Kathryn Bottoms' knowledge of the Middle East is limited.

Most of what she knows comes from newspapers and television reports. So, when she heard the theme of "Let's Talk About It," Braswell Memorial Library's annual series of lectures and book discussions, would be "Middle East Literature," she was intrigued.

Contributed photo (ENLARGE)

Among the books in the 'Let's Talk About It' reading series are 'Reading Lolita in Tehran.'

"I was like, 'Wow, this is something new.' It is current. It is pertinent to us being Americans right now because of the situation with the Middle East. I thought it was just high time that we did something like this," said Bottoms, a math teacher in Wilson County.

The free series features five books exploring different aspects of Middle Eastern culture, religion and politics, said Martha Lee, a reference librarian.

At each lecture, a scholar will discuss the backgrounds of the authors, countries and time period of one of the books: "Reading Lolita in Tehran," "The Kite Runner," "Palace Walk," "A Perfect Peace" and "Nine Parts of Desire," Lee said.

"Since one of our big pushes this year at the library is diversity, and this is obviously an area that is of interest and is of relevant importance, knowing the situation and the type of culture, I thought that this would be very interesting to our readers," Lee said.

The series starts at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 and continues every other Thursday until Oct. 30, Lee said.

The third book in the series, "Palace Walk," focuses on the structure of a patriarchal family in World War I-era Egypt, said John Herold, an English lecturer at N.C. State University. During his lecture, he will examine how such a family structure works, where it breaks down and the quality of life under it.

"It will give people a chance to look at life in a country that we know very little about generally. ... It is something that in my education was totally neglected. We got nothing about the Islamic world, so it is wonderful to be able to read some texts from those cultures and to be learning a little bit about them on a human level," Herold said.

This will be the second year Cheryl Coppedge of Rocky Mount attends the lecture series. She likes the program because it exposes her to books she rarely would choose on her own.

"It makes me read things a little bit out of my comfort zone, things that I wouldn't normally read. I am sure they will have some good lecturers to come," said Coppedge, a school social worker with Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools.

Bottoms has already started "Reading Lolita in Tehran," which tells of a group of eight women who secretly attend a weekly study session on Western literature. She is looking forward to hearing what others have to say about the book.

"It is kind of like how most people would rather go to a movie with somebody so they can say, 'Wow, did you see that?' or 'What do you think of that?' You just increase your enjoyment of the book because you can talk to somebody else, get their interpretation or their perspective from it," Bottoms said.

The Middle East theme is one of two new series to "Let's Talk About It," which was developed by the N.C. Humanities Council, Lee said. Braswell was given the opportunity of doing one of the new series before another library because Lee served on the advisory committee.

Lee said she is excited that the topic will offer readers a chance to explore a side of the Middle East besides what they see in the media.

"Hopefully, if we can learn and understand the culture of the Middle East from the literature from that area, that will broaden our horizons. Quite frankly there are quite a few people from the Middle East living here who need us to understand their background not just the news stories," Lee said.

One continuing education unit teacher renewal credit can be earned. To qualify, participants must attend four of the five sessions.

The library offers the books for check out at the Information Services desk.

For details, call 442-1951 ext. 3.