Located at the crossroads between China India & the nations of Southeast Asia Burma has long been a land that absorbed outside influences into its everyday life from the Buddhist religion to foodstuffs like the potato. In the process the people of the country now known as Myanmar have developed a rich complex cuisine that makes inventive use of easily available ingredients to create exciting flavour combinations. Salads are one of the best entry points into the glories of this cuisine with sparkling flavours
- crispy fried shallots a squeeze of fresh lime juice a dash of garlic oil a pinch of turmeric some crunchy roast peanuts
- balanced with a light h&. The salad tradition is flexible; Burmese cooks transform all kinds of foods into salads from chicken & roasted eggplant to spinach & tomato. Mohinga a delicious blend of rice noodles & fish broth adds up to comfort food at its best. Wherever you go in Burma you get a slightly different version because as Duguid explains each region layers its own touches into the dish. Tasty sauces chutneys & relishes
- essential elements of Burmese cuisine
- will become mainstays in your kitchen as will a chicken roasted with potatoes turmeric & lemongrass; a seafood noodle stir-fry with shrimp & mussels; Shan khaut swei an astonishing noodle dish made with pea tendrils & pork; a hearty chicken-rice soup seasoned with ginger & soy sauce; & a breathtakingly simple dessert composed of just sticky rice coconut & palm sugar. Interspersed throughout the 125 recipes are intriguing tales from the author's many trips to this fascinating but little-known l&. One such captivating essay shows how Burmese women adorn themselves with thanaka a white paste used to protect & decorate the skin.



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Often described as the forgotten war the Burma Campaign was one of the most punishing & protracted military adventures of World War Two. It has become notorious for the ingenious tactics used by Britain America & their allies on the one hand & the Japanese & their allies on the other as well as for the atrocious conditions that had to be endured by both sides. Seasonal monsoon rains
- which allowed effective campaigning for little more than half the year
- as well as famine disease snakes & crocodiles all bore heavily on the troops. Impenetrable jungle poor transport infrastructure & the Allied preoccupation with the war in Europe made this the longest single campaign fought by the British in the Second World War. It is against this epic backdrop that Frank Mc Lynn constructs the dramatic story of the four larger-than-life commanders directing the Allied effort: Louis Mountbatten Orde Wingate Joseph Stilwell & William Slim. Strikingly original in its approach the book explores the Campaign through the prism of these four men & their often stormy relationship. From 1942 & the greatest defeat for British arms in the history of the Empire through the crucial simultaneous battles of Imphal & Kohima
- the Stalingrad of the East
- & on to ultimate victory in 1945 this is a vivid brutal & enthralling account. By telling it through the interactions & antagonisms of its principal players we see how the plans designs & strategies of generals & politicians were translated into a hideous reality for the men on the ground.



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Orwell draws on his experience in the Indian Imperial Police for his first novel Burmese Days" a devastating indictment of British colonial rule (he resigned 'to escape not merely from imperialism but from every form of man's dominion over man' as he later wrote). John Flory cowardly & self-pitying makes an unlikely but all-too-human tragic hero as he defies convention & prejudice to befriend an Indian doctor then shoots himself when the girl who had seemed to promise escape from the stultifying 'lie' of colonial life refuses to marry him. While reporting on the dark side of the Raj Orwell nonetheless came under the spell of the landscape of the East & the exotic background of " Burmese Days" inspired his most lush descriptive writing... Back in England Orwell tackles capitalism nonconformity & compromise in " Keep The Aspidistra Flying". Youthful idealist & would-be author Gordon Comstock rebels against a life of middle-class respectability (symbolized by the aspidistra) abandoning his job with an advertising company to work part-time in a bookshop. But everything goes wrong: alternately proud & self-loathing he lets himself sink into poverty; he is unable to write; & he gets his long-suffering girlfriend pregnant. At the end respectably married
- & with an aspidistra of his own -he is back at his old firm writing copy for deodorant ads. Grimly comic
- & again written from Orwell's own experience this time of living in the London slums
- " Keep the Aspidistra Flying" is a still-relevant commentary on society's subservience to 'the Money God' & an affirmation of the power of human relationships to survive in spite of it. In " Coming Up for Air" George Bowling married mortgaged & middle aged deals with his mid-life crisis by forsaking dull suburbia for a rural idyll. But the fondly remembered village of his childhood has been transformed by the very ' Progress' he seeks to escape: the estate where he used to fish has been built over; the pond turned into a rubbish dump. An old girlfriend fails to recognize him & she herself is shockingly ravaged by time. Written in 1938-9 " Coming Up For Air" is permeated with nostalgia for the England of a more tranquil age
- before industrialization & capitalism had done their worst
- & overshadowed by premonitions of what is to come
- 'the war & the after-war Hitler Stalin bombs machine-guns food-queues rubber truncheons'. Above all it unsparingly confronts the failure of youthful dreams & the impossibility of ever reclaiming the past."





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Covering 25 years Burmese Shadows is an unprecedented body of work which highlights with stunning photographs the reality of ...

When Jenner Redwine wins a lottery jackpot things get tough: her father rips her off & disappears; her fortune-hunting boyfriend soon becomes her ex; & friends-turned-freeloaders give her the cold shoulder when she stops paying for everything. Jenner cant imagine finding a place in the world of the wealthy. But now seven years later shes rubbing elbows with the privileged despite the fact she still feels like a party crasher. When her ally the shy kind-hearted heiress Sydney Hazlett invites her on a charity cruise aboard a luxury liner Jenner reluctantly agrees not realising that danger lies ahead. Taken hostage by a menacing stranger Jenner must cooperate in a mysterious cloak-&-dagger scheme or else. But as her panic gives way to exhilaration & fear of her captor turns to fascination Jenner rediscovers feelings she hasnt had in years
- & realises shes found a life worth living. If she survives.
...

Postcard perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops pristine beaches amazing oceanfront homes & three girls quietly plotting revenge. Kat is tired of having people lie to her. One more cruel word from her ex best friend or her secret hook up acting like she doesnt exist will be the last straw. Those two deserve to feel as awful as theyve made her feel. But if she tried anything everyone would suspect her immediately... Lillia is ready to stop pretending her senior year is going to be so great. After what her best friend Rennie got her into this past summer & the way her guy friends are looking at her little sister she is starting to feel like these friends" are nothing but the entitled brats she has always denied they were. Maybe someone should show them there are consequences to bad behaviour... Mary has just gotten back to Jar Island after a traumatic event several years ago that still haunts her. She is determined to put it behind her but when she sees Reeve she is certain that will only happen when he feels the same pain that his actions caused her. But she cant get revenge alone... With an unlikely alliance in place there will be no more "I wish Id said... " or wondering how much better life would be if he wasnt there. These girls will show Jar Island that their revenge is just the beginning." ...

Glory is from a family of witches & lives beyond the law. She is desperate to develop her powers & become a witch herself. Lucas is the son of the Chief Prosecutor for the Inquisition
- the witches' mortal enemy
- & his privileged life is very different to the forbidden world that he lives alongside. & then on the same day it hits them both. Glory & Lucas develop the Fae
- the mark of the witch. In one fell stroke their lives are inextricably bound together whether they like it or not.. .


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Traumatized by the events that took place in THE EVER-RUNNING MAN Sharon Mc Cone decides to take an extended vacation at her ranch in California's high desert country. Though she plans to contemplate her future Mc Cone soon becomes distracted by a troubled yet highly secretive Native American woman. When traces of violence at an abandoned resort lead directly back to the mysterious woman the county sheriff's deputy handling the case asks Mc Cone for assistance. The investigation will lead Mc Cone across the state & back to her own ranch where imminent danger lies closer than she ever expected & where her future & her life itself may hang in the balance. ...

Y'all need to get yourselves together. Here's a newsflash from the only High Priestess you have left at this dang school: Zoey isn't dead. & believe me I know dead. I've been there done that & got the fricken tee-shirt. Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history & is the only person
- vamp or fledgling
- that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. & she might just have a chance if she wasn't so busy being dead. Well dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it's going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own.. .

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It's spring break & the pretty little liars are trading in Rosewood for a cruise vacation. They want nothing more than to sail into the tropical sunset & leave their troubles behind for one blissful week. But where Emily Aria Spencer & Hanna go A goes too. From scuba diving to tanning on the upper deck A is there soaking up all their new secrets. Emily is smooching a stowaway. Aria's treasure-hunting partner is a little too interested in her booty. Spencer's going overboard trying to land a new boy. & a blast-or rather a crash-from Hanna's past could mean rough waters ahead for everyone. The liars better tighten their life jackets. A perfect storm is brewing & if they aren't careful A will bury them at sea... ...