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Sugar street by naguib mahfouz5/25/2023 Even the way religion infused the language and thinking of the characters, even the nonbelieving ones, was very like the way Irish culture was for much of the 20th century a Catholic culture. While on the surface there wouldn't seem to be many similarities, the conservative, family-focused, deeply religious patriarchy in which mothers dominated the home felt very familiar. The second thing was how much traditional Egyptian middle-class life in the 1920s and 30s as depicted in the book reminded me of Irish culture up until relatively recently. Two main things struck me while I read Sugar Street: firstly that while I don't know Arabic, I got a strong sense of the elegant economy and poetry of the written language from this translation. While in the other books the patriarch of the family is the central character, this book focused on the younger family members, particularly the bookish son Kamal and his two nephews, whose very different paths in life represent distinct political trends in early 20th-century Egyptian life. I haven't read the other books in the trilogy so I was starting backwards with this one, but there wasn't any need to have read the others to enjoy Sugar Street.
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The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner5/25/2023 After college, Ruth pursues her dream of writing to Hollywood, heading west with her grandmother in tow, hoping to make it big in the world of TV. Her eccentric grandmother, who comes out of Florida retirement to care for young Ruth, nurtures her through years of surgeries, feeding her home-cooked meals, dispensing irreverent wisdom, and telling Ruth shes beautiful, even though her scars will stay with her forever. At three years old, Ruth Saunders miraculously survives the car crash that takes her parents lives on the icy Massachusetts Turnpike. Book Synopsis Blockbuster #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner returns with an irresistible story about a young woman trying to make it in Hollywood. Set against the fascinating backdrop of Los Angeles show business culture, with an insiders ear for writers room showdowns, Weiners novel is a rollicking ride on the Hollywood roller coaster. About the Book Blockbuster #1 New York Times-bestselling author Weiner returns with an irresistible story about a young woman trying to make it in Hollywood.
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Eragon the book5/25/2023 Two of the elves are killed instantly, but one, a raven-haired lady, runs to escape. The book begins in a nighttime forest, where a Shade and twelve Urgals ambush three elves on white horses. ***** Everything below is a SPOILER ***** What happened in Eragon? See the end of the recap for links to her Goodreads, Instagram, and Facebook accounts as well as links to the books she’s published. Special thanks to Lindsey Stirling, a new BSR contributor, who wrote this great recap! Visit her website to check out the books she’s written and to keep up with news about her new releases. If you are wondering what happened in Eragon, then you are in the right place! Read a full summary of Eragon, book #1 in Christopher Paolini’s The Inheritance Cycle series, right here! This page is full of spoilers, so beware.
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To paradise hanya review5/25/2023 What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost wealth and squalor the weak and the strong race the definition of family, and of nationhood the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him-and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). From the author of the classic A Little Life, a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia. |