Once again, I get to increase my understanding of what English teachers try to do. Very interesting and thought provoking. ( )

I read Reading Lolita in Tehran before LibraryThing existed, which explains why it isn't in my library. I'll add it as I have just finished the sequel: The Republic of the Imagination: America in Three Books. I remember liking the first one, if you can like a story of increasing repression in a totalitarian regime. The sequel includes a few flashbacks to Azar Nafisi's time in Iran during the Revolution but mostly takes place as she settles in the United States, specifically in Washington, DC, a place that becomes her home with its history and politics and bookstores like Kramerbooks and Politics and Prose. It is books and the sharing of books with friends that form the foundation of this memoir, just as with her first.

She choose Huckleberry Finn, Babbitt and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter although the chapters about the last one are title Carson after the author Carson McCullers and speak more widely to Southern fiction. Nafisi has mastered the ability to weave literary criticism into her personal narrative and we learn about her friends and her life away from Iran. And, she has sparked a desire to explore these classic novels for the first time or again...I read a lot of them in college and graduate school but that was multiple decades ago at this point.

One things fascinated me about Nafisi: why she stayed in Iran for 18 years after the revolution. She was punished for not wearing the veil by being expelled from the university, then after resuming some teaching, she was not allowed to resign. Yet, she met with young women to read banned books every Thursday morning for several years and perhaps that small bit of protest was why she stayed. We have had calls for book burnings in several places in Virginia and not, as you might think, out in the hinterlands. These are communities along the Eastern corridor between Richmond and DC that have a mix of urban, suburban and rural spots. Perhaps the best protest might be public readings of the books on the list: they are many of the old ones but also new ones that celebrate diversity.

I've read the first section on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will wait until I read Babbitt and re-read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter to finish. This is the first time I've ever been compelled to take pictures of quotes and post them to my Twitter feed. ( )

I read this book for Asian author (Iran) challenge. This is my second book by Azar Nafisi, having read Reading Lolita in Tehran. I also have Read Dangerously on my shelf. I enjoyed this one so much (listened to audio through LIbby) and I want to own it and all the books that are mentioned in the book. The three main books are Huckleberry Finn, Babbitt, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. There are many others mentioned as well. The author writes about the US and how we are losing our standings because we no longer value reading and specifically reading literature. She argues the importance of literature is the means to develop independent thought and not just be told what to think. This is not a book that is influenced by the current political agendas but one that would like to challenge the reader to form their own opinions. It leans neither right nor left but it fully endorses reading and uses these older classics to show how the writer by writing fiction looks and explores the culture, social, and political. ( )

I am frankly disappointed in this book. I loved Reading Lolita in Tehran, and was put off by the preachiness in this book. For the record, I agree that our education system needs fixing and the humanities are dying, but I am not the person Nafisi needs to convince. I am the choir she's preaching to--stop telling me what Common Core is, and tell me how to work around it in my classroom, for Pete's sake!!!

On a petty note: does she not read books past 1960? I can think of so many contemporary examples that are critiquing the things she's critiquing...and doing a damnfine job of it. DeLillo's White Noise, just as a starting point.

In short: my hopes were high and crushed by polemics. ( )