bubblegumbooks: The Kite Runner

This book review is brought to you by two days Facebook free. Hopefully this will be my most productive month ever.

I have heard rumors of The Kite Runner long before I have actually mustered up the courage to read the book.  I always knew that this was a heavy read although I have completely underestimated how this book stays with you and encompasses all of your thoughts. 

The Kite Runner follows the lives of two boys in Kabul Afghanistan, the boys are Amir and Hassan.  Hassan is Amir's servant, but the boys are inseparable and are more like brothers than a servant to a master.  When Hassan is brutally bullied by some of the boys in the neighborhood, he spends the rest of his adult life on a heatbreaking journey to redeem himself from betrayal. 

Although all of this book is haunting, I feel the passage below is the most profound and yet obvious passages in the book:

"There is only one sin, only one.  And that is theft.  Every other sin is a variation of theft.  When you kill a man, you steal a life...you steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father.  When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth.  When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.  If there's a God out there, then I would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork."

I think about this passage regularly since I have read this book.  Maybe it's because I think we are so obsessed with what appears right or wrong in terms of "drinking scotch or eating pork" that we are willing to rob each other of the things that are more important in an effort to keep up appearances.

I give this book 5 Facebook free days out of 5.  Khaled Hosseini is an amazing storyteller, I could not put this book down once I started reading it.

bubblegumbooks: The Hobbit

This book review is brought to you by a traumatising afternoon at the Auckland City Library.

I have not read many fantasy novels.  Wizards, witches, dragons, they are not really my thing.  However, after reading this book I find myself coming to realisation that writing off an entire genre of literature is a bit extreme, all things considered. 

The hobbit follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and a clan of dwarves.  Despite his small stature, hairy feet, and constant longing for his beloved shire, Bilbo Baggins is quite possibly one of the greatest heroes in literature, not because of his stunning good looks, killer sword skills, or cunning agility.  In fact, Bilbo is none of these things and yet all who meet him come to admire and adore him.  All who underestimate him end up apologising for their short-sightedness.  After all, a hobbit that is courageous enough to sneak up on a dragon is pretty impressive by any measure.

Reading this book made me appreciate not only the fantasy genre, but also Tolkien for being an amazing story teller.  I started reading this book, and to my surprise, I could not stop.

I give this 4.5 attempts at finding a book in the Auckland Library out of 5.

Book of the week: Cloudstreet

This book review is sponsored by 43 North Talbot Drive.  My Cloudstreet.

I have not read any Australian authors, and after reading this book I realize how tragic that is.  Tim Winton should be lauded with the likes of Steinbeck and Carson McCullers for his incredible ability to interweave incredibly complex plots in a way that makes you long for a connection.

Cloudstreet follows the lives of two families, the Pickles and the Lambs, over a period of ten years.  The Pickles are prone to gambling and drinking while the Lambs are an impoverished family looking to make right in the world by being god-fearing, hard workers.

They come to inhabit Cloudstreet together and divide the house in half.  The Lambs need the Pickles for somewhere to live, and the Pickles need the Lambs because the father, Sam Pickles, gambles away most of the money he makes and the mother, Dolly Pickles drinks the rest of it.  But Cloudstreet is no ordinary house, it's not haunted in a Henry James kind of way, but it breathes in and out, it absorbs the families, it protects them, it haunts them.

This book is a narrative on what it takes for a family to stick together, for no matter how hard things are or how screwed up we become, family sticks together, and sometimes you find the family you need in the places you least expect to find them.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5.  It is one of those books that as you read, the plot and the characters stick in your brain, and when you finally finish the book you are actually sad that you will not be in their lives anymore.