The Kite Runner, the debut novel by Afghani-born physician and author Khaled Hosseini, has been on best-seller and book club lists for nearly a year. Writer Isabel Allende says the book -- about a young man who returns to Afghanistan after a long absence -- is "one of those unforgettable stories that stays with you for years."

Hosseini, like the protagonist in his novel, left Afghanistan when he was boy and didn't return for decades. Hosseini was 11 when his family left, before the Soviet invasion. His father was a diplomat, and the family was granted political asylum in America.

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