Weekend Reads

Okay so anyone who knows me in real life knows what a complete bookworm I am. I used to stick to fiction and only read non-fiction when my degree needed it, but this summer I read my first non-fiction book cover to cover n it really changed a lot of things for me. 

SO, on weekends, I'll be posting two books of the week - fiction and non-fiction. (WARNING: all the non-fictions will be history books so if that's a complete yawn for you then just scroll down!)

Let's get started!  

My fiction of the week is Atonement by Ian McEwan. It's about how one young girl's lie affects the life of her sister and her sister's lover. Set in 1930-40s Britain it's a story of romance, heartbreak, deceit, war n family. 

Honestly, I don't want to give too much away (if you've already seen the film with Keira Knightley - ew - then boo you! Pretend you haven't n read the book), though I'd actually say that the film runs a pretty accurate parallel to the book. 

This copy was published by Vintage n it's one of my treasured books just cos it's soooo pretty n unique. I bought it on a whim from The National Gallery for £5.99 but you can get yours for cheaper on Ebay for roughly £3. 

Non-fiction of the week is Return of a King by William Dalrymple. If you guys didn't know, I am half Afghan and it was my uncle who recommended this book to me after finding out that I was taking a British Imperialism module at uni. It wasn't until about 8 months later that I actually read this book n honestly, it changed A LOT for me.

So it's basically about the Anglo-Afghan Wars throughout the first half of the 19th century. It explores British-Afghan-Russian dynamics and also dynamics between the different tribes and noble families in Afghanistan. 

I spent years hiding my Afghan background from people, I was ashamed of it because I was so ignorant. I thought we were backward and not liberal enough n too oppressive. But reading this book made me so so proud to be Afghan - I started to bond with my dad way more and I saw the world from his perspective for once. 

Most importantly, it made me curious about Islam. After having it shoved down my throat throughout school, I was so repulsed by the idea of religion for a long time. But now I'm really opening up to it, and I think it's making me become n feel like a better person. 

Anyways, I was given this as a present - it was so hard to keep my copy in good condition, it travelled with me to n from Russia so it's a bit raggedy :( but it's pretty cheap on Ebay for around £4 if you don't mind not having a crisp new copy. 

I hope I made you guys curious enough to read these books!

x o x o

N