MIDDLE EAST EYE (25/9/2018)
A 1974 Mercedes, wrapped in a blanket of books, stands still on Rainbow Street – one of the oldest and busiest streets in central Amman.
Curious pedestrians stop to take a look at the rare model and do not hesitate to flick through the pages of books that catch their eye.
“It’s like a mosaic of books,” says 28-year-old Gaith Bahdousheh, the owner of the car he nicknamed “Nancy”. Sitting in front of one of Amman’s famous ice-cream shops, the white Mercedes displays books in many different languages and genres.
Arabic, English and French books are spread from the car bumper to the trunk lid and sell on average for four Jordanian dinars ($5.60) each. The price is higher for rare books and old editions displayed on the car roof. Those are sold for up to 100 dinars ($140).
One man picks up an Arabic translation of a historical murder mystery by Italian author Umberto Eco from the car’s nose panel. Another one flips through the pages of an Arabic history book that he found on the windshield (…)