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This has to be quick as my children's librarian has called out with shooting pains in her neck on my supposed "late" day--which means I am scheduled to work 11:30-8pm. Oh well, flexibility is one of our hallmarks!

I stopped in at one of MPOW's branches that has self-check machines. Since ours is due to be installed literally last week (i.e., very soon), I thought I'd give one a spin. I grabbed Persepolis off a nearby display. (I always think of my daughter's shock one morning before opening when I was hastily restocking a picture book display. She accused me of not even looking at the books I pulled. She thought the books on a display were somehow recommended. I told her I look for shiny ones, like a certain raccoon I know.)

But I digress. Which reminds me of a phone reference I had a while back. Where does "but I digress" come from? I did not find a real answer. Anyone know? I'm figuring it must have a pop culture reference, but no way was I going to sift through all the hits I found...

I'd heard good things about Persepolis a few years ago, but never saw a copy available before. I am to graphic novels as peanut butter is to surfing. I have tried to read manga. The only series I was at all successful with was Tokyo Babylon, and I usually couldn't tell Seishirou and Subaru apart. I tried the manga of Nausicaa , but it literally gave me vertigo. So I hadn't tried a graphic novel in years.

Persepolis was a pleasant surprise, considering the content. I knew which panel to read next without excruciating effort, and I mainly could tell the characters apart. It is a very sad story, but with some real humor and dignity. It is a memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

I had a friend from Iran while I was in college, Leticia. Her father was a diplomat in the Shah's government. Tish never went home to Persia, as she called it, again after 1978. Her family finally managed to get everyone out and emigrated to Egypt. I wonder how she did--I haven't heard from her for years. She hated Arabic, and was none to fond of Arabs. I teased her, and told her Egyptians are not Arabs in the Saudi mind. But she and I did bond a bit over the status of women in Islamic countries. I can't imagine Tish in an abaya or chador.

Marjane Satrapi's memoir gave me a different glimpse of Iran. Her parents were in favor of the revolution against the Shah, who had caused a great deal of suffering to her family. So Marjane embraces the revolution, too. But none of them realized what the Islamasists would do. Some of the absurdities of schools and the constantly changing dictates and repression are very funny. But it becomes more and more difficult in Teheran, as more and more family and friends are jailed or leave. I spent the second half of the book just hoping and waiting for Marjane's family to get out.