Just completed (for book club):
Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh MoaveniAt least I'm out of Afghanistan... This memoir is mostly well-written, but scattered and a little difficult to follow at times. It isn't my favourite among the other memoirs I've read this year, but it does contain some good insights on identity and the stagnancy of secularism in the Middle East.
Best quote:
This was the Achilles heel of their movement, this foolish idea that they could take a Western concept, like democracy, alter it with Islamic attitudes towards women, and expect it to function properly. Siamak described it well one day, in a conversation about his antique, forest-green Mustang convertible. He had purchased it for what he called "Mustang therapy, " which mainly involved gunning it up and down the expressways of Tehran, blaring Led Zepplin. His mechanic kept installing old Iranian parts into the car, and declared himself shocked each time to find they didn't work. It's the same with our politicians and intellectuals, Siamak complained. They borrow Western concepts like democracy, stick in Iranian parts, and can't figure out why they've lost the juice.
This was the Achilles heel of their movement, this foolish idea that they could take a Western concept, like democracy, alter it with Islamic attitudes towards women, and expect it to function properly. Siamak described it well one day, in a conversation about his antique, forest-green Mustang convertible. He had purchased it for what he called "Mustang therapy, " which mainly involved gunning it up and down the expressways of Tehran, blaring Led Zepplin. His mechanic kept installing old Iranian parts into the car, and declared himself shocked each time to find they didn't work. It's the same with our politicians and intellectuals, Siamak complained. They borrow Western concepts like democracy, stick in Iranian parts, and can't figure out why they've lost the juice.
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On deck:
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
There are few authors whose writing I love as absolutely as Elizabeth Hay's (A.L. Kennedy and the eccentrically-named Audrey Niffenegger spring to mind), so when I picked up her new novel, it felt like meeting my favourite aunt again after a long absence. The writing is warm and authentic and evocative. I wish more people could write with such perfect - and heartbreaking - simplicity. I can't wait to get back to bed tonight to read more!
Best quote so far:
Harry had pictured somebody short and compact with sun-bleached hair, fine blue eyes, great legs, a woman in her thirties. But Dido Paris was tall, big-boned, olive-skinned, younger. Glasses. Thick, dark, springy hair held back off a wide face. Faintest shadow on her upper lip. An unreasonably beautiful woman.
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Waiting in the wings:
Thanks for the recommendation, Anne C.
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