I will say that Husain Haddawys translations of "The Arabian Nights" are the best youll read for quite some time. Ive had these books for awhile now and theyre great. Haddawy has done a remarkable job and provides great introductions for both books. A map is also provided in each book showing the locales mentioned in the stories. There are really two volumes you will need to get the complete collection. This volume has the earlier stories as told by Shahrazad, classic tales of mystery, fun, and excitement. The second book " The Arabian Nights II" has the more popular stores most people are familiar with. Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Fourty Thieves, Ala al-Din (Aladdin) and the Magic Lamp. Be sure to get them both and youll be transported to the mystical lands of Arabian Nights. Enjoy.
"What an amazing and entertaining story! said Dinarzad, the sister of queen Shahrazad. And she would reply, What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if I stay alive." This dialogue ends every night of "the nights" and makes us all to wander and expect what will happen the next night. While anticipating the next night, the readers hearts and minds goes ups and downs with the book. The Stories of "The Arabian Nights", or "The One Thousand and One Nights," are very entertaining and strange. It makes you turn those pages to find out what will happen and you will discover those stories (and stories within the stories within the stories within the stories), you never dreamed of, which made you finish the book fast and delighted. Although I expected to read the story like "the story of Sindbad," and "the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp," which are explained by the introduction, is later addition to fulfill the name of the "one thousand" nights, I really enjoy this translation of the oldest version of the Nights. The translator, Husain Haddawy, even made this book more familiar to us. He changes "Allah" to "God," and such. This book about four hundred more pages will bring you a lot fun time while you read it. I highly recommend you to read this version of "The Arabian Nights."
I highly recommend this new translation of the Arabian Nights. Previous translators have sought to colorize or edit the tales, but here the translator sought to stay true to the text. Readers may be surprised to see that the most famous tales (Aladdin, Sinbad) are not here, since they were added on at a later date. I enjoyed working through the story sequence and was surprised at the humor (the Barbers tale was hilarious). Read the introduction - for one thing, it taught me to look at the amazing level of detail in the stories, such as the individual dishes a character prepares for a feast.
