PERSIAN CARPET
Nylon Road
A Graphic Memoir of Coming of Age in Iran
By Parsua Bashi
St. Martin's Griffin, 124 pages, $21.99
What is it with Iranian women and graphic memoirs? First we had Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, which brought to wide Western attention the plight of secular Iranians, especially girls and women, under the iron rule of Khomeinist Islamic fundamentalists. Now comes Parsua Bashi, with her own tale of fear and flight, all rendered intimately and expressively in muted two-tone colour. Bashi, now 45, tells the tale of her struggles under the a Shiite regime that in her rendering is palpably oppressive, her development as an artist and her flight to Switzerland (where she now lives) in 2004, leaving behind a daughter. There's a lot of anger here, not only that of the mullahs and their minions, but that of Bashi, appalled at how more than 2,000 years of Persian history and culture had been lost in the dark backward and abyss of religious fanaticism.
ISLAND OF LIARS
The Book of Lies
By Mary Horlock
HarperCollins, 325 pages, $19.99
London contemporary art curator Mary Horlock, a native of Guernsey, gives us a gripping, darkly humorous tale set on that tiny island, as told in two unique, albeit unreliable voices. It's December, 1985, and 15-year-old bookworm Cat Rozier has just killed her best friend, the beautiful and popular Nicolette. But Nic betrayed her first, so is she really to be blamed? We switch to 20 years earlier. Cat's uncle, Charlie Rozier, wants the truth to come out: He believes his best friend betrayed him during the Nazi occupation of Guernsey. We are given the story by way of audio recordings left behind before his death and letters written by Cat's father. Eventually, Charlie's secret wartime adventures and the family's lies – and the island's – become clear.
MUSIC MAVENS
Some Girls
By Cyrus R.K. Patell
Continuum, 178 pages, $15.95
This latest entry in the wonderful 33 1/3 series features the last great album by the Rolling Stones, then still "the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band," but also troubled by drugs (Keef's Toronto bust) and the rise of disco and punk, Some Girls was the blazing response, a very New York album that includes such canonical songs as Miss You and Beast of Burden. Cyrus Patel blends the story of the album with that of a beleaguered Big Apple, There are now about 80 entries in this series, on albums by artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to the Kinks to the Pogues to the Beastie Boys. Not all, of course, are gems, but some are quite exceptional, such as John Niven's novelistic take of the Band's Music from Big Pink and Globe and Mail editor Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love, a meditation on his distaste for Céline Dion.
CITY OF THE DYING
The Curfew
By Jesse Ball
Vintage, 193 pages, $17
William Drysdale, once a violinist, and his eight-year-old daughter Molly mostly stay inside, playing riddles at the kitchen table and games with string and orange peels. All around them the city of C is at war, blasted and grim. When the uprising began, William's wife was taken. He and Molly now just keep to themselves and try to remain unnoticed by the police who are patrolling the streets, enforcing a curfew and arresting citizens. But then an old friend comes to William and says he knows what happened to William's wife, and William decides he must risk everything. He ventures out after dark, after the curfew, and Molly is left to play on her own. Award-winning U.S. artist, poet and novelist Ball gives us an astonishing portrait of love and family in a violent world.