Books
Nov 30-Dec 4, 1998 / Azar 9-13, 1377
Book of the week
* History: The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'Ilis
Past picks
* Life & death: Soon
* Poetry: Nizami's
Layla and Majnun
* Novel: A Persian Requiem
* Food: Ancient Persian
and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies
* Novel: Scent of
Saffron
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![](//iranian.com/Books/Images/ismaili.jpg)
The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'Ilis
By Farhad Daftary
Since the twelfth century fantastical tales of the Assassins, their
mysterious leader and their remote mountain strongholds in Syria and northern
Iran have captured the European imagination. These legends first emerged
when European Crusaders in the Levant came into contact with the Syrian
branch of the Nizari Ismailis, who at the behest of their leader were sent
on dangerous missions to kill their enemies. Elaborated over the years,
the legends culminated in Marco Polo's account according to which the Nizari
leader, described as the 'Old Man of the Mountain', was said to have controlled
the behaviour of his devotees through the use of hashish and a secret garden
of paradise.
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![](//iranian.com/Books/Images/soon.gif)
Soon: Tales from Hospice
By A. G. Mojtabai
Zoland Books, 1998
The Boston Globe writes: Mojtabai had led an unconventional but
cosmopolitan life in New York, Iran, and Cambridge, where she held an appointment
at Harvard; in Amarillo she unexpectedly found home. For several years
she has been a volunteer worker in the hospice at St. Anthony's Hospital
in Amarillo, and the 17 miraculous stories in ''Soon'' come out of that
experience... READ
MORE
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Deer Table Legs
Poems by Katayoon Zandvakili
The University of Georgia Press, 1998
Zandvakili lives in Piedmont, California, and writes for Publishers
Weekly. Her poems have appeared in The Massachusetts Review,
Five Fingers Review, Hawai'i Review, and the anthology A
World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans...
SEE FEATURE
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![](//iranian.com/Books/Images/requiem.gif)
A Persian Requiem
By Simin Daneshvar
Translated by Roxane Zand
The first published novel by an Iranian woman and one of the most widely
read novels in Iran.
Click here to read about this book
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New Food of Life:
Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies
By Najmieh Khalili Batmanglij
Click here to read about this book
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![](//www.amazon.com/Books/Images/saffron.gif)
Scent of Saffron:
Three Generations of an Iranian Family
By Rouhi Shafii
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![](//iranian.com/Books/Images/hafez.gif)
The Spiritual Wisdom of Hafez : Teachings of the Philosopher
of Love
Translated by Haleh Pourafzal, Roger Montgomery
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