num_pages: 356
description: Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi's living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.
language: English
title: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
titlecomplete: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
characters: Nassrin, Azar Nafisi, Mitra (Reading Lolita in Teheran), Sanaz, Nima (Reading Lolita in Teheran), Yassi, Azin, Bijan, Manna, Mahshid
genres: Iran, Biography, Womens, Feminism, Nonfiction, Autobiography, History, Memoir, Books About Books, Biography Memoir
ratings_count: 132766
places: Tehran, Middle East, Iran
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Book Sense Book of the Year Award
category: Adult Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
category: Essai
publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks