A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Two women in Afghanistan, brought together by an unlikely marriage, find strength in one another across decades of upheaval. Powerful and heartbreaking. Read the full description
Best for: Readers ready for a moving story
A Thousand Splendid Suns is #42 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 68 out of 100.
A Thousand Splendid Suns: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, A Thousand Splendid Suns’s reading interest has run from #40 to #88 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
A Thousand Splendid Suns was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 560 times in the past 12 months, peaking in April 2026 with 73 (56% above its monthly average of 47). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were down 27% on the three months before. 86% of the adds were “want to read”, 8% “currently reading” and 6% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 344,671 times in the past 12 months, peaking in January 2026 with 47,471 views. The latest three months were down 7% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article A Thousand Splendid Suns.
What the data says about A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Steady demand. Monthly shelf adds for A Thousand Splendid Suns stayed within a narrow band around 47, which is what a book with a constant stream of new readers looks like.
- Busiest and quietest months. April 2026 was its busiest month (73 adds), about 2.7 times its quietest, December 2025 (27).
- Ratings above the list’s middle. Its Open Library average of 4.36 from 135 ratings is 0.24 higher than the middle book on the list (4.12).
- Against its genre. It had 18% fewer shelf adds than the average Literary fiction book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.5% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #66 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 2007 (19 years ago), it is older than 45% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
A Thousand Splendid Suns on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #42 | 68 |
Is A Thousand Splendid Suns rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, A Thousand Splendid Suns ranks #86 this week, #56 this month, and #83 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why A Thousand Splendid Suns made the Top 100
A Thousand Splendid Suns made the list mainly on momentum (+25.4 points) and reader love (+18.6 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+1). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for A Thousand Splendid Suns
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have A Thousand Splendid Suns open right now than 20% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Literary fiction books
It is #3 of the 8 Literary fiction books on this month’s list.
About A Thousand Splendid Suns
Two women in Afghanistan, brought together by an unlikely marriage, find strength in one another across decades of upheaval. Powerful and heartbreaking.
Why it’s here: It is a favorite for readers who loved The Kite Runner and want more.
Best for: Readers ready for a moving story
At a glance
- First published
- 2007-05-22
- Genre
- Literary fiction
- Length
- about 406 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 13 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 61 on Open Library
- Setting
- Afghanistan
- Characters listed
- Mariam, Laila, Rasheed, Tariq, Nana
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Women's endurance
- Family and war
- Afghan history
What reading it is like
Sorrowful, sweeping and character-led.
At about 406 pages it is a longer read: roughly 8 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Contains domestic abuse and war violence. A separate story from The Kite Runner, by the same author.
The premise
Two women in Afghanistan, Mariam and Laila, are brought together by an unhappy marriage. Over decades of war and upheaval, they form a bond that helps them survive.
What you’ll get
- A moving story of friendship
- Strong, resilient women
- Historical depth
You might skip it if you find harrowing scenes distressing.
More by Khaled Hosseini on the Top 100: The Kite Runner
Pairs well with: The Kite Runner · The Book Thief
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #41 and #43
Questions about A Thousand Splendid Suns
What rank is A Thousand Splendid Suns on the Top 100 books?
A Thousand Splendid Suns is #42 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 68 out of 100.
Is A Thousand Splendid Suns rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, A Thousand Splendid Suns ranks #86 this week, #56 this month, and #83 over the past year.
Why is A Thousand Splendid Suns on the Top 100?
A Thousand Splendid Suns made the list mainly on momentum (+25.4 points) and reader love (+18.6 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+1).
How many people are reading A Thousand Splendid Suns right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 169 readers currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, 2,168 who want to read it and 221 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has A Thousand Splendid Suns had over the past year?
560 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak April 2026, 73); latest three months down 27% on the prior three; 344,671 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 7% over the latest three months). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is A Thousand Splendid Suns best for?
Readers ready for a moving story.
Ask a question about A Thousand Splendid Suns
Ask about this book's chart history, reading interest, or who it is for. Answers come from this page's data and can be wrong.
Answers are AI-written from BookWard’s own help content and can be wrong. Please do not share personal information: questions and answers may be saved and, if they are useful, shown on this site without your name.
How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
Track A Thousand Splendid Suns and find your next favorite
Add it to your shelf, rate what you have read, and BookWard will recommend what fits you.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.