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| discussion questions the kite runner: The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, 2007 Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, 2011-09-05 Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Blacktongue Thief Christopher Buehlman, 2021-05-27 Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants. Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Sea Prayer Khaled Hosseini, 2018-09-18 **Please note that this will work best on a color device and will appear in a horizontal format** The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed responds to the heartbreak of the current refugee crisis with this deeply moving, beautifully illustrated short work of fiction for people of all ages, all over the world. Intensely moving. . .Powerfully evocative of the plight in which displaced populations find themselves.– Kirkus, STARRED Review Hosseini's story, aimed at readers of all ages, does not dwell on nightmarish fates; instead, its emotional power flows from the love of a father for his son.– Publishers Weekly, STARRED BOX Review A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe. Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read writers in the world, with more than fifty-five million copies of his novels sold worldwide in more than seventy countries. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: A Study Guide for Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner Gale, Cengage Learning, 2015-03-13 A Study Guide for Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Literary News For Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Literary News For Students for all of your research needs. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini, 2009-02-24 Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield, 2007-10-09 In this rousingly good ghost story, Setterfield's debut novel rejuvenates the genre with a closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Reading Khaled Hosseini Rebecca Stuhr, 2009-09-03 One of the most important emerging novelists today, Khaled Hosseini has enjoyed critical success and popular accolades. His first book, The Kite Runner, was voted Reading Group Book of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and was made into a major motion picture. His second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, seems destined to follow the same path. Written for book club members and students, this guide overviews Hosseini's works, themes, characters, and contexts and relates his fiction to current events and popular culture. Sidebars present interesting information, and chapters contain questions to stimulate book club discussions and student research. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography of print and electronic resources. The book begins with a glance at Hosseini's life and his use of the novel form. It then looks at his novels, summarizing their plots and discussing his characters, themes, and contexts. The book gives close attention to his handling of current events in his works, and to the presence of his fiction in popular culture. Chapters include sidebars of interesting information, along with discussion questions designed to promote book club discussion and student research. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Jamie Ford, 2009-01-27 Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices.-- Kirkus Reviews “A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel. -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain “Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.” -- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept. Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart. BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford's Love and Other Consolation Prizes. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: American Street Ibi Zoboi, 2017-02-14 A National Book Award Finalist with five starred reviews and multiple awards! A New York Times Notable Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book Of All Time* Publishers Weekly Flying Start * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * ALA Booklist Editors' Choice of 2017 (Top of the List winner) * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * BookPage Best YA Book of the Year An evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jason Reynolds In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture. On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life. But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own. Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream? |
| discussion questions the kite runner: People of the Book Geraldine Brooks, 2008-01-01 View our feature on Geraldine Books’s People of the Book. From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, 2014-07-10 1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives... Since its publication in 2003, The Kite Runner has sold twenty one million copies worldwide. Through Khaled Hosseini's brilliant writing, a previously unknown part of the world was brought to life. Now in this beautifully illustrated, four-colour graphic novel adaptation, The Kite Runner is given a vibrant new life which is sure to compel a new generation of readers. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon, 2004-05-18 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic—both poignant and funny—about a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world. “Disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect.... Suspenseful and harrowing.” —The New York Times Book Review Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Devil In The White City Erik Larson, 2010-09-30 'An irresistible page-turner that reads like the most compelling, sleep defying fiction' TIME OUT One was an architect. The other a serial killer. This is the incredible story of these two men and their realization of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and its amazing 'White City'; one of the wonders of the world. The architect was Daniel H. Burnham, the driving force behind the White City, the massive, visionary landscape of white buildings set in a wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H. H. Holmes, a handsome doctor with striking blue eyes. He used the attraction of the great fair - and his own devilish charms - to lure scores of young women to their deaths. While Burnham overcame politics, infighting, personality clashes and Chicago's infamous weather to transform the swamps of Jackson Park into the greatest show on Earth, Holmes built his own edifice just west of the fairground. He called it the World's Fair Hotel. In reality it was a torture palace, a gas chamber, a crematorium. These two disparate but driven men are brought to life in this mesmerizing, murderous tale of the legendary Fair that transformed America and set it on course for the twentieth century . . . |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Fault in Our Stars John Green, 2012-01-10 The beloved, #1 global bestseller by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and Turtles All the Way Down “John Green is one of the best writers alive.” –E. Lockhart, #1 bestselling author of We Were Liars “The greatest romance story of this decade.″ –Entertainment Weekly #1 New York Times Bestseller • #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller • #1 USA Today Bestseller • #1 International Bestseller Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten. From John Green, #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and Turtles All the Way Down, The Fault in Our Stars is insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw. It brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie O. E. Rölvaag, 2022-07-21 Giants in the Earth is a novel by Norwegian-American author Ole Edvard Rølvaag, telling a story of a Norwegian family who struggles to make a new life as pioneers in the Dakota territory. The novel follows the grim realities of pioneering and the gloomy fatalism of the Norse mind among the depictions of snow storms, locusts, poverty, hunger, loneliness, homesickness, the difficulty of fitting into a new culture, and the estrangement of immigrant children who grow up in a new land. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Invention of Wings Sue Monk Kidd, 2014-01-07 The newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection: this special eBook edition of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd features exclusive content, including Oprah’s personal notes highlighted within the text, and a reading group guide. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved. Please note there is another digital edition available without Oprah’s notes. Go to Oprah.com/bookclub for more OBC 2.0 content |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern, 2011-09-15 THE TIKTOK SENSATION Discover the million-copy bestselling fantasy read. The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads: Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn Full of breath-taking amazements and open only at night, Le Cirque des Rêves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists a fierce competition is underway. Celia and Marco are two young magicians who have been trained since childhood for a deadly duel. With the lives of everyone at the Circus of Dreams at stake, they must test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love. Complete your collection with The Starless Sea, the second novel from the author of the The Night Circus, out now. 'The only response to this novel is simply: wow. It is a breath-taking feat of imagination, a flight of fancy that pulls you in and wraps you up in its spell' The Times |
| discussion questions the kite runner: How to Be a Person Catherine Newman, 2020-05-26 For the kid who leaves a wet towel wadded up on the floor or forgets to put a new roll on the toilet-paper thingy, humorous writer and etiquette columnist Catherine Newman has created the ultimate guidebook to becoming a person whom everyone will like being around more. Jam-packed with tips, tricks, and skills — all illustrated in an irresistible graphic novel–style — this book shows kids just how easy it is to free themselves from parental nagging and become more dependable — and they’ll like themselves better, too! They’ll learn how to deal with dirty rooms, care for pets and cactuses, stick up for somebody, and fold a T-shirt. They’ll even get a crash course on using the kitchen (including how to turn a 33-cent package of ramen into dinner) and a boot camp for lending a hand outside the house (mowing, shoveling, and fixing something loose has never been easier). This handbook to becoming beyond helpful promises that every kid can be a valued and valuable member of the grown-up world. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Arms and the Man Bernard Shaw, 1990 A dramatic comedy combines high comedy with social commentary in deflating misconceptions about love and warfare. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan, 2006-09-21 Remarkable...mesmerizing...compelling.... An entire world unfolds in Tolstoyan tide of event and detail....Give yourself over to the world Ms. Tan creates for you. —The New York Times Book Review Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything. And Winnie angrily determines that she must be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, about the past—including the terrible truth even Helen does not know. And so begins Winnie's story of her life on a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s, and other places in China during World War II, and traces the happy and desperate events that led to Winnie's coming to America in 1949. The Kitchen God's Wife is a beautiful book (Los Angeles Times) from the bestselling author of novels like The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles, and the memoir, Where the Past Begins. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner, 2013-04-04 Literary agent Joe Allston, the central character of Stegner's novel All the Little Live Things, is now retired and, in his own words, 'just killing time until time gets around to killing me.' His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties. His job, trafficking the talent of others, had not been his choice. He passes through life as a spectator. A postcard from an old friend causes Allston to return to the journals of a trip he and his wife had taken years before, a journey to his mother's birthplace, where he'd sought a link with the past. The memories of that trip, both grotesque and poignant, move through layers of time and meaning, and reveal that Joe Allston isn't quite spectator enough. Wallace Stegner was the author of, among other works of fiction, Remembering Laughter (1973); The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943); Joe Hill (1950); All the Little Live Things (1967, Commonwealth Club Gold Medal); A Shooting Star (1961); Angle of Repose (1971, Pulitzer Prize); Recapitulation (1979); Crossing to Safety (1987); and Collected Stories (1990). His nonfiction includes Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954); Wolf Willow (1963); The Sound of Mountain Water (essays, 1969); The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard deVoto (1964); American Places (with Page Stegner, 1981); and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West (1992). Three short stories have won O.Henry prizes, and in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: My Absolute Darling Gabriel Tallent, 2017-08-29 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST NBCC JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FINALIST ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S MOST NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017 ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST’S MOST NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017 ONE OF NPR’S ‘GREAT READS’ OF 2017 A USA TODAY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AN AMAZON.COM BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A BUSINESS INSIDER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Impossible to put down. —NPR A novel that readers will gulp down, gasping.” —The Washington Post The word 'masterpiece' has been cheapened by too many blurbs, but My Absolute Darling absolutely is one. —Stephen King A brilliant and immersive, all-consuming read about one fourteen-year-old girl's heart-stopping fight for her own soul. Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At fourteen, she roams the woods along the northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Her social existence is confined to the middle school (where she fends off the interest of anyone, student or teacher, who might penetrate her shell) and to her life with her father. Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes, lives in a big clean house, and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her. What follows is a harrowing story of bravery and redemption. With Turtle's escalating acts of physical and emotional courage, the reader watches, heart in throat, as this teenage girl struggles to become her own hero—and in the process, becomes ours as well. Shot through with striking language in a fierce natural setting, My Absolute Darling is an urgently told, profoundly moving read that marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, 2023-12-12 Timeless, Bestselling True Story of a World War II Hero Corrie ten Boom was the first licensed female watchmaker in the Netherlands who became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler's concentration camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century. In World War II she and her family risked their lives to help Jews and underground workers escape from the Nazis. In 1944 their lives were forever altered when they were betrayed, arrested, and thrown into the infamous Nazi death camps. Only Corrie among her family survived. This is her incredible true story--and ultimately the story of how faith, hope, and love triumphed over unthinkable evil. Now in a beautiful deluxe edition, this beloved book continues to declare that God's love will overcome, heal, and restore. Because there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still, and no darkness so thick that His light can't break through. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Different Seasons Stephen King, 2016-01-01 Includes the stories “The Body” and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas—including the inspirations behind the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption—from Stephen King, bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters. This gripping collection begins with “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge—the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption. Next is “Apt Pupil,” the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. In “The Body,” four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me. Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in “The Breathing Method.” “The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make Stephen King the consummate storyteller that he is,” hailed the Houston Chronicle about Different Seasons. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Last Bus to Wisdom Ivan Doig, 2015-08-18 Named a Best Book of the Year by the Seattle Times and Kirkus Review The final novel from a great American storyteller. Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig’s beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old’s imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for “female trouble” in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate–bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical—is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German, and Donal can’t seem to get on her good side either. After one contretemps too many, Kate packs him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But as it turns out, Donal isn’t traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him. In the immortal American tradition, the pair light out for the territory together, meeting a classic Doigian ensemble of characters and having rollicking misadventures along the way. Charming, wise, and slyly funny, Last Bus to Wisdom is a last sweet gift from a writer whose books have bestowed untold pleasure on countless readers. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Ten-Year Nap Meg Wolitzer, 2009 For a group of four New York friends, the past ten years have been defined by marriage and motherhood. Educated to believe that they and their generation would conquer the world, they nonetheless left high-powered jobs to stay at home with their babies. What was intended as a temporary time-out has turned into a decade. Now at forty, with their kids growing up, Amy, Jill, Roberta and Karen wake up to a life and a future that is not what they intended. Illicit affairs, money problems, issues with children and husbands all rear their heads, as the friends wonder if it's time for a change. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand, 2010-11-16 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption. “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Caleb’s Crossing Geraldine Brooks, 2011-04-28 A novel from Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks, author of the Richard and Judy bestseller ‘March’, ‘Year of Wonders’ and ‘People of the Book’. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Book of Unknown Americans Cristina Henríquez, 2014-06-03 A stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American and illuminates the lives behind the current debates about Latino immigration (The New York Times Book Review). When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved. Here Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid, Hamid, Mohsin, 2008-04-24 The Man Booker-shortlisted, thrillingly provocative international bestseller - adapted to a major motion picture starring Kiefer Sutherland - from the author of Exit West 'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard. I am a lover of America . . . ' So speaks the mysterious stranger at a Lahore cafe as dusk settles. Invited to join him for tea, you learn his name and what led this speaker of immaculate English to seek you out. For he is more worldy than you might expect; better travelled and better educated. He knows the West better than you do. And as he tells you his story, of how he embraced the Western dream -- and a Western woman -- and how both betrayed him, so the night darkens. Then the true reason for your meeting becomes abundantly clear . . . Challenging, mysterious and thrillingly tense, Mohsin Hamid's masterly The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a vital read teeming with questions and ideas about some of the most pressing issues of today's globalised, fractured world. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Creation and Recreation Northrop Frye, 1980 Presents a series of lectures on the theological and sociological aspects of creation doctrine. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Someone Like Me Julissa Arce, 2018-09-18 A remarkable true story from social justice advocate and national bestselling author Julissa Arce about her journey to belong in America while growing up undocumented in Texas. Born in the picturesque town of Taxco, Mexico, Julissa Arce was left behind for months at a time with her two sisters, a nanny, and her grandma while her parents worked tirelessly in America in hopes of building a home and providing a better life for their children. That is, until her parents brought Julissa to Texas to live with them. From then on, Julissa secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant, went on to become a scholarship winner and an honors college graduate, and climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs. This moving, at times heartbreaking, but always inspiring story will show young readers that anything is possible. Julissa's story provides a deep look into the little-understood world of a new generation of undocumented immigrants in the United States today--kids who live next door, sit next to you in class, or may even be one of your best friends. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Blind Your Ponies Stanley Gordon West, 2011-01-18 Hope is hard to come by in the hard-luck town of Willow Creek. Sam Pickett and five young men are about to change that. Sam Pickett never expected to settle in this dried-up shell of a town on the western edge of the world. He's come here to hide from the violence and madness that have shattered his life, but what he finds is what he least expects. There's a spirit that endures in Willow Creek, Montana. It seems that every inhabitant of this forgotten outpost has a story, a reason for taking a detour to this place--or a reason for staying. As the coach of the hapless high school basketball team (zero wins, ninety-three losses), Sam can't help but be moved by the bravery he witnesses in the everyday lives of people--including his own young players--bearing their sorrows and broken dreams. How do they carry on, believing in a future that seems to be based on the flimsiest of promises? Drawing on the strength of the boys on the team, sharing the hope they display despite insurmountable odds, Sam finally begins to see a future worth living. Author Stanley Gordon West has filled the town of Willow Creek with characters so vividly cast that they become real as relatives, and their stories--so full of humor and passion, loss and determination--illuminate a path into the human heart. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Story of Arthur Truluv Elizabeth Berg, 2017-11-21 “I dare you to read this novel and not fall in love with Arthur Truluv. His story will make you laugh and cry, and will show you a love that never ends, and what it means to be truly human.”—Fannie Flagg An emotionally powerful novel about three people who each lose the one they love most, only to find second chances where they least expect them “Fans of Meg Wolitzer, Emma Straub, or [Elizabeth] Berg’s previous novels will appreciate the richly complex characters and clear prose. Redemptive without being maudlin, this story of two misfits lucky to have found one another will tug at readers’ heartstrings.”—Booklist For the past six months, Arthur Moses’s days have looked the same: He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch. The last thing Arthur would imagine is for one unlikely encounter to utterly transform his life. Eighteen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who visits the cemetery to escape the other kids at school. One afternoon she joins Arthur—a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls. Moved by Arthur’s kindness and devotion, Maddy gives him the nickname “Truluv.” As Arthur’s neighbor Lucille moves into their orbit, the unlikely trio band together and, through heartache and hardships, help one another rediscover their own potential to start anew. Wonderfully written and full of profound observations about life, The Story of Arthur Truluv is a beautiful and moving novel of compassion in the face of loss, of the small acts that turn friends into family, and of the possibilities to achieve happiness at any age. Praise for The Story of Arthur Truluv “For several days after [finishing The Story of Arthur Truluv], I felt lifted by it, and I found myself telling friends, also feeling overwhelmed by 2017, about the book. Read this, I said, it will offer some balance to all that has happened, and it is a welcome reminder we’re all neighbors here.”—Chicago Tribune “Not since Paul Zindel’s classic The Pigman have we seen such a unique bond between people who might not look twice at each other in real life. This small, mighty novel offers proof that they should.”—People, Book of the Week |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Vajra Naveen Durgaraju, 2014-08-20 An ordinary young atheist finds out that he is a God among men and is forced to find his stand in a battle between faith and science, belief and doubt, good and evil, light and dark, thunder and water, heart and the mind.Rules are broken, tears are shed, faith is tested, sacrifices are made, lives are lost and Gods are killed in the quest for a divine weapon by a doctor for his son … a son for his father … a priest for his religion … a woman for her love … a man for this world and … a forgotten God for his revenge. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Animal Farm George Orwell, 2024 |
| discussion questions the kite runner: The Hazāras Hassan Poladi, 1989 |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Inside Out and Back Again Thanhhà Lai, 2011-02-22 Inside Out and Back Again is a #1 New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience as a refugee—fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama—this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration. Hà has only ever known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope—toward America. This moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing received four starred reviews, including one from Kirkus which proclaimed it enlightening, poignant, and unexpectedly funny. An author's note explains how and why Thanhha Lai translated her personal experiences into Hà's story. This updated digital edition also includes an interview with the author, an activity you can do with your family, tips on writing poetry, and discussion questions. |
| discussion questions the kite runner: Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner Marilyn Herbert, 2011-03-25 The Kite Runner has the distinction of being the first English-language fiction written about Afghanistan, by Khaled Hosseini, a former Afghan doctor who fled his native country in 1980 as it became immersed in civil war. The novel tells of the relationship of two boys who are born, live, and play side by side, yet there is no equality in their connection. Hosseini takes his story through three decades, which include communism and Soviet occupation, as well as the arrival of the Mujahideen and the reign of terror that followed. Bookclub-in-a-Box will review and examine the following topics: • The complex relationship of Amir and Hassan, especially juxtaposed against the political and cultural backdrop of their times. • Through the relationship of the two boys with each other and with others, the reader will reflect on how those personal and political realities can be intertwined. There will be references to the concepts of master and bully. • The images of the kite and the kite runner are appropriate symbols for Afghanistan and will be considered in that light. Readers will be inspired to seek out other metaphors in this rich novel. • Afghanistan has been forever changed by its different masters, for example, the Russians and the Taliban. • Examine the devastation of Afghanistan, as portrayed in the lives of the novel's characters, and to see and understand the kind of human suffering that occurred behind the newspaper headlines. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style, and interesting background information on the novel and the author. See the website (www.bookclubinabox.com) for our complete line of Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guides |
When should I use "a discussion of" vs. "a discussion on" vs. "a ...
A discussion of a topic — this brings to mind a true discussion, going into all sorts of details of the topic (and only the topic). A discussion on a topic — here I picture the discussion to be …
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom A Project of The Internet TESL Journal If this is your first time here, then read the Teacher's Guide to Using These Pages If you can think of a …
ESL Conversation Questions - What if...? (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions What if...? A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. If you had only 24 hours to live, what would you do? If a classmate asked you for the answer to a …
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Conversation Questions Food & Eating A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. Restaurants Fruits and Vegetables Vegetarian Diets Tipping About how many different color …
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Personal conversation questions for speaking practice of country names and nationality adjectives, including discussing favourites and experiences.
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A list of questions you can use to generate conversations in the ESL/EFL classroom.
UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum
Oct 29, 2024 · Free English language forums and chat for EFL / ESL students and teachers with discussions covering issues such as grammar, exams, qualifications, academic/business English …
"Centered on" or "centered around" - English Language & Usage …
Here is Merriam-Webster's original wording: Usage Discussion of center The intransitive verb center is most commonly used with the prepositions in, on, at, and around. At appears to be favored in …
ESL Conversation Questions - Future (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions Future A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. Related: Plans, Goals, Dreams What does the future hold? What will the future be like? Who invented the …
ESL Conversation Questions - Weather (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions Weather A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. What's your favorite season and why? Are there any special traditions associated with different seasons …
When should I use "a discussion of" vs. "a discussion on" vs. "a ...
A discussion of a topic — this brings to mind a true discussion, going into all sorts of details of the topic (and only the topic). A discussion on a topic — here I picture the discussion to be …
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom A Project of The Internet TESL Journal If this is your first time here, then read the Teacher's Guide to Using These Pages If you can think of a …
ESL Conversation Questions - What if...? (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions What if...? A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. If you had only 24 hours to live, what would you do? If a classmate asked you for the answer to a …
ESL Conversation Questions - Food & Eating (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions Food & Eating A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. Restaurants Fruits and Vegetables Vegetarian Diets Tipping About how many different color …
Country and Nationality Words- Discussion Questions
Personal conversation questions for speaking practice of country names and nationality adjectives, including discussing favourites and experiences.
ESL Conversation Questions - Meeting People (I-TESL-J)
A list of questions you can use to generate conversations in the ESL/EFL classroom.
UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum
Oct 29, 2024 · Free English language forums and chat for EFL / ESL students and teachers with discussions covering issues such as grammar, exams, qualifications, academic/business English …
"Centered on" or "centered around" - English Language & Usage …
Here is Merriam-Webster's original wording: Usage Discussion of center The intransitive verb center is most commonly used with the prepositions in, on, at, and around. At appears to be favored in …
ESL Conversation Questions - Future (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions Future A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. Related: Plans, Goals, Dreams What does the future hold? What will the future be like? Who invented the …
ESL Conversation Questions - Weather (I-TESL-J)
Conversation Questions Weather A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom. What's your favorite season and why? Are there any special traditions associated with different seasons …
