Well firstly thanks to Lily for setting up the Bloggers Book Club and for Marie for reading my blog about my love of reading and pointing me in Lily’s direction.
I’ve never been a member of a book club before so this is all new to me……and I’m rambling so I’ll stop now and get onto the book.
So this month the book chosen was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This wouldn’t be something I would normally have read….I’m a bit of a lightweight and usually stick to chick lit.
This book tells the story of two very strong women and their struggles of life in Afghanistan. It paints a picture of just how difficult life is in their country especially for women who seem to be second class citizens.
The women are Mariam and Laila. Mariam had a hard life right from the start and I think this made her stronger. Laila had a stable background and seemed very happy in life until her parents died. The two women weren’t friends in the beginning but with their struggles against their abusive husband they soon became allies.
I really enjoyed this book, it made me realise how lucky we are. Khaled Hosseini is a very descriptive writer, you can almost imagine yourself in Afghanistan and the book really brings home the horrors of war.
I’m looking forward to the next book in the book club.
Magnumlady Blog 
I would love to get back to reading more, but I just don’t seem to have the time or motivation recently.
Hope it comes back as I have a whole pile of books waiting to take me away to another life!
Great review – I also loved the book. And have loved so far being in this book group!
Hi Val, A brill book isn’t it and I agree with you, at times, you could also feel as though you were almost part of it, the descriptive qualities are so good. Am really enjoying reading all the reviews.
I enjoyed the book but I prefer light-hearted fare too. I felt a little guilty while reading the book that I have such an easy life compared to Laila and Mariam.
I too like this book club, even though I am the only one who had reservations about the book š Actually, it makes me enjoy the discussion all the more.
Hi I came to your blog through Lily’s, glad you enjoyed the book. I am enjoying your blog very much.
Val, you’re very welcome re setting up the BBC. I was actually a little nervous when I suggested the idea in case no one was interested and was delighted when people were. Like you I’ve never been a member of a book club.
I too really enjoyed this book and as you said it certainly made me feel we live a charmed existence by comparison.
Hope you are having a good Easter.
It’s really true, reading this book made me really appreciate the type of society we live in here!
I read it a year or so back Val, and it’s one of those books that really makes an impact – it certainly altered the way i saw things for a time afterwards. So beautifully written, I preferred it to the author’s better known book ‘the Kite Runner’.
Thinking of books that leave a lasting impression – have you read the Book Thief by Markus Zusak as yet? That one is an absolute must.
It made me feel more than a little guilty as well!
Nice review š
Hi Val – great review, I am one of the other readers of this great book, though it was a few years since I read it it made a big impression as did The Kite Runner, very evocative of the place and I had seen kids with kites in the dry season in another Subcontinental city (Dhaka in Bangladesh) so I could relate to the kite flyers. This book though was even more harrowing with all the descriptions of brutality that the poor women had to endure. Life is so hard for them.
I would like to follow your blog but I don’t think it’s that easy from a Blogger blog like mine – I have a list of followers in my sidebar which makes it easy to track followers, I think for WordPress it’s gotta be via RSS and Google Reader – a bit more effort to track! Oh well I’ll get used to it. Hope you can follow mine too.
All the best, Catherine.
Hi Miriam, I agree with you we take so much for granted that is what struck me as well. How far we have progressed and yet there is still so much inequality in our society! I can’t imagine how many dreams of Afghan women have been quashed during such a brutal regime. I hope the next generation of women will be more empowered.