After finally finishing Les hirondelles du Kaboul, I found myself missing those old french lit courses at university. At the time, it was so annoying to have to force myself through multiple chapters each night, followed by that feeling of inadequacy the next morning in class discussion. But having Diane or even Jan there to explain the story, the text, the words and sentence structure, and the history behind the story, and the cultural influences that I couldn't begin to know, was just an amazing opportunity, that like most of university I didn't truly appreciate until it was almost gone. (I was the fool who procrastinated on organizing my study abroad till my senior year, so I have only myself to blame in this!)

However, I did some thinking- miraculously - while reading Les hirondelles and it seems to me that since Khadra grew up during the revolution in Algeria, he might not naturally write in French. Thus I should feel as comfortable reading a translation into English as reading one into French. (After all I am the one who broke down and bought the book I wanted in an English translation.) So I've decided that I'll look for a copy of Khadra's work in English. Though I should probably research what language he did actually write in.