30 by 30 Reading List Update

In talking to my friends about their favourite books and trying to decide what to add next to my reading list, I discovered something surprising. Many people don't own their favourite books. I don't plan on buying any of these books at this point, so I'm searching libraries. For now, I'm going with those who do own their favourite books and that lead me to one of my co-workers, Donna.


Donna and I have discussed books a number of times and I know she is an avid reader, especially with her new Kindle. She gave me three books to read, being unable to choose her favourite.


The first book I selected was "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, the author of best-selling novel "The Kite Runner," which I have yet to read.

"A Thousand Splendid Suns" is the intertwined story of two women, Mariam and Laila, who are forced to marry the same much-older man a dozen years apart. The story follows their lives, first separately, then as women of the same household, their struggles with infertility and having children and living in a place where women have no rights.


I absolutely loved this book. Not only was it well-written, but it gave incredible insight into the lives of the people of Afghanistan. I knew of the culture, but had never really felt the emotions or understood the struggles that the people, and especially the women, went through and continue to go through. I certainly wouldn't say I can empathize with the horror these women face(d), but I have a lot more sympathy for and knowledge of that part of the world now and that's a pretty cool thing to come out of a fiction novel.


Absolutely worth the read and I will be adding "The Kite Runner" to my list for future reading.