Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat

Marina is a young girl growing up in an uncertain Iran. During her lifetime she has seen the fall of the Shah, the rise of a theocracy, and a revolution that would change her life. Her family are refugees from the Russian revolution, so they know how violent they can become. Her life has been plagued with violence, as she recounts the story of how her first love had died in support of the revolution. Later she is sentenced to serve a life sentence in the dreaded prison of Evin (Iranian Alcatraz. From their, her life becomes completely mercurial. The whole book is written in an interesting fashion, as it goes from her experiences in prison to her past experiences. Eventually the two stories merge, and bring forth the ending.
The only thing I can say about this book is that it seems very biased. I understand all that Marina has gone through, both physically and emotionally. But her frustration seems to be placed on the Islamic community as a whole. Her explanations of Islamic customs, as she refers to them, such as forced hair covering and limitation of womens' rights are not in Islamic law, but they are a perversion created by the Iranian government. Her explanations are also very misguided. Not being a Muslim, I would not expect her to understand some of the more controversial topics in Islam, such as the act of polygamy. Polygamy is only legal in Islam IF the other wife agrees to the marriage by her own will, and she is treated equally as the other wife. Also, during Muhammad's time, polygamy was used by the Sa'haba (Followers of Muhammad) only to save someone from a worse fate. They married slaves, or poor women to bring them higher unto the social ladder. Also the concept of temporary marriage where the woman has no rights is not an Islamic law at all, it is an Iranian (Persian origins) tradition. All in all it is a very good book, but is often a bit inaccurate.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

This book is the story of a man who finds many souring qualities in his life, and meets his old professor from college, Morrie Schwartz, who has been diagnosed with ALS. ALS is a disease that slowly deteriorates the nervous system's ability to control muscular functions in the body, eventually leading to total paralysis, which is also death. There is no cure. Morrie and Mitch reflect on their lives and how well they were spent, and Mr. Schwartz showed Albom that life is best spent without a negative look on it.

Personally, I feel like I have no more to write on this book. I heard about it when I was in seventh grade, and finally felt like picking it up. Sure it was nonfiction but, it seemed a bit boring. I respect Mr. Albom's story and it is somewhat heartwarming, but I guess it just wasn't a good read for me.

Genre Plans for Next Quarter

So third quarter is coming to a close. It is about time to start thinking about genre requirements. SO far into the year, I have read a majority of books in the fiction area. So next quarter, I will try reading some historical fiction, because I like fiction, and I also like history class, so why not mix it together? Fiction has always been a favorite of mine, because it lets you escape into another life, that may be better or worse than our own. Isn't this what a book is meant to do? Books like Purgatario, Naked, the Dan Brown series, all fall under the fiction umbrella. Hopefully I will find a historical fiction that is just right for me.

Naked by David Sedaris and Purgatario by Dante Alighieri

I finished Naked a while back and found it to be a very amusing book. Sometimes I forget that these are anecdotes that are written by Sedaris himself. The actions of Sedaris always seemed like some form of realistic fiction work. There were many parts that really made me laugh out loud, and others that seemed like Sedaris was being nice, and others where Sedaris seemed like a complete jerk. After that book I began reading Purgatario which is the sequel of the Inferno. In this book, Dante continues his journey to his ascension, and many key elements are already seen in the book. Most of these elements, such as love and humility are also seen in the Inferno. A part that surprised me was that those souls who are punished in purgatory are many of the same souls (crimes) that are seen in the Inferno, such as lust, and gluttony. Since I have just started, I will need to dig deeper into the book to find out more.

Naked by David Sedaris

I've delved deeper into this intruiging and hilarious book. I love Sedaris's narrations about his childhood life. He describes his eccentric grandmother, which almost drove his mother insane. He narrates about thetes he hitchiked all around the country, only to meet a stranger point a gun at his head in the end. His antics are amusing to say the least. This book would be perfect for anyone who wishes to get a good laugh out loud experiance out of a book. It is hard to state all the stories that Sedaris tells, because there are just so many in this one book. They span his whole life time, from his problems dealing with OCD, to imagining life to be a sexual fantasy. All in all, this book is very general, and has no plot what so ever, but keeps you entertained with short funny stories that can be enjoyed in 15 minutes each time.

Naked by David Sedaris

This may be one of the few nonfiction books that I really enjoyed. It tells the story of young Sedaris, who suffers from OCD. To him, his life is miserable if he can't roll his eyes until they hurt. All his life he was laughed at about his tics, and his Dad always threatened him if he didn't try to stop. His Mom had a good laugh trying to act out his tics in front of his teachers. I was able to read up to the part where Sedaris goes to college, and must hide his tics from his roommate. Overall, this book is incredibly hilarious, but unfortunately, I was not able to delve deep enough to get much out of the book.

Nectar in a Sieve

This book is the story of Rukmani. She is an Indian girl growing in an upper-class family up during the early stages of British imperialism in India. During her early childhood, she always gloated about being married to wealthy upper-class men, just as her older sisters had. But by the time she came of age, her dreams were shattered. The British had taken control of the town, and since her father was the governor, he held no more power. Rukami was married to a poor farmer, Nathan, who lived miles away from her home. At first, Rukami was distraught about having left her home and her family. She was disgusted by the lack of food, and the small hut that they now called home. Nathan was so poor, that he could not even afford the land; he was only able to rent the land from the landowner. But when Rukami heard from the local gossips that her husband had built the hut by hand for her, she realized how much Nathan cared for her. Her life continues from this point, as she watches her own children grow up, face the hardships of famine and the hardships of losing a child, having to face the reality that her daughter had become a prostitute, and seeing her children leave her. Although her life is full of anguish and grief, Rukmani exemplifies a strong woman, braving all of the hurdles in her life, and lives a simple life with Nathan.
This book is similar to many other books in the fact that it tells the story of a person who must overcome unimaginable amounts of hardships, only to come out stronger. Rukami’s life is a turbulent one, and one that seems almost unrealistic. She faces difficulties, that in my opinion, no one should have to bear. Also, her transformation from an upper-class girl, to a lower-class woman is extraordinary. By the end of the book, she wants nothing more from life than to stay with Nathan and tend to her garden. Generally, the most annoying part of the book was that it became very monotonous. Only two or three times in the book was there something that made you want to keep reading. I liked that the book was generally historically accurate as well.
This book has a few connections to what we learned about British imperialism in India and from our Ancient India unit from last year. In this book, it is shown how local industries are demolished due to cheaper British goods. This led to people struggling to get money, so they had to work in the well paying factories in the area. Also, a strong Hindu and Muslim population lives in India, due to Akbar the Great’s rule. The polytheistic beliefs in Hinduism are clearly evident in this book.
All in all, it was a very satisfying read.