Out of Place – Edward Said

In his 2000 memoir, Out of Place, Palestinian critic and Columbia University Professor, Edward Said, recounts his life (mostly his childhood and early adulthood) in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and ultimately the U.S. The theme of this book is feeling “out of place”: being a Christian Palestinian Arab American, Said was affected by the political upheaval [...]

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Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore is about a young teenager named Kafka Tamura who runs away from his father in search of his unknown mother and sister. Parallel to Kafka’s story is that of Nakata, an elder who lost most of his intelligence during a mysterious incident he went through as a child. As a result, [...]

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The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank

http://www.trouparchives.org/spg06news.html Anne Frank’s diary is more than a witness to the oppression Jews faced during the Holocaust, but it is an intimate account on the details of adolescence. I think that Anne Frank represents teenagers around the world, no matter what their situations are.  Not only is The Diary of a Young Girl an important [...]

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To Kill a mockingbird (1962) compared to the novel

The 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird was very true to the book. I liked the way things were blended in the movie. For example, at the beginning of the movie, Mr. Walter Cunningham delivers a gesture for the Finches, since Atticus helped him with something in the past and Cunningham can’t afford to [...]

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Thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird

I have just finished reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and in this post I’d like to focus on Atticus’ character, which I admire because of its decency and ethical behavior. I think that although this book is about racial prejudice and injustice, it is also centered around the character and views of Mr. [...]

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Sherman Alexie Cornell lecture

Last night I attended Sherman Alexie’s lecture, called “The Partially True Story of a Part-Time Indian” at Cornell. Although it’s called a ‘lecture’, it was hilarious, and Alexie looked more like an entertainer than an author/lecturer. It was mainly based on his latest book for Young Adults, called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time [...]

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