I've completely stepped out of my reading comfort zone this year. I've always intentionally stayed away from the newest books, the bestsellers, that everyone is reading. I prefer the old standbys, works from long dead authors that have stood the test of time. Things usually found on a "100 books everyone should read" list. But seeing how this year's reading has turned out, I may be free of those dusty old books forever; once I finish my 100 books list, that is.As it happens, I'm starting to believe that there actually is a pretty good reason for a book to be a national bestseller (Twilight and self help books aside).
I've also been hesitant to board the Afghanistan, Pakistan trend that's been pretty popular since 9/11. I've never really been interested in south-central Asia, so I didn't see the point. Once again, a book has proven me wrong. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini was unpredictably riveting. I was fascinated by the story of this young boy's life and the journey that brought him to America, and then back to Afghanistan again. Granted, his childhood in Afghanistan was sheltered and his approach to his culture and religion rather moderate. Still, this author, through this deceptively simple story of self discovery, has opened my mind to something that I'm sure I'm narcissistically late in understanding. We are all just people, often caught between who we think we are, and who we think we ought to be, trying to build a life that we can be proud of.
What a novel idea, eh? Sometimes I can be so dense.
