Asne Seierstad: Bookseller of Kabul

I thoroughly enjoyed The Bookseller of Kabul.

Seierstad is a journalist and wrote the book after living with Kabul bookseller Rais Shah Muhammad and his family for a year.

The result is this book which attempts to document the lives and feelings of both the bookseller and members of his family.

While you always have to remember that such a book will be subjective - as much as Seierstad interviews her subject, I guess she will always attach her own interpretation to them - I had no problem with that.

The Bookseller of Kabul reads like a novel and is fantastic in the amount of detail and depth of feeling it manages to convery in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

The frustrations and the resentment felt by the women in the bookseller's family is particularly absorbing - as is the plight of his long suffering son, doomed to his bidding.

The burka plays a particular role and I think Seierstad is good at exploring that issue. The history of the garment is interesting and so are the experiences of the women who wear it every day.

I was hooked and enjoyed the book both as an entertaining novel and a piece of sociological research.

If it's gathering dust on your shelves, perhaps it's time to give it an airing.