![\"Third](\"https:\/\/desiwriterslounge.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Third-time-lucky.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI have Meg Cabot to thank for making me read Jane Eyre<\/em>. Back when I was a pretentious teenager who prized her Sweet Valley Twins<\/em> collection, I was also obsessed with The Princess Diaries<\/em> series. In book three, Third Time Lucky<\/em>, Mia Thermopolis is introduced to the greatness that is Jane Eyre<\/em>. To paraphrase from the book:<\/p>\n Mia\u2019s Diary- \u201cAnd then from her bag, Grandmere drew out a book. \u2018Read this,\u2019 she said, \u2018It will teach you a lot about how men and women think.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Jane Eyre? Grandmere, I hardly think a book about a 19th century governess will help my relationship with Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Read it!\u2019 she screamed.\u201d<\/p>\n A few pages on…<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Rochester, very hot. Kind of like Wolverine but very bossy.\u201d<\/p>\n The second instance I read this book was because the referred book was in the title. I wanted to read Reading <\/a>The deal was sealed. I had to read Jane Eyre. The summer I turned 16, I embarked on the very long task that is reading Jane Eyre. I took a break in between with Cabot\u2019s All American Girl<\/em> (hey, I had to remain true to the original master). But, eventually, I finished it. Reader, I changed. Mia\u2019s mother calls it the \u201cfirst female manifesto,\u201d and I believe that. Jane is a heroine to many generations of women with her unwavering faith in her abilities and status as a woman.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books<\/em> by Azar Nafisi. But first, I had to read Lolita. Many reviews said you didn\u2019t have to read Lolita<\/em> in order to understand this book but I could not accept that. I read Lolita partly at the goading of 1001 Books to Read Before you Die<\/em> and partly because I was eager to read Reading Lolita<\/em>. Once I read both, in order, I was never the same. While Lolita<\/em>\u00a0both disgusted and fascinated, Reading Lolita in Tehran<\/em> broke my heart. The dedication with which six Irani women manage to have a book club during Ayotallah Khomeni’s regime was moving to imagine. But also a testament to how literature is a balm in troubling times and reverberates through humanity and the world outside of us.<\/p>\n