A Sky-Blue Bench

Finished November 15

A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman, illustrated by Peggy Collins

This story of a young girl, Aria, doesn't give the background of her injury, although it is at the center of the plot. Aria has a "helper leg" after an accident. She is just now returning to school and finds it difficult to sit on the ground for class. 

After consideration of her options, she decides to build a bench for herself for class. The story shows the gathering of materials, the request for advice from someone with the necessary skills, and the construction of the bench including painting it a sky-blue colour with the gift of paint given to Aria. This blue is a colour of courage, peace, and wisdom according to her donor. 

Aria's project inspires the girls in her class to dream of more projects, from more benches to bookcases. 

This story is based on real children in Afghanistan, where wooden furniture was often used by refugees to burn to keep warm, resulting in a lack of furniture following their stay in facilities like schools.

The pictures really enliven the story, with the characters' emotions coming out through their facial expressions. A lovely read about a subject not often covered. 

The Library Bus

Finished November 30
The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard

This picture book was written by a Canadian who immigrated here from Afghanistan and was inspired to document the struggle for education faced by not only the women in his family, but for thousands of others. 

The main character here is a young girl, Pari, who helps her mother run a library bus that operates in and near the city of Kabul in Afghanistan, and focuses on the literacy of young girls. We see Pari going with her mother on one day. Their first stop is a small village where the girls are eager to learn and exchange their books. Pari's mother does a storytime during the stop as well. They then move on to a refugee camp where Pari is delegated to hand out notebooks and pencils to those that need them while her mother helps them with books before a storytime. Pari notices the outward difference in the girls clothing and surroundings, but finds them all eager to learn. She is glad she is able to help her mother in this task and looks forward to being able to attend school herself and expand her learning. Her mother explains that the girls they served don't have access to schools, so this library bus is one of the only educational resources available to them. 

The book ends with a note from the author and a brief side note on refugee camps.

The illustrations were lovely, with the girls seen as individuals and the eagerness clearly portrayed. I loved the colours used here as well. And, of course, how could I not love a book about libraries and their importance.

The Finest Supermarket in Kabul

Finished January 26
The Finest Supermarket in Kabul by Ele Pawelski

This novel is based around a real event of a bombing. There are three sections to the story, each with a different speaker. The first section is by a young Afghan man, Merza, who has recently been elected to the Wolesi Jirga, Afghanistan's National Assembly. After much delay, it looks like the Assembly is going to meet and Merza is excited, but also nervous. His family is not supportive of his political role, with his father wanting him to join the construction firm that he runs. Merza's sister is one of the few close to him that does support him. Merza is out and about on this day, meeting with an advisor and running errands. He plans to visit the supermarket as one of his stops.
The second speaker is Alec, an American journalist. Alec has spent the last three months embedded with the US army on the front lines in Helmand Province, and wants a change of perspective. His editor, Eric, hasn't sanctioned this move, but Alec thinks he can come up with a story to persuade Eric to allow it. He makes contact with other journalists, explores a little on his own, sets up a possible interview with a young teen he meets, and is among the first journalists on the scene after the bombing.
The third speaker is Elyssa, a Canadian lawyer who is on assignment in Kabul with the UN to train female judges and assist them in forming a national organization. She's been in Kabul a few months, and thinks that things are going well. She moved from a hotel to a small but secure guesthouse a couple of months ago after a hotel bombing. She socializes with many of the NGO workers, and has recently been getting close to one of them, Nate. On this day, she has a few things to do, including go to the UN compound to use the gym there, pick up some dessert to bring to a dinner she's going to that evening, and stop at a supermarket for a few things.
As we see each of these people go about their day, leading up to their visits to the supermarket and the encounters they have with locals and foreigners, we see how quickly normal activities can lead to tragedy and a new way of looking at the world around them.

The Place of Shining Light

Finished July 21
The Place of Shining Light by Nazneen Skeikh

This book has suspense, romance, and spiritual enlightenment.
There are several related storylines that the reader follows here. One of them is that of Khalid, a Pakistan antiquities dealer, who steals to order, makes very good fakes, and engages in illegal import and export of art. His wife Sofia loves him very much, but is happy with a simple life, and still cooks all the meals for the household, even when he has numerous guests. Khalid has two sons, one of whom, Hamza, lives overseas and works for the family business from there. The other Hassan, is the apple of Sofia's eye, but a disappointment to Khalid who finds him a playboy who is always asking for financial handouts. Khalid relies on his nephew Faisal as his closest confidante in all business matters.
Adeel is an ex-military officer who has been hired by Khalid to steal a Buddhist statue from Bamiyan (the place of shining light). Adeel is a reliable young man, very close to his mother, who has done work like this before. This time however, the statue causes him to have a spiritual awakening, affecting him in a way he has never felt before. He wants to keep the statue for himself.
Ghalid is a wealthy land-owner, a wannabe politician, with a predilection for young boys and girls, preying on the people of his own village. He is not well-liked locally, partly due to his predation, and partly due to the lack of help he has given the locals over time.
As Khalid tries to track Adeel and the statue when they go missing, he engages both his military contacts that recommended Adeel, and a more criminal element that may have connections to the Taliban.
Adeel is resourceful and has many skills, but when he finds himself joined by a young woman who is looking for a new life, he finds both himself both exasperated and attracted.
An engaging novel with a lot of interesting characters.

The Impossible Knife of Memory

Finished May 4
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

This teen novel has high school senior Hayley Kincain as its main character. Hayley's mother died when she was just a baby, and she lived in this small town with her grandmother until the age of seven, when her grandmother died. Following that her life path becomes a little less clear, but she has spent the last five years on the road with her father, until he finally decides to move back to the house and town he grew up in so Hayley can spend her senior year in a real high school instead of reading textbooks in the truck and in hotel rooms. Hayley reunites quickly with a friend from the distant past, Gracie, but has more trouble adjusting to high school. She doesn't know the rules of how to act, and finds many of her fellow students' behaviour unappealing. Her introduction to nerdy Finn, first as a friend, then as math tutor and perhaps more, have her feeling less sure of herself and yet more connected to this town.
But Hayley's real struggle is with her father, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, suffering from his own demons in the form of post traumatic stress disorder. It is these disturbing memories that first drove the two into a nomadic life, and now brought them here. Hayley has been forced into the role of looking out for and after her father, loving him fiercely, but always wary of what he will do next. As his behaviour grows increasingly erratic, she is finally forced to look to her own past and reach out for help to those who care about her.
Once I started reading this book, I could barely put it down. Hayley has all the inner concerns of any girl her age, plus the burden of her father's illness. She is a character that is finely drawn, and that I quickly grew to care about. Her struggles brought me both tears and laughter, and her father's PTSD is revealed in all its complexity. His flashbacks show the experiences that brought him to where he is now.
A wonderful book.

Don't Go

Finished June 12
Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline, read by Jeremy Davidson

In this novel Scottoline's main character is a man, a bit of a departure for her. Mike Scanlan is a podiatrist that served as an army doctor in Afghanistan. Leaving behind his wife Chloe and newborn daughter Emily, he has committed himself to his task. But when a tragedy happens back home, he finds that his wife didn't handle his absence well, and when he finally returns home, a hero, he has trouble adjusting to his new reality and finds himself struggling between learning the truth about what happened back home and doing what is best for his daughter.
This book tackles the issues of returning vets from PTSD to physical losses, from the differing reactions of those at home to how they feel about what they have been through, from pride in the work they did to guilt over those they left behind. Gripping and suspenseful, this book is another winner.

The Taliban Cricket Club

Finished June 23
The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri N Murari

This novel is centered around Rukhsana, a young woman living with her mother and younger brother in Kabul. When she started university, her father was sent to a diplomatic post in Delhi and she took her degree there, getting a taste of the outside world and meeting a young man she has strong feelings for. But she was promised to another and dutifully went home and found a job as a journalist.
But then the Taliban came to power and she lost her job. When her family was planning to leave, her father and grandparents were killed in an accident, and Rukhsana resigned herself to waiting for a better life. She writes articles for international publications under a pseudonym and waits to join her betrothed in the United States.
But then two things happen. First the government announces an upcoming tournament for cricket. The winners will go to Pakistan for training and then will represent Afghanistan internationally. Since Rukhsana played at university, and this seems a great opportunity to leave the country, she begins to train her brother and cousins to play in the tournament. Second, the Talib Wahidi, who she has run into before as a journalist, has now demanded her as his new wife. Her family will certainly suffer if she doesn't submit to his will.
As Rukhsana hides from Wahidi and his brother, she also continues to train her cousins, determined to make the most of this opportunity and find a way through smugglers to meet them outside the country.
Giving a view into the lives people live under Taliban power, and how those who are determined find ways to circumvent the limitations on their lives when they can, we see how the strong-spirited woman Rukhsana has become pushes past her fear to do what she needs to for herself and her family. This book has humour, romance, and interesting characters. We see the importance of family loyalty and the trust that needs to be given in situations where it really could be life or death.
A great read.

Under an Afghan Sky

Finished October 27
Under an Afghan Sky: a memoir of captivity by Mellissa Fung
Before her kidnapping and captivity in Afghanistan, Mellissa Fung had an active life, with her career in journalism advancing nicely. She was in a relatively new relationship and looking forward to upcoming changes in both her work and personal life.
Her kidnapping memoir shows this and how knowing her support system of family and friends was out there got her through her ordeal. She tries to create relationships with her kidnappers, asking about them and their families and their life goals. She writes letters to friends and family in her notebook, hoping that someday she will be able to give them in person. She prays and finds her rosary a comfort.
Her portrayal of the young men who kidnap her and the world she finds herself in is written in the present tense and comes across as raw and real. I know from media coverage that she found writing this book difficult, but something she needed to do. It gives us a window into her experience and into life in this difficult country. Well worth the read.

IFOA Author

Finished September 30
We Are Now Beginning Our Descent by James Meek
I grabbed this book to read as Meek is coming to Barrie for the International Festival of Authors and I wanted to experience his writing. Boy, am I glad I did.
It took a while before I got engrossed in the book, but once I did, I had a hard time putting it down. The plot moves back and forth in a continuous basis between late 2001 and late 2002, with a epilogue in 2003. The main character is Adam Kellas, a British journalist who have lived a very nomadic life during his journalistic career. In October 2001 he accepts a posting to Afghanistan and chronicles his experiences and observances there, including a connection he made with an American writer, Astrid.
In late 2002, he is back in London, has just had his new novel, a thriller written for the mass market, accepted by a publisher, and out of sorts with his world. As he encounters friends, exes, and acquaintances his thoughts travel back to the previous year to experiences there.
This book is about Kellas' thoughts and actions and takes us from Afghanistan to Britain to America, as well as inside Kellas' mind. We see his dreams, illusions, and realities in very interesting ways.
A great read for the times.

Story of a Soldier

Finished October 28
The Long Walk Home by Liane Fulder
This book is the story of Paul Franklin, a Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan who lost both his legs. The story covers Paul's time in Afghanistan just before the incident that injured him and the experiences of Paul, his wife Audra, and their son Simon following Paul's injuries.
Paul and his family made themselves very accessible to the media throughout and continue to be open about their experiences. Fulder has brought the story together here, to see how one soldier and his family were affected by the war.
The story definitely has interested, but I felt that the author moved around in time too much and that made the story lose its flow and therefore its intensity. There were also errors with dating at least one of the photos included and I felt that a significant error to the reader.

Three finished over the weekend

Finished June 24
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M.Homes
I loved this book. The main character, Richard Novak is a fifty-five year old divored man who makes a living trading stocks from home. He manages his life with a full-time housekeeper, a nutritionist, a trainer, and a masseuse. The book begins when he has an attack of intense pain that takes him to the hospital emergency room. As he begins to notice what is going on around him and come back to life in a sense, many more things begin to happen. A sinkhole starts on the hill outside his house. He meets people he may never have met in his life before the pain and tries to reconnect with his family. On his way home from the hospital, he stops at a donut shop and meets the owner Amhil, whose enthusiasm gathers him into an unlikely friendship. In helping a little girl rescue her horse from a sinkhole he meets the famous actor who lives across the street from him. He finds himself becoming involved in others' lives and assisting them in making new starts as well. This is a great book and I could hardly put it down. I can't help wondering what happens next to everyone.

Finished June 23
Falling Man by Don DeLillo
This is a novel of the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Keith is a man who worked in the towers. He finds refuge in the home of his estranged wife and son, but also in sharing the events of the escape from the towers with another escapee, Florence whose briefcase he ended up bringing with him out of the building. He remains emotionally detached from all of them and ends up in a nomadic existence, living a solitary life of his own making.
Lianne, his estranged wife has accepted him back into the apartment and her bed, but still isn't sure of where their relationship is going.
Justin we see from their point of view only, a child disturbed by the attack, looking at the sky for signs of more planes, retreating into a world where he uses only monosyllabic words.
There are also choppy insertions from one of the terrorists, first from Germany where they are training mentally for the attack, then from Florida where they are taking flight training, and finally from the plane itself. These don't seem to relate to the rest of the story and don't fit well. I don't think they add anything.
For those characters dealing with the aftermath, the struggle to make sense of their lives and their futures is an ongoing one, with moments of enlightenment.

Finished June 22
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I listened to the unabridged audio with Atossa Leoni reading. I found it utterly engrossing. You hear the story first from the point of view of Mariam, a girl from Herat born out of wedlock (a haromi) and married at 15 to a much older man from Kabul. The next narrator is a young Kabul girl, Laila, who is left an orphan after a bombing in Kabul. She becomes the second wife of the same man Mariam married. The two women have very different backgrounds, and very different attitudes but become very close. The events taking place in Afghanistan, and particularly in Kabul over the years that the story takes place are made vivid as part of the story. As the women struggle with their situation and eventually escape their husband I found myself caring a lot about them. Kabul became more real as a city home to many as the daily struggles are interactions are recounted along with the larger events. The horrific decrees of the Taliban (any woman caught wearing nail polish will have a finger removed stays with me) and the struggles of the inhabitants to survive in a war zone is made very real. The emotions of both women and their thought processes are given very realistically. I absolutely loved this book.