Michael Jackson - Beat It

My Latest Read

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

This is a wonderful book for someone who loves literature or who is curious about what life is like for Muslim women in Iran.  This is a memoir about Nafisi's experience teaching literature and living in Iran through the Iran/Iraq war.  She introduces us to her students who meet at her house after she lost her position at the University of Tehran.  She was raised in an unusual Iranian family who encouraged her education then married an moved to the U.S. for a few years where she continued her education.  This gives her the perspective from both sides and makes for interesting reading.

We see the world of Iran for Nafisi and her students through their discussions of Nabakov, Fitzgerald and Henry James among others.  Although I had not read all of the books they discussed, Nafisi writes so well that it does not matter.  I feel like I read three or four books at the same time.  That's a bonus. 

It is not light reading, but is very interesting and I felt like Nafisi was a friend and teacher by the end of the book.

The Circle of Stuff

I went yard sailing on Friday, something I usually only do on Saturday.  I went to a couple and did some other shopping and on the way home, found one that I had difficulty locating the first time around.  While I was browsing I overheard the woman holding the yard sale that this was for the youth group at her church.  I told her I had some stuff at my house and I would be glad to donate it. 

I have been doing my yearly cleaning out and had a pile of stuff in the spare bedroom.  I knew my local thrift store was not really in need of the stuff, but I hadn't come up with any other place to take it.  You see, the complication of my quest to rid my life of clutter is that I hate to throw things out.  I don't mind getting rid of it, but the thought of useful items in a landfill makes me crazy.   

I went home and gathered up the stuff and took it out to her.  She was thrilled, glad to have it.  That felt really good.