Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani

I really liked this book. It's a novel that follows the lives of children of political prisoners in Tehran, Iran, following the revolution in the 1980's. Some of the children were born in prison, then separated from their mothers. Others watched as their parents were arrested and jailed. Some parents were killed in mass executions, others returned to their families after many years. The children were raised mostly by relatives.

The story encompasses 3 generations....the grandparents and relatives who cared for the children when they were young, the politically active parents who were jailed, and the children themselves as they confronted the reality of life in Tehran as they grew to adulthood. The chapters are each from the point of view of one of the characters. At the beginning it is a woman prisoner in labor, giving birth in a prison hospital,  having her baby with her for a few months, then having to give the baby up to relatives outside the prison. Then we read of a father who sees his child once or twice, several years apart, and is finally killed. There is a chapter about an aunt who helps raise her nieces and nephews. Later chapters are about the children, both as children and as adults. All the characters lives touch and are intertwined in one way or another, as relatives or neighbors or friends or prison mates.

The story traces these lives through different regimes in Iran, and describes in such a personal way how people's lives were affected, how they suffered both from being silent and from being politically active and how the young people growing up dealt with so many frightening things in their lives...loss of parents, lack of freedom, fear of arrest, failed relationships, and so on.

I was especially interested in this book after having read Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. There were many parallels, particularly in the lives of the women and the oppression they suffered. Reading Lolita is a true story.  Children of the Jacaranda Tree is a novel but I think based on the life of the author who was herself born in Tehran's prison. Delijani has told this story in a rich, poetic, and powerful way. I highly recommend it.

Pinocula The Creature From My Closet by Obert Skye

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this children's book. It was funny and smart and sarcastic and thoughtful all rolled into one. The main character, Rob, a middle school student, occasionally is visited in the night by creatures from his closet. In this story the creature is Pinocula who teaches Rob something about lying. Besides the printed words, in a really cool font, there are lots of little funny cartoon illustrations. I spent almost as much time reading the tiny print words in the cartoons as I did reading the story...they were hilarious.

This book is third in a series of The Creature From My Closet books. I'm sure the first two are as funny as this one. I highly recommend it for all young readers.

The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth

This is the story of a hunt for a modern day terrorist, the Preacher, who is responsible for using the internet to urge followers to each kill some notable person serving 'the great Satan' and then kill themselves. After a series of killings in both the US and Britain, a marine colonel, Tracker, who works in TOSA (technical operations support activity) is commissioned by the highest authorities to find and eliminate the Preacher. The story tells in great detail of the use of high tech computer technology to search for the terrorist and then on the ground intelligence to finally kill him.

Though the search becomes personal for the Tracker when his own father, a retired marine general, is shot by one of the fanatics, there isn't any real character development in this story. It doesn't matter, however, because the way the search is carried out is so interesting. I had a feeling things would conclude satisfactorily at the end, but was kept on the edge of my seat wondering how it would happen. I don't know if all the technical and military things were accurate, but they were so detailed they certainly seemed to be.

The book doesn't explore any moral or ethical  dilemmas which might be associated with the killing of terrorists without trial, but just tells what happened in this particular situation. It was another book I couldn't put down.

Some other reviewers have said this book isn't as good as some of Forsyth's previous novels. That really makes me want to read them too.