shelved as:
books-read-a-long-time-ago
Started Reading
May 5, 2015
– Shelved as:
reviewed
May 5, 2015
–
Finished Reading
June 24, 2021
– Shelved as:
getting-a-bit-personal-here
Comments Showing 1-50 of 63 (63 new)
message 1:
by
Fionnuala
(new)
May 05, 2015 01:06AM
This one looks like it might have spent time in an airing cupboard - or a bath:
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What psychopath renters. Ugh. So sorry about the book, that's a shame.
I, too, used books to escape from my dreary childhood. While on my honeymoon, all of my possessions were packed up for me. Everything fitinto one box, but when I opened it I discovered that all of my cherished books were missing. I feel your pain.
Too bad you didn't "take it further". I doubt you were his first victim.
I had an abridged children's version of the Arabian Nights tales with wonderful illustrations. The tales were indeed exotic and fascinating. I remember one of a woman pouring hot oil into the jars where all the thieves and ruffians were hiding. And another in which a man in hiding was found out because his skin turned dark black when he took a dip in the public bath.
Fred wrote: "Too bad you didn't "take it further". I doubt you were his first victim."I'm sure I wasn't. It as a father and son scam operation. Handsome urbane son tricks everyone into thinking he'd be the ideal tenant. Rough father comes all the heavy Jamaican to deal with any problems.
message 7:
by
Petra It's a year now, still in a dark place
(last edited May 05, 2015 11:42AM)
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Mo wrote: "I, too, used books to escape from my dreary childhood. While on my honeymoon, all of my possessions were packed up for me. Everything fitinto one box, but when I opened it I discovered that all of ..."OMG that is so awful. All your books!
The one with illustrations by Gustaf Tenggren. You can find it here on Goodreads. Looks like it was published again in 2003. You can see most of the illustrations at:http://theartofchildrenspicturebooks....
The Serpent Queen was a crazy one too. They cut her up in little pieces and ate her, if I recall.
That's a nice one Sorento. Lovely illustrations.
Great review P. Mummy. So sad re everything. We have some things in common, including unfair loss of books and having books (at times) as a wonderful refuge.
I'm not your Mummy, Lisa. Not unless you'd like me to be :-)
Great recollections of a great book.Sorry about the scum that ruined your apartment and stole from you.
Mummy wrote: "I'm not your Mummy, Lisa. Not unless you'd like me to be :-)"?
P. is for how I know you, your original name. ???
I wanted the mods in Feedback to call me Mummy, just a sort of joke, but they don't. They call me Petra. I am better known than I thought. It seems most people know who I am. No Hiding Place not even on the net!
Mike wrote: "Great recollections of a great book.Sorry about the scum that ruined your apartment and stole from you."
I had a good run of tenants for years, but then everything went bad, I don't know why, and I had a run of really bad tenants. He was by no means the worst.
P. Mummy, Too bad re the PTB not respecting your name/wishes.
It would have been funny :-D
Mummy wrote: "It would have been funny :-D"Yes. Might have gotten me to spend a bit more time in Feedback.
I liked how the mods addressed AuntieJ, so I wanted to be Mummy. Someone else could have been CousinMimi, UncleFred and perhaps Granny and Grandpa. That would not have changed Feedback, but it would have made it look more amusing and maybe lighter.
Funny!I might change shows and be Wednesday or Morticia.
I'm sorry for all the grief in your life. In spite of all that you seem to have come out OK. Best of wishes from here forward.
Thank you David, that's very nice of you.
LOL@Lisa
Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Does that apply to treasured books, I wonder? (I hope so, for you and Mo.)
Have to think about that one.
...a big, blue, cloth bound edition of this book. It had the most exquisite coloured plates protected by tissue paper interleaved with the printed sheets.Sounds a lot like my copy of this book :) It's a wonderful read. I need to re-read it, which means I'll put in on my 'to re-read' list XD
such a resonance of melancholy to this review. it's painfully beautiful.well done, Petra.
julio wrote: "such a resonance of melancholy to this review. it's painfully beautiful."Thank you. I've just bought an edition of 1001 Nights, but it isn't the same. Beautifully-bound books with thick, cream pages and exquisite illustrations are not easily replaced by a book with the same words but that's it.
I am sorry about the stolen books. Hope karma bites the father and son in the ass.
Sandra wrote: "I am sorry about the stolen books. Hope karma bites the father and son in the ass."I had a lovely collection of books, and Haitian paintings. All gone. I don't miss much but books and paintings I do.
That's terrible....and scary :( I'm sorry that you've had so many of your treasures taken from you...
Funny thing with books is that we internalise them, perhaps never reread them, yet they are among the possessions we are most loathe to part with. At least I am. And having them taken is worse.
Petra, I am so sorry about your unfortunate loss. Did somebody steal it? What kind of people would do that! Gauche! I wish you get it back soon...
As I said in the review, the tenant stole my books.
I empathize. My dad, who I didn't see much as I was growing up, gave me a children's book (MAPPO THE MERRY MONKEY) that had been inscribed and passed down through three generations. I treasured the book and loved reading it when I was a kid. A housemate of mine later sold it (and all my other books and records) for drug money. I still search for that particular needle-in-a-haystack family copy online) I also had a first or second edition WIZARD OF OZ that was passed down from my mom and that was stolen by another person for the same reason, though I do still have a lot of the less valuable (though they have priceless sentimental value) OZ books that belonged to my mom as a kid. I'm not surprised that I've become somewhat of a book hoarder after all that, though I suppose the memories are the most valuable things of all.
Having someone sell your possessions, your memories for drug money is low. How could they? I'm really sorry.
OMG sorry to hear about this. This was a cherished family heirloom. Maybe time to by your own...one you maybe able to pass down one day.I am yet to read this fabulous collection so I will be getting a copy too.
Virginie (LaChouett) wrote: "OMG sorry to hear about this. This was a cherished family heirloom. Maybe time to by your own...one you maybe able to pass down one day...."I would if I ever saw this edition again but I never have. I think it dated back to between 1890 and 1910. I have lost so many books over the years, but that was the most painful.
What a beautiful review. And I really feel so sorry about the book, Petra; what a shame - something that just can't be replaced. I do completely understand the feelings that such a book (and its loss) can arise. I recently found a quote by Proust that I really liked: "There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book".What a waste of space this renter is... a worthless human being. Well, I tend to believe in karma and I am confident that he and his father will pay a price for this, in one way or another, sooner or later.
Fortunr wrote: " Well, I tend to believe in karma and I am confident that he and his father will pay a price for this, in one way or another, sooner or later. ..."I wish I had your confidence. I have seen too many very wealthy people who made their money illegally die peaceful deaths surrounded by loved ones and buried with pomp and ceremony. Look at the Nazi war criminals.... the scientists got rescued by several countries, including the US and died wealthy and well-respected.
Petra X wrote: "Fortunr wrote: " Well, I tend to believe in karma and I am confident that he and his father will pay a price for this, in one way or another, sooner or later. ..."I wish I had your confidence. I ..."
I am afraid you do have a point, Petra...
It's just to dispel cognitive dissonance that we believe in karma and that evil will be punished and good rewarded. In reality, evil people are often very rich and happy and the good - die young.
Oh my. What a heart wrenching story. So sorry about all of it. Especially the childhood aspect. Hugs....
MomToKippy wrote: "Oh my. What a heart wrenching story. So sorry about all of it. Especially the childhood aspect. Hugs...."Thank you. Funny how anything that happens in childhood, like abuse, becomes part of you, but if it happens late teens, you can get over it. I had a blue teddy named Rupert that matched the book. He's gone too now. I loved the book more!
Awwwwwwwww! I never thought of that about children vs teens. I have to think about why that might be...
MomToKippy wrote: "Awwwwwwwww! I never thought of that about children vs teens. I have to think about why that might be..."I think it is because children absolutely believe adults are god-like, always right, and therefore what they do must be right even if it feels wrong, and those are the first impressions that form their frame of reference. By the time a person is in their late teens they know adults are fallible, if it feels wrong it probably is and they have experiences to measure things against.
Beautiful review, P-eggy, but if I ever win the lottery, somebody is going to pay a visit to this guy and his sons!
Joe wrote: "somebody is going to pay a visit to this guy and his sons!"He wasn't the worst tenant, I had several other really appalling ones. Including two guys who superglued the locks, ripped the bannisters off and threw black paint around. One of them works for the BBC in the Oriental (Arab) dept. It was his pro-Palestinian action against me, a Jew. The other one, the one who superglued the locks had been in a mental home for depression and anger issues. They didn't pay the last month's rent or the damage which came to thousands of pounds.
Crimes are okay if you are politically correct, just like in Nazi Germany.
