Khaled Hosseini’s first book The Kite Runner was a very interesting book - certainly worth reading. There were some difficult parts that dealt with extremely harsh realities.  There are parts of the plot that will literally make a reader wince. Considering Afghanistan’s recent history with the Taliban, al-Qaeda, etc., a book with Afghani characters should do that.

However, there were also a few parts of the story that to me felt contrived. With that caveat, I would still suggest it to people.

The author’s second bestselling novel A Thousand Splendid Suns is excellent. I don’t really have any complaints about the story at all. There wasn’t a point in the book where I became distracted and thought to myself that the author had planned too much in advance. Instead I could allow myself to get completely submerged and interested in the characters and plot as the story unfolded.

Hossein is a writer with the soul of a poet. There are some sentences in this book that portray things so beautifully. There are points where the wording makes the reader pause a little to ponder how well the author’s imagery conveys the characters’ experiences and thoughts.

I’m being careful not to give hardly anything away, so that you can discover it for yourself. I’ll give this book one of my best possible ratings. That is, I’m going to get on the phone and tell my mother to read it.

A co-worker of mine had this book and the title “Speak Peace In A World of Conflict” intrigued me. It became even more interesting when I opened it up and saw this quote at the top of the Introduction:

“We need a more peaceful world, growing out of more peaceful families and neighborhoods and communities. To secure and cultivate such peace, we must love others, even our enemies as well as our friends.” - Howard W. Hunter

That may be the only time in my life that I’ve opened up a book by a non-LDS author and discovered a reference to something said by an LDS prophet. It only says the name “Howard W. Hunter … it doesn’t identify who he is.

I wonder how the author chose that quote - if he knows much about President Hunter or maybe knew him personally? I just don’t know.

The book itself is a challenge to my internal values. Some of the points Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg makes here don’t fall into line with my understanding of justice or common sense - there are points he makes that just don’t sit very easily with me. I also feel the author makes some points or takes some approaches that are contradictory to each other.

But it is still an interesting read and I’m impressed by the fact that the author is very much aware of the ugliest realities in this world - mass killing, rape, etc. and that some people who are embroiled in these kinds of problems are taking the time to listen to this author. If what he has to offer has applications in the more horrific world contexts, then maybe I need to be a little more open-minded to what he has to say.

Let’s just say I’m still leaving ample room for skepticism, without having lost interest in what the author is writing.

At Disneyworld there is a ride called Splash Mountain that takes you gently through scenes from the stories of Brer Rabbit until you reach the end, at which point your car makes a fifty-foot drop into a pool of water (where you get splashed, thus the name of the ride).

As soon as we got out of the ride I went and looked in the gift store for a book of Brer Rabbit stories (which I had enjoyed very much as a child). I found them and read them again. The book is titled “The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit.”

If you haven’t ever read these stories (click on the picture above), you’ll want to give these a try. I counted 48 stories that tell you all about how Brer Rabbit fools Brer Fox, Brer Bear, Brer Wolf and others (though he doesn’t fare as well with Brer Turtle).  They are entertaining and fun to read.

These stories are written up by Julius Lester and very nicely illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. The introduction by Augusta Baker and Foreward by Julius Lester also make for very interesting reading.

When I was a child, my parents were kind enough to acquire some large illustrated scripture books published by a company called Promised Land Publications. There was a set called “Illustrated Stories From the Book of Mormon,” a set titled “Illustrated Stories About the New Testament” and a set titled “Illustrated Stories From Church History.” Each set was 16 volumes. These were large books with brightly colored paintings.

The New Testament books came with 16 cassette tapes that were titled “Dramatized Stories of the New Testament.”

At that early age, reading those books and listening to those tapes had a powerful influence on my knowledge of scripture stories and helped me gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a period of time where I would fall asleep every night while listening to those tapes.

I specifically remember feeling awe when reading about the way Jesus was treated, his crucifixion and his resurrection, as I read through the New Testament stories. I can also remember loving the stories about Paul the Apostle, his conversion story and his missionary travels (stories that were recounted on the cassettes). I can still remember listening to the story of how Paul testified in chains before King Agrippa and King Agrippa stating: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” and the story of how Paul comforted his fellow shipmates in a storm, telling them ahead of time that the ship would be lost but that their lives would be spared.

Googling around, I am finding that used versions of these books and cassettes are available for online auction. It appears they are out of print. These are books and tapes from back in the 1970s.

I guess I’m wondering what happened to Promised Land Publications and why these dramatized stories aren’t available on compact disc or as mp3s.

Did anyone else grow up reading these books or listening to these cassettes?