The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

I've been on a Khaled Hosseini kick lately, it seems. I picked up The Kite Runner because, well, everyone else was. I ended up enjoying it about as much as I expected, which is to say it was an engaging book with an interesting, if not somewhat contrived, plot line. I closed the book with satisfaction; not mourning its ending nor feeling any time spent reading it had been a waste. I liked it well enough, in fact, that I want to see the movie.

I also liked Hosseini's writing well enough that I thought to request A Thousand Spendid Suns from the library. Now this book I loved. Where The Kite Runner guides you through the periphery of what life was like in Afghanistan during the Taliban's rule, A Thousand Splendid Suns drops you right into the middle of a Taliban controlled Kabul. The book is painful, almost, in how easy is is to become wrapped up in the two heroine's horrific lives and see what they see and feel what they feel.

Both books though, are good ways to while away these cold winter days.