The New Quantum Age: From Bell's Theorem to Quantum Computation and Teleportation
Book
Ever since its discovery eighty-five years ago, quantum theory has been used to study the physical...
Cawl
Book
Consisting of short stories, poems, essays, cartoons and comics, Cawl is an anthology of one...
The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
Book
A global phenomenon, The Alchemist has been read and loved by over 62 million readers, topping...
The White Cross
Book
Praise for the TPB edition: 'Brilliant. Really brilliant! The characterisation was excellent and...
Norte: A Novel
Edmundo Paz-Soldan and Valerie Miles
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Three unconnected people travel north, each passing in isolation over one of the most troubled and...
Butler Plays: Made of Stone, Redundant, Lucky Dog, The Early Bird
Book
Butler Plays: 1 brings together into one volume four of the major plays by this award-winning...
Development and Gender Capital in India: Change, Continuity and Conflict in Kerala
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The Indian state of Kerala has invoked much attention within development and gender debates,...
Pat Healy recommended Fanny and Alexander (1982) in Movies (curated)
ClareR (5681 KP) rated Gingerbread in Books
Apr 17, 2021
This is a meandering, imaginative tale with gingerbread at it’s heart. There are a lot of nods to fairytales, from the use of gingerbread, to the name of Harriet’s best friend: Gretel. The rags and riches stories: characters leaving their farm homes to move to the city and make their fortunes.
Magical realism is used throughout, from the way that Harriet and her mother leave their homeland of Druhastrana to move to London, to Perdita’s talking dolls, who are in fact part doll, part plant.
Moving houses, haunted houses, boys who run away just like the Gingerbread Man. This is not a linear, beginning, middle and end kind of story.
At points I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but decided I didn’t care. It’s a joy to read, and I quite like a book that makes me work for the story, from time to time!
There was a nod to real life: a country cut off from any others (Brexit, anyone?), girls working for pretend/ little money and exploited, and illegal immigration.
There’s a lot to unpick in this, but to be honest, I just enjoyed the ride!
ClareR (5681 KP) rated The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida in Books
Oct 21, 2020
Whilst they are away, Ryusei’s sister, Fumi, has an unexpected visitor who asks to stay with her for a while. Fumi is clearly in a vulnerable position after the death of Miwako (who had worked for her), because she says yes.
This was such an unexpected pleasure to read. It’s a very sad story, gently told: these are all grieving, vulnerable people. When it slips in to magical realism, it didn’t seem out of place or odd, in fact these parts really helped to explain what had happened to Miwako and developed the character of Fumi. I can’t believe that I haven’t heard of Clarissa Goenawan before, and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for more of her books.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book.