Now that school is out for the semester, I can actually read books that I WANT to read. So today we went to the library and I picked out The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer and Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby. The first seems to take place in Iran mostly and is Sofer's first novel. She is Iranian and received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence. Halaby is Lebanese-American -- this is her second novel. I also checked out Jesus Out to Sea, short stories by one of my favorites, James Lee Burke.
Well, I finished both of these books, and the first one
The Septembers of Shiraz was quite wonderful, especially for a first novel. It is about a Jewish family in Tehran after the coup, when the Revolutionary Guards are in power and the Shah is flying around the world trying to find a country that will accept him. I do highly recommend this book...it is beautifully written and quite suspenseful.
Pass on
Once in a Promised Land. It was a poorly written romance novel, and I griped and groaned all the way through the reading of it.
Must go eat Christmas eve treats that the neighbors have brought!
EmmaG
