<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Our March book club pick is Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel ‘</span><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734476/martyr-by-kaveh-akbar/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><em>Martyr!</em></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">’ It’s about Cyrus, who was born in Iran and moved to the midwest as a child after his mom died. She was one of the victims of the real-life event where the United States Navy shot an Iranian passenger-plane out of the sky reportedly by accident. The book picks up when Cyrus is in his 20s in Indiana and he’s struggling in more ways than one. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">He finds himself thinking a lot about the idea of martyrdom and what makes life truly worth living. When he learns of an artist in New York whose work explores similar topics, he has to meet her.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">We are joined by two expert readers: </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">New York Times Book Review</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> editor </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/mj-franklin" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">MJ Franklin</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> and host of </span><a href="https://thestackspodcast.com/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><em>The Stacks</em></a><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"> </em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">podcast Traci Thomas. We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Kaveh Akbar in the feed first.</span></p>