Strange Times, My Dear: The Pen Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature
edited by Nahid Mozaffari and Ahmad Karimi Hakkak
The writer, especially the poet, occupies a special place in Iranian society. The stories and poems gathered in this emphatically recommended volume provide an overview of three generations of Iranian writers and the tradition of writing between the lines to convey subversion and profile a society. Consider these opening lines from the title poem by Ahmad Shamlu: “They smell your breath/ lest you have said: I love you,/ They smell your heart:/ These are strange times, my dear./ They flog love/ at the roadblock,/ Let’s hide love in the larder… The man who knocks at your door in the noon of the night/ has come to kill the light./ Let’s hide light in the larder.”

Lipstick Jihad
Azadeh Moaveni
Moaveni, who co-wrote Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi’s memoir Iran Awakening (also recommended reading), grew up in the US, but returned to her country to report for American publications. Catching up with her family, and using that insider’s space to venture into Iranian society, she got a unique profile of Iran’s urban, and in a large part well-off, youth. As the title suggests, she discovers ways in which they use fashion and social gatherings to dodge the state’s codes for dress and behaviour.

Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
The graphic novel is a cult book and has been adapted for the big screen. So an introduction is unnecessary. But do recall that episode in the novel when Marjane’s mother joins street protests and is mortified when her photograph is published in a journal.

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran
Hooman Majd
Majd, whose family ties place him at the heart of Iran’s ruling elite, has made his affiliations clear during the current Iranian unrest by sporting Moussavi-green ties. In the book, he makes sense of his country, showing how complicated, and compelling, its society and polity are. He starts his book by invoking a traditional opening line in Iranian stories: “Yeki-bood; yeki-nabood” — there was one, there wasn’t one.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi
The Iranian protests have brought to the streets much of the ferment that’s usually expressed indoors. Nafisi, who supported the overthrow of the Shah, was soon after the Revolution dismissed from her university job for not taking the veil. She recovered her engagement with students by starting a book club at her Tehran apartment, using texts by Nabokov, Fitzgerald and Austen to kindle appreciation for their potential to liberate the girls’ individuality. Her recent book, Things I’ve Been Silent About, is a more personal account of her parents’ marriage, with the family tensions reflecting the political storms outside.