‘Since childhood, I’ve always wanted to be Tom Sawyer’
What book are you reading right now?
The book I’m currently reading is called Nietzsche’s Camel Must Die by Rewa Zeinati. It’s a humorous look at Arab society through a series of unrelated Facebook notes, written over a period of almost one year. The themes covered in the book span a wide spectrum and cover serious topics, like women’s status, gender roles and displacement, all the way to kitchen sink grinders, missing-cat neighbourhood notes and men’s beards. It’s a fresh take on Arab-world clichés and the need to let them go.
The book(s) that changed your life and shaped your outlook, and why?
The book that changed my life was Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins. It was one of the most can-do inspiring books I’ve ever read, given to me by my former boss. It had a profound impact on me and was, in fact, the catalyst that made me leave my job at that company to start my own entrepreneurial adventure soon after.
Which titles or authors can you pick up and read any time, and why?
Kahlil Gibran is someone that I can pick up at any point and feel a connection to — his Lebanese identity, life story and writings always inspire me and leave me with a sense of pride. I don’t know how many people know this, but Gibran is considered the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Chinese philosopher Loazi.
Which books would you love to pass on to your children (or any young person) to read and treasure, and why?
I’d love to pass on the Harry Potter series to my children. It will encourage them to dream and to aim high, while also teaching them core values, such as the difference between good and evil, friendship, selflessness, and to fight for what you believe in as well as the greater good. All of these are virtues I feel are necessary to pass on to future generations.
If you could trade lives with one literary character, if only for a short while, who would it be — and why?
Without a doubt, it would have to be Tom Sawyer — the leader of the town boys in Mark Twain’s adventure books. He is “the best fighter and the smartest kid in town” (as the books put it) and a hopeless traveller, wanderer and explorer at the same time. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to be him.