ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an outline of recent studies of women's book clubs. The chapter suggests that while such studies have made a number of important insights into women's reading practices, they have yet to fully consider the complex practices involved in reading and discussing difference, and have still to problematize 'a too-quick enthusiasm for the other in the aftermath of colonialism'. It also explains Amal Amireh and Lisa Suhair Majaj's assertion that the reading of Third World women's texts must be located within specific geopolitical discursive environments. The presence of narratives and images which construct for book club readers an Orientalist and Eurocentric framework through which to view Nafisi's memoir. The chapter finally concludes by Reading Lolita in Tehran itself, considering the ways it has been represented to a hegemonic readership through reviews, advertising, reading guides, interviews, and editorials.