As part of my Reading the World project, I'm going to start dedicating a post to every single country (and some territories) in the world in order to share book recommendations with you from that place. This way you can easily diversify your reading and travel the world.

I'm going to go in alphabetical order, so my first country is: Afghanistan (which is very fitting because The Kite Runner is what opened my eyes to global literature when I was a teenager).

Here are some book recommendations, by genre for Afghanistan:

Non-fiction

• "The Finest Hotel in Kabul" by Lyse Doucet (currently on the longlist for the Women's Prize in Non-fiction!)
  Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, has been checking into the Inter-Continental since 1988. And here, she uses its story to craft a richly immersive history of modern Afghanistan.

• "Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll
  The news-breaking book that has sent shockwaves through the Bush White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeda's evolution. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.

• "The Snow Leopard Project" by Alex Dehgan
  The remarkable story of the heroic effort to save and preserve Afghanistan's wildlife-and a culture that derives immense pride and a sense of national identity from its natural landscape.

• "The Naked Don't Fear the Water" by Matthieu Aikins
  An acclaimed young war reporter chronicles a dangerous journey on the smuggler's road to Europe, accompanying his friend, an Afghan refugee, in search of a better future.

• "To Lose a War" by Jon Lee Anderson
  Essential reporting from Afghanistan from before 9/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021

Essays

• "The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan: A Chronicle Foretold" by Tariq Ali

  The occupation of Afghanistan is over, and a balance sheet can be drawn. These essays on war and peace in the region reveal Tariq Ali at his sharpest and most prescient.

Fiction

• "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
  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 would happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives.

• "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
  A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

• "The Pearl That Broke Its Shell" by Nadia Hashimi

  In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age.
  
  
  🗺️If you want to see more book recommendations from all the countries in the world, check out my Reading the World Spreadsheet.
  
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