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.
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