Introduction

I have another blog, and there must question asking why I decided to open a new blog after this one.

Ah well, I do love writing. Don’t bother to ask why. And I want to part my writing interests. I am open-minded, and like to argue, enjoy saying opinions and writing reviews of many things I like and I don’t.

So I dedicate this blog to my mind. And to you, hoping you enjoy what I say. That’s why I name it: citrasays.

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Welcome.

Aleph: There Is No Such Thing As Coincidence

I tweeted my experience after reading Aleph by Paulo Coelho, and lots of people are interested about it. I have no idea why, just a simple thought that the book is so famous, but actually what I tweeted has nothing to do with that.

I just shared my own experience, what I feel, something like that, and I don’t even say the book is great. I don’t see only the book in this thing I am gonna write about, because it is not just about the book. It is about what happened in my life.

The first oddity is that I did not read Aleph straight away after buying it several months ago. I am a book freak, and usually I rip off the cover and read any book I buy even before I get home. But Aleph is different. I did not open the cover till days after, and I just put in my lab desk. I have this special box for books in my lab desk. That was it. I did nothing as what I always do.

Secondly, I was very busy on Tuesday and then I got bored. Usually I watch some TV series or walking out aimlessly nowhere around my campus, but instead, I took Aleph, sat down in a quiet field in my campus, and started reading it. Ha. It was so weird. I don’t usually do that.

I was thunderstruck just after a few pages, because well, I grasped the meaning of the book very well. Very very well. To be honest, I have no idea where I stand on incarnation, but I read books and met a few people who believe in that. That happened a few months ago. Can you see where I’m going to? If, yeah, IF, I read Aleph straight away, I would definitely put it down after a few pages because rationally, I will not believe what’s written in it. All those “fringe” experience, tale about shamans (who were women at the beginning), everything. I am an empirical person, a scientist, but at the same time, I always curious about many things, including fringe science.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe that everything has its moment. That why after reading Aleph, I cursed at coincidence. Yeah. It doesn’t exist. How I found the right time to read it, without even planning or knowing. How I closed my eyes and saw something in yellow, red, and a sparkling white in a few moments in between the pages. How I was almost burst into tears because somehow what was written there is my own life.

I was particularly reminded about bad thing happened in my past, not my past life, but when I was still a kid. It was so horrible that I just buried the memory deep down and told nobody about it. And again, I had no idea how, someone just read me, saw me like a clear glass and started touching that scar, encouraging nothing but just listened and accompanied me crying.

I did not finish the Aleph straight away, I went to Starbucks the following day (Wednesday) and sat inside for like 5 hours finishing Aleph. Just chocolate, coffee, Aleph, and me. It was intense. And I cannot describe the feelings. I cannot do it just.

I have these words I jot down in the back of my paper draft, some are from the book, some are what was in my mind, but please don’t ask why. Prize, Turkish, light, Ring of Fire, desire, past, J., doubt, familiar, forgiveness, shamans, women, dream, ecstasy, eagle.

It was an exhilarating experience. I smoked afterwards, on my way back to dormitory, and I felt so relieved.

Citra Says: Writing Style

Hi everyone,

it has been ages since my last post here, because I am a bit selective to post here. Today I want to talk about: writing style.

I knew full well that I am not good in writing fiction, thus why I always write about something I know or something I experience. I call that first-hand writing. This first-hand knowledge is not necessarily paired up with good writing command, or attractive language style, but it is always original to me. I mean, first-hand writer is rare, let alone first-hand and great writer. It is difficult to have such an interesting and original story and also great way to tell that in writing. It has something to do with luck and talent, in my opinion. I am still a good writer, to my opinion, and I still have a long way to be a great one.

I like writing my own experience because I can take responsibility of it. Writing in such an open media like blog requires us to be cautious, thus I don’t want to write something I don’t know.

The second one is compilation writing. I do this occasionally. Many people write using this style because it is easier. We obtain information from news, from Google, even from a movie, then we jot it down, compiling some information from here and there, and end up with a nice article because we have so many resources. I am lazy to do this more often because I need to validate any information not coming from me. I am not the type of person who would just write “from several sources” in my writing. Mostly we can yield a very nice and well-done article, because we just need to put every piece together and do some polishing. It is quite popular, too.

But if you ask me, it is interesting, but not original.

I have been known as someone cynical, so I will not say an article is good, or great if it is not. I may say informative or inspirational, but that’s just about it.

To sum up, just write anything you want. Even if you read this, you should not take it into deep consideration. Everyone has its own unique style of writing. Keep yours. Avoid being influenced by anyone, unless you’re really into that person.

Cheers!

Starbucks Cocoa Cappuccino: The Delicious Double C

It has been a while I didn’t buy coffee at Starbucks, and yesterday I happened to walk past it and decided to buy one. I was thinking of buying the usual Vanilla Caffè Latte, but I noticed there was a new taste on top of Espresso Beverages menu. Cocoa Cappuccino, it says. Curious, I ordered a grande cup of it.

Sip it on the way back to school, and I said to my bf, it is delicious. It is not often I say that, mainly because I get used to drink some coffee, yet alone Starbucks. But this Double C, I call it, is really tasty in my tongue. People familiar with Starbucks might ask, is it any different with Caffè Mocha?

Good question that is. Both Caffè Mocha and Cocoa Cappuccino are espresso and chocolate based coffee drink. How come I say Double C is more delicious than Mocha? Here is the reason. Mocha has a strong chocolate favor, and is combined with milk (steamed, not foamed). The taste of espresso from Mocha is not sufficiently strong for me. Meanwhile, Double C is more of a mixture of chocolate, espresso, and foamy milk. You get stronger hint of espresso there. And that’s precisely what I like!

I believe the key ingredient here is the milk. Steamed milk has little bubbles on top of it (microfoam), while foamed milk is a combination between hot milk and froth (hence, macro/dry foam). The addition of steamed milk to say, grande cup, will definitely contribute to more volume of milk compared to foamy milk. It means the flavor of espresso will be party covered by the milk. Double C, on the other hand, is made by adding less milk but with dry foam to the mixture of espresso and chocolate, thus making the espresso tastes more.

I give 4.5 stars out of 5 for this Double C. Really recommended for espresso lovers!

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Try this delicious coffee!

-C

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P.S. I don’t like Starbucks new logo, by the way.

 

 

Caffeine: Uncomplaining Companion

I usually start my day with coffee, any kind of coffee, with sugar. Yes, I love coffee, and I adore sucrose. I know there are so many people everywhere doing the same thing as me, taking coffee daily. Indeed, coffee is the second largest commodity traded, outnumbered by oil. If you’re wondering about coffee, here is a real nice comic about coffee from The Oatmeal (oh I love this web!).

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Princess, Sabrina, and Davey Langit: Acoustic Rules!

I always listen to music when working in my lab desk. One thing because I want to concentrate much on what I am reading, writing, thinking; the other thing is that I like to do that: listen to music.

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My January 2011 playlist is full of acoustic songs, mainly cover versions of famous song. There are Princess, Sabrina, and Davey Langit (and Pomplamoose too ^__^). Those three are Filipino, yes The Philippines is famous for having gold voice singers, including Nikki Gil and Charice Pempengco the YouTube star (I love both of them, and I think Charice is a bomb, really she is). Princess, Sabrina, and Davey Langit might be not as popular as the latter two, but many people have been addicted to their cover songs.

It is a matter of preference of course, but I found acoustic music calms me down. I am not a typical ‘calm person’, and sometimes I react harshly (even when I am sitting in my desk and listening to rock songs). So that’s the benefit, and they are also beautiful. Just like when I said I like Pomplamoose because they sound cool and fresh. Listening to cover songs is just the same. Bringing new sensation to my ears. And since they are all acoustic songs, surely the music in some extent differ from the original ones.

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Try I’m Yours cover by Princess.

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Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I: Surprisingly Good

Out of date? Nah, you know me. Just enjoy.

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I love Harry Potter. I have all the book series. I participated in a (very disappointing) Harry Potter rally back in Indonesia (for the launching of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Indonesian version). I have a replica of Harry Potter’s wand. Oh okay, that’s enough. I am so babbling around (pardon me).

I went back to Indonesia on November, and managed to watch the movie while I was in Jakarta. It was a Monday, and I went to Plaza Indonesia XXI, and the movie theater was great. Big screen and the room for roughly 200 people was just filled by 15 people.

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I have to say, the movie is surprisingly good. I am not a big fan of Harry Potter movies because the books are much more better, and I just assumed this one was also not taking my breath away. But yes, assumption is just assumption.

Dee: Inspiring and Intriguing.

Hi all,

It has been a chilling week here in Taipei. Rainy, and the temperature is getting steady below 30 degree Celsius. It makes me lazy to wake up and get out to lab (haha~). Drizzling and cloudy day is the best moment for reading (books and novels of course, not papers *tongue).

Talking about books, one of my favorite authors is Dee, a pen name of Dewi Lestari. She was firstly known as the members of singing group Rida, Sita, Dewi (RSD). In 2001, she published her first novel: Supernova (episode one); and the book immediately became hits. At that time, I was a freshman in my senior high (boarding school), and well, with not much access to ‘outside world’, my leverage was when I had a chance to visit bookstore.

[picture credit to: Jakarta Post]

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One time, I went to Toga Mas discount bookstore in Yogyakarta, and my eyes caught by one book, Supernova. I didn’t recognize the name “Dee”, and I thought, new author? There was no explanation about the author in the back of the book, and the synopsis didn’t help too much. Then I decided to buy the book.

Oh well, my mind was twisting the first time I read the book. After just a few pages, I said to myself, what the hell is this book? It is full of idioms and terms I didn’t understand (hellooo, I lived far away from Uncle Google). And the story is broken into pieces then arranged irregularly. One chapter tells you the ‘confusing’ things, and then the ‘normal’ chapter follows. I personally felt relieved when it came to those normal chapters (haha).

The first book of Dee is Supernova: Ksatria, Puteri, dan Bintang Jatuh (in English: Supernova: Knight, Princess, and the Fallen Star), in which she tells the readers about two gays planning to write a masterpiece. I won’t tell you the story, as always. Even from the very first chapter Dee already used such complicated words. I also encountered ‘chaos theory’ in the novel, which had been my interest (I wrote a lousy academic article about that for my high school graduation). And that was the key part that kept me from putting the book down * tongue.

It was a very unusual style (colloquially, or should I say highly unlikely?) at that moment, a fusion between fiction and non-fiction story. In one way Dee emphasized a daunting forbidden love story, and in the other hand she used science metaphor and term to explain the plot. And I though that was genius. Brilliant. It is the way she saw a thing not just from one point of view, not just heartily satisfying, but also brainy amusing. Not everyday you’ll read how your happiness and passion in love explain in such plain and not-very-complicated way (for a non scientist like me, it is confusing but still, I can finally get the point). So charming!

Supernova is meant to be a series of different books. Not everyone get that in mind in the time of Supernova: Ksatria, Puteri, dan Bintang Jatuh made its debut in Indonesia. One year after, the second book was released, entitled Supernova: Akar. Dee did not give continuity straight away, because in the second book, she brought a very brief chapter about the characters in the first book, and the rest of it, new people came in. She introduced a unique man, with great power invisible by others. The cover of the original edition, is the symbol of Om, regarded as the sacred symbol of Hinduism. After several protest of the use of the symbol, the following edition of Supernova: Akar no longer bears the Om symbol (I have the first printed edition though). Eventhough Dee seems to hide the missing piece to make the story easily understandable, the plot is still flowing. She just did not (or haven’t) provide(d) details for her story.

The third book is Supernova: Petir, where Dee almost completely broke the relationship between the first, second and the third book. New story, new characters, new style (there’s no confusing science terms in her third book, no footnote whatsoever *haha). There’s a small detail related to the previous two books, just a little, at the very end of the book. Making the readers intrigued, curious (how the hell she can do that so well?).

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The following episode hasn’t been published yet, and Dee compiled her works in Filosofi Kopi, and then wrote another book, Perahu Kertas. I have to admit, Filosofi Kopi reminds me much of her three episodes of Supernova, the language and plot both refers to literature (by literature I mean literary fiction). Perahu Kertas is different, however.  It is a popular fiction, ‘lighter’ than her previous books, telling about love and its irrational world, about the hardship in being honest or keeping someone else’s expectation. Superb. Never read a love story being pictured like that. Simple, but meaningful.

Dewi also creates Rectoverso, a symbiosis of writings and music; 11 short stories combined with songs. Very good idea. She tries to elaborate both of her love into one masterpiece, and Dewi, I adore you for doing so.

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And in the end, I am intrigued if there’s any thing on her stories really happened in her real life. Because I am so inspired and drowned in her books! Sometimes it even seems like I am reading my own life story.

Keep writing Dewi, love your works,

Difference: What Say You?

There are no two same people. Not even twins. However they may look similar to each other, each people is different to the others. And that is the main idea of this post.

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Difference.

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I am an open-minded person. Firstly because of my parents. They both respect differences as something natural and have to be acknowledged. Secondly, I’ve been living in a plural circumstances since I was kid, up till now. Though I was born in (literally) Javanese family, my big family differs in many aspects: thinking pattern, work effort, culture, religion. And I love them all, no matter what the differences are. Then I got to live in a boarding school, practically meet with many other different people. And so on, and so on.

Moving to another country, I encounter new things again. Differences again. And when it comes to such significant extent of differences, we need to ‘adjust’. I didn’t say ‘change’, because I don’t think I should change myself when facing differences.

Take this example: Taiwan and Indonesia. There are lots of differences between those two countries, let alone their people. Taiwan is a subtropical country, Indonesia is a tropical one. Taiwan’s area is ‘only’ 36,000 sq km, while Indonesia comprises of almost 2 million sq km land. Taiwanese are mainly Chinese descent, Indonesian are a mix of many tribes. Taiwanese are agnostic, Indonesian hold religion. Meat consumption in Taiwan is dominated by pork, Indonesia is dominated evenly between chicken and beef. Free sex is acceptable in Taiwan, Indonesia forbids its citizens to do so.

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I personally adjust to the environment by ‘taking the bite as large as my mouth‘. Quite literally, and plus, I don’t judge. I hate being judged by others based on a very little part of me, and thus I why I avoid doing so. There’s one time I met a Taiwanese girl and she was so mean (by her choice of English words like bitchy, hate, and her constant tantrum), and I said to myself, ‘what a bad girl’. But hey, turns out she’s very friendly, open hearted, and cares to all of her friends (even foreigners like me); it is just that she watches English movies quite often and the English vocabs she remembers are not that much to know the exact meaning and their proper use. And that’s it, it is not fair to judge someone based on one thing. I hold religion, which is Catholic, and here in my lab most of my lab mates don’t have one. At some point we will talk about that, and even when it is true that they don’t acknowledge one God like Indonesia’s religions, they value good behavior, they value courtesy, they value others. They are curious about how Moslems can’t eat pork, and when going for some dinner, they’ll nicely try to find pork-free cuisine.

I have personal experience being judged by others, many times. Because I have ‘scary look’ and cold eyes, because I have the least courtesy compared to others, because of my appearances. Well, you maybe wrong *haha. It’s just, well, not everything is like what it seems (sooo my another blog *smile).

Facing differences could be hurt, and at some points may lead us into hate and disagreement. But hey, if we expect to be respected as who we are, why don’t we do the same thing? I can insist on being who I am, being proud as who I am, and I may doesn’t care on what people think and say about me; but on the other hand, when people insist on being so, why we often react too harshly? Acceptance on several differences doesn’t mean it has to be fair, but it has to be balanced. And when we want to be let free as ourselves, then we also should do the same thing to others. We are subjective, but yes, in some moments, we have to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Look from their point of view. Because two sides of coin can be totally different, and that’s just two sides coin, what about a box? A hexagon?

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At last, difference is not a sin.

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Keep respecting, keep an open mind,

BBC’s Sherlock Series (2010): Charming Yet Loose

I love British stuff and that includes British series. I’ve watched Hustle, and a friend gave me insight on another British-made series: Sherlock. I have already told you that I am not really a Sherlock fan, I am more into Hercule Poirot. But I enjoy Sherlock as well, though I don’t read all of his cases.

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So after making an opinion for the movie, I am going to tell you what I think of the series. The three series of this season are long ones, one takes 90 minutes; starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson. I recognized Cumberbatch since he played in The Other Boleyn Girl (one of my favorite films, British royal background, a story about Anne Boleyn); but in the movie, he was kind of blonde-brown in hair and not so dominant. He looks great with his dark brown-black hair in Sherlock, though.

His British accent is not as thick as Danny Blue in Hustle, and somehow I though his deep voice is similar to Professor Severus Snape in Harry Potter The Movie. I also think in the matter of appearance, he looks similar to Yukawa Manabu in Japanese series Galileo. Oh well, it is a prerequisite probably, good looking is a must to hold a role in public media. Because I don’t think Sherlock will look that awfully good based on Doyle’s novel.

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BBC’s Sherlock is a modern adaptation to Sherlock Holmes. Very contemporary, pictured in nowadays, and oh yes, very loose too. The first in the series was titled “A Study in Pink”, which reminded me of A Study in Scarlet. It is a very loose adaptation indeed, because most points of the original story were removed; for example the murder took 4 people instead of two, change of victim’s gender, and even the motive. The general concept remains the same though, killing people using poison pill, and the killer is a cabbie.

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[picture credit to BBC]

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Sherlock is pictured really charming, good looking, smart, unbelievably observant; and yes, very ignorant. In A Study in Pink, he pays a little respect to Inspector Lestrade, speaks as he wants to Anderson and Srg. Sally Donovan (both are from Scotland Yard or now popularly known as New Scotland Yard); just as how ignorant he is when pictured by Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes The Movie.

This first serial also introduces Moriarty, only mentioned the last name by the unknown cabbie. Apparently the cabbie killed four people to earn money for his kids. Not mentioned in A Study in Scarlet.

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The second one came up, The Blind Banker, adapted from The Dancing Men. Well, the original story is connection between several pictures of dancing men which the connects to American past; but the television series bring the story to China. And so so different (thus why I say the series is charming but loose). Cumberbatch’s Sherlock tries to solve the case of mysterious symbols appearing in his old friend’s workplace, led him to murder here and there. The symbols are actually numbers in Suzhou, and related to hidden message (referred to a book, the same as in the novel).

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The third one, I have no idea from what stories it is taken. It is kind of mixed story, because in the beginning of the story, there is five Greenwich pips, which Sherlock said to be a warning since people in the past use orange pips to send a warning message (this is to say general conclusion from The Five Orange Pips). Then there are subsequent cases Sherlock needs to solve in order to safe lives. There’s no exact similarity of plot to one of Doyle’s work print, but some details are deliberately taken from A Study in Scarlet, The Adventure of Bruce-Partington Plans, The Five Orange Pips, and The Final Problem.

Interestingly, Moriarty is introduced in the third series. Doyle wrote that Moriarty is a Professor, named James Moriarty. Here in the series, a more modern name is used, a Jim Moriarty. Pardon me so, but the Irish antagonist (am I right that Jim in the series speaks in Irish accent) feels so over-improvised. I mean, Irish? Acted gay? A bit childish?

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And where is Irene Adler, the only woman admired by Sherlock?

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Anyway, the series is great, I love the charming Sherlock; but indeed, the story is loose (I read the book).

Not a reader? You’ll find the series fascinating. So what are you waiting for? Go get it!

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See you again,

Sophie Kinsella: Hilarious and Light

I have many books in my collection, varying from comic books, series, magazines, and novels. I rarely count how many books I own, but they are roughly 600, give or take. I used to go to bookstore twice  a month, and since I have bold interest in reading, I end up having large collection of books.

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I keep my old comic books, and also keep buying some online (hard to find those old comic books, really); I buy new comic books too, but lately I only keep in track of Detective Conan; I buy novels (waiting for my favorite writers’ new book, or buying others that interest me); so basically my collection is getting piled on.

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Do you know about chick lit (chick literature)? Yeah, they are about women’s issues, and some people sometimes asked: why do read books like that? I thought you are the kind of serious reader. I enjoy chick lit from certain authors, because in my experience, not all chick lit can interest me. I am often intrigued by the title, but yes, don’t judge the book from its cover (literally haha~). Some are so boring that I stopped read them just after a few pages.

Here what I want to talk about is Sophie Kinsella. She is a Londoner, and well, to be honest, that’s why I bought her novel at the first time (soooo me haha~ I love British stuff!). She is being famous for her Confession of Sophaholic, but actually her novels I bought first was Can You Keep A Secret? After reading that, I loved her immediately. The story was hilarious and entertaining, telling you such usual problems we (women) often encounter in a way that we laugh at ourselves. The way she tells a story is so flowing, not jumping in and out like thriller novels.

[credit picture: London Evening Standard]

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Then I keep buying her novels. Can You Keep A Secret? is then followed by Confession of A Sophaholic, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, and Sophaholic Takes Manhattan. Not until last year that I knew her real name is Madeline Wickham, and Sophie Kinsella is a pen name.

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Her stories are not getting around one theme like shopping problem, and that’s why I like it. She wrote about a high flying lawyer who turned out to be a housemaid; a successful business woman who got amnesia; and a girl who can see ghosts! In a way the stories are so personal, you ought to see the personal life of the character, the world around her, the fortunate and unlucky moments, all. Like you are the one experiencing all the things. They are modern women, yes, so the stories run around what we often face these days. And they are not that serious, Kinsella keeps the language light and communicative, with humors here and there, so you’ll tend to laugh between pages.

Can You Keep A Secret? for example; there was a marketing girl who was sent abroad for a meeting and she screwed it. On the plane back, she sat next to a guy, and accidentally told him everything (yes, literally, everything) when there was a turbulence (she was afraid of flying haha~). Turned out, the guy was the owner of the company she worked for! Imagine the story haha~ Funny and surprising, really.

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Interested to read her novels?