The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

It's about a girl who's father, a historian, gets kidnapped by Dracula. There's a lot of secret society type stuff in it. I collect vampire books. Definitely the best one I've read except for the original Dracula.

The Kite Runner,

And the follow up (not sequel) A Thousand Splendid Suns

Both by Khaled Hosseini. 

Stories about life in Afghanistan, from Pre-communist times to Post Taliban, the first a story of a young boy who grows up in Kabul and is later forced to flee the country with his father after the Soviet invasion, his live in America, and eventual return to Afghanistan, then under the Taliban.

The second book is about two women living under the Taliban.

Neither of these books are my normal fair, but both are very compelling, absorbing, very well told stories.  Hard to put down, even though at times they are disturbing enough that you wish you could.


(hopefully this will work, I actually posted about these two books in the literature forum yesterday, but it turned into a ghost post)

It is.  As I said, a very compelling read.  This is not the kind of thing I would normally read, but I had a hard time putting them down.

I actually would suggest starting with A Thousand Splendid Suns, it actually starts a little faster, and being a woman yourself, you will likely identify more with the characters  (although I am guessing you have never worn a burqa  )

If you get a chance to read either, I would be gratified to read you impressions of them here.

As for my all time favorite book, it is without contest Gibran Khalil Gibran's: The Prophet.

Wiki


One of the best chapters is the one about Love:

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.


Full Version

I will repeat what I posted in the old IAP: Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley. Chilling yet satirical. A true masterpiece!

OswaldTheOsprey

I like Anne Rice. The idea has been to played out though. Why they made a movie about "Queen Of The Damned" but not "The Vampire Lestat" is beyond me.

They did take it to Broadway though... and it died swiftly...