Another Morocco: Selected Stories
Abdellah Taia and Rachel Small
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Tangier is a possessed city, haunted by spirits of different faiths. When we have literature in our...
False Pretences
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This title features M5 (30s, 40s, 50), F2 (30s). A living-room. Fee code M. Estate agent Kevin and...
The Food and Cooking of Peru: Traditions, Ingredients, Tastes, Techniques in 60 Classic Recipes
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This book helps you discover the vibrant food of Peru, one of the most delicious and ancient...
The Ultimate Guide to Smoking Meat, Fish, and Game: How to Make Everything from Delicious Meals to Tasty Treats
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In an easy to follow manner, writer-outdoorsman Monte Burch explains how to properly preserve meat...
Urban Appetites: Food and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York
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Glossy magazines write about them, celebrities give their names to them, and you'd better believe...
Malta: Women, History, Books and Places
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A crater on the planet Mercury is named Maria de Dominici. Born in 1645, she was the first...
ClareR (5674 KP) rated Build Your Home Around My Body in Books
Jul 28, 2021
Winnie is a lost soul - she has gone to Vietnam to stay with family while she teaches English to Vietnamese students, hoping to find herself, but she seems to become more and more lost as the story progresses. She struggles with her dual identity as her mother is American, and her father is Vietnamese. The fact that she seems to deliberately sabotage her own life is the most tragic thing about her.
The time does jump around a bit, but this didn’t confuse me at all - the chapter headings made sure of that - in fact they gave some interesting history lessons (e.g. French colonialism, Japanese occupation).
It’s a weird and wonderful one (my favourite kind!), sometimes bordering on the grotesque (ditto). Bodily functions and food that I wasn’t sure about, galore! (I’d still try the food though, although I draw the line at dog…).
The supernatural elements showed that these things are still very much a part of Vietnamese culture (spirits and demons both feature).
Some parts are achingly sad, some made me feel a bit ill, and others were actually quite amusing. I couldn’t put this book down. The joy of it was that I didn’t know, couldn’t predict, what was going to happen next!
I’m really interested to see what Kupersmith writes next if this is her debut - what an imagination!
Many thanks to Jellybooks for giving me the chance to read this wonderful book.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Profile (2018) in Movies
Aug 8, 2021
In Profile, the journalist is English and called Amy. She’s portrayed as pretty desperate in general, and this story is her chance to become a fulltime employee at a random, unnamed news outlet. Her recruiter, Abu Bilal, reaches out to the false profile of ‘Melody’, almost immediately and starts chatting with her and sets up a Skype date. Now, the obvious happens, Amy gets wrapped up in this whole thing, and journalistically compromised by falling for this guy. I do have to admit, the actor they chose to play the recruiter/terrorist was incredibly attractive. I’m assuming this was done on purpose, to demonstrate how these guys convinced all these women to go over to Syria. Personally, I couldn’t believe anyone could buy what the recruiters were saying, but it happens all the time.
The tension was high and lasted until the very end, with a good pay-off. It kept me engaged mentally the entire time, which is rare for me. That’s when I know I truly like a film.
As I mentioned, the screen narrative style worked, I was constantly on edge, wondering if the ruse would be spoiled by someone walking behind her, or something like that. This film also took place in 2014, and I found it amusing that they thought to include the authentic, annoying lag that occurred a lot at that time.