Though there were moments of beauty, Mariam knew for the most part that life had been unkind to her.

I didn't remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapsulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray, barren canvas that our lives had become.

Attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.

[Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns] is not just unique to books, but films and music.

She would grab whatever she could -a look , a whisper , a moan - to salvage from perishing , to perserve. But time is most unforgivving of fires , and she couldn't , in the end , save it all .

But it is important to know this, to know your roots. To know where you started as a person. If not, your own life seems unreal to you. Like a puzzle. Vous comprenez? Like you have missed the beginning of a story and now you are in the middle of it, trying to understand.

I'm a pretty uncomplicated person. I live a very simple life with my family and I enjoy very ordinary things.