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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mahmoud Alshaer & Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq (editors), Letters from Gaza: A Collection by the People; Unveiling Their Stories and Emotions from the Year That Has Been, Penguin Random House SEA,…
![[REVIEW] “A War, Many Cries, and a Long, Unkind Sleep: 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐺𝑎𝑧𝑎” by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/letters-from-gaza-a-collection-by-the-people-unveiling-their-stories-and-emotions-from-the-year-that-has-been-1.jpg?w=906)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Allison Markin Powell (translator). The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, Penguin Random House, 2025. 256 pgs. It seems fitting that I began reading The Passengers on…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “The Train Ride of Life: Hiro Arikawa’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑦𝑢 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒” by Koay Xinyi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/81pcgpwou4l._sl1500_.jpg?w=956)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Lav Diaz’s Magellan: From Counter-Time to Counter-History” by Ramzzi Fariñas Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. If the art of history is to be…
![[REVIEW] “Lav Diaz’s 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛: From Counter-Time to Counter-History” by Ramzzi Fariñas](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/images.jpeg?w=294)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “History as Painting: Lav Diaz’s Magellan” by Alicia Izharuddin Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. The most striking aspect of Lav Diaz’s Magellan is…
![[REVIEW] “History as Painting: Lav Diaz’s 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛” by Alicia Izharuddin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/httpschajournal.blog20240915magellan.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari, The Menon Investigation, Penguin Random House India, 2025. 246 pgs. In the world of crime cinema, the Austrian film director and screenwriter Fritz Lang is considered…
![[REVIEW] “Silent Screams and Chaotic Truths: Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝐼𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/saharu-nusaiba-kannanari-the-menon-investigation-.jpg?w=1000)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kong Shangren (author), Wai-yee Li (translator), The Peach Blossom Fan, Oxford University Press, 2024. 816 pgs. Wai-yee Li is one translator who knows how to hook a reader.…
![[REVIEW] “Things Fall Apart: Kong Shangren’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝐵𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑚 𝐹𝑎𝑛” by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/the-peach-blossom-fan.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on So That You Know. Mani Rao, So That You Know, HarperCollins India, 2025. 312 pgs. “Isn’t it better to write poems about topics? On the…
![[REVIEW] “Haunted by Words, Hunted by Silence: Mani Rao’s Radical Intimacy in 𝑆𝑜 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐾𝑛𝑜𝑤” by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/mani-rao-so-that-you-know-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: This conversation between Shuang Xiao 肖爽 and T. L. Tsim 詹德隆, former director of Chinese University Press, provides a wide-ranging reflection on Hong Kong’s cultural and literary landscape of the 1980s, highlighting Tsim’s collaboration with John Minford on Renditions…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “From Page to Print: In Conversation with T. L. Tsim about 𝑅𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, CUHK Press, and his Fellowship with John Minford” by Shuang Xiao & T. L. Tsim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/tsim-.jpg?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “A Glimpse of Filipino Gamers’ Lives in Mikhail Red’s Friendly Fire” by Bryan Elijah Trajano Mikhail Red (director), Friendly Fire, 2024. 112 min. As esports continue to gain traction in the…
![[REVIEW] “A Glimpse of Filipino Gamers’ Lives in Mikhail Red’s 𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒” by Bryan Elijah Trajano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mikhail-red-director-friendly-fire.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Joan E. Ericson, Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women’s Literature, University of Hawai’i Press, 1997. 292 pgs. The vicissitudes of women’s literature in Japan have undergone…
![[REVIEW] “Re-evaluating ‘Women’s Literature’ as a Category: Hayashi Fumiko as a Woman Writer in Modern Japan” by Charlie Ng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/joan-e.-ericson-be-a-woman-hayashi-fumiko-and-modern-japanese-womens-literature-.jpg?w=907)
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