Literature

Written by the author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns tells of the lives of two Afghani women whose lives intertwine during the chaotic power struggle that has occupied that country during the recent decades. While I didn’t feel that A Thousand Splendid Suns was as moving nor as powerful as The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns is definitely geared toward a different audience, so my take on the novel might be a bit biased. I think it’s safe to say that females will relate much better to the characters in Hosseini’s latest book than to those in The Kite Runner. As an older brother, I thought some parts of A Thousand Splendid Suns to be more disturbing than the graphic nature of The Kite Runner, but that stems more from my revulsion of misogyny rather than any overly graphic content.

The Harold B. Lee Library’s Folding@Home took this lead this morning as the top-scoring team at BYU. Congratulations, and thanks to those who have donated their CPU cycles to such a worthy cause. Now that the HBLL team leads at BYU, their next goal is to overtake the teams at Yale, U Minn, and the University of Oklahoma.

Also of note, the author of The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch, passed away today after his extended battle with pancreatic cancer. If you want to show your support for his widow and children, the easiest (and most meaningful) way is to purchase a copy of his book.

Wow. I might actually catch up on my summer reading list at this rate. Three Cups of Tea was a good read, if not particularly captivating, somewhat due to the rather stop-and-go narration found throughout the book. The book undoubtedly leaves the reader inspired to do more to help children who are unable to receive a good education, but inadequately covers the post-9/11 era up to the its time of writing.

I finally finished reading The Kite Runner, after having it by my bed for almost two months. Ironically, I read the last 90% of the book between Monday and Tuesday evenings. It’s really quite an amazing work — Hosseini does a terrific job of portraying the deeper emotions of the narrator. After all that I had heard about the graphic nature of the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that much of those comments had been exaggerated. By the time you’re halfway through the book, you have already developed a strong tie with the main character and his father. I’d definitely suggest it to any adult — it’s certainly not meant to be read by young children, but high school juniors and seniors should be able to handle the subject matter.

Learn more about The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns at www.khaledhosseini.com.