Orhan Pamuk

These days myself and my friends are on to reading Pamuk in a big way. Nobel Laureate, who lives in Istanbul has some enticing novels under his belt. My Name is red, Snow, The Black Book, The White Castle and Istanbul. You start reading from anywhere from his sizable oevour and you are sure to be mesmerised. The best writer in years to emerge in recent years from Turkey. Snow is a political novel, whereas all the other novels of his has an element of mystery in it. Thoroughly engrossing and enlightening.

Terror

Today what the world needs is the political will to tackle terrorism in a big way. There is no need to panick when the time comes to call a spade a spade. It is always better to weed out religious fanaticism at the roots, instead of sidetracking it.
There have been umpteen clues regarding the Hyderabad blasts, but no one cared or dared to do anything about it. Result - 44 dead and hundreds injured.

Khaled Hosseini

Recently I read two novels of the Afghan writer Hosseini. The Kite Runner is a cultural phenomenon. It brings to life the unforgiving landscape of Afghanistan, which people watched on their TV sets post 9/11. The second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a heartrenching story about two Afghan women burdened by patriarchal despotism.To readers of the subcontinent, it provides a sense of deja vu as both novels abound in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and persian words.
Check them out.

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