First book by Alison wearing, memoir writer and programme leader. Not sure if this is memoir or travel book??

Samen met haar vriend Ian reist Alison Wearing een half jaar door Iran.
Gekleed in de traditionele lange zwarte gewaden komt zij op plaatsen
die gewoonlijk verborgen blijven voor het westerse oog.
Ze ontmoet de meest uiteenlopende mensen: een achtjarig meisje dat
volgend jaar gaat trouwen, een anglicaanse dominee, een jonge
opiumhandelaar en talloze zwartgesluierde islamitische vrouwen, die een
heel andere kijk op de wereld hebben dan Alison.
Deze mensen laten haar Iran zien zoals maar weinig mensen het kennen:
een uitzonderlijk land vol gastvrije en hartelijke mensen, waar moderne
normen en waarden op vaak uiterst ingenieuze wijze samengaan met oude
gebruiken.
Zonder haar ogen te sluiten voor de armoede en de positie van de
vrouwen, vertelt Alison Wearing met veel humor over haar belevenissen
in dit bijzondere land

Unfortunately, I don't remember enough specifics about this to write a good review. I remember bits and pieces, like her description of her hijab, and passing out because she got so hot in it. I also specifically remember thinking this author is a kook. (She describes getting lost in China because she was so absorbed in the book she was reading that she got on the wrong train. Who does that???) I liked the stories, but didn't care for the author. She seemed rather brash and a "typical American." For example, there was a scene where, while in a small market, she helps herself to items in a jar and starts sampling it. You just don't do that sort of thing in a foreign country, and anyone who's traveled even a little knows that. I was annoyed with her and happy to be done with the book.

Full disclosure: I spent several years in pre-revolutionary Iran. ( )

Very witty! You get a real sense of the journey she is on discovering not only the country and people of Iran but ultimately herself. ( )

Were this book to be read by every high-school student in the USA - American political agression may be radically changed. A book to be read every few years - it contains such tenderness, insight, humour. A whole new world opens up to us vis-a-vis the humanity of the ordinary Iranians in the face of the multitudes of restrictions in their lives. Reading this book always helps to cleanse the tawdry hopelessness & toxicity of the Bush era. ( )