Wednesday, July 2, 2008

#59 - A Thousand Splendid Suns


I cannot believe I waited this long to read this book! I've heard people say that Hosseini is an amazing storyteller and now I believe it. Several times I had to put the book down and just cry. It's so hard to believe that women really have to live like that in some parts of the world and reading books like this make me realize how much I take for granted in my daily life. I thought this was a beautifully written, sometimes heartwrenching story of an unlikely friendship forged between two women that really had been dealt a bad hand at life. It was at the same time a story of love, and war, and oppression. Highly recommended. Here is a synopsis copied from Barnes and Noble:

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years -- from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding -- that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives -- the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness -- are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heartwrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love -- a stunning accomplishment.


My progress in the 100 Book Challenge so far:

1. An Idiot Girl's Christmas - Laurie Notaro - 142 pages
2. The Missing - Chris Mooney - 360 pages
3. All the Numbers - Judy Merrill Larsen - 269 pages
4. The Quickie - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge - 274 pages
5. The Darkest Evening of the Year - Dean Koontz - 354 pages
6. Plea of Insanity - Jilliane Hoffman - 598 pages
7. When Madeline Was Young - Jane Hamilton - 274 pages
8. Sunshine - Robin McKinley - 405 pages
9. Spying in High Heels - Gemma Halliday - 318 pages
10. I Am Legend - Richard Matheson - 312 pages
11. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer - 563 pages
12. Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City - Kirsten Miller - 380 pages
13. The Husband - Dean Koontz - 415 pages
14. Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb - Kirsten Miller - 369 pages
15. Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich - 166 pages
16. Blood Rites - Jim Butcher - 372 pages
17. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - 245 pages
18. Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist - 513 pages
19. The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz - 368 pages
20. Little Stalker - Jennifer Belle - 333 pages
21. Watchers - Dean Koontz - 352 pages
22. Lost and Found - Carolyn Parkhurst - 289 pages
23. Dead Beat - Jim Butcher - 396 pages
24. Steve & Me - Terri Irwin - 273 pages
25. Bright Lights, Big Ass - Jen Lancaster - 385 pages
26. Curse of the Spellmans - Lisa Lutz - 407 pages
27. Bleeding Kansas - Sara Paretsky - 431 pages
28. Dead Witch Walking - Kim Harrison - 416 pages
29. The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta - 358 pages
30. The Good Guy - Dean Koontz - 493 pages
31. The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalian - 368 pages
32. Dork Whore - Iris Bahr - 216 pages
33. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer - 629 pages
34. Monkeewrench - P. J. Tracy - 404 pages
35. Diablerie - Walter Mosley - 180 pages
36. After Dark - Haruki Murakami - 191 pages
37. Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella - 389 pages
38. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson - 246 pages
39. Heart Sick - Chelsea Cain - 324 pages
40. Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay - 292 pages
41. Ice Trap - Kitty Sewell - 340 pages
42. The Bad Place - Dean Koontz - 381 pages
43. All We Know of Heaven - Jacquelyn Mitchard - 310 pages
44. The Dollmaker - Amanda Stevens - 376 pages
45. Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris - 214 pages
46. The Senator's Wife - Sue Miller - 306 pages
47. The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber - 895 pages
48. Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay - 303 pages
49. Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips - 293 pages
50. Earthly Pleasures - Karen Neches - 311 pages
51. Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher - 406 pages
52. Such a Pretty Fat - Jen Lancaster - 379 pages
53. Obedience - Will Lavender - 287 pages
54. The Fifth Vial - Michael Palmer - 372 pages
55. 2060:The Newton Prophecies - Keith Katsikas - 338 pages
56. The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry - 392 pages
57. White Night - Jim Butcher - 407 pages
58. Mordred, Bastard Son - Douglas Clegg - 260 pages
59. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini - 372 pages

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