With beautiful prose, an interesting premise, and thought-provoking themes, this was a worthwhile read but it didn't gel for me. This is my second Hamid book and I think he's not for me, so I likely won't be picking up another.

Very well-written memoir and lots of insights into why people comply with authoritarian regimes and Iran specifically, but this is a classic “book about books,” and it wasn’t my cup of tea. The author deftly weaves the themes of the novels she taught at university into the memoir bits, but unless you’ve read all or most of them, it makes for some boring sections.

Very light and fun read about different geography topics. Gréât for travelers, lovers of random facts, those who think maps are becoming less useful, and of course mapheads, Jennings’ term for map enthusiasts.

Very engaging and entertaining, I was pleasantly surprised.