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Out of Africa (1937) by Karen Blixen
The book was purposefully written as a picture of Kenya as it was, it is not an autobiography as such. The writing style of the book is clearly influenced by Isak Dinesen’s first language, Danish, and therefore has a magical air that is throughly enjoyable..
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The Two Babylons: or, the Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and his Wife (1916) by Alexander Hislop
Hislop’s work, nearly 100 years old, is still the best starting point for studying comparative religion. Of course, there is much in it that is no longer valid, and so long as the Vatican still stands,it will probably always feature on their banned books list, however, the main theme of the book is incontestable, which is probably why I know of no serious rebuttal.
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Manage Your Mind: The Mental Fitness Guide
When I bought this book I was skeptical, because with all the self-help books and magazines now available, I tend to steer away from the ones that try to cover too much ground. ‘Manage your mind’ has sections on relationships, anxiety and depression, breaking free from bad habits, and how to study and improve your memory.
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Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact
‘Red Earth, White lies’, published in 1995, gives a Native American perspective on Science as generally received, that is, the origins of mankind, evolution theory, and the so-called worthlessness of ‘myth’ in shedding light on our common traumatic past.
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Having read other comments on Amazon, I’d say they are pretty fair, even the critical ones, after all, particularly with comedy, one man’s meat is another man’s poison! I was recommended this film, and enjoyed it enough to watch a couple of times and now recommend myself.
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Groundhog Day (Collector’s Edition) [DVD] [1993]
I know anyone reading this will probably feel like they’ve read it before.. Ok, enough deja vu joking, other people beat me to it. My favorite was the one who hadn’t seen the joke..’it is not a film I would want to watch more than twice, having seen it on television once already, 10 years ago’..hope you don’t mind me saying, but don’t you preview the comment before you post it?
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Riding In Cars With Boys [DVD] [2001]
This film, based on the true story of Bev Donofrio, is no mere ‘chic flic’. Touching and funny, we found ourselves involved with the characters and the problems they faced, including Bev’s teenage pregnancy, and subsequently bringing up her son, often alone, Ray the hopeless husband, and Faye, best friend but seen as a bad influence.
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The Cone Gatherers: A Haunting Story of Violence and Love (Canongate Classics)
This short novel must rightly be regarded as a modern classic. It has been compared to ‘Of mice and men’, but the focus is not just on the cone gatherers, but also the complex figure of Duror, the gamekeeper. The challenge put by Robin Jenkins, I believe, is the dichotomy, or division between good and evil, and the different feelings about imperfection, as expressed by the characters..
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‘Sunset song’ is a hauntingly beautiful tale. I came to it whilst living in North-east Scotland. Sunset song, and the companion novels making up ‘A Scots Quair’, are written in a blend of English and Scots words that only at first seem strange or daunting, you soon find that Grassic Gibbon evokes a lost age in a unique and very effective manner, using very little dialogue (in italics), but talking to the reader all the while..
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Anyone visiting northern Scotland today often begins by admiring the unspoilt wilderness,but soon notices the stone walls of former houses scattered on the landscape. Caithness was not as badly affected as Sutherland, but the population is still one third of the figure 100 years ago. It may be easy to think that the drift away from rural isolation to the cities, and emigration, was by choice, or economic necessity, but this is simplistic..
