Literary+Luminary

I have noticed many interesting things in this book so far, the most interesting to me do far is the photographs. She uses the photographs to introduce the charecters of the story and she also uses them to setup the story she is about to tell. The way that she describes each person in the pictures and there relation to each other as well as to there objective helps you to understand what you will be expeiriencing during the telling of the story. The most important part of this little section is the fact that there are two pictures ,one shows the group in there head scarves and the other shows them in there natural state (the way mother nature intended them to look) showing their different types of clothing and hair. The contrast of the photos is a warm up, a precursor to the way they live their lives, following the rules of the government outside, covering up there bodies, minds and true selves. Their real lives occur inside the protective walls of Azar Nafisi's apartment, where they are free to do as they please.

I find that the book has a very interesting way of telling the story. First off there is a lot of native vocabulary that I do not understand. Sometimes this can make it difficult to understand what the characters are talking about. Also the story that is being told is not very clear. I don't really know how the author just jumped into telling a story and expected the readers to just get what is going on. From all that I can really understand the story is about Greg a mountaineers life creating schools and hospitals in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also had a sister Christa whom pasted away when she was 23 years old from a seizure. But other then that I don't really understand what the author is trying to say.

2nd week: Betania

These are some important passages in the reading that were both discussed and ideas that i found interesting about greg mortenson: Behind the gun, a wild man with a matted beard and gray turban was shouting in a language he didn't understand. It was 2:00 AM. Mortenson had only slept for two hours, and as he struggled to understand what was happening to him, being deprived of the sleep he so badly needed bothered him more than the eight unfamiliar men pointing weapons at him and pulling him up by the arms. (Third Paragraph,163)

After dark, by the light of the fire that smoldered in his balti, Haji Ali beckoned Mortenson to sit beside him. He picked up his dogeared, grease-spotted Koran and held it before the flames. "Do you see how beautiful this Koran is?" Haji Ai asked. "Yes." "I can't read it," he said. " I can't read anything. This is the greatest sadness in my life. I'll do anything so the children of my village never have to know this feeling. I'll pay any price so they have the education they deserve." ( Third Paragraph, 153)

"That Day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson i've ever learned in my life" Mortenson says. "We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We are the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills. Our leaders thought their "shock and awe " campaign could end the war in Irag before it even started. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make buliding relationships as important building projects. He taught me that i had more to learn from the poeple i work with than i could ever hope to teach them." ( Fourth Paragraph, 150)