I have always loved to read. My parents read to me constantly when I was younger. I developed a love of stories, of fantasy worlds that took me away from my own life even for just a moment.  I had a good childhood. My dad was military so we moved around a lot. We spend a lot of time in Germany, the country of my birth. We also lived in Michigan for a short time before he retired, only to return to Germany when I dad took a job with the department of defense.

Nevertheless, I always wanted to be somewhere else. I wanted to live a fantastical life, meeting mysterious strangers, setting off on adventures. Books were my escape. I spent hours in my bedroom reading anything I could get my hands on.  I inhaled the entire Babysitter Club and Sweet Valley High series, and eventually graduated to historical fiction – Jean Plaidy remains my favorite.

Anyone who has ever visited by home knows that I love books and I can honestly say that I have read most books in my collection from cover to cover. During undergrad and grad school I had little opportunity to read books that inspired me. Sure, I found Women and Gender in Islam by Leila Ahmed and The Eloquence of Silence by Marnia Lazreg changed my way of thinking about gender and the role of women in the Middle East forever. Encountering the works of Soyinka, Cesaire, Lorde, and Wamwere opened my eyes to not only African political consciousness, but set me on a path to greater undersanding about myself.

Several friends recently asked what books I have been reading lately. I canceled cable television a little more than month ago and have been swallowing books faster than I can acquire new ones to read. So, here is my list of books I have just read and the ones that are eagerly awaiting me.

Side note: My fascination with Iran and memoir is apparent. I have Tim Wells (444 Days, The Hostages Remember) to thank for that. I read it many many years ago – sophomore year in high school probably. I read every book I could on Iran, at first works on post-revolutionary Iran. I even learned a little farsi. While that fed my quite unusual obsession with 1980s terrorism, I fell in love with pre-Islamic, Persia. Reading One Thousand and One Nights, based on the Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Haz?r Afs?nah, a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales, began my love affair. They were quickly followed by lyric poems by Hafiz, and novels and short stories by Simin Daneshvar.

Just Read:

Entechabifard, Camelia, Camelia, Save Yourself By Telling the Truth

Hakakian, Roya, Journey from the Land of No

Tharps, Lori, Kinky Gazpacho

Lamb, Christina, The Sewing Circles of Herat

Moaveni, Azadeh, Lipstick Jihad

Adiliby, Oliver and Warner, The Faith Club

Ardalan, Davar, My Name is Iran

On the agenda:

Messaoudi, Khalida, Unbowed: An Algerian Woman Confronts Islamic Fundamentalism

Mai, Mukhtar, In The Name of Honor

Ebadi, Shirin, Iran Awakening

de Bellaigue, Christopher, In the Rose Garden of Martyrs

Dowrick, Stephanie, Creative Journal Writing

Traig, Jennifer (ed.), The Autobiographer’s Handbook

Walker, Rebecca, Black, White and Jewish (must re-read)

Nafisi, Azar, Reading Lolita in Tehran (must re-read)

Soyinka, You Must Set Forth At Dawn