Best Books of 2007

2007 was a big year for reading and as I finished it up, I thought how wonderful it would have been to keep a listing of all the books I read. There sure were some good ones.

One of the most recent books to grace my hands was Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm often hesitant to read anything that is a second book by a first time author that I absolutely loved. This was sure true of Hosseini's second offering. His first book, The Kite Runner, just recently arriving here as a film of much controversy, was such a terrific read and I was worried that Hosseini wouldn't live up to his promise in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Well, I needn't have worried. I think that Hosseini has surpassed his writing in this second novel of Afghanistan. I could not put it down. The characters were extremely compelling, also a feat for a male writer, as the primarly characters were women. I felt as though I was living through their experiences, both joyful and horrific, with them. I find myself, also, changed somewhat after having read this book. I don't like politics in my books, but as an English major I recognize the social power that a good work of fiction has. Hosseini is so masterful because he never really says what political conclusions may be drawn from an international scale, as relate to the result of the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan, and the U.S.'s arming of the freedom fighters in an effort to push them back out. Yet I drew my own comparisons when contemplating what might happen in Iraq, and this from a fairly confirmed peacenik, tree hugger. I think anyone would enjoy this novel. It rings of truth, it speaks to injustice and inequality between the sexes. It looks starkly at the ways in which men can pervert religion to suit the powerful and use it as a whip against the weak. It also shows, as did its predecessor, The Kite Runner, a picture of the Middle East that many isolated Americans ought to look at, showing the Afghani people as being really just like us, in the most basic ways, wanting to raise their families, find love, and live their lives. I loved this book and recommend it.

Next: I'm going to try to reconstruct a listing of all the books I did read in 2007, and rate them.