Title: I know many songs, but I cannot sing
First published: 1996
Description: Brian Kiteley has chosen as backdrop for this mesmerizing tale the ancient city of Cairo. An American known only as Ib encounters an Armenian named Gamal-Leon, who begins to follow Ib as a practical joke one evening toward the end of Ramadan, the period when Muslims fast during the day and feast most of the night.

As the two strangers roam the streets in the deepening night, we swim with Ib against a tide of mistranslations, misunderstanding, and rumor, and are submerged with him in a heady, almost hallucinatory experience of foreignness.
Subjects: Americans, City and town life, Fiction, New York Times reviewed, Fiction, general, Travel
Places: Cairo (Egypt), Egypt
LC classification: PS3561.I855 I15 1996