book recommendations for some good Fiction:
***** = super, must read
**** = great book
*** = good book
** = not so good
* = no good
1. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver * * * * *
- a bestselling novel about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from Georgia to the fictional village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo. The Price's story, which parallels their host country's tumultuous emergence into the post-colonial era, is narrated by the five women of the family: Orleanna, long-suffering wife of Belgian missionary Nathan Price, and their four daughters – Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May.
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini * * * * *
- three generations of women in the midst of three different eras of oppression and fierce rule in Afghanistan find friendship and a glimmer of hope in each other
3. The God of Small Things - Arhundati Roy * * * * *
- is a semi-autobiographical, politically charged story set in Northern India. It is a story about the childhood experiences of a pair of fraternal twins who become victims of circumstance. The book is a description of how the small things in life build up, translate into people's behavior and affect their lives. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1997.
4.Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin* * * *
- one man's mission to promote peace one school at a time starting in Pakistan and overflowing into Afghanistan
5.A Hundred Years of Solitude -Gabriel Garcia Marquez* * * *
- brilliantly loaded writing style that will challenge anyone's IQ
- magical realism at its best
6. When Broken Glass Floats - Chanrithy Him * * *
- A Cambodian survivor unrolls the reels of her memory to give us this heart-wrenching memoir of growing up under the brutal Khmer Rouge. the author's intro. poem:
7. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini * * * 1/2
- The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy from the Wazir Akhbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.
8. Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri * * * 1/2
- Moving between events in Calcutta, Boston and New York City, the novel examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with their highly distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.
9. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai * 1/2
- the plight of three near strangers under one Himalayan roof interwoven with plight of illegal immigrant from India making his way in New York where joy and sorrow and the rainy season are almost indistinguishable
** turns out this is mostly super tragic, so tragic that it almost re-redeems itself as being above reality and even artistic -- so only read it if you have a lot of hope in your heart so you won't be too discouraged
-- please share any recommendations --
- A Cambodian survivor unrolls the reels of her memory to give us this heart-wrenching memoir of growing up under the brutal Khmer Rouge. the author's intro. poem:
When broken glass floats, a nation drowns,
Descending to the abyss.
From mass graves in the once-gentle land,
Their blood seeps into mother earth.
Their suffering spirits whisper to her,
"Why has this happened?"
Their voice resounds in the spirit world,
Shouts though the souls of survivors,
Determined to connect, begging the world:
Please remember us.
Please speak for us.
Please bring us justice.
7. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini * * * 1/2
- The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy from the Wazir Akhbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.
8. Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri * * * 1/2
- Moving between events in Calcutta, Boston and New York City, the novel examines the nuances involved with being caught between two conflicting cultures with their highly distinct religious, social, and ideological differences.
9. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai * 1/2
- the plight of three near strangers under one Himalayan roof interwoven with plight of illegal immigrant from India making his way in New York where joy and sorrow and the rainy season are almost indistinguishable
** turns out this is mostly super tragic, so tragic that it almost re-redeems itself as being above reality and even artistic -- so only read it if you have a lot of hope in your heart so you won't be too discouraged
-- please share any recommendations --
