Khaled Hosseini's quietly
powerful debut novel The Kite Runner
fulfills the promise of fiction, awakening curiosity about the world around us,
speaking truth as the lessons of history echo down the years. The themes are
universal: familial relationships, particularly father and son; the price of
disloyalty; the inhumanity of a rigid class system; and the horrific realities
of war.
In
Twice in his lifetime Amir
is morally tested in his relationship with Hassan. The first time, a victim of
his own arrogance, Amir fails his companion. Hiding behind the superiority of
class, Amir chooses the path of least resistance, but the scar of betrayal cuts
through his soul and never heals. That first failure dictates Amir's inner
dialogue throughout his life, even in
Played out on the world
stage, a desperate battle to preserve the cultural heritage of
Against this stark
landscape, the adult Amir is challenged as never before, charged with the
protection of a young life already scarred by the random violence visited upon
the disenfranchised. With inordinate compassion and stunning simplicity,
Hosseini portrays Amir's impossible dilemma. Complications abound, but the
answer lies in humanity's capacity for kindness. The grace of acceptance heals
the wounds of brutality, for with forgiveness anything is possible, even the
wild joy of soaring kites against a winter sky
By: Sidney Poitier
"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool,
pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions.
Quite the contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self
questioning. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long
and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at
measuring up to the values I myself have set."
In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life
and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in
cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of
the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here
explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own
measure--as a man, as a husband and father, and as an actor.
Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny
Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would
honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents just a few years
after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke
racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career.
Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates who one is,
Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something
positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.
Here, finally, is Poitier's own introspective look at
what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of
sacrifice and commitment, pride and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying
the price for artistic integrity, What emerges is a picture of a man seeking
truth, passion, and balance in the face of limits--his own and the world's. A
triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.
Paulo
Coelho
In this novel, an Andalusian shepherd boy, has a dream about finding a treasure
in the pyramids of
With
the courage of an adventurer,
At
a desert oasis,
On
the last leg of the journey,
Paulo
Coelho's The Alchemist is an enchanting fable about the spiritual
journey we all must take if we are to fulfill our dreams and play out our
destiny. Along the way we need to learn how to trust our hearts, to read the
world for signs of God, to listen to our dreams, to make the most of
coincidence and luck, and to accept the subtle ways love "transforms and
improves the Soul of the World."
By: Wilson Rawls
Billy lives on a farm.
He wants two good coonhounds very badly, but his Papa cannot afford any. Billy
works hard, selling fruit and bait to fishermen, so eventually he has enough
money for the dogs. He gives the money to his grandfather, who orders the
dogs for him. Billy sneaks off in the middle of the night to go to town and
pick them up. While in town, other children pick on him, but he stands up
for himself and is helped by the marshal. On his way home, he and his two
pups sleep in a cave. Outside, they hear a mountain lion, and the pups bravely
howl back. He decides to name them Old Dan and Little Ann. He can see that
Old Dan is very brave, and that Little Ann is very smart.
By: Kenneth Oppel
This is the story of 15 year old Matt Cruse, a cabin boy on the gigantic passenger
airship Aurora. Matt lives to fly, and only in the air can he dream of his
long-deceased father. When the Aurora finds a drifting, damaged balloon with
an old man inside of it, it is Matt who rescues them. The old man's dying
words talk of some amazing creature in the sky and how someone called Kate
would love them.
A year later, an ornithopter lands on the Aurora, brining aboard 2 passengers called Kate de Vries, and her caretaker, Miss Simpkins. Matt learns that the old man he rescued was Kate's grandfather and Kate is determined to prove that the amazing creatures her grandfather spoke and wrote about are real. Kate and Matt become fast friends, though Matt is painfully aware of their class differences. Matt has high hopes of being promoted to Junior Sailmaker but the place is given to Bruce Lunardi- a boy who just graduated from the Air Academy and whose father is the rich owner of not only the Aurora but a whole chain of airships, aptly named the "Lunardi Line". Kate shares her grandfather's log book containing detailed drawings and information of the creatures with Matt. The creatures are born in the air and can stay in the air forever, never touching the ground, though they are as large as a panther.
By: Gary Paulsen
BRIAN'S WINTER is the rest of the original story of HATCHET as it should have been told. Brian's ordeal -- brought back by popular demand! --is extended to its logical conclusion; the winter we began to fear would soon come to challenge him does just that. Finally, we get some real satisfaction....
This sequel / alternate universe story begins about a month after Brian found the survival gear. In the interim he has 'gone soft' in the sense that he has eaten all those tasty freeze-dried meals, used the rifle to supplement his diet with rabbits and 'foolbirds', and pretty much given up thinking about the future. The latter actually makes sense, because he has had to learn to 'be in the moment', alert to any immediate dangers and opportunities, in order to survive at all, but wasting the rifle on birds he can easily spear?! Nobody is that stupid!! Especially not when they've had the unpleasant experience of nearly being butted to death by a rogue moose!
When the firing pin on
the rifle breaks off, however, the book improves immensely; our hero wakes
up to the concept of also 'being in the future' and having to survive in a
wilderness area where temperatures plunge well below zero and blizzards are
not uncommon. An ordinary sleeping bag and a thrown-together shelter are not
going to cut it! Thus the storyline is restored to the quality of those sequences
in HATCHET during which the narrator reported the facts without preaching
against the protagonist's feelings. Brian's struggle is complex, thoroughly
absorbing and intelligently conducted...