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Summers Under the Tamarind Tree: Recipes and Memories from Pakistan

Sumayya Usmani

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree is a contemporary Pakistani cookbook celebrating the varied,...

Anders Holm recommended World Clique by Deee-Lite in Music (curated)

World Clique by Deee-Lite

1990 | Rock

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Album Favorite

"I will give Last Cab In California honorable mention, but I will stick with Deee-Lite, World Clique. Again, I am all about production. I just like listening to beats and cool sounds. They didn’t sound like anything at the time. I know everybody knows ‘Groove is in the Heart’ but that’s like the fifth best song on that album. They even had the look. They were funky, ‘70s, but hip-hop at the same time. One dude was Asian with goggles on and she had this soul voice and they had heavy piano. I always liked it. That’s just another album that’s upbeat. Maybe not the most masculine one, but whatever, man. I don’t care. I just picture ‘90s black chicks in biker shorts on the grind with Eric B. breaking down to those songs."

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Kudos

The Secret Brokers

Alexandrea Weis

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Dallas August runs a dangerous business—an organization of elite spies for hire. The secrets...

Adult Romantic Suspense Thriller

David McK (3425 KP) rated Doctor Strange (2016) in Movies

Apr 27, 2019 (Updated May 15, 2022)

Doctor Strange (2016)

2016 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

7.8

(161 Ratings)

Movie Rating

<2022 update>

The timestone? Yep, was essential to resolving Infinity War in Endgame

<original review below>

The film that introduced magic (and the Time Stone, which will probably be essential to resolving Infinity War in Endgame), in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays Benedict Cumberbatch as the future Sorcerer Supreme, with Tilda Swinton as the current holder of that title.

As an aside: that was actually a cause of controversy at the time: why not cast an Asian or Eastern actor in that role instead of whitewashing it? went the argument.

The plot may also seem to be a reprise of Iron Man: rich, arrogant, privileged white man suffers personal catastrophe and heads East, returning a changed man. What sets this apart, however, is the somewhat psychedelic effects that often seem to owe more than a bit to Christopher Nolan's movie Inception!

Kudos

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows in Books

Sep 24, 2020

When I started reading this book, I really didn't know what to expect from it. The name of the book was simply unbelievable. The more I read it, the more it shocked me, and I know for sure, that after reading this book, I will never look the same at South Asian aunties and the community. The description of the book is quite accurate. British born Punjabi Nikki gets a job in gurdwara in Southall, London, to teach reading and writing to Punjabi widows, who are mostly from villages. She quickly notices that these widows are not interested in learning how to write, instead, they are very keen to share their erotic fantasies with other women. While teaching the widows, Nikki learns, that Southall, and the community itself are hiding many dirty secrets of its own.

I found the characters of this book very amusing, and at the same time very close to my heart. I loved how author put two opposites in the book; Nikki, who wants to live her life and make her own choices, and her sister Mindi-who still wants things done the traditional way. All the widows, who participated in this book, were really interesting and diverse personalities. They all had a story to tell, not only erotic one, but the one of their life as well. I do know quite a lot of South Asian people, and the way author described them in the book is very accurate. I am not including their fantasies, but the part of how they present themselves to society, is quite accurate. Respect of the family is the main value in Asian society, and all people try to maintain that. That’s why Nikki is kind of rebel against traditional values, which is sometimes quite shameful in the eye of the community. Everything in this book sounds very real and believable: characters, plot and the way author described places used in this book, it’s unbelievably accurate. I liked that author included more than one character in this book, and told the story from Nikki’s and her employer’s Kulvinder’s perspective. Kulvinder has huge influence in the book, with the tragic story of her daughter Maya, who died very young. Through the views of Nikki and Kulvinder, the story of the book unfolds very nicely, and keeps the suspense going.

The plot of the book is very original; nevertheless, it tells couple of different stories at the same time. Most of the action in this book happens in Southall, London. As the author said in the book, she lived in Southall, while she was studying at university. That explains why she wrote about this place with such detail. She described every corner and street with great accuracy, and beautifully presented the spirit of that place. How do I know? I visited that place many times, that’s why the similarity shocked me. This book tells not only the story of widow’s fantasies, but also involves murders, and many dark secrets of the society itself, and that really made the book amusing, twisty and hard to put down. The more Nikki gets involved with the widows, the more this story turns and thickens. Author discussed a lot of important topics in this book, such as: honour killings; family relations between parents and children, and what honour and respect of the family means in Asian society; immigration and adjustment problems; and many more. Author showed really nicely, that women, even after marriage remain women, and that after washing dishes, cooking and cleaning houses, they have their wishes and desires, which are not always fulfilled. Let me tell you one thing, those erotic stories they tell are really kinky, and has wide variety of action going on, so it is definitely not for young people to read.

So, as I mentioned before, and as it is obvious from the name of the book, it contains so foul language but at the same time is very comic and funny to read. This book is quite detailed, but it doesn’t make it boring, it helps to understand the situations better. I really liked, that the chapters were divided, so it was easier and more fun to read it. The ending of the book is nice and ended the book really well, by putting all characters at peace. To conclude, I really enjoyed this layered, funny and very beautifully written book and I do recommend reading it to everyone, who would like to have an insight of South Asian community, and get involved with those great topics which author brought up in this book.