Just finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. It is a very touching story about life and tragedy in Afghanistan. A beautifully written account of the lives of 2 women, Mariam and Laila, and the challenges they faced living in a very difficult era of Afghan history.The story I feel gives an important perspective on history. Though fictional, it felt like a real account. It made me think that many periods of recent history are not well documented in this personal way. I love reading stories like this, because they add a vivid touch to the facts.
Another story I read a while ago was, "In Search of Fatima" by Ghada Karmi. It is her memoirs while she lived in Jerusalem and then London during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. As far as I know, there are very few Palestinian memoirs from that era and this story is a small step to fill a critical hole needed to understand the Palestinian perspective. On a funny note, as I was reading "In Search of Fatima", the book talked about people I knew. I later discovered that Ghada was my mom's cousin. Small world!
