What impressed me most about Azar Nafisi’s “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” was the courage she and her female students demonstrated in finding ways to resist the power of the Revolutionary Guards and other agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 1980s and ‘90s. Dr. Nafisi also described very well the shock and demoralizing effects of living in an essentially Western-style society in which women are free to pursue professional careers, enter politics, and serve as cabinet ministers in government, only to be suddenly cast back into the Middle Ages, where you are confined to your home, must cover yourself totally, and not go anywhere in public without a male family member chaperon. She also wrestled with the question of how do you respond to such a repressive regime: isolate yourself from it as best you can? or carry on teaching out of a sense of duty to your students? I was also impressed by the pervasiveness of Western literature in Iran, even under the Islamic Revolution, and how it was still possible-though increasingly difficult-to find books by Stephen King, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. My favourite quote from the book was: “Novels are an affirmation of life against the transience of life.” My only slight quibble with “Reading Lolita in Tehran” was the lack of an index. Copies of “Jane Austen and Crime” are still on the pricey side from online booksellers, so I’ve asked my local library if it would be possible for them to buy a copy, in light of 2025 being the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. I haven’t read “Cobalt Red” (the older I get, the harder I find it to read such tragic reporting) but there are online reports of plans to ramp up production of cobalt at the northern Ontario mining town of Cobalt in order to reduce dependence on sources from the Congo.
It’s a fallacy that somehow I am supposed to feel bad about spending. Capitalism - the people who spend and “consume” because the Can are forced to support others. After working overtime and having 50% (yes 50!) of my check being taken from me I will spend it any way I choose.
What impressed me most about Azar Nafisi’s “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” was the courage she and her female students demonstrated in finding ways to resist the power of the Revolutionary Guards and other agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 1980s and ‘90s. Dr. Nafisi also described very well the shock and demoralizing effects of living in an essentially Western-style society in which women are free to pursue professional careers, enter politics, and serve as cabinet ministers in government, only to be suddenly cast back into the Middle Ages, where you are confined to your home, must cover yourself totally, and not go anywhere in public without a male family member chaperon. She also wrestled with the question of how do you respond to such a repressive regime: isolate yourself from it as best you can? or carry on teaching out of a sense of duty to your students?
I was also impressed by the pervasiveness of Western literature in Iran, even under the Islamic Revolution, and how it was still possible-though increasingly difficult-to find books by Stephen King, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. My favourite quote from the book was: “Novels are an affirmation of life against the transience of life.” My only slight quibble with “Reading Lolita in Tehran” was the lack of an index.
Copies of “Jane Austen and Crime” are still on the pricey side from online booksellers, so I’ve asked my local library if it would be possible for them to buy a copy, in light of 2025 being the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.
I haven’t read “Cobalt Red” (the older I get, the harder I find it to read such tragic reporting) but there are online reports of plans to ramp up production of cobalt at the northern Ontario mining town of Cobalt in order to reduce dependence on sources from the Congo.
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It’s a fallacy that somehow I am supposed to feel bad about spending. Capitalism - the people who spend and “consume” because the Can are forced to support others. After working overtime and having 50% (yes 50!) of my check being taken from me I will spend it any way I choose.
need to read commited! i read cobalt red AND eve because of YOU!!! 🫶🫶🫶
Committed is so good!