I set a goal to read more books last year, and I thought that I would post a review each time that I finished a book so that I can keep track of which books I've read over the year.
A couple days ago, I finished reading a book that Melanie suggested, "Reading Lolita in Tehran." This book talks about life in Iran during the late '70s and '80s when the ayatollahs overthrew the government and instated a very restrictive Islamic theocracy in its place-- where freedom of speech was abolished and women were mandated to wear the veil in public. A morality police was commissioned to roam the streets to ensure that women were behaving in a "moral" manner. Even if a single strand of hair were to be seen outside the veil, the women were reprimanded and sometimes even thrown in jail.
In the book, a group of college girls and their Literature professor decided to defy the law and meet together regularly (where they would remove their veil) and in normal street-clothing talk about some banned books and draw comparisons from them to Iranian society (The books specifically mentioned are: Lolita, the Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller and Pride and Prejudice).
It was a pretty deep book and a good read. I liked it because it gave me a better understanding of what is happening in the middle-east. It was also interesting to note the similarity between the government over there to Satan's plan (both are designed to suppress original thought and free agency). It is also unbelievable how strong the hatred in that part of the world is for all things American.
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