93 ratings | 24 reviews | avg rating:4.88

Jasmin’s Year In Books

Jasmin’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Jasmin’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Jasmin’s 2025 Year in Books

Jasmin Darznik’s Followers (526)

Jasmin’s Bookshelves

to-read (11)
currently-reading (1)
read (95)
did-not-finish (0)
biographies (3)
fiction (5)
influences (3)
memoir (3)
nonfiction (4)
writing (1)

Jasmin’s Friends (52)

Carl

43,091 books | 4,531 friends

Michaela

635 books | 595 friends

Peggy Geiger

20,048 books | 1,071 friends

James

6,228 books | 2,457 friends

Monika Schrock

3,009 books | 296 friends

Toni Nelson

596 books | 615 friends

Drew

681 books | 1,282 friends

Denton

736 books | 407 friends

More friends…

Jasmin Darznik

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.jasmindarznik.com

Twitter

jasmindarznik

Genre

Fiction, Memoir, Historical Fiction

Member Since

January 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jasmindarznik

edit data

There comes a point when the secrets you've kept most hidden become the stories you must tell. I was born in Iran and moved with my family to the U.S. when I was five. Even after earning a PhD in English from Princeton, I never considered becoming an author. But accidentally finding out about my mother's secret life changed that. In 2011, I published my first book, The Good Daughter, which tells the story of how my mother was married at thirteen and forced to give up a child, a half-sister I never knew. That book changed my life. Since then I have been in pursuit of lost or forgotten stories--and the pleasure of disappearing into other worlds through writing.

HOW I STARTED WRITING
I wasn’t supposed to be a writer. Nothing in my first-generati There comes a point when the secrets you've kept most hidden become the stories you must tell. I was born in Iran and moved with my family to the U.S. when I was five. Even after earning a PhD in English from Princeton, I never considered becoming an author. But accidentally finding out about my mother's secret life changed that. In 2011, I published my first book, The Good Daughter, which tells the story of how my mother was married at thirteen and forced to give up a child, a half-sister I never knew. That book changed my life. Since then I have been in pursuit of lost or forgotten stories--and the pleasure of disappearing into other worlds through writing.

HOW I STARTED WRITING
I wasn’t supposed to be a writer. Nothing in my first-generation immigrant background supported it, and so much impeded it. Still, I was a reader. As a child I left my small town library with novels stacked up to my chest and under my chin. I’d go home and luxuriate in the possibility of disappearing into different worlds. Beyond that was the twenty-room motel my parents bought when we came to America, a place of struggle and uncertainty. Books were my way out.

But writing? Even as I hacked away at the prohibitions and doubts set down by my family, it still seemed impossible. I was expected to do something practical. When I decided to get a PhD in American literature, as far as my family was concerned it was as if I’d run away with the Grateful Dead. As detours go, it was a useful one. As I read Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Zora Neale Hurston’s Dust Tracks on the Road, I found myself profoundly moved by the feeling these writers weren’t just telling me a story—they were telling me who they were.

Having grown up in a family where telling people who you were could be, and often was, regarded as a betrayal, these works were both a revelation and a provocation. That was a beginning, a very important one: to discover voices that spoke to me with an intimacy I rarely experienced in real life.

Still, I might never have crossed over from reading to writing if I hadn’t bumped into my parents’ next-door neighbor one afternoon when I was back home from graduate school. This was about fifteen years ago. We got to chatting and she told me she’d just published a book.

Hold up! I thought. Writing seemed like such an exalted profession. I’d never known a writer in real life. And now, suddenly, I did: the woman next door. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to ask my neighbor how she’d done it. She told me she’d enrolled in a creative writing workshop through our local independent bookstore, Book Passage, and that’s where she got her start.

That same day I walked over to Book Passage and I signed up for a spot in the writer’s workshop my neighbor recommended. My classmates, mostly women, were strangers to me, people I’d likely never have met in any other context, even though ours was a small community. But once a week, Fridays, 6 to 9 pm, we were kin, bound together by our common love of stories and an urgent, if muted, desire to speak and to be seen.

For two years, I showed up at that workshop every Friday night, pages in hand, heart kicking against my chest as I read for my allotted ten minutes. It was a time of discovery, in some ways the sweetest time of my writing life so far. I wasn’t writing to publish anything, though that might have shimmered as a distant dream; I was wholly taken up by the urge to make something beautiful and to connect with other people.

That’s what got me started, and what keeps me going to this day. ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jasmin Darznik questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jasmin Darznik’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 14,829 ratings · 2,316 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	Song of a Captive Bird 4.21 avg rating — 6,348 ratings — published 2018 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bohemians 4.04 avg rating — 4,563 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life 3.96 avg rating — 3,875 ratings — published 2011 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	American Goddess it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Une fille comme il faut by Jasmin Darznik (Goodreads Author), Florence Moreau it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	(The Good Daughter: My Mother's Hidden Life) [By: Darznik, Jasmin] [Mar, 2012] by Jasmin Darznik (Goodreads Author), Unknown Author liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Les Bohémiennes, Volume 1 it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Les Bohémiennes, Volume 2 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dreaming in Persian: an interview with novelist Gina Barkhordar Nahai.(Interview): An article from: MELUS 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[Good Daughter: My Mother's Hidden Life] [By: Darznik, Jasmin] [March, 2012] by Jasmin Darznik (Goodreads Author), Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jasmin Darznik…

42 posts
Jasmin Darznik's Blog

A Salve Against Artifice: Reading and Writing in the Age of AI

What Are We Doing Here?

With AI closing in from every direction, threatening to colonize all human interaction, I’ve been thinking about what I do as a writer and trying to work out why it (still) matters—and why you’re here, reading this.

The truth is, writing’s always been under threat, not only from technology, but from the easier paths through life: the surface, the obvious, the already-said

Jasmin is Currently Reading

Jasmin Darznik is currently reading

Model Citizen: A Memoir

by Joshua Mohr (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mar 15, 2021 09:47AM

rss
Jasmin’s Recent Updates

Jasmin Darznik rated a book it was amazing The Essentials: The Art of Interior Design: A Guide to Furnishing, Decorating, and Styling Your Home by Caitlin Flemming	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 17, 2026 11:37PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Essentials by Caitlin Flemming. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Essentials by Caitlin Flemming <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jasmin Darznik rated a book it was amazing Atmosfloric: Flower colour in home and garden by Sean A Pritchard	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 07, 2026 10:53PM · like
Jasmin Darznik rated a book it was amazing Winter Living Style: Bring Hygge into Your Home With This Inspirational Guide to Decorating for Winter by Selina Lake	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 29, 2025 03:49PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Winter Living Style by Selina Lake. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Winter Living Style by Selina Lake <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jasmin Darznik rated a book it was amazing Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar by Jessamyn Violet (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 16, 2025 10:09PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar by Jessamyn Violet. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar by Jessamyn Violet <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Jasmin's books…

Quotes by Jasmin Darznik (?)

“I was a woman and I couldn't speak with the voice of a man, because it was not my voice - not true and not my own. But there was more to it than that. By writing in a woman's voice I wanted to say that a woman, too, is a human being. To say that we, too, have the right to breathe, to cry out, and to sing.”
― Jasmin Darznik, Song of a Captive Bird

19 likes

“We only lose ourselves by looking back.”
― Jasmin Darznik, Song of a Captive Bird

7 likes

“Art could survive; even when suppressed, even when outlawed, it could survive far worse fates than fire.”
― Jasmin Darznik, Song of a Captive Bird

6 likes

See all Jasmin Darznik's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Cover to Cover Ch...: Aths' 100 books in 2011	4	36	Apr 03, 2011 11:12AM
The Seasonal Read...: * Spring Challenge 2013: Tasks	9	719	Apr 19, 2013 07:31PM
The Seasonal Read...: 20.6- Seasoned Reader- Alexandra's task: Messing Around	67	117	May 20, 2013 02:48AM
The Next Best Boo...: The Title Game	20218	14619	May 30, 2013 12:53PM
500 Great Books B...: Brina's 2018 Reading Women Challenge	5	24	Jan 18, 2018 05:40AM
Historical Fictio...: Publisher Giveaway	19	57	Jan 30, 2018 09:56AM

More…

Jasmin’s Quotes

“The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.”
― E.L. Doctorow

10 likes

Jasmin’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-1) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 1: by Donna

Dec 27, 2017 07:15PM

Jasmin, thank you for accepting my friend request on Goodreads. I hope I can win your book, SONG OF A CAPTIVE BIRD. Looks to be a very good read.
Happy New Year.
Donna

reply | flag

Jasmin’s Year In Books

Jasmin Darznik’s Followers (526)

Add New
Videos

Jasmin’s Bookshelves

Jasmin’s Friends (52)

Jasmin Darznik

Goodreads Author

Learn more
Ask the Author

Popular Answered Questions

Combine Editions
Jasmin Darznik’s books

42 posts
Jasmin Darznik's Blog

A Salve Against Artifice: Reading and Writing in the Age of AI

Jasmin is Currently Reading

rss
Jasmin’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — The Essentials by Caitlin Flemming

See a Problem?

Preview — Winter Living Style by Selina Lake

See a Problem?

Preview — Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar by Jessamyn Violet

Topics Mentioning This Author

Jasmin’s Quotes

recent posts
Jasmin’s Groups

Jasmin’s Friend Comments

Jasmin Darznik’s Followers (526)

Jasmin Darznik

Goodreads Author

Popular Answered Questions

rssJasmin’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — The Essentials by Caitlin Flemming

See a Problem?

Preview — Winter Living Style by Selina Lake

See a Problem?

Preview — Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar by Jessamyn Violet

Topics Mentioning This Author

rss
Jasmin’s Recent Updates