Category Archives: Culture
Eve Out of Her Ruins – Ananda Devi (translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Night makes its way into our bodies and refuses to leave. Night and our hormones gone wild. We boys are bundles of frustration. We start following girls to the shuttered factory that devoured our mothers’ dreams. … Continue reading
Posted in African Literature, Culture, Dark/Sordid/Bizarre, World Issues, World Literature
Tagged book reviews, poverty, teenagers, translated literature
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When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends – Mary McAuliffe
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “A swelling population of expats, dubbed the “Lost Generation,” either found themselves or became permanently mired in a haze of fantasy and booze. Escapism and creativity mingled for a decade in this fizzy atmosphere, until the … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Culture, History, Jazz & Blues
Tagged 1920s, book reviews, Hemingway, Paris, WWI
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Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France – Craig Carlson
(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) “I spoke of my favorite city and how beautiful it was…How all it needed was an American breakfast joint, and then it would be perfect!” Former Hollywood screenwriter, Craig Carlson, wanted to live his dream and … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Culture, Food & Cooking, Our Best, Travel
Tagged LGBTQ, memoirs, Paris
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Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A. – Eve Babitz (Author), Matthew Specktor (Introduction)
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Los Angeles isn’t a city. It’s a gigantic, sprawling, ongoing studio. Everything is off the record. People don’t have time to apologize for its not being a city when their civilized friends suspect them of losing … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Culture, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged baby-boomers, biography, drugs, Los Angeles, memoirs, San Francisco
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Quest for Kriya – Rahul Deokar
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Her aroma engulfed him, enticing him to stay. A few seconds seemed like an eternity, but still not enough. Strangers that they were, they stood lost in each other anyway, holding their longing gaze for some … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Culture, Romance
Tagged book reviews, India, Romance, San Francisco, spirituality, suspense, Thailand
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Outsider in Amsterdam (Amsterdam Cops) – Janwillem Van De Wetering
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “ “Papuans…He saw the wild men from the early ages who once populated the swamp that, now, today, was called Holland.” Today in 1970’s Amsterdam, most have learned about these people from the Dutch colony of … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Culture, Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature
Tagged crime fiction, Dutch literature
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Bridge of Comprehension – Albert Mordechai
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “If those rebels get access to Assad’s germ bombs, Hezbollah will have the means to launch them into Israel. I will NOT sit around and watch my people choking to death, crying to death, suffocating and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Modern Literary Fiction, World Issues
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Married to a Stranger – Nahid Rachlin
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Did that futile look that so frequently came to her mother’s face point to shattered dreams?…Minou could see the sky turning blood-red. Another day lost, bringing her closer to nothing. She floated in time and space. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Travel
Tagged book reviews, fiction, Iran
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Soy Sauce for Beginners – Kirstin Chen
(Reviewed by JD Jung) One pushed me to return to America, the other urged me to pull out the knife, let the wound heal, and remain in Singapore. But I was done choosing sides, pleasing one over the other. From … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Modern Literary Fiction, Travel
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Together Tea – Marjan Kamali
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Darya loved to calculate the statistic of available Persian bachelors, factoring in their attributes, family histories, education, the probability for divorce. She had her very own system of assigning numbers to certain qualities… Darya was so … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Modern Literary Fiction, Travel
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