I’m testing a note-taking technique when reading books. When I spread open a notebook, I’ll put the notes on the left, and the novel’s characters on the right. Then I thought, how can we easily search for info that’s handwritten in a paper notebook? So here we are, blogging about The Kite Runner (by Khaled Hosseini, 2003)
Here’s what my 1st spread looks like:
Right Side – The Kite Runner Characters / Places
- Amir – narrator
- Hassan – hare-lipped kite runner; sometimes called Hazara
- Rahim Khan – Baba’s best friend and business partner
- Baba – Amir’s father
- Ali – Hassan’s father; would serve Baba dinner
- Wazir Akbar Khan district – affluent neighborhood in northern part of Kabul, Afghanistan
- King Nadir Shah
- Sanaubar – Hassan’s mother; ran off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers 5 days after giving birth to Hassan. Sanaubar is 19 years younger than Ali
- Khorami – Iranian historian
- Pashtuns – people of Amir; persecuted and harassed the Hazaras. Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims
Left Side – Book Notes
p. xiii – Art stealing Life’s thunder.
p. 1 – Auged 12, winter of 1975
p. 3 – Amir (name is not revealed yet) and Hassan eating mulberries and walnuts.
p. 4 – Hassan never denied Amir anything; would even slingshot a walnut at their neighbor’s one-eyed German shepherd.
p. 4 – Devil shines mirrors at Muslims to distract them during prayer.
p. 4 – Hassan never told his father his mischievous activities were all the idea of Amir.
p. 4 – Baba’s study is the smoking room (smells of tobacco and cinnamon)
p. 4 – Baba’s beautiful house is described
p. 5 – Baba’s fave topics: politics, business, soccer
p. 5 – In Amir’s baby photo, he is holding the pinky finger of Rahim Khan
p. 5 – “the Wall of Ailing Corn”
p. 6 – Hassan born in 1964 (winder), one year after Amir’s mom died giving birth to Amir.
p. 7 – Soldier calls Hassan a “Hazara” and recounts his sexual encounter with Sanaubar (mother of Hassan)
p. 7 – Hassan cries in cinema
p. 8 – Sanaubar was an ethnic Hazara and Shi’a Muslim
p. 8 – Ali looked grim-faced because of facial paralysis. Only his slanted brown eyes would show happiness or sadness.
(To be continued…)
