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Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City

Guy Delisle

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Book

Guy Delisle expertly lays the groundwork for a cultural road map of contemporary Jerusalem,...

Al-Kitaab: Part 1: WITH Haki Bil-Libnani Bundle

Adnan Haydar, Paula Haydar and Nadine Sinno

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Book

The Al-Kitaab Part One, Third Edition, with Lebanese Arabic Bundle includes Haki bil-Libnani:...

ClareR (5911 KP) rated The Good Women of China in Books

Nov 4, 2017

The Good Women of China

Xinran | 2017 | Biography, History & Politics

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

An unflinching view of the lives of Chinese women in communist China. (0 more)

Eye opening

Xinran was a radio journalist in China who collected the stories of women who had stories to tell. This is a side of China that we don't really hear of: women who had lived through the cultural revolution and the damage it had inflicted on their lives. How women were still pretty much regarded as chattel, homosexuality was a criminal offence, women were sexually coerced, raped and unwillingly married off to high standing officials. This is just a small selection of the lives of women in these stories. You can hear the voices of these women as though they're in the room with you. The stories are often heartbreaking. I'm so glad I picked this book up - and all because the authors name began with an X (for an alphabet reading challenge!!).

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Big Sick (2017) in Movies

Mar 13, 2018

The Big Sick (2017)

2017 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

8.0

(44 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Somewhat unorthodox rom-com with comedian Kumail Nanjiani playing himself and Zoe Kazan, er, not. Starts off looking like another of those love-across-the-cultural-barricades movies before turning into something quite different (I can't remember if they have The Smiths' 'Girlfriend in a Coma' on the soundtrack, but if they didn't, they should have).

Possibly I am just biased as Nanjiani seems like a man after my own heart (X-Files fan, plus the first thing he does when he takes a woman home is show her an early 70s Vincent Price horror movie - did I mention I'm single?), but this manages to be both touching and funny. Good support from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as Kazan's parents; manages to deal with some fairly serious issues with a light touch. Works hard to earn its happy ending; an immensely likeable film.