Read any good books lately?

I finally got round to reading Khaleed Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Hosseini spins a good story and there's enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. But then again, so does Dan Brown. I think the only reason why this book, and his subsequent book, has captivated so readers the world over is probably because of a renewed interest in Afghanistan. And Obama's recent surge will only keep Afghanistan in the world theatre for a little while longer.

It's kinda like not too long ago when every Chinese woman who made it out of China and was living in the West churned out a spate of literature, fiction and non-fiction, set during the Cultural Revolution. There's a fine line between starting a genre and overkill and that red tide somehow was on the excessive side of the line.

So I don't really know, maybe the novel setting du jour has moved from Cultural Revolution China to Taliban Afghanistan. But there's always a story in there somewhere.