What I found fascinating about The Secret Keeper is that the author Paul Harris is also a journalist who covered the war in Sierra Leone.  I wanted to know how much of his personal experience played into the writing of this book and was thrilled to be able to ask Paul some of those questions.  Please welcome Paul to the Maw Books Blog . . .

Maw Books:  How and why did you become a journalist? Can you briefly share a few highlights from your career?

Paul Harris: I always wanted to be a journalist and I think I have been lucky to have had that ambition from a young age. When I was about 9 years old I started a newspaper at my school (it lasted one edition!). So it was simply a matter of doing student journalism, getting a journalism qualification and then battling to get a job. The reasons why I  wanted to be a journalist are a mix. Every journalist (I would hope) wants to change the world a little bit for the better. But every honest journalist should admit that it’s a chance to have an awful lot of fun, see some exotic places and get to see your name in print. My main highlight would be covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It was a panel set up by archbishop Desmond Tutu to examine apartheid era crimes by all sides. It was a privilege to watch a nation try to heal itself like that, with all the moral compromises and complexities that that involved.

Maw Books:  Starting a newspaper at nine?  It’s no surprise you became a journalist!  You spent a month in Sierra Leone covering the civil war.  It is obviously this experience that drove you to write The Secret Keeper.  But you’ve also covered many other conflicts across Africa and elsewhere. Why did you choose this story over any of the other stories that you could have told?

Paul Harris: I think Sierra Leone held the most fascination because for me it was the most extreme experience.  More so than two months embedded with the military during the invasion of Iraq or other conflicts which I just dipped in and out of.  In Sierra Leone I was operating alone, in a strange country amid utter chaos.  It was a heady mixture of excitement and fear.  It was also the conflict that put a full stop on my African experience. I decided to leave shortly after.

Maw Books:  I can only imagine the things you must have seen and heard.  Why write a novel in the first place?  Is it something that you have always wanted to do or have been interested in?  What led you to turn from journalism writing to novel writing?

Paul Harris: I always wrote fiction, especially when I was a child. I fell in love with Tolkien and spent many hours writing my own stories set in fantasy worlds (writing a fantasy book is still a secret ambition of mine). Then, after I had left Africa, I decided to take my desire to write a novel seriously and followed the dictum: write what you know. So I began the process of taking some of my own experiences as a setting and starting to work what sort of themes I wanted to explore.

Maw Books:  Was it easy or difficult to switch to a different style of writing for The Secret Keeper from your journalism writing?

Paul Harris: It was very liberating actually. Fiction is an opportunity to play around and say exactly what you want. Journalism has rules to stop that sort of thing.

Maw Books:  I imagine being an war correspondent stationed abroad can be very frustrating when faced with the ignorance of others who either have little to no interest in the stories that you are risking your life to bring to them.  Do you think you can reach a new demographic with a novel (as opposed to journalism writing), to those who may not be aware of some of the current conflicts around the world?

Paul Harris: Definitely. The best fiction can bring the most obscure parts of the world to people’s attention and reach people that don’t consume too much news or have become disillusioned with it. I imagine that Khaled Hosseini has done more to bring Afghanistan alive for people than a thousand news stories.  Perhaps, hopefully, what happens is someone will read the fiction and then be inspired to find out more about the reality.

Maw Books:  I must admit that Hosseini spurred my desire to read more books that take place in Afghanistan, which I’m lucky to say I have.  What do you hope the reader learns, if anything, after reading The Secret Keeper?

Paul Harris: I think, at heart, it’s a story about moral complexity. That very few things are black and white. Good people do bad things, bad people do good  things. Everything is a shade of grey.

Maw Books:  What was the personal emotional impact on you from your experience in Sierra Leone?  How does covering war stories change you?  And how do you suppress this emotion in your journalism writing?

Paul Harris: It was pretty intense. I thought I was fine but after I left (and was incredibly relieved to get out) I noticed that I was behaving in certain strange ways: edgy, short-tempered, constantly nervous. I remember walking through a Nairobi street when a car exhaust backfired several times and it set my heart racing so much I thought I was about to have a panic attack.  But I think for most journalists the impact of covering conflicts will be as varied as the person. Some very fine friends make their whole careers out of it. Some of them thrive, others become very damaged. For me, it gave me a great sense of perspective and the preciousness of life and a feeling that war truly is the greatest folly of mankind. As for suppressing the emotion in writing, I think the simple rules of writing journalism will keep a lot of it out. But also a little bit of emotion – and breaking those rules – is generally a good thing. There is no such things as true objectivity, especially about tragedy, and nor should there be.

Maw Books:  Was the experience of writing The Secret Keeper cathartic in any way?  A way for you to release some of the emotions that you felt while in Sierra Leone or any other war torn country?

Paul Harris: I think it was. It felt good to get it out on the page, probably more than I realized I needed.

Maw Books:  After witnessing so much real-life drama how do you recreate that drama in The Secret Keeper?  How are real life emotions different than emotions as written on a page?

Paul Harris: What a fascinating question. I think (I hope) that I tried to recreate that drama as accurately as possible and give my characters emotions that would ring true. I think authors should aim to recreate authenticity. Because readers are not fools and will spot a fake. So I guess it is up to the readers to say if I have succeeded or not.

Maw Books:  How have the real life people you met in Sierra Leone influenced the characters/personalities in your book?

Paul Harris: A lot, but not all. The romance between Danny and Maria was inspired by an affair that a colleague and a local aid worker were having.  Kam, Danny’s driver and fixer, was based entirely on my driver in real life. Ali was inspired by a guy I met on a helicopter trip.  I did not even speak to him, but he just looked so… shady and yet totally at home in his environment. I just extrapolated him from there. The scenes in the hotel bar were all taken from real life. That place was a real “Star Wars” bar that everyone went to every night. Covering a conflict like that at leaves gives one a vast amount of exotic source material.

Maw Books:  I thought Kam was quite the character!  How much (if any) of you is there in Danny?  Is there anything specifically that happened to him that is based upon your real life experiences?

Paul Harris: I think inevitably there is a lot there. A friend pointed out that there is very little physical description of Danny in the book and I guess that is because in my mind’s eye he was basically me. There are several specific incidents inspired by real life events: the shooting outside the RUF leader’s house, the trip to Bo and the fire fight up country towards the end of the book. Mining those events for fictional purposes did feel a little surreal at times.

Maw Books: Knowing what your author photo looked like I have to admit that I kept picturing Danny as you.  And what fascinating experiences!  Was there a particular scene that you knew you had to write about?  That never changed from the moment you conceived it?

Paul Harris: Weirdly, the last sentence was pretty much the first sentence that came to my mind. Writing the book felt like a journey to get to that point and though it took lots of turns and twists, I felt I never really lost sight of it.

Maw Books:  What surprised you most about your book and/or characters as you were writing? Did anything turn out radically different than you’d originally thought it would?

Paul Harris: This is a tough one. I had an unusual experience writing the character of Danny’s girlfriend, Rachel. I wanted her to be a sympathetic, good person.  But at the end of the first draft my editor said she didn’t really care for her at all, saying she came over as negative and complaining. With that in mind I went back and reread those bits of the book with a fresh eye and was astonished to discover she was right. I had written her in print in a way completely different than what I thought I had. So I went back and rewrote her parts to do her more justice.

Maw Books:  While I was reading The Secret Keeper I kept visualizing the story as a movie playing out in my head.  If The Secret Keeper were a movie, who would you cast as your characters?

Paul Harris: That’s a fun question. A lot of people say it feels very cinematic. Perhaps Penelope Cruz as Maria. As Danny is inspired by some of my own experiences, I think modesty forbids me making any suggestions. I’ll leave it to readers’ imaginations. They are likely to be more honest than mine.

Maw Books:  I could totally see Penelope Cruz as Maria.  Good choice!  Can you briefly share with us what you think the current state of Sierra Leone is and what you think is in it’s future?

Paul Harris: Sierra Leone – I am delighted to say – is doing well. It is still desperately poor and has huge needs, but the war is over and has been for almost a decade now. Progress is slow but with such a history any sort of progress is to be celebrated. The same can be said of much of the rest of the region where equally devastated countries, like Liberia, are also recovering and stable. It is good news in a troubled world.

Maw Books:  I was haunted with the blank stares and listless ex-child soldiers as you wrote about them in the book.  Maria, works for an orphanage that took in ex-child soldiers in an attempt to rehabilitate them and place them into homes.  Will you share with us some of your experiences with child soldiers in Sierra Leone? Is enough being done for them?  What, in your opinion, needs to be done?

Paul Harris: My experiences were mostly limited to meeting them at  roadblocks and trying to negotiate my way through them. It is incredibly scary and also incredibly sad, to meet such young children, armed with machine guns, drunk and high and dangerous, and yet fundamentally still children who respond to a laugh and a smile. It is a problem that felt almost impossible to solve and I am no expert. But they need all the help and understanding they can get to help them recover from traumatising experiences that we can never imagine and yet not lose sight of the fact that they remain children.  Like everything else in Sierra Leone, resources are small and the need is great.  But, at the very least, no more child soldiers are being created.

Maw Books:  I have a special interest in Sudan.  You have spent some time in Sudan.  Can you briefly share a little bit about some of the stories that you covered there?

Paul Harris: I spent some time traveling with Christian missionaries who were buying back black African Sudanese who had been captured in slave raids by Arab Sudanese. I know that sounds incredibly medieval but the South of Sudan back in the 90s was just that kind of place. It is a different world.  I also covered a lovely story on a sort of ‘Olympics’ that aid groups organized in the area for local kids who had little else to enjoy in tough childhoods defined by the ongoing civil war. I loved south Sudan.  People were generous and kind and it really felt like going back in time.  My favourite moment was sleeping in a south Sudanese village, deep in the bush and being awoken by terrible screams and shouts. In the middle of a war zone, you could imagine all sorts of horrors. But the next morning we discovered one of the village elders had had too much to drink and his wife had kicked him out of their hut. It was their argument we had heard.  As someone who fundamentally believes that every human being is basically the same, it was a good lesson in the universality of human experience!

Maw Books:  I’ve read a bit about the slave trade in South Sudan.  It’s just so crazy!  And now for a few more “lighter” questions.  What’s the last book you finished and what’s on your nightstand right now?

Paul Harris: The last book I read was the excellent Columbine by Dave Cullen. I have not got anything on my night stand just yet as I am about to start doing research for a new book and am going to draw up a long non-fiction reading list based around US politics to kick things off.

Maw Books:  What is the best writing advice you have ever received and in turn the best writing advice that you could give?

Paul Harris: The best advice I got was write what you know. It was a great help in giving me the focus to write a book after several false starts over the years on less solid ground. My advice would simply be: a writer writes.  So many people say they have books in them, but never finish what they start.  You have to persevere. To the end. It sounds blindingly obvious, but the main reason most people don’t get published is because they don’t write a book.

Maw Books:  That makes perfect sense.  If you could have dinner with any five people, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Paul Harris:

Jesus Christ (just to solve the mystery of who he actually was)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (the most ‘good’ person I have ever met) Aristophanes (great sense of humour)
JRR Tolkien (he created an entire world inside his head)
Mae West (she would make it a proper party)

Maw Books:  Speaking of dinner, a question that I ask of every single author I interview is to share with us a recipe that I will later make and blog about.  Do you have a favorite from your world travels that you would care to share with us?

Paul Harris: Food during a lot of my travels has not been that good (two months of military rations in Iraq!). But here is a dish from Cape Town in South Africa, with its origins in the Cape Malay community, people descended from Malaysian slaves brought over by the Dutch in the 17th Century.  It is called Bobotie and is a bit (only a bit) like a moussaka.

Link to Bobotie recipe.

Maw Books:  Seriously, sounds delicious.  I’m going to try to get everything I need for it.  So what are you doing right now?  Do you have any more books in your future?

Paul Harris: I am just starting a second book. Set against the backdrop of an American presidential campaign. I covered the 2004 and 2008 elections and want to capture some of that amazing excitement and drama. As I said earlier: write what you know.

Maw Books:  Anything else you would like to share with the Maw Books readers?

Paul Harris: Just to say thanks for reading and commenting.  The experience of doing this sort of thing online is a lot of fun and also blogs like Maw Books are so important these days. For readers and for authors.  We’re entering a whole new world together.

Giveaway: I was able to pick up a second copy of The Secret Keeper that I would love to pass on to you.  To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me what you found the most interesting from this interview with Paul Harris.  If you would like to double  your chances of winning, also leave a comment responding to my book review of The Secret Keeper.  Giveaway is open world-wide and I’ll pick a winner on May 27th.

Links of interest:  The Secret Keeper website.  Maw Books review of The Secret Keeper.
Genre:  Mystery/thriller.
Publisher:  Dutton Adult.  April 2nd, 2009
Hardcover, 336 pages.  ISBN: 0525951024
The Secret Keeper is available from your independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
.

Kabul Beauty School is the memoir of Deborah Rodriguez, a hairdresser, who shortly after 9/11 joined a humanitarian organization which ultimately took her to  Kabul, Afghanistan.  Leaving her two young sons with her mother (which was a huge discussion point in our book club – how does one just pick up and leave their family), and putting distance between herself and an abusive husband, Debbie soon found herself in a home with other humanitarian workers but unsure of exactly what role she was supposed to play.

After playing hairdresser to Westerners and a trip back to the U.S., Debbie sought sponsorship from beauty companies to start her own beauty training school for Afghan women.  In a country where women are undervalued, at the mercy of their husbands, rarely hold jobs, have little to no income, going to beauty school to train and open their own salons opens up opportunities and freedom previously unknown to them.  Debbie recounts the many girls and women that she became friends with and their heartbreaking stories.  She also shows how the beauty school was a much needed refuge and safe haven for the women where they could feel free to be themselves and free their inhibitions.  

To tell you the truth, I’m totally shocked that Debbie didn’t get herself killed while she was there.  She has a very loud, abrasive personality which in a country where women are not to draw attention to themselves, she was like a bull in a china shop.  I was surprised at what should have been a very tense political situation and a dangerous time in the country that she seemed to have very little fear or concern for her personal safety.  I’m sure she really did but it didnt feel that way in the writing.  She often yelled at the men, taunted her neighbors, and even once gave a ride to her arrested neighbor to the police station.  And she was the one pressing charges!  I couldn’t believe some of the things that she did.

I was also shocked when she agreed to be married in an arranged marriage to an Afghan whom she couldn’t even talk to because they spoke a different language.  And he already had another wife.  She was shocked that this other wife became pregnant with his child while she was married to him.  Somebody at our book club mentioned that one reason she left the country was because her husband was going to kidnap her son for and hold him for ransom (more details).  At this point, I’d definitely think that the different culture thing didn’t work out for them.  Can you just imagine sitting down to lunch with this author?  The stories she could tell!

Kabul Beauty School could have been edited better.  It felt as though she just sat down and began a rambling of her experience in Afghanistan, breaking off here and there to tell different stories or backgrounds.  But luckily, those stories were fascinating.  I particularly liked hearing about the women she taught and would like to have heard their voices even more.  From the woman whom Debbie helped fake her virginity, to the 12 year-old used to pay off her families debt, her crazy housekeeper who seemed to be on drugs half the time, to the woman who continued her training despite the beatings from her Taliban husband; these are the stories that I wanted to read about.   From what I understand, many of these girls are now in danger because of this book.  You can read more about that in this NPR article and you can watch Rodriguez talk about her book as well.

Overall, I liked this memoir.  It’s not the best that I’ve read but it is fascinating to learn about the Afghan women and the steps that they are taking to gain back their personal freedoms.

Like the title suggests, Lunch with Lenin, is an anthology of ten short stories connected by how the lives of teens are affected directory or indirectly by drugs.  It’s a worldwide problem and as such Ellis takes us from the Philippines, where young Ramon is just trying to take care of his mother and siblings, to Afghanistan, where for Tahmina, harvesting opium is their families only livelihood, to the United States where a babysitter must protect the children from their with out of control alcoholic parents.  The stories are engaging and thought provoking but not preachy.  Ellis just presents the facts as they are and leaves us to ponder upon the choices that each character has made.

Deborah Ellis has proven yet again that she’s a writer for young readers who can always be relied upon to give us stories where are attention is most needed.  Deborah Ellis’ page on the Fitzhenry and Whiteside site.  Other books I’ve reviewed by Deborah Ellis: The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, Mud City (a series), and The Heaven Shop.

In The Heaven Shop, which takes place in Malawi, Binti is very proud.  She’s thirteen and already has a “real” job acting on a show called Gogo’s Family on the radio.  Her role is popular and she always makes sure that when she walks home everybody can see the script.  Her father runs a coffin shop called The Heaven Shop, which is always busy because of many AIDS deaths.  But slowly it becomes more and more difficult for him to run because he spends more and more time in bed.  Soon Binti, her brother and sister are planning their own father’s funeral.

From the book jacket:

At her father’s funeral, Binti’s grandmother says the words that no one in Malawi wants to hear.  Binti’s father, and her mother before him, died of AIDS.  Binti, her sister and brother are split up and sent to the homes of relatives who can barely tolerate their presence.  Ostracized by their extended family, the orphans are treated like the lowest servents.  With her brother far away and her sister wallowing in her own sorrow, Binti can hardly contain her rage.  She, Binti Phiri, was the child star of a popular radio program.  Now she is scraping to survive.  Binti always believed she was special.  Now she is nothing but a common AIDS orphan.

Binti Phiri is not about to give up.  Even as she clings to hope that her former life will be restored, she must face the greatest challenge.  If she and her brother and sister are ever to be together again, Binti Phiri will have to look outside herself and find a new way to be special.

The Heaven Shop is a great introduction for children to learn about AIDS and it’s effects upon the many orphaned children in Africa.  The author’s note at the end of the book gives a brief but great summary of AIDS in Africa.  According to it, more than thirteen million children in Sub-Saharan Africa have lost their parents to AIDS.  The number of these “AIDS orphans” is expected to double by 2010 (next year!).  AIDS spreads among when when they are raped, forced into prostitution, governments spend health care and eduction dollars on weapons and soldiers.  Poverty also spreads AIDS when basic nutrition and medicine are beyond the reach of many.  As Deborah Ellis says, “We may not have a cure for AIDS and HIV – yet.  But we can take action to prevent war and alleviate poverty.

Binti’s journey is one that you’ll want to take.  I loved watching her transformation from a proud, selfish child, being humbled as a orphan, and rising above her circumstances to help those around her.  I highly recommend The Heaven Shop for great insight on such a troubling subject.

The book also includes an interview with the author.  Royalties from The Heaven Shop will be donated to Unicef.

I remember the day when I had 15 visitors and I thought, wow, who are these people?? And then when I had my first out of the country visit I remember running down the stairs to tell my husband. I was so excited! I seriously have no idea if this is good or bad for me to analyze my stats and reveal my traffic. I mean I have absolutely no idea what type of traffic other book bloggers get, so I could really be embarrassing myself or I could be giving myself a nice pat on the back. I have no idea!

Anyways, I average between 150-275 hits a day and have had 5500 11,500 hits since I started tracking my stats which was probably sometime this past January. I’ve had visitors from all 52 U.S. states and from 82 different countries. It’s really fun to look at the map and see how global the internet is. How it really does tie us all together.

Roughly 74% of my traffic comes from Search Engines, 20% referring sites, and 5% direct traffic. 83% are new visitors and 17% are returning (I’d love for that returning percentage to increase).

My top five viewed posts are:
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Boy in the Striped Pajama’s by John Boyne

I also thought it would be fun to take a look at the different keywords that people have used since I started this blog almost six months ago. I’ve listed them exactly as they appeared and I also thought it would be fun to reply to them, especially as many of them are questions. Some are normal, some are strange, some are funny, and some I just can’t figure out.

midnight sun release date meyer: Stephenie Meyer does not yet have a release date for Midnight Sun, which is the Twilight story told through the eyes of Edward. Hopefully, we will know within the year.
deborah ellis author email: If only she knew how many people were trying to find her. This is the best I could come up with (see comments)
i hate eat pray love: Well, you wouldn’t be the first. It was a love/hate relationship. See my review here.
is there going to be a new book out from stephenie meyer? Yes, definitely yes. First we have The Host coming up next month and then Breaking Dawn in August.
twilight movie date of release: December 2008 is what I heard
“harry potter and the holocaust” “book thief” No idea why anybody would string these keywords together.
a website that would let you read books As in e-books?
anita shreve holocaust book Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors. Is she writing a holocaust book? Has she written one?
anybody hate ‘eat pray love’? Yes, see previous keyword above.
apartment door devil’s arithmetic See my review here. The door is where she enters her new world.
author of the book the breadwinner: Deborah Ellis.
behaviour – child, 19 months old – taking off diaper: Happens to all of us.
birth date for immaculee ilibagiza: I couldn’t find one for you. Anybody?
brandon mull website: Not sure why would come here instead of his website, but it’s http://www.brandonmull.com
child smeering of poo: Luckily, my child hasn’t done this one yet (knock on wood) but you can hear my great poo story in the comments here.
digging for bones to make money: I seriously hope you are not considering this for a full time job. That’s just wrong. But Parvana did do it here.
didn’t like the kite runner book: Oh, so sorry. I liked it though.
do you recommend the boy in a stripped pajama: Yes! In fact, I was just lucky enough to snag a new copy at t book sale over the weekend. See my review here.
does elizabeth gilbert have kids: No, she has no desire.
email brandon mull: I’m sure you could find it on his website I listed above.
email markus zusak: I couldn’t find one, but this is his website.
erotic sensual writing stories: I have no experience with writing erotic sensual stories. Sorry.
finished kite runner now what Yes, now what?
free ideas for tiny tot area in a library Well, my ideas are free. Have lots of fun toys and books. My best idea that I wish some libraries would do is have this area gated off so my little one can’t leave the area. Haven’t ever seen it though.
holocaust survivors views of the book thief This would be interesting to find out.
how does “the book thief” start? First line: First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least how I try.
how jane yolen came up with the devil’s arithmetic: This is what Jane Yolen herself said, “I had thought about doing a book on the Holocaust for a long time, but quite frankly the idea overwhelmed me. Finally one of my editors, who was a rabbi’s wife at the time, persuaded me to confront the task.” Not sure how she came up with the story but you can find more on Jane Yolen’s website.
how long has eat, love, pray been on the new york times bestseller: 64 weeks so far.
how many pages are in the book penny from heaven: 274 pages
how many pages in the book called the striped pyjamas: 215 pages
how old is parvana- breadwinner: She is eleven in the first book.
how to contact daoud hari: His contact information is here.
how to tell you’re addicted to blogging: I think if you’re searching to see if you are, you probably are.
i hate eat love pray. Again, you’re not the only one
i would like to read the book name sold and cut: Go right on ahead! I won’t stop you. See my Sold review here and my Cut review here.
i want to read, devil’s arithmetic online Ugh, just visit your library and check it out.
i want to read the book because of winn-dixie on the computer: Ditto.
if you liked eat, pray, love you will also like Suggestions anybody?
information about deborah ellis See previous keyword above.
is eat, pray and love by gilbert fiction or non fiction Non-Fiction
is khaled hosseini writing another book If you find out, let me know.
is stephenie meyer writing a new book Yes, she has The Host done which comes out next month and Breaking Dawn coming out in August.
is the book “because of winn dixie” fiction or non-fiction? Non-fiction
is there going to be a movie on the boy in the stripped pajamas Yes! IMBD says it will be released in September 2008.
is there going to be a new book for the twilight series Where have you been? Yep! Breaking Dawn in August 2008.
is water for elephants going to be made into a movie? IMBD has it listed, not much info though.
licking prostitute Eeeewww! But I have to admit, I actually did use those two words together in that order here. Eeww on me.
list of books from cynthia lord Rules and Touch Blue.
look for a book store that i can buy a book of the devil arithmetic by jane yolen You can buy it from my very own Amazon bookstore here.
lyrics every time it rains it rains a penny from heaven I don’t have them written out but you can listen to the entire song on my book review here.
mitch albom tour schedule 2008 His website didn’t list anything, but he may update it at some point.
movie trailer “the tiger rising” Is this Kate DiCamillo book being made into a movie? I’ve no idea or is this completely not related to Kate DiCamillo?
other books by kadohata: Cynthia’s Kadohata’s books are Weedflower, Kira-Kira, and Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam.
page 29 from the book because of winn-dixie This page has things nine and ten about Opal’s mom.
parvana’s sisters names in the book the bread winner: Nooria
picture of the devil’s arithmetic cover: You can see a cover on my review here.
piked my curiosity What piked your curiosity? My curiosity is piked.
poop smeering: Life happens, this is a part of it.
poop smearing 8 year olds: But now I’m scared.
psychologic tricks to use on your kids: Some ideas for you here.
reasons why the curious incident of the dog in the night-time is challenged From what I can find it’s been challenged because of its high use of the F-word. Seemed like it was almost every page. See my review here.
recipes from eat pray love Oprah’s website has recipes featured in Italy here.
refrigerater locks This is Stephanie’s number one parenting tip found here.
religions mentioned eat, pray, love Sorry, not sure about this one. I don’t have the book to look this up. Anybody?
sex in “water for elephants” I obviously dislike sex in my books. See my opinion here.
rwanda – tutsi and huti racism So, so sad! See a book review from a survivor of the Rwandan genocide here. Everybody should read this book. You would think that there are other websites that would come up before mine on this one. How did that happen? Seriously, on Google I’m listed between YouTube and CNN and before Wikipedia. Woohoo!!
stephanie meyer tour dates Find them out on her website.
stephanie meyers book of a thousand days Stephenie Meyer did not write Book of a Thousand Days. That would be Shannon Hale. Find my review here.
stephenie myers official website Same as the link two keywords above.
the boy in the striped pyjamas – why you like it? Well find out here.
the boy is the striped pyjamas is a great book because Ditto to above.
the breadwinner book report One of the most popular posts on my blog is The Breadwinner, simply because it’s on all the school’s curriculum. See me in action here as I help all the kiddo’s do their homework.
the breadwinner is it a movie Not that I know of.
the devil’s arithmetic movie I really enjoyed this movie. See clips from it here.
the ending of the boy in the striped pajamas Oh, seriously you do not want to know! Read this without knowing the ending! Otherwise, you’ll just ruin it for yourself.
the kite runner book nonfiction?? Nope, it’s fiction. Review here.
the o Have absolutely why they would come here with that keyword.
the well-read child Seriously wouldn’t you go here instead?
toddler smeared poop Seems to be a popular topic.
trade shows new york march 9th 2008 There was a bubble trade show that day, just in case you were wondering.
water for elephants alice sebold Alice Sebold did not write Water for Elephants, that would be Sarah Gruen. But I did mention both in this post.
what are the themes of the absolute true diary of a part time indian See my review here.
what are the names of katie takeshima parents from kira kira Her father’s name is Masao Takeshima. I skimmed through the entire book and couldn’t find the mother’s. Anybody?
what awards has the devil’s arithmetic win? Nebula Honor Book, Jewish Book Council Award, Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award, Sydney Taylor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries
what challenges do German’s face in the book thief To help or not to help? To hide Jews or not to Hide Jews? Support Hitler or hate Hitler? Lack of food and resources, streets are dangerous, bombings, to name just a few.
what date is the book the devil’s arithmetic based on When she goes back in time it is 1942. See my review here.
what day is the twilight movie coming out Sometime in December.
what happen at the end of breadwinner I hate knowing the end of books! But if you must know her mother and sister have gone to a wedding in a neighboring town leaving Parvana in the care of Mrs. Weiss. He father finally returns home and they decide to leave to try to find their family because the Taliban had taken control of that home. The book ends with them beginning this journey.
what is “book of a thousand days” about Simply told, a lady and her maid are locked in a tower and they go on many adventures. But you probably want more than that, so here’s my review.
what is austenland about? A dying aunt wills a vacation destination to our main character, who travels to England to find out firsthand if her obsession with Mr. Darcy has any merit. Find out more here.
what is feathers by jacqueline woodson about? There is a new white boy in class. My review here.
what is parvana’s older sister’s name in “the breadwinner” Nooria.
what is the answer to the qoutation in the tenth circle Nothing is easier than self-deceipt. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true. Demosthenes. Read my review here.
what is the breadwinner about? Find out here.
what was in mr. popper’s basement? Wouldn’t you like to know? Mr. Popper had a freezing plant that made large blocks of ice to build ice castles, he also had a swimming and diving pool and an ice rink. What fun! My review here.
what was the release date of elijah of buxton August 6, 2007??
what was the setting of the breadwinner novel Kabul, Afghanistan
what year did deborah ellis go to afghanistan? Either 1998 or 1999. She actually visited refugee camps in Pakistan, she never entered Afghanistan.
where can i read patricia mccormick’s book cut for free? Your local library of course!
who lives at po box 75521,607 gerrard street east,toronto, on m4m 1y2 No idea!
who read book jasmine I did. See my review here.
why,and how elephants are bad Didn’t know they were.
youtube because of winndixie I’ve got a Winn Dixie you tube video here.
midnight sun chapter one by stephenie meyers Read it on Stephenie’s site here.
what are the names of the penquins in mr. poppers penguins Captain Cook, Greta, Nelson, columbus, Louisa, Jenny, Scott, Adelina, Isabella, Ferdinand, and Victoria.
what was the 10 things about opal’s mother in the book because of winn dixie by kate dicamillo

1. She could make just about anybody laugh.
2. She had red hair and freckles
3. She liked to plant things
4. She could run fast.
5. She couldn’t cook.
6. Loved a story.
7. She knew all the constellations, every planet in the nighttime sky.
8. She hated being a preacher’s wife.
9. She drank.
10. She loved you very much.

That’s all folks! I probably bored you to tears, but I had fun. Many thanks again! Here’s to another 100 posts.

Oh, and I thought I’d put another plug in for the Book Bloggers Book Reviews. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet. And nominate an author to be added to the database here.

Mud City by Deborah Ellis

In Mud City, I expected the story to be about Parvana’s experiences in a refugee camp. I was completely surprised when instead the story was about Shauzia, Parvana’s best friend with whom we are introduced in the first book. In fact, Parvana isn’t even in this book. I have never heard of an author changing the main character in a series before. Has this been done? I thought it was really strange. Since I had become so attached to Parvana, I really did want to hear the rest of her story. If Deborah Ellis wanted to share Shazia’s story, I only wish that it would have been done by Parvana and Shauzia reconnecting. Having said that, I still really liked this book.

We find fourteen year old Shauzia and her dog Jasper in a refugee camp in Pakistan having left her miserable life in Kabul, Afghanistan behind. She carries with her a magazine cutout of a field of lavender flowers and dreams of one day visiting France and seeing the ocean. She decides that the only way to make her dream come true is to leave the refugee camp and instead earn money on the streets. Living on the streets is dangerous, scary, adventurous, and she even spends a night at the local jail. She discovers that navigating her way through a country full of Afghan refugees is not easy and that her dream of escaping her miserable life may well be out of her hands.

To tell you the truth, I was sad to have this series come to an end. Deborah Ellis was a wonderful storyteller who sheds light on the plight of children in war-torn countries particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another book of hers that I would like to read is Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. I discovered this one listed at the back of Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat which I also just finished.

Parvana has fond memories of her “other” life before war broke out in her home country. What her and the other children don’t understand is what’s happening all around them. They ask themselves, why do they bomb us, why would they hurt children, why would they kill Grandmother, when they don’t even know who she is? Why, why, why? Parvana, the oldest of the group, is strong and determined. She works hard to lead them to safety and is forced to act much older than she is. I so desperately wanted to know what happened to these children that I couldn’t stop reading. This is a stunning tale of the bravery, resourcefullnes, and determination that children have when faced with the unthinkable during war.

I thought Parvana’s Journey was stunning sequel to The Breadwinner and I can’t wait to read the completion of Parvana’s tale in the third and final book, Mud City.

This was a beautiful, powerful novel. Set in Afghanistan, it tells the incredible story of two young best friends. Amir, our privileged, wealthy narrator, and Hassan, the son of his father’s servant. Having fed as babies from the same breast, both boys love each other dearly. But Amir who constantly competes for his father’s love can’t help being jealous of Hassan. Set against the backdrop of the soviet invasion, their overthrow, and the rise of the Taliban, the story takes us from the innocence of two young boys, a decision that will change both forever, the guilt and then ultimately, the redemption. There were several plot twists that I honestly didn’t see coming, although I’m sure there were clues all over the place. These twists and wanting to know what happens in the lives of these two boys as they grow into men and have families of their own kept me engrossed to the very end.

I haven’t seen the movie. But now that I just finished the book. I’m intrigued. Has anybody seen it? What did you think?

Visit Hosseini’s website.
Reading group guide.
Publishers reading group guide.

I sure hope Hosseini is writing another book. It would be a shame if he didn’t. What a powerful and gifted storyteller. Read this book! If you have, what did you think?

In The Breadwinner, eleven year old Parvana lives with her parents and siblings in a one room bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city. They didn’t always live there, they used to have a nice home with nice things, and both of her parents were educated with well paying jobs. But now that the Taliban have taken control of the country all of that has changed. Women are no longer allowed to hold jobs, leave the house without being in the company of a man, no part of their body must be seen, they must never be heard, must not laugh, and girls are no longer allowed to attend school. You know the story.

Parvana’s mother and siblings haven’t left their one room apartment for a year and a half. Parvana, still young, accompanies her crippled father to the market each day where they slowly sell off all of their possessions and read and write letters for the illiterate in order to make money. The family is “riding out” the war when Taliban soldiers throw Paravan’s father in prison for having a foreign education. With his whereabouts uncertain, Parvana must now step up and take care of her family as the sole provider. She cuts her hair, dresses as a boy and each day carefully goes out to earn money anyway she can; reading letters, digging up bones at the cemetery, or selling cigarettes off a tray.

With the prospect of marriage for her older sister, everyone in her family except Parvana (how does one explain changing into a boy to extended family members?) travels to another unoccupied town, leaving Parvana with Mrs. Weera who has taken up residency in the apartment. Surprisingly, her father comes home, but when they find out that her departed family is in danger they decide to leave and go find them.

And then the story ends. Just like that. I wanted to know what happened. Did they find them? Was everybody okay? Did they get caught? I wish I knew with certainty the rest of these fictitious characters lives. Perhaps we are not meant to know.

The following video is similar to Parvana’s experience in providing for her family.

The Breadwinner is a great read for children to teach them about Afghanistan, the wars, and the Taliban, and let’s not forget, for adults like me. Thanks Shelfelf for a great recommendation!

This will definitely be on the top of my list as one of the best reads this year. I have yet to read The Kite Runner. It has been on my bookshelf forever, making me feel guilty that I haven’t yet discovered its words. I only hope that I won’t be disappointed and expect too much because I enjoyed this one so much.

A Thousand Splendid Suns really makes you think about what the true life stories of Afghanistan’ women must be. It truly makes me look within myself and feel grateful for the freedoms of life that I enjoy and perhaps take for granted. Throughout the book whenever a date or year was mentioned I thought of myself. I literally brought myself into the story. Where was I that year? How old was I? What was I doing? How ignorant was I of others suffering? Now I can ask myself the questions: Where am I now? What am I doing? Am I trying to lessen my ignorance? Am I trying to help? What am I doing about it?

My favorite quote in A Thousand Splendid Suns is

. . . she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last.

As a friend, niece, aunt, daughter, sister, wife, and mother this is my hope, this is how I would like to leave the world. Someone who had loved and been loved back. Someone who was of consequence to this world, someone who made a difference to somebody.

I tried to think of how to best present a synopsis of this story, but I gave up. It is already written so beautifully from Khaled Hosseini’s own website:

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment

I enjoyed what Khaled Hosseini said in his latest blog posting,

In Kabul, I spoke to a lot of people, hotel doormen, traffic cops, vendors, waiters, people in the government, doctors, nurses, etc. I heard stories about women who had been raped, beaten, imprisoned, humiliated, women who had seen their husbands blown to pieces, seen their kids starve to death. It was then that I saw the devastating effect that anarchy and extremism had had on these women. I saw for myself, for the first time, the enormity of the suffering that these women had endured. And I came away humbled by the fight that these women had in them, by their resilience and their courage. When I sat down to write A Thousand Splendid Suns, early in 2004, I kept hearing those voices in my head, I keep seeing those faces. And so I think that to a large degree, this book was inspired by the collective hardships, struggles, by the collective hopes and dreams of those women I met and spoke to. It my tribute to a group of people who have remained strong and resilient in face of incredible hardship.

If you have not read this book yet, get it now! Read it now! Don’t wait.

Visit Khaled Hosseini’s website for discussion questions, question and answers, and more book reviews and how you can help.