yeah I know what you mean. I have a loooong list of books I need to read. I'm guessing when i retire I will get round to reading them. Thanks for the tip about My name is Red.

Hi Nasreen,

I have both Snow and No god but God on my bookshelf. I just need to find the time to read them...Read 'My name is Red' though...it was a wonderful experience.

Funny you should mention this Sipa because I was looking at books recommended by Jon Snow (reputable journalist now part-time TV newsreader here in the UK) and he recommended 'Snow' by Orhan Pamuk.

You may also be interested in the a book called 'No god but God' by Reza Aslan. Excellent reading.

I thought I might recomend "The Kite Runner". Its getting a lot of buzz right because its written by an Afghan and is an account of Afghanistan's turbulent history. Its a beautifully written but very sad book. The story is actually about a young man's family and best friend and coming to terms with both his own history and the country's.

Salaam all, Also making for excellent reading if you like books based or set in historical setting in the east, a author by the name of David Ball will entertain you for hours..

He wrote two books. The Sword & the Scimitar which is based at the time of the great seige of malta, the battle of the Ottoman Empire against the knights of St John.

It traces a brother & sister & is based on true factual events of the crusade that Dragut Rais led to siege malta & make passage into Europe.

Its an amazing read & takes you across malta, carthage, Istanbul into the courts of Sultan Suleyman the magnificent & through the seas with an army of corsairs into malta..
I mourned this book when it finished...

Also by the same author is a novel called Empires of Sand which is again a novel based on historical facts of the french journey into the sahara to build a north south train link..
It traces two cousins.. one is touareg.. one is aristocrat french.. This book is moving historically correct & w ill have you hooked from start to finish taking you from paris through to the very heart of the sahara dessert in all her glory..