I finished two books in the past couple of days. Actually I finished both the same day.
I had been reading Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and really really enjoying it. It took a while because I limited myself to reading it on the exercise bike and, well, I haven't been as diligent about that activity as I should be. It didn't matter, the book was fascinating, even if a bit slow and thoughtful at times, and I had no trouble reading it or remembering where I was. I'm looking forward to his next book, which is newly released.
However, since I didn't decide that this book was a "keeper", the next one will wait for me to get it from the library or audible. It does strike me as odd sometimes, what I keep and what I don't. Thank goodness for libraries, although there are enough books I borrow and then want to keep (The Rain Before it Falls comes to mind). Still it is better than buying and then having to sell or otherwise find new homes for books. For example I loved The Cure for Modern Life which I read while G was in the hospital. I could not put it down and I have picked it up and flipped through sections again and again. I have read books, even this year, with more beautiful prose, but the writing here fits the characters and the story. I like the way the author addresses many issues in modern life through her characters, and she does not fall back on "pat" answers when exploring her premise. What is a good person? The characters are well developed, and like most of us, they don't see beyond their own little preconceived views of the world. But each of them is more complex than they appear to the others. And in the end, you can't tell who is a good person from the superficial facade they present to the world.
But here, I have gotten off the current subject, meaning books I just read. I also finished Kabul Beauty School which was a joy to read. Reading this book gave me a feeling for people, for the women in Afghanistan perhaps, whose lives I really could never know at least in my current life, and about whom the meaningless words in newspapers and scholarly books on current events and political unrest and history never address. In the end, to me, it is the individual stories that are the most important. Perhaps there is no "great" accomplishment here, and society is not changed, but I continue to believe that is the individual connections we make that are the most important. No I don't understand. But perhaps now the veils over my eyes have seen a glimmer of something else so that perhaps understanding can someday come. Whether or not the endeavor was a success, the book is fascinating, as is its author. The fact that she is often rash and irreverant, perhaps at times even a bit of an "ugly American" in her insensitivity, these things are also the qualities that allowed her to accomplish so much. I don't know if the beauty school came to anything. I don't know if the lives of women in Afghanistan are better than they were or not. I believe that some women were elected to Parliamentary positions, but I don't know how much bearing this has on the lives of most Afghani women. I do know that the book made me look at the world a little differently.