The Places In-Between, by Rory Stewart In 2002, Rory Stewart made a walk across Afghanistan from Herat to Kabul. A scholar of Afghan history and language, he was wellgrounded the country’s ancient history, and in the grave first years after 9/11, sought to learn “what [Afghanistan] was like now.” Part memoir, part political and cultural [….]

Litstack Recs: The Places In-Between & The Silmarillion
Published on :The Places In-Between, Rory Stewart In 2002, Rory Stewart made a walk across Afghanistan from Herat to Kabul. A scholar of Afghan history and language, he was well grounded the country’s ancient history, and in the grave first years after 9/11, sought to learn “what [Afghanistan] was like now.” Part memoir, part political and cultural [….]

LitStack Recs: Home Comforts and A Fort of Nine Towers
Published on :Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House Cheryl Mendelson With the start of the new year, your thoughts might—and I emphasize might—turn to spring cleaning. It may seem a little early, but January is the traditional month for airing out and dusting off the old in order to let in the new. If [….]

LitStack Review: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Published on :And the Mountains Echoed Khaled Hosseini Riverhead Books First Edition: May 21, 2013 ISBN 978-1-59463-176-4 When I read Qais Akbar Omar’s harrowing yet touching memoir of growing up in war-torn Afghanistan, A Fort of Nine Towers, as well as his account of bringing the Bard to that Middle-Eastern country in Shakespeare in Kabul, I was [….]

LitStack Review: A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar
Published on :A Fort of Nine Towers Qais Akbar Omar Farrar, Straus and Giroux First Edition: April 16, 2013 ISBN 978-0374157647 When my daughter was seven years old, she was in 2nd grade in the Minneapolis public school system. She was a good student, struggled in math some, occasionally had to deal with another girl who liked [….]

Gimbling in the Wabe – Love’s Labour’s Revisited
Published on :Last November, I reviewed an amazing book about an amazing occurrence in an amazing place. The name of the book is Shakespeare in Kabul, co-authored by Stephen Landrigan and Qais Akbar Omar. Ever since I read the book, it has simmered in my mind and heart. With LitStack featuring William Shakespeare as its Author of [….]

Shakespeare in Kabul by Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan
Published on :Shakespeare in Kabul Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan Haus Publishing Ltd May 15, 2012 ISBN 978-1-908323-08-8 —♦— In March 2005, a chance meeting in Kabul between a French actress and an American playwright allowed for something amazing to happen: a first ever theater production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost in Afghanistan by Afghan actors [….]