Turning a Taxi Into a Library/Bookstore

The husband-and-wife team of Mehdi Yazdany and Sarvenaz Heraner were cruising the streets of Iran’s sprawling capital in search of targets.

They homed in on a young woman standing at the side of the road looking for a cab. Her hair was covered by a black scarf.

Pulling over, they swung open the rear door and she slipped into their white compact sedan.

“Do you read a lot?” a smiling Ms. Heraner asked the woman as they drove into traffic.

Samira Chigani, 26 years old, was thus introduced to the quirky brainchild of Mr. Yazdany and Ms. Heraner: a mobile reading room and taxi service, complete with chauffeur-librarian.

More than 40 titles, 130 volumes in all, are stacked behind the back, shelved on racks over the passenger window, cluttering the dashboard, crammed into side pockets and stuffed in the trunk. When you pay the fare, you can buy a book.

The husband-and-wife team dreamed of offering Tehranis a few minutes of contemplative bliss amid the chaos.

Mr. Yazdany refitted the couple’s Saipa Pride sedan with jury-rigged shelves and a high-end stereo and video system. The couple stocked it with an eclectic mix of translated international best-sellers and Iranian classics. They wanted their mobile library to be an inspiration, calling it “Ketabraneh,” loosely translated as Books on Wheels.

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