Tristan’s choices: Thursday 7th September 2023
Theme: *Iranian life*
READ: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
On Thursday 7th September 2023 @ 7:45 pm, HBG gathered at The George Payne minus two key members who were otherwise engaged, to discuss Tristan’s choices.
It was a pleasant Summer evening and our alfresco chat was only slightly disrupted by the adjacent open mike night and we also had another unforgettable HBG moment when we got to meet, repeatedly meet, Roland’s larger than life neighbour: random cuddles, threats, praise, love, insults, and piss taking were all grist for her idiosyncratic mill.
In amongst that we got to discuss Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. Most of us enjoyed it and most of us found there was too much literary discussion and that it was a tad repetitive. Nigel dubbed it the joint best book we’d read this year. Hamish, by contrast, found the whole thing profoundly depressing
Nick 7.5 / Tristan 6 / Nigel 9 / Keith 7 / Roland 7 / Robin 7 / Hamish 5.6
LISTEN: Dozakh: All Lovers Hell by Nadia Tehran
We were all a little underwhelmed by the music but sadly acknowledged that it is unlikely this young woman could have made this album in her own country.
WATCH: Hit the Road (dir. Panah Panahi, 2021)
We all really enjoyed the film, all except Roland who inexplicably found it really dull.
Ultimately it’s a beautiful, funny, tragic study of escape from an intolerable regime.
HBG endorse it: 14 July 2023 -> 7 September 2023
Ted Lasso (Disney+)
Girl Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Book)
Jury Duty (Prime)
Scrapper (2023) (Film)
No Rest For The Wicca episode of The Bunker - 20 August 2023 (Podcast)
Rye Lane (2023) (Film - Disney+)
The Book Thief (Film)
Dreaming While Black (iPlayer)
Oppenheimer (2023) dir by Christopher Nolan (Film)
Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo (Book)
Inside the Iranian Uprising (Documentary- BBC iPlayer)
Law of Tehran (2019) dir by Saeed Roustayi (Film - BBC iPlayer)
