Already this book has a story: in Bishkek, there is a lone little English-language bookstore. It used to be in the basement of Fatboy's; it has recently moved to the less-convenient (for me) MetroPub. While it was at Fatboy's, I was a semi-regular customer, showing up every couple of weeks or so. Since the store was the size of a broom closet, and there aren't a lot of English-speakers here, this made me quite noticeable.

Anyway, I was there about three months ago, and I asked the girl working the store if they had this book. "No," she said, "we did, but we sold out. I could order it for you."

"No, that's all right," I said, and went on my way.

Well, a few days ago I visited the store in its new location. And who should come running up to me but the same girl....

"It's here!" she said cheerily. "You asked about it, and we needed another copy anyway. And it's here!" And she hands me the book.

I could be annoyed that she ordered the book for me, when I'd said not to do so - but instead I'm choosing to be pleased that after a three-month span when she did not see me, she not only recognized me but remembered which book I'd been asking after. And of course I bought the book. Wouldn't you?

Having read the book, I handed it off in a controlled release to a friend.

As for the book itself, I liked it with reservations. While having not read a majority of the books Nafisi discusses with her book group did not hurt my understanding of the story, it got very tedious when she'd go on two- or three-page "rants" about certain events in those fictional tales. Also I thought that the cast of thousands was kind of difficult to follow. When you have ten years to get to know ten different women, it's very easy to keep them straight. When you have some 200 pages to get to know them (and particularly if they all have unfamiliar names), they all sort of run together.

Beyond that, good book, good story, and I liked how she made all the books read relevant to their lives in Iran.