Welcome to Litsy!

Sophat is a novella written by renowned Cambodian writer Kin Rim. It tells the story of Sophat, the natural son of a civil servant & an impoverished countryside girl, who died of sadness after her abandonment. It is full of noble feelings & improbable coincidences (we can't say we haven't been warned: it's all in the book's subtitle). It reads like a pre-19th-c. play 😁
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Second #wordoftheday

“He was mesmerized by the geometric patterns of those tiles—an infinity of tessellated shapes and stipples.”

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#wordoftheday

“Fearless felt a sense of pride observing Alyosha working his way through the well-wishers. Avuncular yet stern, understanding what each of them needed: an arm around the shoulder, a clip on the ear, a glance, a wink, a back-slapping embrace.”

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Translating again:

“You mean you‘re in love too?” “Well. Maybe.”

Alyosha placed his hand over Fearless‘s and squeezed. “Lyubov zla, polyubish i kozla, as we are saying.”

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Well this would be a challenge for true vegetarians. Most recipes center around pork/fish/chicken and even the recipes featuring tofu seem to use two kinds of fish (sauce and paste).

I'm not a good enough cook to make multiple substitutions work but I do eat fish, so I should be able to find one or two dishes that are manageable.

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I found this brief history of Cambodia on Everand, and downloaded it because I thought it would be a good idea to get a grounding on the history and culture of this month's country. I've only just started, but it looks promising 🌞
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Pic of map found in the tagged book

Another #wordoftheday

“Every pane of glass in every building was obliterated. Heading directly into the sulfurous cloud above the ruins, he stumbled on a moraine of smoldering rubble, bruising his knees and searing his hands. Through the haze, three soot-covered ghosts emerged in front of him, each heaving the limb of a body bathed in vermilion.”

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“She has the Siemens washing machine she is always dreaming of. Come—you know what Khrushchev said. About the wet hen.”

It appears I‘ll be looking up lots of references in this book. I‘m glad it‘s an ebook!!

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#wordoftheday

“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”

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The quote below makes more sense with the translation. I remember seeing the video of massive lines in the USSR and Brezhnev‘s bushy eyebrows when my parents watched the news in the 1970s

“The acquisitiveness he would have sneered at in any Western friend he forgave in someone who had lived through Brezhnev‘s gody zastoya. Alyosha had queued for toilet roll in subzero temperatures. Supermarkets, salami, and chewing gum were magical to him.”