I really wanted to love this novel about three Iranian sisters setting up a Persian cafe in a town in County Mayo in 1986, but I couldn't quite bring myself to. The bits about Iran during the revolution, and indeed about cookery, are heartfelt and well-written; the Irish scene-setting, which makes up the bulk of the book, is much less convincing (a ( Read more... )

( the book )

I'm startled to see that it is four and a half years since I read (and greatly enjoyed) the first volume of Satrapi's autobiography. At the end of the previous book she had managed to get out of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Austria. Persepolis 2 falls into two halves: her Austrian experience, and then her return to Iran, at the end of which she ( Read more... )

Three blogs that you all should be reading:

scattyme plasters the ceiling.

Alex Wilcock is torn between the two Lib Dem leadership candidates.

President Ahmedinejad of Iran.

Was at a Finnish embassy reception this evening, in view of their EU presidency, and they had four singers performing beautifully melodious songs. Finnish is one of the most pleasant languages to listen to - I guess euphonic is the right adjective - that I come into contact with. Can't understand a word, of course, but I love hearing it ( Read more... )

Thanks to Ken MacLeod for reporting that today's editorial in The Sun is worried about "Sunni Iran" and "oil hungry Teheran" as causes of instability in Iraq. As Ken says, "I'll say this for The Sun, it gives you information won't find anywhere else."