Naked by David Sedaris

This may be one of the few nonfiction books that I really enjoyed. It tells the story of young Sedaris, who suffers from OCD. To him, his life is miserable if he can't roll his eyes until they hurt. All his life he was laughed at about his tics, and his Dad always threatened him if he didn't try to stop. His Mom had a good laugh trying to act out his tics in front of his teachers. I was able to read up to the part where Sedaris goes to college, and must hide his tics from his roommate. Overall, this book is incredibly hilarious, but unfortunately, I was not able to delve deep enough to get much out of the book.

Nectar in a Sieve

This book is the story of Rukmani. She is an Indian girl growing in an upper-class family up during the early stages of British imperialism in India. During her early childhood, she always gloated about being married to wealthy upper-class men, just as her older sisters had. But by the time she came of age, her dreams were shattered. The British had taken control of the town, and since her father was the governor, he held no more power. Rukami was married to a poor farmer, Nathan, who lived miles away from her home. At first, Rukami was distraught about having left her home and her family. She was disgusted by the lack of food, and the small hut that they now called home. Nathan was so poor, that he could not even afford the land; he was only able to rent the land from the landowner. But when Rukami heard from the local gossips that her husband had built the hut by hand for her, she realized how much Nathan cared for her. Her life continues from this point, as she watches her own children grow up, face the hardships of famine and the hardships of losing a child, having to face the reality that her daughter had become a prostitute, and seeing her children leave her. Although her life is full of anguish and grief, Rukmani exemplifies a strong woman, braving all of the hurdles in her life, and lives a simple life with Nathan.
This book is similar to many other books in the fact that it tells the story of a person who must overcome unimaginable amounts of hardships, only to come out stronger. Rukami’s life is a turbulent one, and one that seems almost unrealistic. She faces difficulties, that in my opinion, no one should have to bear. Also, her transformation from an upper-class girl, to a lower-class woman is extraordinary. By the end of the book, she wants nothing more from life than to stay with Nathan and tend to her garden. Generally, the most annoying part of the book was that it became very monotonous. Only two or three times in the book was there something that made you want to keep reading. I liked that the book was generally historically accurate as well.
This book has a few connections to what we learned about British imperialism in India and from our Ancient India unit from last year. In this book, it is shown how local industries are demolished due to cheaper British goods. This led to people struggling to get money, so they had to work in the well paying factories in the area. Also, a strong Hindu and Muslim population lives in India, due to Akbar the Great’s rule. The polytheistic beliefs in Hinduism are clearly evident in this book.
All in all, it was a very satisfying read.

The Lost Symbol | Entry 1

I have had the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on hold at the library since last July. Today I got an email stating the book
had arrived. I quickly went and got the book and immediatly started reading.
The book starts off much like the Da Vinci Code. Langdon is brought to the nation's capital only to learn of his friend's abduction. It soon becomes a race against time to free his friend and uncover secrets that have long been hidden under DC. I haven't been able to get too far into the book, but I have just passed the part where Landon learns about the abduction. When this happens he is in the Capitol building, where he recieves a phone call from a mysterious person. While talking he hears screaming in another room, where he rushes over to find a severed human hand on the floor. According to Langdon, the hand is a Masonic symbol known a the Hand of Mysteries, which is offered to people who are invited to learn deep, dark, secrets. Soon, the CIA shows up, and they work in conjunction with Langdon to uncover the symbolic trail being left by the kidnapper.
This is as far as I have read, hopefully the bool will continue to be as thrilling as it has.

Troy and A Thousand Splendid Suns

I finished reading the last bits of Troy. Although I did not like the book, as before mentioned, the ending was a bit sad, yet incredibly unrealistic. They through the king's baby off of a sheer cliff so he would not be able to avenge his father's death. That really shocked me. But what really seemed unrealistic was the reaction from the prisoners captured from Troy. They seemed pretty happy, or indifferent when the news of the prince reached them.
Also over the Thanksgiving break, I read the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossini. The book takes the same theme of the Kite Runner: in Taliban controlled Afghanistan. This book does a better job of showing the oppression that the Taliban commits on a daily basis: random killings, random arrests, random beatings, no rights for women, and more. This book was another connection for me, as most of the characters in the book are Muslims, and I too am a Muslim. But what separates us is the cultures we live in, and the interpretations of our religions. This book is about a woman who is forced into marrying an abusive husband. This happens very commonly in the Middle East. Eventually, she becomes a loner, as her husband won't even let her go outside. Then her husband married another woman. The first wife and the second wife become friends almost immediately, and plot to avenge their husband for all the cruelty he commits. All in all, it was a good read.

Troy | Post 2

OK, so this week, I am about half-way done with Troy. They book is a little disappointing. Although the book can accurately depict the realities of the Trojan war. The only part I do not like about the book is that it is from the eyes of multiple people, and that it follows a Trojan girl around most of the time. Rather than focusing on the war, it starts babbling on about how she gets in trouble with her friends and other stories like that. The book seems to be more focused on her, rather than on what is going on outside the walls. Also, the writer gives us a sense that the gods are protecting her. My question is how is she that special that she sees the gods every 3 or 4 pages in the book? More later, as I get farther into the book.

Troy | Post 1 / Sumation of Kite Runner

I recently started reading Troy but was not able to get that far into the book, probably only about 20 pages. This is because I finished the last 50 pages of the Kite Runner from last week. So I'm going to be talking about a little of each in this post.

Troy is the book that the hit movie was based off of. It tells the story of a girl growing up during the Trojan War where Troy was besieged by the Greeks. From my prior knowledge, the Greeks were a very strong force. The war ends with the brutal destruction of Troy by the use of the Trojan Horse, which was a large wooden horse given as a gift to the Trojans, but little did they know that inside the horse were an army of Greeks ready to attack. Hopefully this book can fill in the blanks of my knowledge.

The Kite Runner was a great book, as I said in my last post. It ended off like a fairy tale, but I can't say much without giving it away. If the Kite Runner were a true story, Amir's action may have been considered heroic.

More soon, after I read a little deeper into Troy.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

This book received a lot of attention a few years ago. This is because of the nature of the topic this book deals with. I believe this is the only book that correctly depicts the turmoil in Afghanistan before and after the Soviet Occupation. The history of Afghanistan is silently woven into the story of two Afghan boys growing up in the city of Kabul named Amir and Hassan. These children were inseparable, and they went through life together as best of friends. Hassan is actually one of the servants for Amir's family, and many of the local boys don't like the friendship between them. Another reason the local boys dislike Hassan is because he is a Hazara, an ethnic group that was often persecuted in those times. Nonetheless, Amir and Hassan enter and win the kite flying competition, which is a tradition in Afghanistan. Hassan, renowned for his kite running abilities, but when Hassan does not appear, Amir becomes extremely worried. He goes out to search for Hassan and discovers a mindblowing scene. He finds Hassan being bullied and sexually abused by some neighborhood bullies. After this point, Amir never confides what he saw to anyone. He always felt uncomfortable when Hassan was around after that, so he set up Hassan to look like a thief, and he and his family were dismissed from the grounds. Amir grows up, witnesses the injustices of the Soviets, the rise of several local militaristic groups taking power (backed by America) to take out the Communists, the rise of a particular militaristic group called the Taliban, and the death of his relatives. At this point, Amir is living in America with his sick father. After his father dies, Amir gets married to another Afghan woman he met. He also travels back to Afghanistan after finding out that one of his childhood friends was still alive, and that he wanted to speak to him. Amir arrives in Afghanistan to find it a different world, one ruled by a violent Muslim Extremist group. He locates his friend, and he sends him on a mission that will show what happened to Hassan after he was dismissed.
I loved this book because it can accurately depict the violent tyranny of the Taliban in Afghanistan without being stereotypical. On the news, people in America hear about daily bombings, and many have made the generalization that Muslims are in essence a violent people. It is true that there are Muslims that are terrorists, and some that just want to live as everyone else does. To the extremists, what they are doing seems right. This is shown in the book when Amir talks to one of the Talib while disguised, and the Talib started to describe a brutal massacre of Hazara people. Amir points out that in the west this is called ethnic cleansing, and the Talib responds by saying he likes the sound of that word. Amir represents the ideal, pious Muslim. He seeks a peaceful life, and when the extremism was introduced to Afghanistan, he fled to America. The Taliban in this book represent the ideas which the media gives us today: a violent group of people who use any means necessary to get the job done. This book was a great read.