Need to Change Your Display Name?

1. Go to the “A Good Read!” website and log into your account. You will be brought to the “dashboard.”
2. Click on “edit profile” in the right column, which will take you to the "Edit User Profile" page.
3. Scroll down to your "Display Name" and made your changes.
4. Scroll down to the end of the page and click on “Save Profile.” When the page reloads, you will still be in the "Edit User Profile" page. Near to top left of the page, you will see the message in green: “Your settings have been saved.”
5. Use your back button to return to “A Good Read!” blog.
6. Click on the posting your wish to enter. You will notice that your new display name is given beneath the textbox: “You're currently posting as,” followed by your display name.

How to Add Your Comment to “A Good Read!” Blog

First, you must have an account as a “blog contributor”:

1. Click on “Blogger Account” (right column)
2. Click on “Create your blog now” (orange arrow)
3. Fill out the form to “Create a Google account” and click “Continue”

Note #1: At this point, you can create your own blog. However, whatever you post to your own blog will NOT show up on the “A Good Read” blog.

Second, verify your email address. When you clicked “Continue” above, Google sent out a verification email to your inbox.

1. Access your email account and open the “Google Email Verification” message
2. Click on the link provided
3. A new window will open showing that Google has verified your email address.
4. Click on “Click here to continue”

Note #2: Although you now have another opportunity to create your own blog, if your intention is to post a comment, return to the “A Good Read!” blogspot.

Third, post to the “A Good Read” blogspot.

1. Return to the “A Good Read” blogspot . You will notice that your email address is listed in the top line of the blog showing that you are logged in. (The “Dashboard” next to your email address will bring you back to the point where you were in Note #2. You can use this at any time in the future to create your own blog.)
2. Click on the title of the discussion you want to join. Any additional posts to the original one will be in the left column. There will be a textbox in the right column for you to “Leave your comment.” (Note: if you don't see a textbox, scroll down a bit and look for the "Post a Comment" link. Clicking there will bring you to the textbox.) Type your contribution to the discussion. You may add your comment immediately by clicking on “Publish your comment,” or you preview your comment by clicking on “preview.” In the preview mode, your comment will appear on the left in a yellow box. This is the way it will look once it’s published. You can make any changes you wish to make in the textbox on the right. When you’re satisfied, click either the blue “publish this comment” link in the left column or the “publish your comment” arrow in the right column. You’re done!

Kandahar

Have you seen this film?

While not a documentary, It is an attempt by director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Afghan-Canadian journalist Nalofer Pazira (A Bed of Red Flowers) to tell the world about the plight of Afghanistan. In November 2000 the film crew set up in a refugee town on the Iranian border and enlisted the people of the town, who didn't know the word film or the concept of film, to be the actors and actresses, together with Pazira, untrained also, in a film about Pazira's search for her childhood friend Dyana, left behind when civilization in Kabul was benighted under the Taliban.

Join the conversation now!

Afghanistan Revealed

Have you seen this film? Exchange your ideas about the film here.

Baran

Have you seen this film? It is the winner of many international film awards. Add your voice to the conversation here.

The Novel - Discussion #5

After Amir wins the kite running tournament, his relationship with Baba undergoes significant change. However, while they form a bond of friendship, Amir is still unhappy. What causes this unhappiness and how has Baba contributed to Amir's state of mind? Eventually, the relationship between the two returns to the way it was before the tournament, and Amir laments "we actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between us." Discuss the significance of this passage.

The Novel - Discussion #4

We begin to understand early in the novel that Amir is constantly vying for Baba's attention and often feels like an outsider in his father's life, as seen in the following passage: "He'd close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups time with him. I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter." Discuss Amir's relationship with Baba.

The Novel - Discussion #3

Early in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visit a pomegranate tree where they spend hours reading and playing. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours." In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentions that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." Discuss the significance of this tree.

Lost Treasures of Afghanistan

Did you watch this intriguing film? How did you respond?

The Novel - Discussion #2

The strong underlying force of this novel is the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Discuss their friendship. Why is Amir afraid to be Hassan's true friend? Why does Amir constantly test Hassan's loyalty? Why does he resent Hassan? After the kite running tournament, why does Amir no longer want to be Hassan's friend?

Search for the Afghan Girl

Did you see The Search for the Afghan Girl? If so, here's a spot for all of you to exchange ideas about the film.

The Novel - Discussion #1

The novel begins with Amir's memory of peering down an alley, looking for Hassan who is kite running for him. As Amir peers into the alley, he witnesses a tragedy. The novel ends with Amir kite running for Hassan's son, Sohrab, as he begins a new life with Amir in America. Why do you think the author chooses to frame the novel with these scenes? Refer to the following passage: "Afghans like to say: Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]." How is this significant to the framing of the novel?

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

This semester’s selection is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The story begins in Kabul, Afghanistan in the peaceful years before the coup and the Soviet invasion. It is about a boy, who feels the presence of the mother he never knew in the books she left behind; and his father—a successful man, larger than life, a man’s man; and the son of the father’s lifelong servant, who is the boy’s playmate and friend, illiterate, but smart and sensitive and good.
The boy is loved by his father, but he does not feel it--and by the servant’s son, but he does not value it.
In striving to win his father’s approval, the boy betrays the servant’s son and must live with that betrayal all of his life.

Now an internist in California, the author, Khaled Hosseini, was a boy in Kabul during the years about which he writes.

We think you will find The Kite Runner to be A Good Read!