The Kite Runner is Hosseini's first - and so far only - book

The book, by Afghan-American former refugee Khaled Hosseini, topped the Reading Group Book of the Year poll organised by Orange and Penguin.

Published in 2003, it tells the story of a young boy living through the Soviet invasion in his country and the rise of the Taleban.

Hosseini told the Independent newspaper that he was "thrilled" at the award.

"I am honoured that, of all the distinguished novels out there, The Kite Runner has most resonated with them," he said.

"Reading groups are a celebration of books and reading, so to receive an award from people who are constantly in the flow of books and who have so many to choose from means a lot to me."

Rising up

The Kite Runner is Hosseini's debut novel. It has now sold more than 750,000 copies in the UK, while in the US it has been on the New York Times' bestseller list for more than two years.

FAVOURITE BOOK CLUB READS 1 - The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 2 - The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger =3 - We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver = 3 - Small Island - Andrea Levy 5 - To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 - A Short History Of Tractors In Ukranian - Marina Lewycka

It featured in the same book club poll last year, but has risen from its place at number three to top the list.

In second place was Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife, while third place was split between Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin and Andrea Levy's Small Island - both of which have won the Orange Prize for fiction.

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was in fifth place - the only one of the books not released in the past five years.