A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

From Publishers Weekly: Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny—"There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten"—is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters. (May)

Couldn't agree more: A terrific book, and well worth reading

Doesn't anybody read Playboy and Hustler???

Playboy and Hustler? COme on Pietro - you can do better than that. Surely? No?

For a really good read, try Disgrace by J.M.Coetzee. which won the Booker Prize (1999) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (2000). What a brilliant book. Every single word, every single sentence - just brilliant. In this work, Coetzee summarises his themes: race and gender, ownership and violence, and the moral and political complicity of everyone in that borderland where the languages of liberation and reconciliation carry no meaning whatsoever. Brutally honest, and comes highly recommended.

You can get it here: kalahari.net - Books, Music, DVDs, Games, Electronics

Pietro,

I am not surprised! By the way, do you know what one of the most powerful (natural) poisons in the world is called? Bella Donna = Beautiful Lady!

I don't read one book at a time. There are usually 3, 4 or even 5 half-read books all over. Non-Fiction (mostly), but also fiction. Currently doing research on the war of liberation (no caps on purpose). THat means everything that has to do with Namibia from early years (1400s) to about 1999. Again, non-fiction AND fiction!

For relaxation? Ayn Rand, Wilbur Smith, James Michener, William Shakespeare, Louis d'Amour, Graham Hancock, Greg Bear, Ian Fleming, Sir Nicholas Stern, etc., etc., etc.