Book Club Miscellany

This is probably the worst time in my life for me to start a book club. “Do not stop” has become my mantra lately just so I can get through the busy days. But I really do enjoy the club. It’s fun! And in ten years I’ll remember the books and the conversations a lot better than fatigue. So, there you have it.

Last night we discussed Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. Catherine told me that her husband calls our club the “Jerks Around the World Club” because three out of the five books we’ve read so far have, in some way, dealt with the oppression of women. Honestly, we all love our husbands. So, it’s not like we’re purposefully looking for a forum to besmirch the male species. But it is funny to think about. We’ve read books on women in China, India, and now Tehran, all of them experiencing various forms of oppression. So now Josh asks, “Where’s the Jerk from this month?” Ha!

There are two things I really appreciated about Nafisi’s book. First, it made me think more deeply about the purpose of fiction and its value. The women in Nafisi’s reading group were able to survive their bleak circumstances mainly because the novels they read offered them beauty, truth, and hope. Like the book says, we don’t look for realism in fiction but for the epiphany of truth. Fiction provides an outlet into another world, one of beauty. By offering us the ability to surpass the limits of reality, fiction offers freedom and hope. The author also noted that “empathy is at the heart of the novel.” Fiction makes us more empathetic people.

The second thing I appreciated was the author’s ability to convey exactly what life is like under an Islamic fascist regime. Nafisi articulated what she calls “the small horrors of every day life” in Tehran. When you think about government oppression, it’s easy to focus mainly on things like house raids, executions and tortures. But I never really deeply thought about the constant, overwhelming oppression of having all you freedoms of expression taken away. These women were forced into uniformity, without being allowed to define themselves. All of their freedom to imagine, to be unique and creative, had been suffocated by the regime. They weren’t allowed to wear color, to show their hair, to lick ice cream in public, to publicly express emotions. Men were not allowed to look them in the eye. Nafisi did a good job of helping me to understand a little bit about what this oppression must be like. The young women in her book seemed very realistic; they were people I could easily sympathize with.

One fun thing! I found a new favorite coffee dessert idea by reading the book! The author described on several different occasions how she liked to take a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of coffee ice cream, pour coffee over it, and top it with toasted walnuts. We tried it last night and it was fabulous. I’m already looking forward to making another one. Soon. Very Soon.

You know it’s a good book when, once you’ve reached the end, you realize that you have been holding your breath for the last few pages. So, yes, I really enjoyed Reading Lolita.