I just finished reading (well I should say listening to) the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This was such a beautiful and unique book and the narrator for the audio, Allan Corduner, is a very skilled reader.

Now I'd like to find a book of equal quality to read next. Any ideas will be very appreciated.

I enjoyed The Book Thief too. And I read the Kite Runner shortly after, which I also thought brilliant. Not quite sure why they made good reading one after the other, I would have to read them again to find out. Perhaps it was that they were both set in a war.

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseini's deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amir's closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amir's father's servant and a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabul's annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.
Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amir's equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shah's 40-year reign and traces the country's fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban. When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassan's orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.

The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980, Hosseini combines the unflinching realism of a war correspondent with the satisfying emotional pull of master storytellers such as Rohinton Mistry. Like the kite that is its central image, the story line of this mesmerizing first novel occasionally dips and seems almost to dive to the ground. But Hosseini ultimately keeps everything airborne until his heartrending conclusion in an American picnic park. --Lisa Alward, Amazon.ca --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review
'Hosseini's ability to reach the core of experiences of love and loss places him in the company of such fine chroniclers of the new America as Chang-rae Lee. The Kite Runner is a first novel of unusual generosity, honesty and compassion' Independent 'The shattering first novel by Khaled Hosseini... a rich and soul-searching narrative ... a sharp, unforgettable taste of the trauma and tumult experienced by Afghanis as their country buckled' Observer 'A devastating, masterful and painfully honest story ... it is a novel of great hidden intricacy and wisdom, like a timeless Eastern tale. It speaks the most harrowing truth about the power of evil' Daily Telegraph 'Unforgettable ... extraordinary. It is so powerful that for a long time after everything I read seemed bland' Isabel Allende

Heledd,

Thank you for your suggestion and it sounds like we like similar books. I also read and loved the Kite Runner. I think both of these follow very likeable but ordinary people trying to cope with extraordinary difficulties, and gracefully doing so.

I like your taste in books - any other ideas?

By the way, your avatar is adorable, and so perfect for a reading site! Aloha

Is very funny the caption under the twins - asleep in a reading chair. yes there was another, also set in Afghanistan. Will get the title to you. sorry its late, and my mind not up to scratch. (huh - it never is)

Heledd,

You are kind to write back so quickly, and in case it saves you some time, you might be thinking of a second book by Khaled Hosseini also set in Afghanistan called, A Thousand Splendid Suns. If not, you might like that too -- it deals with the very difficult lives of two Afghan women, quite hard to read at times with so much suffering, but also a beautiful book.

I'm reading Ian McEwan's Atonement now and like that. I enjoy books about people's lives in other countries, and seems this book site may have great suggestions for those type of books. Any good ones set in your country?

Well one book I reluctantly read because it was a 'Western' was Serena by Ron Rash. Reluctanly but it was absolutely brilliant
Product Description
The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire. Serena is new to the mountains - but she soon shows herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Yet she also learns that she will never bear a child. Serena's discovery will set in motion a course of events that will change the lives of everyone in this remote community. As the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel, this riveting story of love, passion and revenge moves toward its shocking reckoning.

And if you want books on Africa - what about 'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kinsolver:
Amazon.co.uk Review
As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's four daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?
In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and on the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortunes across a span of more than 30 years.

The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and four daughters tell their story in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenaged Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their "French congregations"; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a "tapestry of justice"). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo.

Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realised, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half when Nathan Price is still at the centre of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement and lyrical prose that has made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review
'There are few ambitious, successful and beautiful novels. Lucky for us, we have one now, in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. This awed reviewer hardly knows where to begin.' --Jane Smiley

'The Poisonwood Bible is a book club classic ... The novel begins as a family saga but evolves into a polemic about how African lives are ruined by Western greed and fear ... There is humour, history, love and loss. The characterisation is exquisite.' --The Times
And if you wanted to read about West Africa /Gambia in particular what about My grandmother's drums by Paul Hudson - though this is non fiction
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Grandmother ... 533&sr=1-1
Product Description
In 1985 Hudson visited the village of Dulaba in the Gambia to help in some field studies there. He was so intrigued by what he saw that he decided to return. The book tells of the lives of the women, devout Muslims, who are circumcised in an all-female ritual, but who sing ribald songs.

Heledd, Thanks again for the great suggestions and your time with adding all the helpful reviews. I have not read Serena by Ron Rash and will give that a try. Had not heard of Our Grandmothers' Drums and will order a copy. I like both fiction and non-fiction. I also read and liked the Poisonwood Bible, so for me, you are batting a thousand. Appreciate your suggestions, best wishes to you and your twins, and Aloha.

Sue Salisbury wrote:I just finished reading (well I should say listening to) the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This was such a beautiful and unique book and the narrator for the audio, Allan Corduner, is a very skilled reader.

Now I'd like to find a book of equal quality to read next. Any ideas will be very appreciated.

I Sue, I also read The Book Thief and enjoyed it. Have you read "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel?

MelMac, Thank you for your suggestion. I had just checked the Man Booker awards last week, and saw this one got the 2002 prize. I ordered it and am looking forward to reading it. I also ordered The Help, started that first, and like it very much.

I'm interested in what you liked in the Life of Pi book? Sounds unusual and charming, but always good to hear from actual readers.

Again, Aloha for your suggestion - that is just the kind of book I'm looking for.

Sue Salisbury
Maui Hawaii