Books from Afghanistan
44 popular afghan books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Asia Challenge" were written by authors from Afghanistan.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
1.
A Fort of Nine Towers : An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
A carpet designer in Kabul describes his childhood before the Mujahedin took over, his family's struggle for survival after fleeing their home and how his secret carpet factory provided both employment and education for neighborhood girls.
2.
A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear by Atiq Rahimi EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Set in Kabul just before the Soviet invasion of December 1979, this extraordinary book is both the story of a student in fear for his life, and the story of Afghanistan - a beautiful, wounded country torn apart by religion and politics. Its action takes place over just two nights; its events are triggered by the random persecution of a young man as he makes his way home one evening, a little drunk, and is set upon by soldiers. Beaten to a pulp, Farhad is dragged by a strange woman into her house where he spends the night half believing he has died and is suffering the deserved punishment of an... continue
3.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, the #1 New York Times bestseller A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. “Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling first book, The Kite Runner.”—Newsweek Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Born a generation apart a... continue
4.
A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice by Malalai Joya EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Malalai Joya has been called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan." At a constitutional assembly in Kabul in 2003, she stood up and denounced her country's powerful NATO-backed warlords. She was twenty-five years old. Two years later, she became the youngest person elected to Afghanistan's new Parliament. In 2007, she was suspended from Parliament for her persistent criticism of the warlords and drug barons and their cronies. She has survived four assassination attempts to date, is accompanied at all times by armed guards, and sleeps only in safe houses. Often compared to democratic leaders such ... continue
5.
Above Us the Milky Way by Fowzia Karimi EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Debut novel about a young family forced to flee their war-ravaged homeland, forced to leave behind everything & everyone beloved & familiar. Old family photographs & lush watercolor paintings based on medieval illuminated manuscripts interweave with remembrances, ghost stories/stories of the war dead, & fairy tales to conjure a story of war, of emigration & immigration, the remarkable human capacity to experience love & wonder amidst destruction & loss, & how to create beauty out of horror.
6.
Afghanistan : A Lexicon by Mariam Ghani, Ashraf Ghani EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
"In the form of a lexicon, artist Mariam Ghani describes, together with her father, the renowned anthropologist and political scientist Ashraf Ghani, the cycle of repeated collapse and recovery that Afghanistan has undergone over the course of the twentieth century. The lexicon comprises seventy-one mostly illustrated terms that include central figures and places, words that carry a specific (political) meaning in the Afghan context, and entries on recurring events and defining themes."--Documenta 13 website, viewed Oct. 5, 2011.
8.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else. Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those clo... continue
9.
Dancing in the mosque by Homeira Qaderi EN
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
An exquisite and inspiring memoir about one mother's unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
10.
De knikkers van Qadir : het waargebeurde verhaal van een vader op de vlucht by Qadir Nadery, Leo Bormans NL
Country: Asia / Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Description:
Verhaal van een Afghaanse man die met zijn gezin vlucht voor het geweld van de taliban naar Europa, door de bergen, als bootvluchteling en overgeleverd aan mensensmokkelaars.