Emi B. (wantonvolunteer) - , reviewed on 10/10/2012 + 84 more book reviews

I have been trying to read Madeline Albright's book The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (which is mostly about American politics relating to the Middle East) since it came out in 2006 and am still only half way through it six freaking years later. But I finished Lipstick Jihad (which explains the same subject matter) in a little over a week, savoring every chapter. Moaveni is entertaining rather than didactic; reading her is like listening to a hilarious friend vent in a highly educational sort of way.

I love a book written by a journalist, and am also a sucker for the multi-cultural genre, and a third category I enjoy is the ambiguous descriptor "haunting"; Lipstick Jihad fits all three. Azadeh Moaveni was born in northern California, to divorced Iranian exiles and the close-knit worldwide Iranian diaspora. As a rebellious teenager she suffers being Iranian in America; then after a brief stint as a student in Cairo she goes on to feel disadvantaged in Iran as an American. Throughout the book Moaveni generously shares stories of her family's squabbles, struggles, and even the random scandal. I wish she were as forthcoming with details about her own love life but I guess that's just my nosiness. She published this book before she turned 30, I hope there will be many more parts of her memoir to come.

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