Maven's December Pick: The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner details the story of Amir, an Afghani boy of the upper class Pashtuns, who is constantly searching for new ways to earn his father’s approval. Amir is often accompanied by Hassan, the son of his father’s Hazara servant. Although the two spend time sharing stories and flying kites, the country’s social stratification inhibits Hassan from ever being seen as an equal. Amir is afforded the opportunity to take a stand for Hassan, but he fails to act. The event sets off a chain reaction that cuts deep, leaving Amir with a guilty conscience throughout his adulthood in America. However, he is given a second chance to atone for his earlier actions. But a perilous path to redemption awaits. Similar to the progression of the boys’ relationship, the book moves from tranquility to discord with the Soviet invasion and the eventual rise of the Taliban. The Kite Runner is intended for mature audiences.

 

Maven's November Pick: Same Kind of Different as Me

Life never travels in a straight path. Unexpected detours often appear, forcing people to alter their itineraries. This was the case for Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Same Kind of Different as Me is the story of these two men, two men with very different backgrounds. Hall, a connoisseur and broker in the high-class art industry, had everything going for him. Decades of hard work had produced respect, prestige and wealth. Hall’s road map was set. Moore, on the other hand, had lost his way. Born on a plantation in the Louisiana Bayou, Moore’s sharecropping lifestyle resembled modern slavery. Decades of backbreaking work didn’t produce the fruits of his labor like his counterpart. Instead, Moore found himself stuck in a loop of hopelessness, moving from plantation life in Louisiana to the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. The two men’s paths intersect at a homeless mission in Fort Worth, where an unexpected friendship emerges.

 

Maven's October Pick: The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch, a former computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, provides an inspiring response to his terminal cancer diagnosis in The Last Lecture. Pausch seals his legacy during his last lecture by imparting wisdom of “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Although Pausch suffers internally from pancreatic cancer, his exterior outlook on life remains upbeat. He paints a portrait of his personal ups and downs by magically revealing three principles of achieving a fulfilled life: overcoming obstacles, helping others realize their dreams and living each day to its fullest. Pausch reveals his struggles of coming to grips with the reality of death as well as the sobering reminder of leaving behind his wife and three children. The Last Lecture is an emotional rollercoaster filled with both sorrow and happiness. Pausch’s positive mentality captivates readers’ attention through his Peter-Pan approach to family, work and life.

 

Maven's September Pick: MAUS - A Survivor's Tale

The 1992 Pulitzer-Prize winning author Art Spiegelman presents an innovative portrayal of his father Vladek’s experiences in Nazi-occupied Europe and his incarceration in Auschwitz, one of the most notorious concentration camps during the Second World War. Vladek’s Holocaust survival is told through a comic-book narrative that uses animal characters in lieu of humans. The Jews are depicted as mice, the Germans as cats and the Poles as pigs. After escaping a Polish ghetto and hiding from the Nazis, Vladek arranges a train escape for himself and his wife Anja to Hungary. But the two never make it. They are captured by German officers and sent to Auschwitz in 1944. Vladek recounts a time and a place filled with unspeakable horror and fleeting hope. He finds himself at death’s doorstep time and time again as he battles starvation, abuse and disease. Spiegelman also offers insight into his own struggles of living as a second-generation Holocaust survivor as well as his often-strained relationship with his father.

 

Maven's August Pick: A Long Way Gone

Maven’s second selection is a harrowing journey of a thirteen-year-old boy from Sierra Leon in West Africa. Ishmael Beah vividly recounts the extreme suffering and heartless brutality that he and several of his friends witnessed first hand. Beah’s mindset undergoes a dangerous metamorphosis, moving from youthful exuberance to a clouded struggle with morality. The young author’s elegant and poignant writing style exudes imagery, allowing the reader unparalleled access within the psyche of a boy soldier caught amid a fierce conflict between rebel soldiers and government militia. Beah’s first-hand account reveals a three-year series of events that is sure to culminate in disastrous consequences; however, he eventually escapes his nightmare with the aid of UNICEF workers. He then begins his journey back to a life of normalcy. Beah, currently 27, graduated from Oberlin College in 2004, lives in New York City and is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Division Advisory Committee.

 

Maven's July Pick: Colors of the Mountain

Maven’s first selection is a classic story of triumph over adversity. Born in 1962 during the Year of Great Starvation, Da Chen reveals his childhood struggles during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Mao Zedong’s Red Guard strictly enforced loyalty to the communist regime, restructured the societal order and shifted focus from the classroom to the fields. Due to the family’s landlord ancestry, Chen’s father is periodically forced into labor camps while his older siblings endure back-breaking hours in the rice fields. Chen, however, is determined to attend college. But the odds are stacked against him. Chen’s principal labels him a counterrevolutionary, opening the flood gates to harassment and injustice by fellow classmates. Chen recounts his inspiring journey through a childhood lens mixed with discovery, mischief and satire. The author offsets the book’s communist overtones with descriptions of Chinese family values, tradition and cultural history. Circumstance and chance ultimately prevail as China’s new leaders rise to power, and Chen is given a second chance at reclaiming his destiny.