Book Club #2

For our first reading assignment, our group was to read Part One, or the prologue and chapters 1 - 3 in The Forever War.  Though only about 50 pages into the novel, this book contains vital information regarding important customs of the Taliban as well as graphic details involving how they deal with crime and how they live their everyday lives.  One instance that stuck with me has been the murder of one man as revenge for murdering another.  Accoriding to the Koran, the victim's family has the right to kill their family member's murderer, in public.  Another instance involved a thief who was caught pitpocketing.  He was ultimately punished by death but beforehand, his hand was severed while he was awake.  These people "fear the past" and in order to prevent certain things to occur again in their country and culture, they take care of problems in the most severe ways.  Because this is their culture, they see their "work" as doing good to preserve order and righteousness within their country.  It's amazing how different our cultures are.  This novel has been a really easy read so far due to the informal langugae and casual tone, however, a lot of terms involving the Taliban and the many names mentioned have been confusing at sometimes.  I'm not sure who they are talking about a lot of the times but that doesn't make the story any less interesting and it does not confuse the events.  I'm sure I'll get the names down as I read further into the book.

Book Club #1

The book I chose for Book Club is The Forever War.  I chose this book because I am extremely interested in firsthand accounts of major world events and personal memoirs.  This is the type of writing I hope to work on someday so reading this book just seems like a good fit for me.  It's a little long but the topic will make it a much easier read than one would expect.  I look forward to reading it.