BookOpinion

The author of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, is releasing his new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, May 22. The book has received excellent reviews and was already atop the bestsellers based on pre-orders. The book’s title comes from a phrase in a 17th-century Persian poem.

“In the end, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a love letter to a country and to a people,” writes The Star-Telegram. “It is a celebration of endurance and survival in the face of unspeakable tragedy. This is a love song to anyone who has ever had a broken heart and to anyone who has ever felt powerless and yet still dares to dream. And yes, Hosseini has done it again.”

There was speculation as to whether the second book could reach the success of The Kite Runner, which sold 5 million copies. “When I took the manuscript home, I was so nervous,” said Penguin President Susan Petersen Kennedy in the AP. “Your hopes are very high, but most of the time the second novel is not as surprising or moving. It usually doesn’t have the same punch as the debut…When I was reading it, I was crying, I was haunted, I couldn’t talk to my family. The book is brilliant. I think it will sell enormous numbers of copies.”

The Associated Press writes:

…the good news is that “Splendid Suns” exceeds every expectation. This tough-to-put-down book leaves even a jaded reader crying, wincing and gasping at Laila and Mariam’s agony — and triumphing at their fleeting happiness. If anything, “Splendid Suns” is more visceral and heart-wrenching than “Kite Runner.”

“Splendid Suns” chronicles Afghanistan through Soviet, Mujahideen and Taliban rule. The story unfolds as invaders and warlords siphon wealth, freedom and humanity out of a once-proud nation.

The book ends shortly after the U.S. invasion of 2001, and the search for Osama bin Laden and fall of the Taliban.

Despite the book’s incendiary political backdrop — and the pitched conversations it might ignite in book discussions — the story remains rooted in Mariam and Laila’s lives, which become unendurable as Afghanistan deteriorates. Raping, beating, bombing, knifing: “Splendid Suns” is not for the squeamish.

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Amazon has a small excerpt from the book available to read, as well as a couple of podcasts with the author. Here is a brief quote from the book excerpt:

…The women in this part of Kabul were a different breed from the women in the poorer neighborhoods—like the one where she and Rasheed lived, where so many of the women covered fully. These women were—what was the word Rasheed had used?— “modern.” Yes, modern Afghan women married to modern Afghan men who did not mind that their wives walked among strangers with makeup on their faces and nothing on their heads. Mariam watched them cantering uninhibited down the street, sometimes with a man, sometimes alone, sometimes with rosy-cheeked children who wore shiny shoes and watches with leather bands, who walked bicycles with highrise handlebars and goldcolored spokes—unlike the children in Deh-Mazang, who bore sand-fly scars on their cheeks and rolled old bicycle tires with sticks.

These women were all swinging handbags and rustling skirts. Mariam even spotted one smoking behind the wheel of a car. Their nails were long, polished pink or orange, their lips red as tulips. They walked in high heels, and quickly, as if on perpetually urgent business. They wore dark sunglasses, and, when they breezed by, Mariam caught a whiff of their perfume. She imagined that they all had university degrees, that they worked in office buildings, behind desks of their own, where they typed and smoked and made important telephone calls to important people. These women mystified Mariam. They made her aware of her own lowliness, her plain looks, her lack of aspirations, her ignorance of so many things…

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The audio version of this book is also available for instant download at these sites:

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: For those who enjoyed Silence of the Lambs and Twister, here’s an unlikely novel that combines both elements — The Breathtaker by Alice Blanchard.

Charlie Grover, sheriff of a small Oklahoma town, is grappling with the aftermath of a tornado that rips through his quiet town. While investigating the deaths of one local family, whose home was seemingly thrashed by the twister, he begins to realize that the family were victims of something much more heinous than Mother Nature. A skilled policeman, Grover fits the pieces of the puzzle together and reasons out that a serial killer is working so-called “tornado alley.” The killer somehow knows when and where a tornado will strike, finds victims in the area, and manages to make their deaths seem like the result of the storm.

The killings take their toll on Grover, still hurting from the fairly recent death of his wife, and carrying scars (both physical and mental) from his traumatic childhood. Add to that the responsibility of caring for his confused 16-year-old daughter, and Charlie is nearly at the breaking point.

The novel is face-paced and interesting, and there are enough suspects to keep you guessing almost until the novel’s climax. There seems to be something missing, though, in this novel. Despite the multitude of traumatic events and tormented souls, there were few characters that I felt were truly engaging. I liked them, but I never really empathized, even though given the circumstances, I should have. At the same time, I never really lost interest in the plot.

The Breathtaker is better than a lot of serial killer/thrillers out there, and worth a read, but it probably won’t leave you with that lasting impression you get with a truly great read.

– Jane Leisteiner

The audio version of this book is also available for instant download at this site:

R.L. Stine is producing a new series of the wildly popular Goosebumps title. Goosebumps HorrorLand will be an original 12-book series that will launch in April of 2008 with two books.

“I thought writing 87 Goosebumps books was enough for a human—but everywhere I go the kids keep begging me to write more,” said R.L. Stine. “I’m so pleased to be able to do what I’ve always done: listen to my audience!”

The new books will be serialized with the story not ending on the final pages of the first book. The adventures will continue in subsequent books, as well as on the internet. The first title of the series will be “Revenge of the Living Dummy.”

“I missed my subway stop last week reading the first manuscript,” said Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs. “When I wasn’t laughing I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath. Bob Stine has done it again—with HorrorLand he will take millions of readers on a thrill ride like no other.”

Scholastic says the first nine HorrorLand books all will feature a combination of frightful new faces as well as the vilest villains from the original Goosebumps series. Ordinary kids are being summoned to a theme park, HorrorLand—but why? Who—or what—is behind the evil plot to assemble these kids? The answer will be revealed in the final book.

“Readers are in for the ride of their lives as the cast of characters trapped in the theme park grows larger with each book, and their situations become more and more perilous,” writes Scholastic.

Since the Goosbumps books debuted as a monthly series in 1992, more than 300 million copies have been sold worldwide in 32 languages—selling at the phenomenal rate of four million books per month in the mid-1990s.

Black Expressions focuses on contemporary and classic African-American fiction plus a variety of titles in such areas such as heritage and culture, inspiration/religion, health and beauty, relationships, cooking and home, career and personal finance, self-help, kid’s books and more.

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From time to time, BookOpinion will look back at a lost treasure — a hard-to-find novel that somehow has slipped through the cracks of modern-day publishers. This review introduces readers to D.E. Stevenson’s ‘Miss Buncle’s Book.’ 

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: If you believe that life in a typical English village is dull, uneventful and tedious, then you are in for a delicious surprise. “Miss Buncle’s Book”is a hilarious tale, written tongue in cheek, about a woman who wrote a book about a woman who wrote a book. The concept is highly original and works beautifully when penned by a truly talented author such as D.E. Stevenson.

Under a pale blue sky on a crisp English morning, lies the sleepy hamlet of Silverstream, home of Barbara Buncle, an unmarried woman of a certain age and her maid Dorcas. Inside Tanglewood Cottage, Barbara is appalled to find that her “dividends” will no longer support her and frantically begins to imagine ways to supplement her income. She considers raising chickens, discards that idea and decides to write a book about life in a simple English village. Having no imagination and unaware of the consequences, Miss Buncle writes the characters just as she sees them and doesn’t realize she is displaying a true portrait of her neighbors just as they are. Then, truly inspired, Barbara introduces a new character into the second half of her book, a Golden Boy, who, with his winsome pipe playing silver songs, enters the village, raises hopes and dreams in the breast of his listeners and causes the inhabitants of Silverstream to behave in a most unusual manner.

The book is quickly published by Mr. Abbott of Messrs. Abbott & Spicer, renamed Disturber of the Peace and circulated under the name of John Smith. When the book arrives in Silverstream and is read by its’ inhabitants, immediate mayhem erupts! There is a hilarious rush by the local characters to find the author of this inflammatory novel and, as Mrs. Featherstone Hogg suggests, “have him horsewhipped”. Enjoyed by a few but enraged by many, this intriguing story causes the villagers to attempt various schemes at discovering the author which only adds fuel to the fire for Barbara as she embarks on her second novel describing the antics of her neighbors as their lives are disrupted and changed in their vain attempts to unmask the enemy in their midst. As the story unfolds, Barbara’s life changes dramatically and she begins to confuse her own rather humdrum existence with that of her heroine, Elizabeth Wade. Living in the midst of the furor and consternation of her neighbors, will she ever complete her second novel? Will she be “found out”?

This book is an absolute treasure. If you are a bit tired of court room dramas, conspiracy theories and popular romance novels, then you are ready for “Miss Buncle’s Book”. Every character is delightful, the plot is hugely entertaining and there isn’t a dull moment in the entire story.

However, you may have a bit of a problem finding “Miss Buncle’s Book” as it was penned in 1937 and is no longer in print. Check out your local used bookstore or search online (try a bookseller such as Abebooks.com). If you enjoy this book as much as I do, then you are in luck. D.E. Stevenson wrote over two dozen novels, and while “Miss Buncle’s Book” is my personal favorite, they are all equally well written, witty, the characters are delightful and these novels offer an excellent presentation of English and Scottish life in the first fifty or sixty years of the twentieth century. I think you will find that the effort used to find this unusual, provocative and highly entertaining book will be well worth your time.

– Elizabeth Channery

Released in book stores this week is The Chrysalis by Heather Terrell. The debut novel is about a lawyer whose client is accused of owning artwork stolen by the Nazis. The book mixes history and art into a fictional account of the lawyer’s search to uncover the truth and deal with the moral dilemmas that arise along the way.

Kirkus reviews gave the novel a mixed review: “Like the painting, Terrell’s debut is full of lovely detail, from the descriptions of the Dutch landscape to the ’40s fashions of the wealthy Baum family. A theme of hidden faith and passion runs solidly throughout this slim thriller … But the plot is thinner than new varnish. The author telegraphs Michael’s duplicity from the start and the resolution is too quickly tied up through brief or off-stage meetings, and a final letter that seeks to weave all the historical strands together. Sleek historical mystery glides by on detail, but lacks plot depth.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently wrote about the author and The Chrysalis:

…Terrell, now at home in Sewickley with a 1-year-old, was a litigator in New York when she encountered stories of contested artworks stemming from Nazi confiscations during World War II.

“Art had been a passion of mine, but when I began hearing about a rising tide of lawsuits over contested paintings, I thought it might be a great mystery,” she said.

“The whole field opens up a wide range of legal and moral issues. While a museum might have the legal right to a painting, the moral issue is how that museum got the work in the first place.”…

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Also released was a video interview with the author talking about her new novel:

The full audio version of this book and an ebook version is also available for instant download at these sites: