First in a series.

Best Book I Really Didn’t Want to Read but Am Glad I Did:
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini

Worried it was another of those “ethnic” jobbers that occasionally bob up, buoyed perhaps by our uneasy feelings about bombing the country they describe, only to be anointed with a status far beyond their true literary merits (I’m looking at you, Reading Lolita), I dodged this one for months. Finally, Nina promised I wouldn’t be sorry, and goshdarnit if she wasn’t right. It’s a good story! I cried at the end! There are kites! And running! And it’s not about drugs!