Book Review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Having achieved such critical acclaim this is a book I've been meaning to get round to for quite some time. I had been putting it off as I have found such highly praised books a disappointment in the past.

The book is based in Afghanistan and revolves around Amir and his relationships with his father Baba, and their servant's son Hassan. Amir and Hassan have been brought up together but their relationship is marked by the divide between their different castes. Amir's relationship with his father is also not entirely easy, the young boy constantly try to win his father's approval. The local kite fighting tournament provides Amir with a way to make his father proud, but the events of that day change things forever.

After the Russian invasion Amir and Hassan move to the US, where they have to start over and rebuild their lives. Despite the passage of time and his successful adaptation to life in another country Amir still seems tormented by the past and eventually returns to try and right the wrongs.

This book is one of extremes, joy and sadness, trust and betrayal, rich and poor, peace and war. Some of the issues tackled are quite sensitive and I should have found it very moving, but unfortunately I just could not warm to Amir. I couldn't see his relationship with his father and the cultural influences as mitigating the way he treated Hassan and found him unsympathetic. His attempts to find redemption were only partially successful to me. I also found some of the plot predictable which lessened the impact.

That said I found some of the descriptions beautiful and highly evocative and I find Hosseini's style far more accessible than some literary fiction. It was also interesting to read about Afghanistan before the most recent conflicts and the state of the places familiar to Amir afterwards, and to discover more about a country that has only really received attention because of wars.

Finishing the book I was pleased that I had read it and did like it, but it certainly isn't a 5* book for me.

Book review: Three Sisters by Helen Smith

I was very pleased when I received an email a couple of days ago from Helen Smith, asking if I would like a copy of her new short story for review. It's just gone live on Amazon so this review is a hot off the press type thing! I read her book Being Light back in December and really enjoyed both the story and her style so it took all of a second to ping a message back saying Yes please! This (longish) short story is an introduction to amateur sleuth Emily Castles, who will be featuring in a mystery series.

In this story Emily is going to a Bonfire Night party at a neighbouring house, hosted by the inhabitants who are performance artists of various sorts. Emily is mourning the recent loss of her dog and sees the invite as an opportunity to socialise, but in the course of the evening she finds herself investigating a murder that may or may not have occured.

While we don't learn a huge amount about her background Emily is an interesting, quirky character and I'm sure we'll gradually discover more in the series. Despite the mention of a boyfriend he's possibly in the past, and although she knows her neighbours it is in a typical suburban passing kind of way. She comes across as a slightly solitary but very inquisitive individual. The other characters range from the harassed mum of three to the doctor of ethics via Hungarian performers and form a colourful cast.

From the beginning I was amused by the imagery used, for example describing fireworks as "like Midget Gems suspended mid-rinse in a toddler's open mouth" Comical but very graphic. I was also very pleased to see how well formatted and proofread it was - some of my recent kindle reads have been somewhat lacking on those fronts. I found myself laughing often, and the darker humour as the story progresses is the sort of thing I enjoy but may not be to everyone's taste. Emily's wanderings round the house and gardens as the story developed really drew me in and when I had to take a break from reading I found myself weighing up the story so far and debating with myself about what might happen. In short I thought this was a great read from start to finish and will be looking out for the series.

Borrowed Book Challenge 2011

In a strange coincidence after blogging about the campaign to save libraries this morning I came across the book'd out blog and Shelleyrae's 2011 Borrowed Book Challenge. I'm going to try and borrow and read 12 books, my goal is to a Borrower Be. I love my kindle too much to read loads of tree books! I haven't got a full list yet, but my first one will hopefully be Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (once it comes back next week) It's a great idea and will motivate me to keep to my new resolution to visit the library more.

Read so far:

1) The Accident by Ismail Kadare, Feb '11

2) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes, Feb '11

3) Silent Scream by Karen Rose, Mar '11

3+) Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mar '11 (I'm not counting it as it's only a short story)

4) The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Mar '11

5) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Apr '11

6) Blue Shoes & Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith, May '11

7) Solar by Ian McEwan, May '11

8) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Jul '11

9) The Accidental Father by Greg Williams, Jul '11

10) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Dec '11

11) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Dec '11


12) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, Dec '11

Save Our Libraries Day

With government cuts biting across the board one of the areas where a lot of authorities are trying to make savings is their libraries. Apparently around 400 branches are being threatened with closure, so today events are being held in a number of libraries in a co-ordinated day of action.

Now I'm lucky, my local library has just been renovated and is looking great, and here in Devon no library cuts are planned. I have to admit I'm a sporadic library user at best, especially since I got my kindle, but I want my daughter to be able to appreciate and enjoy libraries the same way I do. We've made a good start, joining in with the stories and songs for the under 5s group run in the library, and I intend to make visiting and picking new books a habit as she gets older. As a kid I loved wandering along the racks searching for a book to excite me and take me somewhere new, as I got older I'd ask my mum to take me so I could look at the reference books to help with school projects, generally it was a place I loved to visit. Our new modern library is welcoming and bright, with no scary librarians ruling with an iron fist so even better!

Despite the fact there is no immediate threat in my area I think from now on I will try and support my library by using it to borrow books for myself on a regular basis, I'd hate to find myself in the position of lots of other people who'll be protesting today at some point in the future. Libraries are such an important resource, especially for less well off families, so good luck to those taking part in events today. Here is an article with more details and an interactive map for those who are interested in what is going on where.

It's Friday!

Yeay, Friday is the beginning of my 5 day weekend and the day the Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday pop up on my radar.

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books I love finding new book blogs, there are hundreds of participants. This week's question is:

What are you reading now and why are you reading it?

I'm reading Traitor's Gate by Mary Fitzgerald at the moment. It's a historical adventure, based in Chester during the English civil war. I love historical fiction and haven't read any for a while, and recently read and adored another of Mary's books, Richard Wilde, so thought it looked a very good choice.

To find out more about Follow Friday visit host parajunkee Again it's a good way to find other book bloggers. This week's question over there is:

What is the book you are currently pushing?

I'm not pushing any book in particular but I think there are a lot of indie and small press authors who deserve a lot more attention. People who don't look beyond the big publishers are missing out on some wonderful books!

Book Review: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

In my quest to read more of the classics I picked this book to see if the Disney tale most of us are familiar with is true to the original or not. First off, it's been a while since I saw the Disney animation but I'm pretty sure it didn't strictly follow the book. That wasn't a big surprise at all. However what I hadn't realised is that The Jungle Book is actually a number of short stories and songs or verses.

The most familiar is the first, Mowgli's brothers, about the man cub raised by wolves who has to take on his sworn enemy Shere Khan. The next one is The White Seal. In this story Kotick the seal dedicates himself to searching for a new home for his fellow seals, one where they aren't living with the threat of man. The third is Rikki Tikki Tavi, about a young mongoose of the same name who takes on cobras to protect his adopted human family. Next comes Toomai of the Elephants which relates the experience of a young boy from a long line of elephant handlers who has a unique bond and a one off experience with the elephant his father handles. Finally come Her Majesty's Servants, which recounts the overheard conversation of a group of Army animals.

The language in places is archaic, and elsewhere exotic, reflecting the settings of the stories and Kipling's background. Throughout the stories the animals are given human traits and the tales are moral stories, reflections on human society or both. I don't think they would be an easy read for a young person primarily because of the language used, particularly in Mowgli's Brothers, but they do make wonderful stories I fully plan on reading my little girl when she's bigger. There are parts that might make some people uncomfortable, such as Mowgli's killing of Shere Khan and the aftermath, so I'd urge caution if you are thinking of these stories for very young children.

I particularly enjoyed Rikki Tikki Tavi, as the mongoose hero is such a lovely, funny character, and the conversation between the Army animals, as they discuss their different fears and strengths is wonderful. I have no doubt I will be going back to The Jungle Book and dipping into the stories on their own rather than reading them all in one go, and no doubt I'll be looking to add more Kipling to my kindle. A note of warning though - the free version is very poorly formatted, with no clear breaks between the stories and verses which I found confusing when I didn't expect it to be more than one story, and will make navigating in future more difficult. If formatting is a bugbear for you I'd suggest getting another version.

Book Review: March Into Hell: Book Two ( The Mark Taylor Series) by Mary McDonald

It wasn't that long ago that I read Book One in the series, No Good Deed, which I had really enjoyed. Therefore I was pleased I didn't have to wait too long for the next installment. As a brief precis Mark Taylor is a photographer who owns a camera, purchased in Afghanistan, which provides him with pictures of tragedies, followed by detailed dreams that mean if he intervenes in time he can stop them happening.

In this book we find Mark has been able to start over after the life changing events of book one, he has a new home, business and business partner, but things aren't going well with girlfriend Jessie. He is still using the camera to save lives and unfortunately for him becomes the centre of media attention when a journalist notices a pattern to various Good Samaritan acts being carried out. One particular save brings him within the sights of a cult leader who wants his power. The book is pretty action-packed, working it's way to a dramatic end but one that (I'm hoping) leaves scope for further Mark Taylor books

Mark is a great character, with plenty of positive characteristics but also enough flaws and self-doubt to make him believable. I liked the developing relationship with Jim, his tormentor in the first book. While this book is quite dark and with some graphic descriptions of how the cult treats it's victims this was offset by the relationships between the two men, Jessie and Mark's business partner Lily.

Book two spends a little more time contemplating the nature of the powers the camera has and where the powers come from. Mark finds himself thinking he is being tested by God but it is never made implicit whether the camera is some sort of divine apparatus or whether there is another explanation. This was one of the aspects I found really interesting in the first book so this reflection pleased me but I'm also happy that the reader isn't given a definite answer as to the source of the powers.

I found the first book more thought provoking, probably because of the coverage of the treatment of enemy-combatants in a post 9/11 world but this is a worthy sequel and I'll be waiting for news of further installments in due course!