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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has been a tremendous success in the publishing world. But all writers do not love it uniformly. Here is a reporint of a reader's response from the Summer Reads post in this blog. What do you think?

The Kite Runner
Submitted by Alice Osborn on June 22, 2008 - 8:59pm.

The Wonderland Book Club (my book club) discussed "Kite Runner" on Friday and we collectively enjoyed it, yet as a writer, I always deconstruct novels and try to figure out what works/doesn't work. I loved Hosseini's characterization and images, BUT he is the most unsubtle writer I know -- so many lines started with, "and that was the last time I ate..." "and that was the last time I saw Hassan smile."" DUM, DUM, DUM. Cue soap opera music. AND I'm a Mustang enthusiast and he states that Amir's (the protagonist)father drives him to school in a black Mustang, like the one Steve McQueen drove in Bullet (1968). BUT, McQueen drove a GREEN Mustang -- this missed detail totally distracted me. In addition, Amir was the most unlikeable narrator I've encountered in a long time -- anyone else out there feel this way?

Mondays, in particular, find me yearning to do nothing more than lead elephants, horses, giraffes to water. We all have escape careers -- and who hasn't dreamed of running away to the circus? Sara Gruen does it, and brings us along with her. (The dream career of one of my grad-school professors was to sit on a dock by a river. And that's it. If somebody needed bait, she might point to a bucket, but she wouldn't scoop out the worms.) 

A real dream career might be Sara Gruen's crafting of "Water for Elephants" -- spinning a story out of the facts of circus living.

How'd she do? I don't want to overdirect you, but you'll find some discussion questions here and here Pick one, or select a topic of your own.

In the decade that we have published original fiction and poetry in Sunday 

Reader, several works have played around with that crazy little thing called love. Here are a dozen, like long-stemmed roses -- our gift to you on Valentine's Day.

The Fourth Date by Megan Roberts

The Work of Love by Paul Jones

A Safe Place by Christopher Bundy 

OK, here are the picks for our virtual Book Club. In making selctions, I chose books that are available in paperback, to make joining in more affordable. Links are to Amazon.com, for ease, but we encouarge you to support your LIBS (Local Independent Book Store) whenever you can.

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. A woman explores two paths through her future in narratives that initially diverge, then converge. Shriver, a Tarheel by birth, lives in London.

Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen. Algonquin's baby became a runaway bestseller when it was released in paperback -- am I the only person who hasn't read it already?