An Intimate Portrait Of Afghan Life,

Upcoming Book Discussion At Booth Library

C.H. Booth Library Daytime Book Group will be meeting on Monday, August 9, at 1 pm, to discuss the international bestseller, The Bookseller of Kabul written by the Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad. Newcomers are always welcome.

After living for three months with the Kabul bookseller Sultan Khan in the spring of 2002, Ms Seierstad wrote her astounding portrait of a man who has defied the authorities, whether communist or Taliban, for more than 20 years, to supply books to the people of Kabul.

He has been arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned, and has watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. Yet he has persisted in his passion for books, shedding light in one of the world’s darkest places.

This is the intimate portrait of a man of principle and of his family — two wives, five children, and many relatives sharing a small four-room apartment in this war-ravaged city. As they endure the extraordinary trials and tensions of Afghanistan’s upheavals, they also still try to live ordinary, lives, with work, relaxation, shopping, cooking, marriages, rivalries, and shared joys.

Most of all, the bookseller of Kabul is an intimate portrait of family life under Islam. Ms Seierstad experienced first-hand Afghani life as few outsiders have seen it. Stepping back from the page, she allows the Khans to speak for themselves, giving readers a genuinely gripping and moving portrait of a family, and of a country of great cultural riches and extreme contradictions.

Extra copies of the book are available at the library. There is no need to reserve a place, though readers may call the library at 426-4533 with any questions.

Other books the daytime group will be discussing include The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley on September 13; Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides on October 18; and Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac on November 8.