arabian nights

Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights Giftset
$204.87
This is an important piece of literature, and a great read for adults, but I have to disagree with the review above that recommends this book for children. I started reading it as a child, and frankly the frame around the stories is most definitely NOT suitable for children. I was looking for this set with reading to my child in mind, but it will be stories themselves, and only after previewing and selecting appropriate ones for his age.

Please don't let this review turn you off a fabulously entertaining and important piece of literature. I write this only as a parent who would like to add a note of caution before you give this set to your eight-year old thinking it's an appropriate read.

Arabian Nights
$14.98
The caliph has issues. His previous wife plotted with his brother to overthrow him, driving him to the brink of insanity. The law decrees that he must take another wife to keep his throne, yet now he completely mistrusts women. His intention is to comply with the law then have the wife executed after one night.

So, he marries the beautiful Scheherazade, whose only only hope of avoiding execution is to tell stories, and hook the kings curiosity.

So begins her deadly nightly flirtation with death, and she entrances the king with healing stories which may have something to do with his real life, stories which have now become legend of the 1001 nights. Stories scuh as Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. Who can forget the infamous, 'Open Sesame' password which reveals all the treasure. Yet the real saving grace is Ali Baba's wife Morgiana who spots the dangerous bandits, and saves Ali Baba, providing an example of a loving and faithful wife, and helping bit by bit to dissolve the king's rage and restore his faith in women.

In this almost three hour movie, we also also Aladdin and the magic lamp, and other stories. John Leguizamo gives the performance of the movie as the sarcastic genie of the lamp. I enjoyed Alexei Sayle as the hunchback jester BacPac, and the story of the lowly drunk who looked like the Caliph and wanted to be the sultan, and the magic carpet story. Excellent performances by Dougray Scott, and Milli Avital in the lead roles, and Rufus Sewell as Aladdin. I definitely prefer this the earlier Arabian Nights (Universal Cinema Classics) starring Sabu which focused on only one story, yet is also worth seeing.

Amazing stories. Amazing movie. Given the price and the quality you cannot go wrong. I also highly recommend Thief of Bagdad (1940) starring Sabu, recommended by Roger Ebert, a film adored by accomplished directors such as Scorsese, Lucas, and Coppola. [...]

The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete
$55.95
Having worked halfway through Richard Burton's translation of The Arabian Nights on and off over the past year, I decided to start over with this kindle version. The text had been updated from the archaic English of the Burton text making it much more readable and the few typos easy to figure out. However, this book is mistitled "complete" in that the author decided to remove Shahrazad's pauses at the end of each night (except for the first few) to make the text more readable. My greatest dissapointment so far has been to find one of the stories, early in the narritive, is missing. This has left me to wonder what else has not been included and searching for a different edition.

Arabian Nights
$19.98
The caliph has issues. His previous wife plotted with his brother to overthrow him, driving him to the brink of insanity. The law decrees that he must take another wife to keep his throne, yet now he completely mistrusts women. His intention is to comply with the law then have the wife executed after one night.

So, he marries the beautiful Scheherazade, whose only only hope of avoiding execution is to tell stories, and hook the kings curiosity.

So begins her deadly nightly flirtation with death, and she entrances the king with healing stories which may have something to do with his real life, stories which have now become legend of the 1001 nights. Stories scuh as Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. Who can forget the infamous, 'Open Sesame' password which reveals all the treasure. Yet the real saving grace is Ali Baba's wife Morgiana who spots the dangerous bandits, and saves Ali Baba, providing an example of a loving and faithful wife, and helping bit by bit to dissolve the king's rage and restore his faith in women.

In this almost three hour movie, we also also Aladdin and the magic lamp, and other stories. John Leguizamo gives the performance of the movie as the sarcastic genie of the lamp. I enjoyed Alexei Sayle as the hunchback jester BacPac, and the story of the lowly drunk who looked like the Caliph and wanted to be the sultan, and the magic carpet story. Excellent performances by Dougray Scott, and Milli Avital in the lead roles, and Rufus Sewell as Aladdin. I definitely prefer this the earlier Arabian Nights (Universal Cinema Classics) starring Sabu which focused on only one story, yet is also worth seeing.

Amazing stories. Amazing movie. Given the price and the quality you cannot go wrong. I also highly recommend Thief of Bagdad (1940) starring Sabu, recommended by Roger Ebert, a film adored by accomplished directors such as Scorsese, Lucas, and Coppola. [...]