Miscellany

Inspired by the five year old (every day is Halloween here at stately ideofact manor) I started rereading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein over the weekend -- the 1818 edition which I've linked. It's only the second time I've read it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I've also been reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi, an Iranian literature professor who quit her university and taught a small, select group of students in her home. I'm only about 60 pages into it, but I'm finding it fascinating. Thanks to the person who recommended it, and I wish I had Nafisi for a professor. (Incidentally, she has a Website here.) I'll offer some thoughts on it a little later.

Finally, Zack of Procrastination offers an interesting post, with links worth following, on the subject of secularism in the Middle East.