I'm Reading...

I just finished reading (more like devouring) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote Kite Runner, which of course is incredibly popular. I really like his writing, although of course the settings of his novels are somewhat depressing. I think novels like these are extremely helpful in putting a human face on the history of a country that looms large in the news.

Hosseini's latest book deals with the lives of women in Afghanistan, whereas Kite Runner dealt almost exclusively with male characters. I've read some articles about womens' issues in Afghanistan in the past, and the issues that figure in the novel were not surprising to me. But it makes me so sad. Why do so many people feel that opressing others (women, ethnic sects, castes, homosexuals, whatever) bolsters their self-worth? I just don't understand it.

I always wonder what I would think and feel about feminism if I was born and raised in a part of the world where women are not valued as anything except mothes and wives. Would I be a Mariam that accepted my lot in life placidly, depressed but uncomplaining? Or would I be a Laila, convinced that there was a better world out there and I could help it become if I dared?

I do know one thing: I am a feminist for my myself. Because I have been told that "girls don't do that", and it makes me angry. I am a feminist for my daughter. Because I want her to grow up in a world where she never has to be angry about the same ineqalities that I was.

I am Reading

I just finished All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot, and I'm working on The Lord God Made Them All. These books are the last two books in a four book memoir series written by a country vet from Yorkshire. He started practicing just before WWII. I read the first two books in this series, All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful as a young adult. To be honest, I never realized he'd written any more books until Cari said something about it when we were talking about them.

If you've never read any James Herriot - do. He's got a lot of interesting stories, and he just paints a beautiful and compelling picture of rural farming in mid-20th century England. They aren't difficult reads - I believe I read them for the first time in elementary school. I don't think that they are any worse for the intervening 20 years, though.

I'm Reading...

I recently finished Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert. On the surface of things, it's a travel autobiography. Really, it's about the author's journey of self-discovery following a messy divorce. She spends a year living abroad exploring different parts of her life. In Italy she lives for pleasure, and pasta. In India she lives in an ashram and seeks God. In Indonesia she seeks the balance between the worldly and the heavenly with an amusing cast of traditional healers.

It's an entertaining book. Gilbert is a good writer and the book is funny. I'd recommend the book to people that like travel literature.

I'm Reading...

I've enjoyed this on other people's blogs, and I think it will make a welcome break from "what Carina did today".

And, don't worry, I won't post spoilers.

I just finished reading Confessor. It's the last (11th) book of Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. On the plus side, it is the finale. Thank the heavens, he finally ended it. On the minus side, it ended pretty much how I figured it would. No surprises. He still managed to spend half the book pontificating and wandering around the action. Everything wraps up in about 100 pages at the end. I had to stop reading and start skimming a couple times when he started preaching about free will.

None of this will surprise Goodkind's fanbase. And, let's face it, anyone who gets to book 11 in a series is a fan. I think that 11 books is just too many to try to write about the same characters. In the end, you just don't have enough interesting to say anymore.

At least it's over. Take note, Mr. Jordan.