Book Review

I just finally finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I say finally because I started it back in February when I was in Arizona, but I didn't have time to finish it and for some reason I didn't bother to try to finish it when I got home. Then about a month ago I checked it out from the library (not buying it-trying to reduce my "carbon footprint") and it sat on my bookshelf until a couple of days ago.
Why it took me so long to get back into I don't know, because it really is a fantastic book. This is the kind of writing I love because, without going overboard, Hosseini describes the setting and the events so vividly that I felt like I could feel the intense summer heat and hear the music in the streets myself.
It's also one of those books that doesn't necessarily dull my feelings toward my desire to travel the world, but does remind me that America is just one of many different types of cultures with different procedures, policies, and ways of life. The glamor of the architecture, unknown foods, exotic clothes, etc. should not blind tourists (as inevitably I would be although I hate that label) from the realities of people's everyday lives and what not only the women portrayed through the characters in this book, but war refugees as well, have to endure.