The three books I read this summer were all very interesting in their own way. The most interesting, and what I would consider my favorite summer reading book, was The Kite Runner. Because I rarely branch out and read diffrent types of books, most books that don't have a romantic plot are different and interesting. The story just has to be really good and keep my attention. The fact that this book was like no other book I have ever read before made it interesting in and of itself. Although The Kite Runner is a fictional book, I am very sure that many events that happened in this book happen in real life which is heartbreaking but fascinating at the same time. It is so interesting to me to read and learn about how people live and are treated on the other side of the world. To learn about the culture and lifestyle of the Afghanistan was incredible. I also liked the writing style of Hosseini. The flashback and vivid memories of the narrator's childhood made it interesting and fun to read.

     Besides the required summer reading I didn't read much else. I read my issues of "US weekly", messages and wall posts on Facebook, lyrics to songs that I didn't know the exact words to, a few bible verses, a LOT of text messages, and a few other things that I can't seem to remember. 

** Good post! You'll be pleased to know Khaled Hosseini has written a 2nd book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, also set in Afghanistan only with a plotline involving FEMALE lead characters! A good read... I really liked it as much (if not more) than Kite Runner!

Question 2

     The Self-Discovery novel that I read over the summer was The Kite Runner. This book was in my opinion very deep and the narrator discovered a lot about himself. When he was young, the narrator was very selfish, deceitful, and even mean to his best friend Hassan. He let awful things happen to Hassan so that he could get ahead and knew it was wrong but did it anyways. As he grew older, the narrator completely blocked these awful memories and mistreatment of his friend out of his mind until his fathers friend Rahib Kahn called and told him "there was a way to be good again." The narrator had a chance to save his old (deceased at this point) friend Hassan's son to make up for treating him badly. He ultimately discovered that there was a way for him to be good again.

     The self discovery in this book was basically the entire purpose of the novel. The narrator wanted to be good again and forgive himself and this whole book is about this quest. I believe that this can apply to the lives of many readers. Although most readers will not go through the same experiences as the characters in this book, we've all gone lied and cheated and betrayed our friends in some way or another at some point in our lives. This book is in no way making the reader feel guilty for such actions, but rather pointing out that other people mess up too and there is a way to be good again!