Pages and Pages

This came in the post today, reading through dovegreyreader's blog and the recent media interest in Daphne by Justine Picardie I realised that I had not dipped into Du Maurier world for a while. This seems like something a bit different, they are the letters between Daphne Du Maurier and Oriel Malet who was a writer twenty years younger. Their friendship spanned over 3o years and the letters between the two women are said to offer an insight into Daphne Du Maurier as a person and how her life influenced her writing. I am nearly three quarters of the way through The Savage Garden by Mark Mills and I am really enjoying it- I love it when one book leads you on to read another and this sent me searching for a copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy which I have never taken the time to read but it features as a theme in Mill's book so I am going to give it a go also.

On a Winter's day in 1975 Amir witnesses an awful act involving his childhood friend Hassan that will have unimaginable bearings on the rest of his life. Amir is the privaleged son of a rich and respected merchant in Afghanistan; Hassan is the son of his father's long-time servant Ali. Although from different ends of the spectrum, the boys share a childhood until the day that changes both of their lives forever. There are so many themes running through Hosseini's book; friendship, childhood, loyalty, trust, cruelty and redemption are just a few. The author manages to vividly evoke the daily horror of Afghanistan under Taliban rule, especially when mirrored with the security of Amir's new life in San Francisco. I had constantly put off reading this book as I was worried that all of the hype surrounding it would be unfounded. However, I have to say that this is one of the best books that I have read in such a long time. The Kite Runner is not a nice book, it explores the ...