Tookey's Talkies: 144 Great Films from the Last 25 Years
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Christopher Tookey has seen at least 10,000 films. For eight years, he was TV and then film critic...
Machine Art in the Twentieth Century
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"Machine art" is neither a movement nor a genre, but encompasses diverse ways in which artists...
Filipino Studies: Palimpsests of Nation and Diaspora
Martin F. Manalansan and Augusto Espiritu
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After years of occupying a vexed position in the American academy, Philippine studies has come into...
Politics, Poetics, and Gender in Late Qing China: Xue Shaohui and the Era of Reform
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In 1898, Qing dynasty emperor Guangxu ordered a series of reforms to correct the political,...
Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
Sana Takeda and Marjorie M. Liu
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Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam...
The Breakfast Book
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The most important meal of the day is also one of the most diverse. Breakfast varies greatly from...
Bokashi Composting: Scraps to Soil in Weeks
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Bokashi is Japanese for "fermented organic matter." Bokashi composting is a safe, quick, and...
Grumman F6f Hellcat, Vol. 1
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Grumman F6F Hellcat was one of the best fighter aircraft of the World War Two era and the most...
ClareR (5686 KP) rated Miss Benson's Beetle in Books
Dec 5, 2020
It must have been very unusual for a woman in 1950 to up sticks and travel to the other side of the world, searching for a beetle that might not even exist. And the fact that she does this with no prior travel experience, not knowing the language at her destination, and with very basic equipment, made me feel that Margery Benson was even more courageous. I loved her companion, Enid Pretty, too - although I think Margery really struggles with her huge personality (despite her diminutive size) for a large part of the book. Enid is confident where Margery is unsure, loud where Margery is quiet - and she teaches Margery the importance of female friendship.
In the wings is an ex-prisoner of war who had been held captive by the Japanese. He suffers from PTSD and a tropical disease, and there is a feeling of constant unease that he will do something to harm Margery or Enid. I felt so sorry for him though. He really wasn’t in a good place mentally or physically throughout.
This book is a story of courage, trials and tribulations, tragedy, and joy in the small things in life (not just beetles!) and I loved it. It’s a book with a lot of laughter and a good helping of tears.