finished 02.21.10
I know I just said that “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” was the best book I’ve read in a really long time and that I loved it, but I’m on a roll! A Thousand Splendid Suns was a really fantastic book as well. In very different ways. This book covers a 30-year time period and is based in Afghanistan. It’s told from the point of view of two female characters, Mariam and Laila, and tells the story of their childhood through to adulthood.
I read The Kite Runner back in 2006. When I heard Hosseini had written another book, I couldn’t wait to read it. For some reason it took me 3 years to get. I finally bought it at a thrift store and then could not put it down. I read it in just a couple days. It’s a heartbreaking story. I really identified with Mariam and Laila. I wanted to cry a a few times, but didn’t. I think A Thousand Splendid Suns is even better than The Kite Runner, so if you liked that book, for sure read this one. The writing is great and I loved Mariam and Laila.. and I did learn a thing or two not only about Afghanistan’s history, but about the culture and attitudes towards women there.
That’s so funny … I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and then The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I commented on your other post). I agree, I loved both — and I liked Suns better than The Kite Runner.
We must have the same taste in books! Read any other good ones lately? I’m currently reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri and The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.
I’ve read both of those … loved Unaccustomed Earth; thought The Hour was too much like his other book, I Know This Much Is True. I just finished The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was a quick read but very moving.
I haven’t read a Wally Lamb book for ages.. probably almost 10 years, so hopefully I won’t feel the same way. I fondly remember I Know This Much is True and She’s Come Undone.. but can’t remember specifics of them, so we’ll see how it goes.
I’ll have to check out The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I think I heard about the movie.