The start, I hope, of a long-term interest in this author. Highly impressed on every level, I am. 

At first his style seems forced, but it winds, riverine, recapitulating itself, strengthening as it goes along, so that it is clear, having read much of Henry Miller, that their friendship bled into aesthetic similarities, apart from surface level themes. A treasure trove of exotic, Paul Bowles-level atmosphere, in the crisp, dusty histori-city of Alexandria. All-around classic, engaging scenes, and free associative descriptions of eccentrics, artists, beauties. 3 more volumes to go in this epic, plus dozens of other books by this author in similar veins. Could they all be this good?