Help me to love fiction again.

[Thunderduck]

I barely read fiction now, finding myself reading mostly books about science.

I'd love to become a fiction lover again. I'm reading The Kite Runner for the second time and loving it.

The descriptions of the culture and life in Afghanistan are of particular interest to me
.
If anyone could recommend a novel set in another country, which features a reasonable amount of detail about life there I'd appreciate it.

Hi Thunderduck,

I haven't read the Kite Runner but did read 'A thousand splendid suns' by the same author & like you really enjoyed learning something about Afganistan..

I've just finished another book that I loved set in another country that you might like. It's 'Music & Silence' by Rose Tremain and it's set in 17th century Denmark. A country I'd never really read about before but you find yourself swept up by the narrative and learning something about Danish history too, just an idea!

Hi Thunderduck. I loved The Kite Runner, and aginst expectations, I loved Cold Mountain. A really good read about another country and another time. Awesome detail about lives at that time. I am sure the film is crap but the book is fab. Enjoy.

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" - just skip the weird Mussolini bits!

Isabel Allende's "City Of the Beasts"

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "Love In The Time Of Cholera"

Ooh, I loved Music and Silence. Another one I enjoyed was 'the Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh, set in Burma.

Oh & also 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop, all about Crete and the Island of Spinalonga, great book.

Oh yes to Captain Corelli, except I liked all the Mussolini bits - I thought it tied the book together. Or was that just me?

Maybe it was just me?!

How about:

Wild Swans by Jung Chang - I couldn't put it down - absolutely heartbreaking and fascinating description of life in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - about the opium wars; really unusual narrative told from a range of perspectives.

And Memoirs of a Geisha of course.

Yes to "Memoirs Of A Geisha".

Also The Ladies' Detective series: set in Botswana.

Elizabeth Peters does a very silly, amusing set of detective type books set in Egypt.

Memoirs of a Geisha - another good book. Haven't seen the film.

The Ladies Detective series really does evoke Botswana itself beautifully - I find the descriptions of the country and the people and the customs almost more absorbing than the plotlines!

Yes - the country is almost a character in its own right: the descriptions are excellent.

That's a really fun way of choosing books, might pinch it as a theme for the year!

'The Shadow of The Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is set in Barcelona in the 30s. Will make you want to go there on holiday.

I loved the Kite Runner too. I also really enjoyed Half a Yellow Moon by (someone) Adichie. It is set in Nigeria in the 1960s and the political background is as fascinating as the love story and characters.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - about India in the 70s. Can't recommend it enough, although it is quite a life changing read.

Another Vote for Amitav Ghosh...'The Hungry Tide' was my favourite...set in the Sunderbans, to the south east of Kolkata.
'The Glass Palace', also by Ghosh, is set in Burma and India, I think, although I could be wrong as I read it years ago.

Message withdrawn

Just mentioned it on another thread actually but Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides has lots of stuff set on the Greek/Turkish border when it was about the worst possible place to be in.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Not fiction, but 'The Bookseller of Kabul' is incredibly readible and gives a really good feel for Afghani life.

I liked "The Island" aswell.

Thought "Winter In Madrid" by CJ Sansom, about the Spanish civil war, was fab.