Women of the Vine: Inside the World of Women Who Make, Taste, and Enjoy Wine (Paperback), Author: Deborah Brenner, Gina Gallo

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From Publishers Weekly
Brenner, a marketing executive-turned-wine label owner, presents wide-ranging interviews with 21 women involved in the wine industry, covering everything from the crush to the shoes to the perfect pregnancy timetable when working among the grapes. After a brief description of the winemaking process, Brenner offers detailed, quote-heavy profiles of award-winning winemakers like Heidi Peterson Barrett and Kristin Bedair, who pontificate on life as, in the words of winemaker Gina Gallo, "part farmer, part scientist, part chef, part CEO." Besides the success, there's plenty of angst and adversity-disappearing funds, gender discrimination, and family tragedy-to serve as inspiration to those in need of career advice. While most of the interviews are with winemakers from California, several are with afficionados such as Stephanie Browne, founder of Divas Uncorked, a wine group for women of color, and top industry scholar Dr. Ann Noble. Though Brenner's upbeat voice can veer into self-help speak, anyone who enjoys wine will find much to like in this collection, especially those laboring along "the journey from 'cellar rat' to renowned and respected winemaker."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Brenner, a marketing executive-turned-wine label owner, presents wide-ranging interviews with 21 women involved in the wine industry, covering everything from the crush to the shoes to the perfect pregnancy timetable when working among the grapes. After a brief description of the winemaking process, Brenner offers detailed, quote-heavy profiles of award-winning winemakers like Heidi Peterson Barrett and Kristin Bedair, who pontificate on life as, in the words of winemaker Gina Gallo, "part farmer, part scientist, part chef, part CEO." Besides the success, there's plenty of angst and adversity—disappearing funds, gender discrimination, and family tragedy—to serve as inspiration to those in need of career advice. While most of the interviews are with winemakers from California, several are with afficionados such as Stephanie Browne, founder of Divas Uncorked, a wine group for women of color, and top industry scholar Dr. Ann Noble. Though Brenner's upbeat voice can veer into self-help speak, anyone who enjoys wine will find much to like in this collection, especially those laboring along "the journey from 'cellar rat' to renowned and respected winemaker." (Nov.) (Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2006)

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Josephus and New Testament (Recent Releases) (Paperback), Author: Steve Mason

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Review
"There can be no doubt that the best aid for understanding the background of the New Testament is its contemporary, Josephus; and . . . the most careful, most comprehensive, and most useful introduction to Josephus as the key to the background for the New Testament is Steve Mason's book. As one reads it, one senses that a master teacher is talking directly to one in a most delightful, even breezy, style. . . . Even the most advanced student will find the book of great value."
--Louis H. Feldman, Yeshiva University (commenting on the first edition)

Book Description
Updated text and new maps bring this standard introduction up to date . . .

Throughout Christian history, the works of Josephus have been mined for the light they shed on the world of the New Testament. Josephus tells us about the Herodian family, the temple, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He mentions James the brother of Jesus, John the Baptist, and even Jesus himself. In Josephus and the New Testament, an internationally acknowledged authority on Josephus introduces this first-century Jewish historian to readers who want to begin to explore his witness to environment in which early Judaism and Christianity took shape.

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Yoga for Emotional Flow: Free Your Emotions Through Yoga Breathing, Body Awareness, and Energetic Release, Author: Stephen Cope

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More than 4,000 years ago, the early masters of yoga made an astonishing discovery: before we can find true happiness, we must first learn how to be open to the energy of our emotions. On Yoga for Emotional Flow, Stephen Cope, psychotherapist and Senior Scholar-in-Residence at Kripalu, the largest yoga center in America, presents a life-changing strategy for "riding the wave" in even the most challenging emotional situation.

Cope details the psychology behind the difficult circumstances we create for ourselves through improper handling of our feelings, and shares the prescription for effectively relating to anger, fear, grief, joy, and others from a yogic point of view. Through breathing and visualization techniques used successfully by thousands of his students, Cope offers listeners practical tips for day-to-day emotional balance; lessons in awakening the "witness consciousness" – a nonjudgmental vantage point for welcoming emotions; steps for "clearing the field" at the end of each day, and more.

For the yogi, there are no "bad" feelings – only unskillful responses to our ever-changing emotional states. Yoga for Emotional Flow is an essential program for working with these powerful forces, and a template for a new way of being. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author
Stephen Cope is a psychotherapist who studies the relationship between Western psychology and the Eastern contemplative traditions. He is currently Senior Scholar-in-Residence at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self and Awakening the Witness. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


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Writing Effective News Releases...: How to Get Free Publicity for Yourself, Your Business, or Your Organization (Paperback), Author: Catherine V. McIn

Cliff Martin, COSMEP Newsletter, The International Association of Independent Publishers
Oh Boy! An entire book on news releases. This is a very, very important book, and here's why: The media needs news. It sounds simple, but it's true. News releases are the tools of the trade for TV, radio, Cable, newspapers, and company newsletters. So many people seem to do news releases wrong, and with hundreds coming in a day, a good news release can make the difference between great exposure for your service, product, or event, or no exposure.

The book's biggest selling points: lots of actual news releases are shown and critiqued, arranged intelligently by type of release (TV/radio; non-profit groups, business releases, etc) . Other books have only skimpy info on news releases, this one seems like "the bible"!

The addition of an excellent resource section, full of useful reference books, makes this essential for anyone needing free publicity. Highly recommended.

WHAT'S WORKING -- United Communications Group
Written by former reporter and newspaper columnist, Catherine McIntyre, the publication offers a cookbook approach to news release writing that focuses on conveying news value, so your stuff gets ink. The book's loaded with examples of releases that have been effective publicity generators. Also includes helpful hints on working with themedia.


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Fatal Kidnapping (Paperback), Author: Tracy B. Evans

Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 11/07
Twists and turns...
5 Stars

A day never went by without Katie Stone calling her father at least once, but on that fateful day she didn't call. She and fiancé Caleb had agreed to meet for dinner, but she didn't show up. Something was wrong; Katie was missing. Terrified her father and fiancé turned to the local sheriff. Sheriff Day found her car at the Grocery Store. The town began to search for missing Katie.

When I review a book, I usually give a much longer summary. This time, I intentionally kept the summary short so that I would not give away any of the astonishing story. Fatal Kidnapping is like a roller coaster ride there are enough twists and turns to keep you holding on to the edge of your seat. I found the plot amazing; I was still trying to figure out "who done it" up to the last chapter. My only criticism of Fatal Kidnapping was the dialogue in a few places it is a little contrived. The plot falls heavily on the dialogue, which is good. I like books with a lot of dialogue. Tracy B. Evans is a talented writer. The cover deliciously hints at what lays inside. The characters are well developed; Caleb, loving and supportive, and Jed, a father that loves his daughter deeply. As a child, Katie was filled with pain. Fans of mystery and suspense will cherish this one.

Product Description
As Katie Stone grew up, she always feared that someone was watching her. Then, the day came when she became missing. The whole town frantically searched for Katie. When they finally find Katie, everyone is shocked that she was supposedly kidnapped by a man who had been dead for years. As Sheriff Day investigates Katie's kidnapping, he believes he uncovered the truth. Or, did he?

From the Author
Fatal Kidnapping is the first novel by Tracy B. Evans.


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Conscious Breathing: Breathwork for Health, Stress Release, and Personal Mastery (Paperback), Author: Gay Hendricks

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From Publishers Weekly
"In your lifetime you will breathe in and out more than a hundred million times.... What if you made a tiny improvement in something you did that many times?" So queries Hendricks, a professor of counseling at the University of Colorado and author of Conscious Loving, at the start of this quietly assured guide. His guided breathing exercises, most done lying down and in combination with gentle movements, are designed to free the movement of the diaphragm, increase oxygenation and relax the body. Benefits can include stress reduction, pain management, improved health and spiritual growth. In his discussion of the anatomy of breathing, Hendricks errs in saying there are two lobes in each human lung (the right lung has three lobes), but this handsome handbook, appealingly illustrated and laced with aphorisms about breathing from sports heroes, poets and philosophers, offers much of value to those just fostering awarenes of breathing to such advanced practitioners as singers and athletes.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
We inhale 20,000 times a day. Deprived of oxygen for more than 10 seconds, the brain fogs and panics; after 4 to 5 minutes, it never again functions with its former efficiency. Hendricks first traces the physiological journey of a breath, then lists the benefits of conscious breathing. Reportedly, it reduces stress and tension; increases energy and endurance; facilitates emotional mastery, particularly over anxiety and depression; prevents and heals certain physical complaints, especially asthma, respiratory problems, and cardiovascular illness; contributes significantly to "graceful aging" ; helps in managing pain; enhances mental focus and physical performance, particularly when applied to sports; and enables psychospiritual transformation. "Ultimately," Hendricks asserts, "breathing can be a path to that most essential of human experiences: learning to love." Thereafter, his amply illustrated book provides basic and advanced breath-work lessons and a 10-minute daily breathing program. Calling himself his "own best client," Hendricks builds a convincing case for his addition to alternative-healing therapies. Whitney Scott


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Servant: The Awakening (Mass Market Paperback), Author: L.L. Foster

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Urban paranormal fantasy featuring Gabrielle Cody:Servant. Slayer. Seducer.

Gabrielle Cody has the ability to see the demons among us as they really are-and the responsibility to destroy them. She can't allow anyone to get in her way, even the magnetic Detective Luther Cross. Sensing a malevolent presence watching and stalking her, Gaby is drawn again and again to an abandoned hospital surrounded by an aura of sickness and suffering-and unimaginable evil.

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The 6th Target (Hardcover), Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

When a horrifying attack leaves one of the four members of the Women's Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before anyone else is hurt. And Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department run flat-out to stop a series of kidnappings that has electrified the city: children are being plucked off the streets together with their nannies-- but the kidnappers aren't demanding ransom. Amid uncertainty and rising panic, Lindsay juggles the possibility of a new love with an unsolvable investigation, and the knowledge that one member of the club could be on the brink of death. And just when everything appears momentarily under control, the case takes a terrifying turn, putting an entire city in lethal danger. Lindsay must make a choice she never dreamed she'd face--with no certainty that either outcome has more than a prayer of success.


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The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly (Hardcover)

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Though it may not yet have affected the value of 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising, PR insider Scott argues that understanding the growing irrelevance of marketing's "old rules" is vital to thriving in the new media jungle. Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one-sided and pricey advertising of print media and television. Scott provides the technical novice a thoughtful and accessible guide to cutting-edge media arenas and formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing, without neglecting the fact that technological wizardry can't substitute for a well-thought out marketing program. Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that's both useful and unobtrusive. This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Though it may not yet have affected the value of 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising, PR insider Scott argues that understanding the growing irrelevance of marketing's "old rules" is vital to thriving in the new media jungle. Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one-sided and pricey advertising of print media and television. Scott provides the technical novice a thoughtful and accessible guide to cutting-edge media arenas and formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing, without neglecting the fact that technological wizardry can't substitute for a well-thought out marketing program. Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that's both useful and unobtrusive. This excellent look at the basics of new-millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition. (July) (Publishers Weekly, August 6, 2007)

"a valuable source of inspiration" (Brand Strategy, November 2007)

"This book is useful if you would like to learn more about new formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing." (Gulf Business, Vol. 12/ Issue 7)

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Sundays at Tiffany's (Hardcover), Author: James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonne

As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, the powerful head of a Broadway theater company, has no time for her. She does have one friend-a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael-but only she can see him.

Years later, Jane is in her thirties and just as alone as ever. Then she meets Michael again-as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they've really been reunited.

SUNDAYS AT TIFFANY'S is a love story with an irresistible twist, a novel about the child inside all of us-and the boundary-crossing power of love.

About the Author
James Patterson's most recent best seller is The 6th Target. He is one of the best known and bestselling authors of all time. He lives in Florida.


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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Hardcover), by Jeff Kinney

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Kinney's popular Web comic, which began in 2004, makes its way to print as a laugh-out-loud "novel in cartoons," adapted from the series. Middle school student Greg Heffley takes readers through an academic year's worth of drama. Greg's mother forces him to keep a diary ("I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn't say 'diary' on it"), and in it he loosely recounts each day's events, interspersed with his comic illustrations. Kinney has a gift for believable preteen dialogue and narration (e.g., "Don't expect me to be all 'Dear Diary' this and 'Dear Diary' that"), and the illustrations serve as a hilarious counterpoint to Greg's often deadpan voice. The hero's utter obliviousness to his friends and family becomes a running joke. For instance, on Halloween, Greg and his best friend, Rowley, take refuge from some high school boys at Greg's grandmother's house; they taunt the bullies, who then T.P. her house. Greg's journal entry reads, "I do feel a little bad, because it looked like it was gonna take a long time to clean up. But on the bright side, Gramma is retired, so she probably didn't have anything planned for today anyway." Kinney ably skewers familiar aspects of junior high life, from dealing with the mysteries of what makes someone popular to the trauma of a "wrestling unit" in gym class. His print debut should keep readers in stitches, eagerly anticipating Greg's further adventures. Ages 8-13. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—Greg Heffley has actually been on the scene for more than two years. Created by an online game developer, he has starred in a Web book of the same name on www.funbrain.com since May 2004. This print version is just as engaging. Kinney does a masterful job of making the mundane life of boys on the brink of adolescence hilarious. Greg is a conflicted soul: he wants to do the right thing, but the constant quest for status and girls seems to undermine his every effort. His attempts to prove his worthiness in the popularity race (he estimates he's currently ranked 52nd or 53rd) are constantly foiled by well-meaning parents, a younger and older brother, and nerdy friends. While Greg is not the most principled protagonist, it is his very obliviousness to his faults that makes him such an appealing hero. Kinney's background as a cartoonist is apparent in this hybrid book that falls somewhere between traditional prose and graphic novel. It offers some of the same adventures as the Web book, but there are enough new subplots to entertain Funbrain followers. This version is more pared down, and the pace moves quickly. The first of three installments, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers, but more experienced readers will also find much to enjoy and relate to in one seventh grader's view of the everyday trials and tribulations of middle school.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) (Hardcover), low price

Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.

The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.

A spectacular finish to a phenomenal series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bittersweet read for fans. The journey is hard, filled with events both tragic and triumphant, the battlefield littered with the bodies of the dearest and despised, but the final chapter is as brilliant and blinding as a phoenix's flame, and fans and skeptics alike will emerge from the confines of the story with full but heavy hearts, giddy and grateful for the experience. --Daphne Durham

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Potter fans, relax—this review packs no spoilers. Instead, we're taking advantage of our public platform to praise Rowling for the excellence of her plotting. We can't think of anyone else who has sustained such an intricate, endlessly inventive plot over seven thick volumes and so constantly surprised us with twists, well-laid traps and Purloined Letter-style tricks. Hallows continues the tradition, both with sly feats of legerdemain and with several altogether new, unexpected elements. Perhaps some of the surprises in Hallows don't have quite the punch as those of earlier books, but that may be because of the thoroughness and consistency with which Rowling has created her magical universe, and because we've so raptly absorbed its rules.

We're also seizing the occasion to wish out loud that her editors had done their jobs more actively. It's hard to escape the notion that the first three volumes were more carefully edited than the last four. Hallows doesn't contain the extraneous scenes found in, say, Goblet of Fire, but the momentum is uneven. Rowling is much better at comedy than at fight scenes, and no reader of the sixth book will be startled to hear that Hallows has little humor or that its characters engage in more than a few fights. Surely her editors could have helped her find other methods of building suspense besides the use of ellipses and dashes? And craft fight dialogue that sounds a bit less like it belongs in a comic book? Okay, we're quibbling. We know these minor nuisances won't dent readers' enjoyment, at least not this generation of readers; we couldn't put Hallows down ourselves. But we believe Rowling, and future readers, deserved even better. Ages 9-12. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Glass Castle: A Memoir (Paperback), by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Freelance writer Walls doesn't pull her punches. She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." Walls's parents—just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book—were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. Her father was a self-taught man, a would-be inventor who could stay longer at a poker table than at most jobs and had "a little bit of a drinking situation," as her mother put it. With a fantastic storytelling knack, Walls describes her artist mom's great gift for rationalizing. Apartment walls so thin they heard all their neighbors? What a bonus—they'd "pick up a little Spanish without even studying." Why feed their pets? They'd be helping them "by not allowing them to become dependent." While Walls's father's version of Christmas presents—walking each child into the Arizona desert at night and letting each one claim a star—was delightful, he wasn't so dear when he stole the kids' hard-earned savings to go on a bender. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City. Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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The Kite Runner (Paperback), low price, promo

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on his first try.

The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule. ("...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.")

Some of the plot's turns and twists may be somewhat implausible, but Hosseini has created characters that seem so real that one almost forgets that The Kite Runner is a novel and not a memoir. At a time when Afghanistan has been thrust into the forefront of America's collective consciousness ("people sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz"), Hosseini offers an honest, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, but always heartfelt view of a fascinating land. Perhaps the only true flaw in this extraordinary novel is that it ends all too soon. --Gisele Toueg --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Hosseini's stunning debut novel starts as an eloquent Afghan version of the American immigrant experience in the late 20th century, but betrayal and redemption come to the forefront when the narrator, a writer, returns to his ravaged homeland to rescue the son of his childhood friend after the boy's parents are shot during the Taliban takeover in the mid '90s. Amir, the son of a well-to-do Kabul merchant, is the first-person narrator, who marries, moves to California and becomes a successful novelist. But he remains haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed the trust of his best friend, a Hazara boy named Hassan, who receives a brutal beating from some local bullies. After establishing himself in America, Amir learns that the Taliban have murdered Hassan and his wife, raising questions about the fate of his son, Sohrab. Spurred on by childhood guilt, Amir makes the difficult journey to Kabul, only to learn the boy has been enslaved by a former childhood bully who has become a prominent Taliban official. The price Amir must pay to recover the boy is just one of several brilliant, startling plot twists that make this book memorable both as a political chronicle and a deeply personal tale about how childhood choices affect our adult lives. The character studies alone would make this a noteworthy debut, from the portrait of the sensitive, insecure Amir to the multilayered development of his father, Baba, whose sacrifices and scandalous behavior are fully revealed only when Amir returns to Afghanistan and learns the true nature of his relationship to Hassan. Add an incisive, perceptive examination of recent Afghan history and its ramifications in both America and the Middle East, and the result is a complete work of literature that succeeds in exploring the culture of a previously obscure nation that has become a pivot point in the global politics of the new millennium.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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