The Kite Runner (February 16, 2026)
One of the traditions my family has kept for more than 21 years is my wife Elena reading to all of us. It started when Will was an infant. Elena loved to read Sandra Boynton’s children books and did all sorts of fun and unique voices. This continued into all seven Harry Potter books and when that was done, we dove into Rick Riordan including all the associated “Rick Riordan Presents” books. My family are avid readers.
On this trip, Elena enjoys sharing Dave Barry’s Substack. And one of the more recent articles included a story about how books become New York Times Bestsellers and an example of Dave Barry’s wife telling everyone she knows about The Kite Runner, despite Dave Barry having many books that he’d love her to be raving about instead. That got me interested in this book since I hadn’t read it when it first came out.
Audiobook cover of The Kite Runner, which I recently finished
Having invested 12 hours listening to this book, I now feel like I understand why so many people (including Dave Barry’s wife) so highly recommend this book. For one thing, The Kite Runner is true to life and feels incredibly authentic. It offers an unflinching look at the challenges life gives us and how our choices impact both our lives and the lives of those around us. It reminds me of a Tony Robbins quote:
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice.”
Life is made up of a series of choices each of us get to make. Even the “wrong” choices can be invaluable life lessons when we’re willing to slow down and really unpack them for ourselves. When we fail to learn a lesson that life is attempting to teach us, we are likely to repeat the same lesson over and over again until we understand and make the better choice — one based on love, not indifference; courage, not fear; and abundance, not scarcity.
So many of these themes are familiar. I think this is why the book is so widely appealing. There’s something for everyone in this book both on the positive and negative side.
On the “dark” side, this book deals with rape, murder, suicide, torcher, lies, pain, bullying, suffering, betrayal, secrets, hunger, homelessness, power dynamics, pedophiles, sex slavery, the selling of children, fear, indifference, scarcity, death, impermanence, breaking promises, consequences, uncertainty, loss, grief, and evil.
If that’s all it covered, it would be a depressing book that no one could get through which is why it has just as many uplifting positive themes such as redemption, love, marriage, friendship, adoption, charity, blood lines, faith, courage, abundance, parenting, wisdom, trust, praying, living your best life, all five of your senses, spirituality, dreams, games, happiness, joy, mystery, realism, global travel, and multi-language.
No wonder it took 12 hours to listen to. There’s no fluff in this book. Everything is incredibly well thought out like watching a chess tournament between two chess masters. I laughed. I cried. I had to stop at times to deeply reflect on my own life and my own choices. And, ultimately, I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to hear how the entire story played out and how the author would tie it all together in the end.
So, all this to say, if you are seeking a great book to read and not sure what to pick up next, this book has something for everyone. I suspect more will be revealed upon a second or third reading of this book, but with so much incredible content out there, I choose to tuck away the incredible lessons I’m taking from this read and continue my wisdom and knowledge seeking in more books out there.
