A Thousand Splendid Suns

© overdrive.com

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, 

Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her soul." - Khaled Hosseini

   The very last novel on my to-read list by Khaled Hosseini was non other than "A Thousand Splendid Suns". I have a lot of painful mixed feelings regarding this book, that's why I probably decided to give it a 3/5, though I wanted to rate it as a 3.5 but that's not possible. Now, as I read my way through this book, Hosseini successfully illustrated what it was like to live as a woman in Afghanistan, so much pressure, fear, stress, pain and very less care and affection. As an Arab woman myself, it hurt me to know how women on the other side of the world were being treated, yet there was nothing that can be done about it. 

   You see, there are Muslim women all over the world. We've got the American-Muslim, the Asian-Muslim, the European-Muslim and many more muslims. All ethnic groups and countries have their own beliefs and cultures, that's basically what makes them different than one another. The Americans have their own way of life, the English have their own way as well as the Arabs, but there's one trait that makes us all equal, regardless of the colour of our skin and language of communication, and that is Islam.

   Some people are very strict and super conservative, that's not right because on of the greatest traits Islam teaches us is to be right in the middle of everything. Not to take the top nor the low, but to try our best and be in the middle. In the book, the readers can see how strict that society is, and its reality, its inevitable. Life goes on for that matter, you have nothing but to pray for everyone in this world. 

   In this book, I felt really bad and in a lot of pain to read what has been happening to both Mariam and Laila, and its very true.  You do not always get the happy ending you dreamed of, what Mariam did in the end to her husband was a sign of courage, endurance, patience running out and simply courage. I praise her for that even though she was killed for that, but she did what she did. In reality, the situation of a woman at this state, she should not be faced with death as a result of her doing, some people refer to death as a solution, others let women like Mariam go because its considered as defence. 

   In the end of this book, I just gripped it so tight because of the pain it brought down, it made me want to do whatever I can possibly think of to provide help. More importantly feeling blessed was overwhelming, really.

   Anyways yet again Khaled Hosseini is just topping my favorite author's list because he was able to make me live in his novels and actually feel connected. 

Thumbs Up!

The Kite Runner

© Teenink

“For you, a thousand times over” - Khaled Hosseini

  This marks the second book I've decided to read by Khaled Hosseini, and I do not regret spending the time and reading it, however, I just miss the few - literally - few days I spent reading it. We've heard people say "I just couldn't put the book down." this is the book where this quote literally applies to. At first, I did not know what to expect as I read the book but half way through the book the title started to make sense. Hosseini, unlike any other author out there, makes you literally "live" the story and that I mean very much because while reading this book I was picturing the scenes and imagining the characters speaking. That's a rare skill that most authors are still failing to accomplish. After Amir and Hassan's childhood flashback, I was gripping the book so hard I thought something was going to happen to me. The intensity of the words, the events and the way the sentences were written makes it even harder for me to describe how I felt as I read the book. When Amir went back to Pakistan to begin his journey of bringing back his nephew, that was shocking. The delivery of news, the anxiety of reading the letter Hassan finally wrote after teaching himself how to read and write, brought me to tears literally. Upon reading the news of Hassan's death and Amir's denial as the news was delivered to him I was already tearing apart. The way Hosseini engaged me in this novel was super marvellous  I don't think I can easily express in any good way to match its standards. 

  Most readers of this book talked about how Hosseini was trying to make them like Amir better, personally speaking I dreaded Amir for being a coward and a selfish person. Hassan no matter how life sucked up for him, he showed the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and honesty. He was the perfect example of all of life toughest traits despite being treated lowly by his society. This shows what life really is all about. No matter how awful your life is, no matter how " bad " you think you're being treated, just look at the bright side, always because there's always that little thing that's going to bring a smile to your face and really make your day. I can not imagine the regrets Amir will live with for the rest of his life for ruining Hassan's life and for raising his son who eventually turned out to be his nephew, I really can't imagine the pain and regret that will fall upon him for having to watch his half-brother's son every single day and remember how awful he treated his father, that can end up killing you being it's inevitable.

I salute Hassan for his honesty, loyalty, courage, and yet again his loyalty.

  This book is just amazing, though it was criticised for its content and I have no right to comment on that whatsoever, regardless of all that, it was the novel of this year so far for me. Later on, I found out it was adopted into a movie, I struggled to find the right subtitles so I ended up watching in a language I've never heard before, but it was a good movie. To me it wasn't as good as the book because as always movies do not 100% adopt the book. I think it's just me, I always prefer books over movies but watching the characters come to life is really nice.

  For the second time, Hosseini impressed me and got me speechless, I'm already reading through his third novel "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and frankly its a masterpiece so far. 

  Taking the time to read after months of a lot of studying and working feels great, makes you think twice and trice to always make that time to open your book and just read. Always make that time no matter what.

A morning thought

In the middle of summer, when people seek beaches and swimming pools to ease of the hot summer weather, a lady once lived. Just like them, she choice the beach as the best vacation destination. A place away from the city, a place of nature, a place of bittersweet memories, a place away from it all. To her joy, it wasn't as unbearable as everyone said it would be. Right at the tip of the country, on the gulf, it was actually cool, your typical not too hot not too cold type of weather. Dim clouds covered the raising of each morning, and the rise of our sun everyday.  After a few days in the city, the beach seemed like the perfect destination to charge up for what was about to come.

A moment of a lifetime, this needs a lot of work, a lot of patience, and a lot of prayers. Most of all, it needs a lot of strength, sending a loved one away for the next step in their lives was never easy. It never will be, as far as I'm concerned. 

Early morning always had their sweet peaceful taste, I missed that uniqueness and reminisced till this morning. That's when I knew some moments, are for the lucky. There's always time for sleep during the day, but once these moments flee, then you're at loss. You do need sleep, but you should also listen to your inner alarm that knows best. That's when your inner self does not fail you, it never will.

Once you open your eyes in the morning, the very first thing you should encounter is being grateful. Asking why, that is because you were blessed with another chance in life, have it another chance to do right, or to keep on doing good. Others were not given the gift of that, you were, thank god for this because one day you won't be the lucky one anymore. 

The bottom line of everything, if you take a good look at what's around you, have a moment of silence with nature, then you will come to realise that this is not all. Every single person you meet in your new day is a silent soul. You only see what they make you see, and that's the right way of living. This is why we were created to keep our thoughts and inner conversations to ourselves. No one can read what's going on in our minds, imagine what would life and living be like if that were possible. 

Good Morning July

Feeling really blessed for making it through the Spring semester successfully. The biggest shock was the fact that college students kick off their Summer break before school students and that was exciting. Ever since the 11th of June, the last day of the semester and the very first day of my summer break, I was making sure to make the best of every single day.

I have always admired my mother's organised habits. As her daughter, it amazes me all the time and it actually grew on me. Ever since I since I started middle-school and started to feel independent, I have always had pet peeves and everything had to be in place and organised. My study list was listed well with the important tasks listed on the top and as the list went downwards, the priorities started to decrease to the less important. I've lived that way and have been very comfortable with it really. As I grew older and got to college, I never changed. Everything had to be scheduled and my tasks had to be pointed out either mentally or written. It's just the way I feel less stressed because as tasks pile up on my to-do list and I do not know what's more important and when its due, then I seriously can not get things done. Keep in mind that every single one of us had their own habits and is literally different that the other. My sisters are the complete opposite, literally the complete opposite and I'll keep it to that. 

My summer is not as organised as my to-do study list but I do mentally have a few ins and abouts planned out for my break. To begin with, I definitely plan on catching up with my GoodReads challenge and my crochet projects. That's a top priority for sure, the things I love to do the most have to be crocheting and reading. Throughout the Spring semester I was not able to fully do any of them, but now that it's summer time, there's plenty of time to crochet, read , write and get some work done.

My review page is already up, but my "CroKnits" page is still under construction. Anticipate it though, I've got a few awesome looking completed projects that I plan on posting and sharing with the world. :)

And The Mountains Echoed

I've had this book for a year now and have always wanted to read it ever since. I actually started off last summer but then something made me lose interest in it so I just stopped reading it. I thought taking a break from it would make me want to go back to reading it. I've literally tried reading it again for the second time but something about it made me stop. A few days back I've decided to read another book after finishing  "The Missing One" and "And the Mountains echoed" was tempting, so I thought why not take the time and finish what I started. I'm just overwhelmed with what I was about to lose, sitting on my bookshelf. This book was the very first book where all my needs about all the characters mentioned are fulfilled. Every single character that conspired to building this novel had their life and background briefly explained throughout this book. It's what made me love every page of it, it wasn't a mess, it was very well organised and written, I just loved it very much. I knew who was who and how they contributed to the excitement and agony of the story, it was marvellous.

This is not your typical novel though, its about love, family, life and all the hardships that bring you down to make you take decisions that will eventually drain you out. It's for the best but it hurts very much. At the very end, when Pari grew old and had a family of her own that I couldn't stop thinking about what happened to her brother Abdullah, how was his life afterwards, did he get married and had a family of his own? Yes he did and how events escalated to the siblings meeting each other was my top most favorite part of this entire novel. It was too late that's for sure, but still it happened regardless of it being like what 53 years?

A masterpiece of life and reality.

The Missing One

This was a book I never thought I would read, it turned out to be my Good-Read for my Spring semester and boy it did take sometime to finish. This semester was overloaded with a lot of course related work but I was able to squeeze in time for my readings. Now that my Spring semester is over, I'm so happy I got the chance to finish off this book and it was not a waste of time. Throughout this book, I literally could not stop. It's that type of book that keeps you wanting for more, and the escalation of events as I read through the book got me on my heels. First off, the lead's mother passes away and this book is all about the rush of impulse she goes through in order to find out about the life her mother lived. The twist in this is literally at the end and I shall not talk about the twist here, but to add on the excitement of things, the lead "Kal" finds out her husband might be having an affair and she already has a son. In the end things turn out to be just shocking..literally shocking, the lady who happens to be her mother's long time friend eventually starts losing it, how you ask? You should read the book to know what I'm talking about.

Summer plan [1] ✔

I'm the type of person that usually plans things out most of the time and when it comes to long breaks like a Summer/Winter break I usually plan out the old-fashion way , and by that I mean by the help of a paper and pencil.  

moving on, so for this Summer break I had in mind the strict plan of mastering knitting because I have always wanted to learn how to knit. My mom always told me that if you want to learn such things you're going to have to join a club and see how it's done "live".  Well for me "live" pretty much meant 'Youtube'. And youtube really helped, more precisely this user "goodknitkisses' demonstrated knitting and the basics of it in a way that made the most complicated craft ( well to me for sure) so simple and I loved that! So I thank her for helping me finally knit!

For that I'd like to share my very first Knitting challenge that turned into a beanie for my nephew~!

The Five People you Meet in Heaven

 

The other week I gave my local bookstore a visit and sadly they did not have the books I wanted ( they were actually out of stock). One of the books I wanted to read was “ The first Phone Call from Heaven” by Mitch Albom. The bookstore did not have that in stock but they had other books by the same author in stock, so I decided to give them a try. One of the books was titled “ The five people you meet in heave” and that was definitely one of the best reads of 2014 so far. That book was a complete turn in my usual reads and it was totally worth the time I spent on it, and the following is my review of the book. 

Just as the title implies, the story revolves around the 5 people the main character meets in heaven when he dies and each person tells him a story and a lesson. The story told by each person( some who the main character do not know) is indirectly related to the lead and that’s what made the book hard to put down. The other factor that made the book worth reading was the lesson told by each person met by the lead “Eddie” in heaven.

Lesson 1:

 “Strangers,” the Blue man said, “ are just family you have yet to come to know” 

Lesson 2: 

Sometimes you have to hurt the ones you care about in order to help them move on. 

Lesson 3: 

Strangers you never knew or met can walk into your life to teach you a lesson “ Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive,forgive, forget and move on” 

 Lesson 4:

Love has no limits even when the person you love the most leaves this world before you. 

Lesson 5:

 Although you killed me, I held you tight to bring you up here and keep you safe. The lesson that kept me re-reading the page was the fifth lesson that was told by the little girl Eddie burns when he was at war. They ( the group of soldiers with Eddie) the mine they were forced to work in on fire and Eddie suddenly sees a small figure running into the fire. The ironic part is when Eddie keeps on wondering whether he saved the little girl in park when the accident happened and throughout the book he mentions her little hands that caught him for protection. He thought it was the girl from the park, but the real little hands belonged to the girl that walked back to the fire set up by Eddie and she held him to keep him safe. 

So I see there was an adaptation of the book in 2004? I shall check it out now that I read the book!