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Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat

Jonathan Kauffman

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Book

An enlightening narrative history—an entertaining fusion of Tom Wolfe and Michael Pollan—that...

food history

John Hawkes recommended Harold and Maude (1971) in Movies (curated)

Harold and Maude (1971)

1971 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

8.6

(5 Ratings)

Movie Favorite

"This was a life changing experience for me. I went to one year of college at a small college in Minnesota, and during that year I befriended an older student named Tim Streeter who I hung out with a lot. He played Tom Waits for me and handed me On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Since I’m from this small farming community, I wasn’t exposed to a lot of unusual art. I had seen The Seventh Seal when I was a kid on PBS. One night [Tim Streeter] said “There’s a movie playing at the student union and you should go.” It was Harold and Maude, and I was amazed by it. There’s no dialogue for the beginning of the film, and it begins with Harold killing himself. His mother berates him for it. Bud Cort’s performance is so great, that this is when I began to become a Hal Ashby fan. I could name his films as all of my Five Favorites if I wanted. Being There is certainly near the top. I chose this one because it was so formative for me. Ruth Gordon, when she tells Harold to go out and love and have experience and give him something to talk about in the locker room, it’s such a great thing, such a beautiful moment. When Ruth Gordon throws the ring or piece of jewelry that Harold’s given to her, and she said, “Now I’ll always know where it is,” I think it’s in that scene where the camera catches a concentration camp number on her wrist that’s never mentioned or talked about. It gives me chills because it’s so affecting and subtle."

Source

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2161 KP) rated May Day in Books

Jul 1, 2021 (Updated Jul 1, 2021)

Wasn’t What I Was Expecting

Mira’s life in Minneapolis is falling apart, so when a chance comes up to be an assistant librarian and part time reporter in the small town of Battle Lake, Minnesota, she jumps at the chance. She’s not expecting her love life to be super active there, but then she meets Jeff, and it is love at first sight. At least it is for a week until she finds his dead body in the middle of the library one morning when she goes to open it. Worried that she is a jinx, Mira decides to figure out what happened. The fact that she can turn it into an article for the paper is an added bonus. Will she figure out what happened?

This series has been on my radar for years, so it was with anticipation that I picked up this book. I was very disappointed with it. While we start out with Mira finding the dead body, we then flashback to get background on the characters. The result was a slow start to the book. The mystery was decent, with enough to keep me engaged and an ending that surprised me. The characters were more types, built to create comedy instead of be real characters. And most of the jokes didn’t land, especially since they were more raunchy than funny. This definitely isn’t one of my typical cozies, and I found that content off-putting. It was almost forced into the book. I really did want to like this book, especially since I have a few others in the series already. But I will probably move on without reading them.