Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Ok so it seems like I am on a Middle Eastern authors kick. I received the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi as a Christmas gift from one of my cousins. I had heard about it a few years ago when it first came out and had not really thought about reading it.

I liked the style of the book and the lighthearted way the author narrates about the dramatic events of the change of regime in Iran.

This is yet another book which is anti-Shah and how unhappy people were during his time. And as mentioned in a previous post I get annoyed with all such things….I certainly remember the days that she talks about just shortly after the revolution and the beginning of the war between Iran and Iraq. So for me it was somewhat of going back through the memory lane.

The book is short and a quick read. The illustrations are well done. I am impressed with the way the whole book is presented and the fact that Satrapi is able to summarize a series of life changing events that took place in the early eighties in just a few illustrations and few words.

I just noticed in LA there are a few screening of the movie based on this book. It is in French with English subtitles. I have not really decided if I want to go see it or not. I am not entirely sure I want to go see it to be honest.

My classes start again on Monday and I have a feeling that there won’t be any book reviews for a little while.

Happy readings!

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Indi Friday

Oh what a rough life I live: eat well, sleep on a comfortable bed in my crate or on a comfy bed in the living room, get lots of love, and lets not forget the yummy treats that I get when I listen to my mama and follow her commands! 🙂

woof woof!

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A Few Good Places to Visit

J, Indi, and I took a 5 day road trip. We first went to Death Valley for a couple of days, and then we went to June Lake.

One thing that you will notice while driving on the 395 towards Death Valley is the multiple signs for Fresh Jerky. After seeing all the signs you would expect this really big place, right? Nop! This is a little place and it has the BEST jerky. The little shop is just before (if you are on the 395 north) the turn for Death Valley which is the 190.

They sell lots of yummy stuff such as stuffed olives, pistachios and other types of nuts, honey, and as mentioned above the best beef jerky! A stop at Fresh Jerky is a total must!

Death Valley

This was my second time visiting Death Valley. The first time I went we camped at Furnace Creek. This time around we stayed at Stovepipe Wells Village. EVERYONE at this hotel was soooo nice. The staff was super friendly and helpful: the people at the front desk , the restaurant, the bar, and cleaning staff.

We had breakfast and dinner at the village during our stay. Both were good, I highly recommend the pork ribs for dinner as they were really really good. J and I had a great time hanging out at the bar drinking beer, playing pool, and eating! The bartender was super nice and very attentive and made sure that the beers kept on coming!

June Lake

June Lake is officially my favorite place in the world. It is just so pretty and serene.  One of my fondest memories of the second time I visited June Lake about 4 or 5 years go was going to the local coffee shop “Trout Town Joe” and have some good coffee and sweets.

The owner Gloria is super friendly and so is the rest of the staff. The food is really good. I took my book with me and spent a couple of hours enjoying some me time with my book on our second day. The following day I stopped by for breakfast, and then later with J for lunch. We both had “turkey bacon swiss panini” made by Gloria herself and it was YUMMMYYYY. Make sure you stop by and pay her a visit and grab some food, it is really worth it!

While on a walk we met a very nice and friendly gentleman named Russ. While our dogs played together we chatted and her suggested a couple of good local restaurants.

If you are in town on a Monday night, then you must go to Eagle’s Landing Restaurant for their “Mexican Mondays.” This is very nice and cozy restaurant and the food is really good. The prices for Mexican Mondays is very reasonable. And once again, the staff here is super friendly and attentive. Everything is made on location. The chips and salsa was sooo soooo good. Here is a picture of my dinner which was a “Mexican” Rotisserie Chicken.

The following evening we visited Carson Peak Inn. This is also a very nice and cozy restaurant. Just like everywhere else in June Lake the staff was super friendly and the food very yummy!

The prices are a little high, BUT, you get a lot of food and it is GOOD food. First there is a salad and all the salad dressings are homemade at the restaurant. The raspberry vinaigrette and dijon mustard were awesome! Then comes the garlic bread which is very good. The dinner plate is served with a baked potato and preset on the table you will find homemade croutons, chives, and sour cream for it.

And at last here is dinner: I ordered a steak and J ordered a combo plate with fish and steak kebab, I can’t remember what they called it, but it was excellent!!! OHHH the yummminesness!!!

Just in case you were wondering, yes, we took the leftovers home. They were so darn good the next day for breakfast!!! That’s all from this trip! If you guys are in any of the these area, make sure you stop by at these places because they are all really good!

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The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

 

I just finished reading the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Wow, now this is a novel full of suspense, surprises, drama, emotions, and sadness. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading it. I have been meaning to read this book for quite a while now. My friend Barb told me about it a couple of years ago and I also heard about it from other people. I heard on NPR that the book was made into a movie and there has been much controversy about it specifically in Afghanistan because of some of the scenes in the movie. Because of this, the Afghani child actors were taken out of Afghanistan for security purposes. I decided that it was time to read the book and then go see the movie.

This is an amazing story narrated by the protagonist Amir as he grows up between Afghanistan and the US. Amir talks about his childhood friendship with his servant Hassan, his escape from Afghanistan with his father, their struggle to built a life in the US which was a far cry from the luxurious lifestyle of their time in Afghanistan, his marriage to Soraya, and his journey back to Afghanistan after the Taliban had taken over the country. Until the very end I did not like Amir, nor did I feel any type of sympathy for him even when he clearly was constantly tortured by the sense of guilt and demons that he carried with him at all times. He simply was a spoiled child from the time he was born until he was faced with his childhood friend Assef and all the events that followed this encounter. It was only at that point that he stepped up to the plate and finally showed that he was a man. I won’t write much more about the story because I think the book is worth reading.

I enjoyed the style of the writer where Hosseini uses many Farsi words in his narrative. While Farsi is spoken in both Iran and Afghanistan, the language varies slightly. I knew many words that were used, and for some reason made the book much more intimate for me. Many of the Afghani traditions and culture is similar to my own background.

I will write about the movie as soon as I see it!

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Indi Friday

We took a mini-vacation this past week and went to Death Valley a couple of days and then another couple of days to June Lake. Indi had a great time in both places! Here we are in front of Badwater in Death Valley.

I was rather worried about how my cute city dog would deal with snow. Well she loved it. She met a little friend named Lundy on our first day in June Lake and they had an awesome time playing together.

Oh how fun it is to play fetch with snow balls. If I could only bite into it and pick it up….oh wait, it actually tastes good!

woof woof, kiss kiss!

 

 

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Indi Friday

I took this picture a couple of nights ago when Indi’s new bed came home.  This is a homemade bed. Mama and daddy bought the material from Ikea and grandma sewed the whole thing together for us.  It is a nice and comfy bed and Indi loved it the second she lounged on it.  She kept me company in the kitchen while I was cooking.  She is quite the helper!!!

Bonus picture for Indi Friday:

She looked way too cute lounging under the palm tree  in the shade in our front yard today.  Nowadays, we even have learned to pose!!!!

Woof Woof, kiss kiss!

Indi 🙂

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Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

I recently finished reading Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran. It originally caught my attention because of its title. I love pomegranates; I to eat them fresh in season and any type of food that’s cooked with pomegranate paste. I picked it up and sure enough the author is Persian…and the title refers to the same pomegranate soup that I grew up eating. The plot sounded interesting: three sisters flee Iran after the revolution and settle in Ireland and open a Persian café.

I loved the style in which the book is written; each chapter begins with a Persian recipe. The book evolves around food and cooking. You can totally tell that the author has a love affair with the culinary world. I enjoyed the way that various Persian dishes are introduced and the background that is offered about them. Most importantly, I loved how the sisters are able to carve a place in the Irish village people’s heart through food that is made with love and care.

I also really enjoyed the language of the book. It is written in a very poetic style, which is often noticeable in Persian writers. I loved the colorfulness of the vocabulary used throughout the book. I love many of the dishes that she mentions in the book and while reading I have craved every single one of them. There is definitely something special about the protagonist and elder sister Marjan and the passion with which she has fined tuned her craft as a chef. I liked, the way she was described and I could easily imagine her moves while cooking in my mind while reading. I think few authors are able to create a character that is able to evoke such feelings for the readers.

With all of this said, there were a few aspects of the book that I could have done without. In my humbled opinion Mehran spent too much of her time talking about politics and obviously reflecting her opinion of the pre-revolution Iran. I have noticed that in the past few years there have been many Iranian authors who have taken this path in their books, and frankly speaking, it has gotten old for me. The concept of “Iran was not cared for by the Shah and people were happy that the revolution took place and they thought things would change for the better” concept has been beaten to death. Seriously, let’s think about this for a second, if things were so bad and miserable for people in Iran before the revolution, why did everyone leave after the revolution and not before?

Anyway, I did a little research on the internet to see if I could find out a little more about her. I read a few interviews, it turns out she was born a couple of years before the revolution. She admittedly states in one interview that she left Iran when she was really young and she doesn’t have any memories. So the political references are all based on research that she did while writing the book and family stories. I think that’s one of the things that turned me off about the book half way through. I felt that she could have spent more time focusing and evolving the characters that she regularly mentions instead of going into politics. Also some of the stuff that she mentions are a little off the wall, and totally strange. I understand this is fiction, but still.

The ending left me disappointed. I think it is because it felt like it was an unfinished story. There was no climax in the conclusion for me. While reading, I contemplated giving the book up, the only reason I kept on reading, was a) I am always optimistic that things will get better and the plot will get better as the story unfolds, and b) I enjoyed reading about Persian food and the way Mehran explained the various dishes.

I would have enjoyed learning more about the sisters, especially the way they related to each other and worked through some of the unspoken issues that all three had gone through, perhaps see the middle sister Bahar fight her demons and find herself and happiness in their new environment throughout the book. Most importantly, I would have loved to see a better description of how the sisters’ new friendships in their small town were deepened.

I also read on the internet that this is Mehran’s first book. She is currently writing her third book and the second one Rosewater and Soda Bread, which is a sequel to this book, will be available in early 2008. I am looking forward to reading the second book!

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Indi Friday

 

A puppy and her blanky

Happy New Year! I can’t believe we are already four days into the new year…ironically, I am still trying to figure out where 2007 went.

 

The idea and title of “Indi Friday,” I have come confess, comes from Bean’s blog. I enjoy reading his blog and I am so happy that he started blogging again. Every Friday he posts a picture of his bull dog Tator Tot and I always look forward to seeing his pictures!!   

Today’s pictures were taken while Indi was sleeping in her crate.  She loves her pink blanket and she always sleeps with her head on it. It has quite a few holes in it from being chewed, nevertheless, she loves it and mama washes it every week with the rest of her bedding.

 

 

Indi and I tried a new thing a couple of days ago.  We went on a bike ride together.  We had a slow start. She always barks at bike riders and skateboarders. So I thought I would dust off my bike and see what happens. To the few that have witnessed my exceptional biking skills on my bike, which is a little too high for me, it will not come as a surprise that I fell…twice! The first time Indi pulled me and I boom I went. The next day I was on an uneven surface and Indi pulled and boom I went again. The bruises on my leg are healing slowly; they now have turned into greenish yellowish.  Nevertheless, it has been fun going biking with her and this is actually a great exercise for her because she ends up running the whole way and by the time we come home she is totally tiered.

 

Until next time, woof woof!

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