A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

Hosseini, who wrote the Kite Runner, is a great story-teller, and brings such a unique perspective to a part of the world most of us know nothing about. I've just read the first part of the book, about Mariam, who leads a very circumscribed life from birth. The second part is about an entirely new character, Laila, who grows up in a "modern" family. The juxtaposition of conservative and liberal life styles before the Taliban imposed "sharia" on the whole country is a nostalgic backdrop to the current situation. More later...