Summary:
In 1995 Azar Nafisi resigned from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran because of its repressive policies. She invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly discussion of great Western literature in her home. Because the books were officially banned by the government, they had to meet secretly and use photocopied pages of the illegal novels. Most of the women were shy at first, but soon became more open about the social, cultural, and political realities of living under strict Islamic rule.

I would recommend this book!

Why?
This book is absolutely riveting, but not "easy." As much literary criticism as biography, it expects much of the reader. You feel as if you are in one of Dr. Nafisi's lectures, and that she's a great teacher. But I was most interested in the lives of the students. I can't believe the indignities they've had to suffer in this day and age! They were harassed by "morality guards," and made to walk through a separate entrance at the college (and possibly beaten for using nail polish or mascara!) One spent a weekend in prison and could not call her parents when she was "caught" talking to a man not related to her. This is a rare personal glimpse into life in Iran. But the books are the primary focus, since for the women they became "essential to our lives: they were not a luxury but a necessity," she writes. The juxtaposition of free thought and discourse when talking about books and the repression of other parts of their lives was jarring. I highly recommend it.