"The Ayatollah Begs to Differ" by Hooman Majd

This very timely book explores the culture, religion, government and politics of Iran. The writer, Hooman Majd, has a unique perspective as he was born in Iran, but raised in the West-- the United Kingdom and United States. He currently lives and works in New York City, but travels frequently back to his homeland. Mr. Majd's writing style has a light touch, and his stories are easy to relate to. He shows us that people all over the world are very much the same. The structures of government, religion and culture may be unique and create a different point of view, yet he reminds us that the best way to learn about ourselves is to read and learn about others. As one member of our reading club stated, "Books inform us about different people and places, and this authors wry sense of humor make this book a wonderful read."

Recommended Related Titles:

No god but God: the origins, evolution, and future of Islam by Reza Aslan

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Faith Club: a Muslin, a Christian, a Jew: three women search for understanding by Ranya Idliby

"Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner

"Anyone who reads is to some extent a citizen of the world." -- Wallace Stegner

Stegner's Pulitzer Prize winning novel was the subject of our February discussion, which also happened to be his 100th Birthday! This complex book has powerful and memorable characters and deals with several major themes: East vs West; Civilization vs Opportunity; Past vs Present; Exploiter vs Civilizer, Boomer vs Nester, and Old vs New. Stegner uses the narrator, Lyman Ward, to describe the lives of his grandparents Susan and Oliver Ward. The story of Susan Ward is based on the life of pioneer Mary Hallock Foote, whose personal correspondence Stegner had access to. In the lives of Stegner's characters, we get a sense of Stegner's passion for history, his interest in family roots, and what holds a family together as they experience conflict. The essence of the book is described beautifully in this quote: "I'm not writing a book of Western history.... I've written enough history books to know this isn't one. I'm writing about something else. A marriage, I guess.... What interests me in all these papers is not Susan Burling Ward the novelist and illustrator, and not Oliver Ward the engineer, and not the West they spend their lives in. What really interests me is how two such unlike particles clung together and under what strains, rolling downhill into their future until they reached the angle of repose where I know them." A truly fantastic book that we can all highly recommend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY TO WALLACE STEGNER--today is officially "Wallace Stegner Day" in Salt Lake City due to Proclamation by both the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker, and the Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, Jr.


Come checkout a great display on Level 2 of the Main Salt Lake City Public Library from the Marriott Library Multimedia Archives Department at the University of Utah. The display includes wonderful photographs of Wallace Stegner and his family, his original notes on "Angle of Repose" and much more. The display will be here until mid-March 2009.