Our second book!

THE PLACES IN BETWEEN
Rory Stewart, Harcourt/Harvest Books
(paperback), 297 pages, 2006

In January 2002, months after the fall of the Taliban and the U.S. invasion, Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan from Herat to Kabul. His descriptions of his voyage through the various terrains, villages, ethnic, tribal and language groups of Afghanistan are by turns illuminating, moving and wry. When you finish reading THE PLACES IN BETWEEN, your way of interpreting current news reports about the war in Afghanistan will be informed by Stewart’s nuanced and wise vision of that country.

Praise for THE PLACES IN BETWEEN:

“But it's more than great journalism. It's a great travel narrative. Learned but gentle, tough but humane, Stewart — a Scottish journalist who has served in both the British Army and the Foreign Office — seems hewn from 19th-century DNA, yet he's also blessed with a 21st-century motherboard. He writes with a mystic's appreciation of the natural world, a novelist's sense of character and a comedian's sense of timing.”
The New York Times

• You can order the book here
  
  
• A reading group guide is available here

Our first book!

Saira Shah, THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHTER:
One Woman's Return to Her Lost Homeland, Anchor Books
(2004 paperback edition), 272 pages.

Saira Shah, the daughter of Sufi author and teacher Idries Shah, was born in England to an Afghan family. This beautifully written memoir is the account of her travels to Afghanistan to rediscover the lost world that she had known only through her father's vivid tales and stories. Shah first visits Afghanistan when she is twenty-one years old and starting her career as a journalist. She returns to Afghanistan a number of times, and during the rule of the Taliban, she travels through the country dressed in a burkha making a documentary about life for women under Taliban rule—an award-winning film called BENEATH THE VEIL. At once a journey of self-discovery and a description of the peoples and terrains of Afghanistan, THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHTER is a vivid and satisfying read.

• You can order the book here.
  
  
• A reading Group Guide is available online with author biography, author interview, and questions for discussion.
  
  
• You can read two of the reviews:
  - New York Times Book Review
  - San Francisco Chronicle