2025 Dooreh-ye Ketaab Book Selection and Discussion Dates
All Doorehs are held in odd-numbered months, on the second Wednesday, at 5:00pm Pacific (8:00pm Eastern). A Zoom link will be emailed to you close to the meeting date. If you have never attended a Dooreh, please send email to [email protected] to ask for the link. If you have attended previously, we have you in the list, you’re good.
Looking forward to seeing you at a Dooreh!
Jackie Spurlock (Abadeh, Riz/ZarrinShahr, 1974-76) and Jim Goode (Tuyserkan, 1968-71)
The results are in and below is the list of six books chosen by members of the Dooreh-ye Ketaab to be read in 2025. Each of the six authors has agreed to participate in the discussion of his/her book. The Dooreh is open to anyone who is interested. No additional obligations implied. Please join us on Zoom whenever your schedule allows.
January 8
Hughes, Tom (RPCV) Iran and Me, All of Us, Actually (2023). This memoir started as a simple recounting of the times before, during and after my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran. Here I try to honor some remarkable people now gone, describe that place, now changed, and a time a half century ago, being quickly forgotten. Fulfilling the Peace Corps mission to share the experience back home has been a feature of my career as an educator and now this book. It has expanded to include a love story, as my wife, Meredith, and I were married in Iran. It’s also a tribute to the greatness of Iran and its influence, because…Iran Matters.
March 12
Piller, Thomas J (RPCV) A Pathway From No Path (2024). A memoir depicting an African American’s struggles, successes, and the profound Influence that his 1962 Peace Corps service in Iran had on shaping his future. The journey starts in the Jim Crow South; it is here the author discovers a glimmer of hope. His decision to join the Peace Corps served as a catalyst for personal growth and transformation. As a result of his service, he develops a deep introspection into race, politics, religion, and the world at large. A spirit of understanding and hope permeates the entire narrative.
May 14
Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh, Heroes to Hostages: America and Iran, 1800-1988 (2023). It is easy to forget that these two countries once shared a productive partnership. Tracing US-Iran relations over two turbulent centuries, the author considers when and how this relationship went awry. With careful attention to social and cultural as well as diplomatic developments, she shows that the rift did not originate in flashpoints of crisis, like the 1953 coup or the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but was instead long in the making. Drawing from a wealth of English and Persian-language sources, this book considers the relationship from the vantage point of Iranian society and the experiences of an evolving Iran that strived to accommodate American and great power politics.
July 9
Kamali, Marjan, The Lion Women of Tehran (2024). This novel presents a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism set against three transformative decades in Tehran. A sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young. In 1950s Tehran, Ellie meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, they play games and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Ellie’s memories of Homa fade. Years later, they meet again, but as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal has enormous consequences.
September 10
Hashemi, Manata, Coming of Age in Iran: Poverty and the Struggle for Dignity (2020) Crippling sanctions, inflation, and unemployment have increasingly burdened young people in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this study, Hashemi takes us inside the lives of poor Iranian youth, showing how these young men and women face their future prospects. Drawing on first-hand accounts, the author follows their stories, one by one, as they struggle to climb the proverbial ladder of success. Ultimately, Hashemi sheds light on the pressures these young men and women face, showing how many choose to comply with—rather than resist—social norms in their pursuit of status and belonging.
November 12
Homa, Ava, Daughters of Smoke and Fire (2020). This extraordinary novel takes readers into the everyday lives of Iranian Kurds. Leila dreams of making films to bring the suppressed stories of her people onto the global stage, but obstacles keep piling up. Homa presents an unforgettable, haunting story of a young woman’s perilous fight for freedom and justice.
The Dooreh takes place on the second Wednesday of every other month. We meet at 5pm PST/8pm EST. See you there!
For the complete list of books discussed since 2017, click HERE.