#rachel kiel

[aiiaiiiyo]

[justarandomidiot1]

Day 5 of James Riley Appreciation Week. I chose Ships!! Here are some of my fav queer ships I like from his books, regardless of whether they’re canon or not!

[gay-jewish-bucky]

During Hanukkah 1932, just one month before Hitler came to power, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, took this photo of the family Hanukkah menorah from the window ledge of the family home in Kiel, Germany. The photo looks out on to the town hall building across the road, upon which hangs Nazi flags.

On the back of the photograph, Rachel Posner wrote in German (translated here):

Chanukah 5692 (1932) "Death to Judah" So the flag says "Judah will live forever" So the light answers

Hanukkah Sameach

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

I've seen the following headline discussed on several news sites:

And most of the discussion surrounded the issue of why are the terrorists shirtless (which takes the gold medal at the "turn a simple answer into a pointless debate" olympics. They're shirtless to make sure they're not carrying suicide vests, that they plan to detonate in the vicinity of the soldiers). What people should be noting about this, is that these armed terrorists were coming out of a hospital. It's another needed piece of evidence that Hamas has been using Gazan hospitals for their military operations. I am once again encouraging you to think about the UN, the Red Cross, the journalists reporting from Gaza, and every "respectable" human rights organization, like Doctors Without Borders, which operated in these places, and COVERED THIS UP for Hamas for the past 16 years.

Denmark's police announced that they have arrested 3 people (with one additional person arrested in The Netherlands) for planning to carry out a terrorist attack against Jews and Israelis.

Israel's top satire show continues to ridicule the inability of the world to have any moral clarity, of even the most basic kind, when it comes to antisemitism.

And that's how you could have done it, SNL.

In the same context, I watched the House debate on the bipartisan resolution calling for the presidents of Harvard and MIT to resign. Some of the arguments against the resolution were absolutely infuriating, either types of "whataboutism" ("But what about all the other things we should be doing to combat antisemitism?" Well, Karen, you can do those, too. There's absolutely no contradiction. At the same time, you say that you've dedicated many years to fighting antisemitism, and yet look at the state of your fight. Maybe holding people in position of educational power personally responsible, maybe making people see that there is a price to pay for taking Qatari money and allowing antisemitism to thrive, would make a difference, on top of those other measures that should be taken to fight Jew hatred) or just repeated, "But free speech!" (as if that line of defence wasn't obliterated during the hearing, when it was demonstrated that other marginalized groups' right to protection has been treated as superseding the right to free speech, on the same campuses where these presidents failed to define a call for the genocide of Jews as harassment, which means that not only did these universities fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism, they engaged in discriminatory behavior towards Jews themselves).

Thankfully, the resolution passed, 303 to 126.

Here's a reminder of what Jewish students have been dealing with:

On the last day of Hanukkah, I wanna share with you this story. You might have seen this picture before:

This is the Posner family's hanukkiah. In Dec 1931, a moment before the Nazis' rise to power, and when their imminent threat is already well felt by German Jews, Rachel Posner puts this hanukkiah at the window, knowing that the Nazis' headquarters in Kiel, the German city where her husband is the community's rabbi, is situated right across the street from their home. After lighting the candles, she's suddenly inspired to take a picture of the hanukkiah with the Nazi banner in the background. When she gets the picture printed, she writes on the back:

"Judea, drop dead!" says the banner. "Judea will live forever," answers the light.

"Judea, drop dead!" was a part of a common Nazi slogan back then. It went, "Germany, wake up! Judea, drop dead!"

The Posner family heeded the warning signs, and left Germany in 1933, one of the last moments when that was still possible for Jews. The family moved to Israel, and was saved. Once established, they decided to donate the hanukkiah to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust remembrance authority, to be displayed at our museum. The family only asked for one thing: to get to light the hanukkiah every Hanukkah. Now, museums are not supposed to say yes to this. If you donate something to a museum, that's it. The artifact belongs to the museum, you don't get to ask to use it, and in fact, for preservation purposes, it's not supposed to be used. But YV understood from the start that our museums is not going to be like other ones, and that when people donate artifcats to us, these are not just inanimate objects. These are the remainders of people who are lost, innocence that was robbed, a world that was destroyed. These are reminders of hope and life in the face of hatred and murder. And we can't take that away from people. That's why YV agrees to this type of request.

So, when I take people on a tour of our museum during Hanukkah, and go into our "German Jews room," and I show the corner where a large "window" bears an imprint of Rachel Posner's photo, I have to explain why the display next to the "window" is empty, other than a small note that reads, "temporarily removed." And why Hanukkah is the only time of the year when visitors can't see this hanukkiah.

This year was no exception. Hanukkah came, and we got the Posner family hanukkiah out of the glass display case... Except this year, after the Oct 7 massacre, things are different. The hanukkiah first traveled to Germany, where it was lit by the families of the hostages asking for their loved ones' return, and then it traveled back to Israel, and from there to Gaza, where it was lit by a great grandson of Rabbi Akiva and his wife Rachel Posner.

This is 41 years old Tal Haimi.

Tal was a third generation at kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. He's one of many Israelis, from which there was no sign of life since Oct 7, though there was an indication that they're held in Gaza (most commonly, their cell phone signal was picked up there). Yesterday, his family got confirmation that he was murdered during the Hamas massacre, and it was his body that was kidnapped to Gaza. His wife Ella is pregnant, and was documenting the course of the pregnancy for the past two months, hoping to share that with him, when he returns from captivity. May his memory be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[girlactionfigure]

“Chanukah, 5692. 'Judea dies', thus says the banner. 'Judea will live forever', thus respond the lights”.

A Jewish Hanukkah menorah defies the Nazi swastika, 1931

It was the eighth night of Chanukah in Kiel, Germany, a small town with a Jewish population of 500. That year, 1931, the last night Chanukah fell on Friday evening, and Rabbi Akiva Boruch Posner, spiritual leader of the town was hurrying to light the Menorah before the Shabbat set in.

Directly across the Posner’s home stood the Nazi headquarters in Kiel, displaying the dreaded Nazi Party flag in the cold December night. With the eight lights of the Menorah glowing brightly in her window, Rabbi Posner’s wife, Rachel, snapped a photo of the Menorah and captured the Nazi building and flag in the background.

She wrote a few lines in German on the back of the photo. “Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights.”

The image, freezing in time a notorious piece of the past, has grown to become an iconic part of history for the Jewish community. But until just recently, not much was known about the origins of the photo.

Both the menorah and photo survived World War II, with the Hanukkah finding its way to Yad Vashem through the loan of Yehudah Mansbuch. Mansbuch is the grandson of the woman who took the picture, and he retains the original snapshot.

When Yad Vashem was putting together its plans to open the Holocaust History Museum, a team of researchers set out to learn more about this famous photo. Their inquiries led to Mansbuch, who explained how his grandmother and grandfather had lived under Nazi oppression in Kiel, Germany, eventually fleeing to then-Palestine in 1934.

Yehudah Mansbuch, the grandson of the family who took the photo, remembers:

“It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our light will outlast their flag.’ My grandfather, the rabbi of the Kiel community, was making many speeches, both to Jews and Germans. To the Germans he warned that the road they were embarking on was not good for Jews or Germans, and to the Jews he warned that something terrible was brewing, and they would do well to leave Germany. My grandfather fled Germany in 1933, and moved to Israel. His community came to the train station to see him off, and before departed he urged his people to flee Germany while there’s still time.”

The couple’s prescience saved an entire community; only eight of the five hundred Jews perished in the Holocaust, with the rest fleeing before the systematic slaughter began. Today, Yehudah Mansbuch lives in Haifa (Israel) with his family. Each Hanukkah, Yad Vashem returns the now famous menorah to the family, who light the candles for eight nights before returning the piece of history back to the Holocaust trust.

“Death to Judah,” the flag says – “Judah will live forever!” the light answers.

[chaoticneutral4]

The top image is from Chanukah 1931, photographed by Akiva and Rachel Posner in Germany.

The bottom image is from Chanukah 2022, with Akiva and Rachel Posner’s grandson, Yehudah Mansbach, lighting the same menorah with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the presidential palace.

Written on the back of the 1931 photo: “Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights.”

Credit: humansofjudaism

Source:

On the back of the snapshot Rachel wrote an inscription: “The flag says ‘death to Judaism,’ the light says ‘Judaism will live for ever.'”

[fireskarr]

Living World Season 1: changes and unused dialogue for Mai Trin

I saw a very long post cross my dash recently, about changes to the 2022 Return to Season 1 compared with the original 2013 release, plus a late addition that briefly touches on one thing that's been bothering me ever since I encountered it:

The complete revision of Mai Trin's dialogue in Season 1

Fortunately, I have been spending the past few weeks poking around in the game, the Wiki, and the game files themselves to put together a comprehensive list and comparison of all the changes to Mai's spoken dialogue.

Including audio comparisons!

And a lot of bonus unused dialogue!

(very long post, so it's under the cut!)

Back in 2013, Mai Trin was voiced by Rachel Robinson (also the old voice of Rox), but in EoD she's voiced by Kelly Hu. For the return of Season 1, all of Mai's season 1 story dialogue was re-recorded with the new VA. And I don't think this has happened to any other character that has had a VA update?

I've listed everything here in story order. For audio tracks featuring both VAs, the old one is first, followed by the new. Includes transcript below each audio file.

Ceremony & Acrimony: comparison of dialogue between Mai and Kiel after the effigy explodes

-- Old dialogue -- Mai Trin: Lionguard, what can I do? I have some skill at healing. Inspector Ellen Kiel: See if you can help the charr cultural rep. He's injured and not moving. Mai Trin: I'll do what I can.

-- New dialogue -- Citizen: Who needs assistance? Inspector Ellen Kiel: See if you can help the charr cultural rep. He's injured and not moving. Citizen: I'll do what I can.

Hard Boiled: comparison of dialogue between Mai, Jory, and Kiel during the investigation

-- Old dialogue -- Mai Trin: I beg your pardon. Marjory Delaqua: Don't fret. you'll come to no harm unless you had a hand in what happened. Hm, she's glowing. Marjory Delaqua: All right, lady. You better start talkin' Mai Trin: What? I...I swear. I had nothing to do with that tragedy. I'm an upstanding citizen. Investigator Ellen Kiel: Wait. Could she have gotten it from the dead charr that glowed? She attempted to revive him. Mai Trin: Yes, yes. That must be it. I was only trying to help.

-- New dialogue -- Citizen/Mai Trin: You must be kidding. Marjory Delaqua: Don't fret. you'll come to no harm unless you had a hand in what happened. Hm, she's glowing. Marjory Delaqua: All right, lady. You better start talkin'. Citizen/Mai Trin: Are you accusing me? Investigator Ellen Kiel: Wait. Could she have gotten it from the dead charr that glowed? She attempted to revive him. Citizen/Mai Trin: The detective would know that too, if she paid better attention to her crime scene.

No More Secrets: comparison of dialogue when Kiel tries to arrest Mai.

--Old Dialogue-- Investigator Ellen Kiel: Mai Trin, you're under arrest, by Lionguard authority. You will present yourself- Mai Trin: If it weren't for that detective and her cronies, you'd never have known it was me. Mai Trin: (laugh) My plan was to open a seat on the council so I could fill it. Now, it's to punish you all for spoiling my first one. Mai Trin: Come out, my clockwork crew! Let's show them what it feels like to be impaled on the sharp tip of misfortune.

-- New dialogue -- Mai Trin: Marjory Delaqua. I'll remember that. Investigator Ellen Kiel: Mai Trin, you're under arrest, by Lionguard authority. You will present yourself- Mai Trin: So much for discretion. Mai Trin: Crew! It's time to earn your pay.

Aetherblade Retreat: comparison of dialogue between Mai and Horrik before the final fight

-- Old dialogue -- Mai Trin: This has all gone to crud. Scarlet's gonna have my noggin for screwing this up. Champion First Mate Horrik: What now, Captain? It'll take cannonballs to get out of here alive. Mai Trin: Either way, I'm dead. So let's wind our springs and ride this escapement to the end. Champion First Mate Horrik: You got it. I'll undock the airships. Mai Trin: You and your brothers give good battle, old friend. Now, let's dig in before they show. I'll raise the gangplanks.

-- New dialogue -- Mai Trin: Scarlet's gonna have my skull. Champion First Mate Horrik: What now, Captain? It'll take cannonballs to get out of here alive. Mai Trin: I'm dead either way. Might as well strap in for a decent fight. Champion First Mate Horrik: You got it. I'll undock the airships. Mai Trin: I'll raise the gangplanks.

Aetherblade Retreat: comparison of Mai's boss encounter dialogue during and after the fight

Mai Trin: This is what your curiosity gets you. (old v new) Mai Trin: Horrik! Unleash the cannons. (old v new) Mai Trin: No more half-measures. All hands on deck! (old v new) Mai Trin: Enough! You've won. Give me quarter and I'll tell you everything. / Enough! You've won. Next time just ask a little nicer. (old v new)

Interlude:

Between the original release of Sky Pirates and Edge of the Mists, Mai could be spoken with in her cell in Fort Marriner. This part wasn't brought back for the re-release, but the Wiki still has the dialogue:

Edge of the Mists: The Juncture

A hologram of Mai appears every half minute or so, saying one of several lines at random. The GW2 Wiki seems to have only a few of these documented.

-- Old dialogue -- Captain Mai Trin: Aetherblades, muster up! Scarlet wants this whole region conquered and ready for her when she returns. Captain Mai Trin: Aetherblades, muster up! We can't claim this territory if we don't control it. Move out and start conquering. Captain Mai Trin: Until Scarlet arrives, this is our new base of operations. I want Aetherblades controlling each and every sector. Captain Mai Trin: Until further notice, this is our new base of operations. I want Aetherblades controlling each and every sector. Captain Mai Trin: Scarlet wants this space and so do I. Even if she never comes back, I plan to be here for a good long while. Captain Mai Trin: Dig in and get comfortable Aetherblades. I plan for us to be here for a good long while. Captain Mai Trin: I'm not just a pirate captain anymore. Until Scarlet comes back, I'm the governor too. Captain Mai Trin: I'm not just a pirate captain anymore. Around here, I'm the governor too. Captain Mai Trin: Scarlet's planning something big and controlling this area is essential to it. Move out and start pacifying the locals.

(I don't have audio for the new lines here, Gw2Browser won't load these specific updated lines for some reason and I don't have time to sit around in EotM. I'll just trust the Wiki on this one, but there's probably a few extra undocumented lines to go here.)

-- New dialogue -- Captain Mai Trin: Dig in and get comfortable Aetherblades. We're gonna be here for a while. Captain Mai Trin: Don't let your guard down. Captain Mai Trin: We won't let Scarlet down. Captain Mai Trin: Eyes up Aetherblades.

~~ Unused lines ~~

I was first made aware of these in a post made about a year ago by Reddit user e-scrape-artist, and I decided to poke around in the files myself. Turns out there's a huge amount of unused dialogue in the game, from multiple characters across the whole season.

These first few sound a lot like NPC interaction dialogues. Except this is Mai Trin, so it's possibly a different scenario where we originally meet her character before it was scrapped?

Mai Trin: The sky’s the limit. Mai Trin: I’m in the shipping business. Mai Trin: Ah, the smell of the sea and the sky. Mai Trin: You have my attention. Mai Trin: Lion’s Arch is just the beginning for me.

What's more interesting than unused lines?

Unused lines that get re-recorded with a new VA and still don't get used.

Some of these are found alongside the previous unused lines, while the others are bundled in with the Aetherblade Retreat boss encounter lines. Maybe the extra combat lines are intended to play but they never triggered due to a bug or something?

Mai Trin: Ready the ship. We’ve outstayed our welcome. (old v new) Mai Trin: You just had to tamper with the plan didn’t you? (old v new) Mai Trin: Come on out, I’ll make it quick. (old v new) Mai Trin: To your captain's side! (old v new) Mai Trin: Fresh meat gang! Slice them to pieces! (old v new) Mai Trin: Dead like that councillor, serves you right. / Dead. Just like that councillor. (old v new) Mai Trin: I’m wound down. You got me. (old v new)

But wait, there's more!

What's more interesting than re-recording unused lines?

Re-recording unused lines for content that was never implemented in the first place.

Wait, what?

Sooo...when I was looking for Mai's EotM lines in the game files, I stumbled across something pretty significant. There's several hundred lines involving various Aetherblade characters in Edge of the Mists plus two Lionguard officers and apparently Vorpp too?

A lot of it seem to be event dialogue; for collection events, escorts, orders to attack/defend keeps and towers. But anyone who's spent time in EotM knows that none of the events involve Aetherblades, just generic NPCs with barely any voiced lines.

EDIT: According to @konig-varorson there were some open-world portal events involving Aetherblades and Lionguard during the initial release, so those lines were in the game at some point. But the lines spoken by the Aetherblades and Mai Trin inside the Mists appears to be completely unused? I plan to do more research into this.

Were the Aetherblades originally planned to have a bigger role in the events there? I dunno. But some of the lines are pretty interesting.

67 of these lines are spoken by Mai (not including the Juncture lines) and here's just under half of them.

Mai Trin: I knew prison couldn't hold me. Mai Trin: It's good to have a gang again. Mai Trin: This place is ripe for the picking. Mai Trin: I worked hard for this place, don't lose it. Mai Trin: I knew you were a bilge rat. Mai Trin: See that? That'll be mine one day. Mai Trin: I have a job that needs doing and I need volunteers. Good pay, plenty of violence. Mai Trin: An impressive haul. This should be plenty. For now. Mai Trin: Follow me, I need your help with this. Mai Trin: Stay close to me. I don't have time for stragglers. Mai Trin: You have your instructions, go to it. Make me proud. Mai Trin: I'm going to find out who screwed this up and slit their skin off. Mai Trin: Wrap it up, we have work elsewhere. Mai Trin: This is what I like to see. Mai Trin: Listen, I don't wanna lose this place. Protect it. Now. Mai Trin: You have my...thanks. Mai Trin: Take care of yourself. Don't get robbed or anything. Mai Trin: You look like warmed over flotsam. Mai Trin: Yes. (laugh) Oh my, yes. Mai Trin: Do you have what it takes to be my first mate? ;) Mai Trin: Do better. I'm not going back to prison. Mai Trin: Your captain is pleased. Mai Trin: Let's move. This place isn't gonna rob itself. Mai Trin (hologram): I want that tower. Kill everyone inside. Mai Trin (hologram): No-one takes this tower from us. No-one. Mai Trin (hologram): Your captain wants that keep. Mai Trin (hologram): We have intruders. Show them what Aetherblades can do. Mai Trin (hologram): Rattle the gates. Let them know Captain Mai is here. Mai Trin (hologram): Crack the walls, I smell riches inside. Mai Trin (hologram): Sea or sky, I can sail anywhere.

Six of the unused lines were re-recorded with the new VA:

Mai Trin: Dispose of the bodies. (old v new) Mai Trin: Ugh, get me up. (old v new) Mai Trin: We're overwhelmed, pull back! (old v new) Mai Trin: Come over here and protect your captain. / Protect your captain! (old v new) Mai Trin: Cut them down, no quarter. (old v new) Mai Trin: C'mere, I won't bite. (old v new)

Little side note: I think Mai's EotM-based lines sound a little different compared to the Sky Pirates chapter, like the old VA is slightly leaning into her Rox voice in some areas?

Anyway, I think that's all I have on Mai Trin's dialogue changes. Did I miss anything? I know there's some text lines I didn't include, but I was focusing on the voiced lines. Do you prefer Mai's old VA or the new one?

If anyone's interested in other unused/undocumented lines, I plan to post some unused Horrik and Canach lines I found, as well as the other Aetherblades in the Mists.

But now I think I need a nap

[divinum-pacis]

A defiant menorah, 1931. (Photograph: Rachel Posner)

Rachel and Rabbi Dr Akiva Posner were a Jewish couple with three children, living in Kiel, Germany, in the early 1930s. As part of Hanukkah celebrations, the menorah must be prominently displayed; but it can be hidden during a time of persecution. Rachel documented the moment – just over a year before Hitler took power – when the rabbi defiantly lit their menorah in the window, facing a building decked with Nazi flags. The Posners fled Germany two years later. FB

[eisbar777]

A photograph taken in 1932 by Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner, of their candle-lit Hanukkah menorah against the backdrop of the Nazi flags flying from the building across from their home in Kiel Germany.

[creative-inspirati0n]

During Hanukkah in 1931, Rabbi Akiva Posner’s family placed their menorah near the window, as many Jewish families do in an outward sign of their faith. But this was not any year.

That year, the Nazis were making their presence known in Kiel, where the Nazi Party was especially popular. Through the rabbi's window, a swastika flag flew from a building just across the street where the local Nazi Party had an office. Hitler had not yet risen to power in Germany, but in Posner’s community of Kiel tensions were rising.

In the years to come, Posner, a leading rabbi in the city, publicly opposed the Nazi Party's acts of discrimination against the town’s Jewish community. He wrote a letter of protest in the local press after posters appeared outside certain establishments declaring "Jews may not enter."

Tensions in the city turned to violence and state-sponsored discrimination. Rabbi Posner urged members of his community to leave Nazi Germany, and the Posner family fled in 1933. The menorah was one of the treasured possessions they carried with them.

Rabbi Posner’s wife, Rachel, wrote on the back of the photo:

"Death to Judah" So the flag says "Judah will live forever" So the light answers

For more than 90 years, the Posner family has continued to light the candles on this same menorah.

Photos: USHMM, courtesy of Shulamith Posner-Mansbach, copied from holocaustmuseum on Instagram

[1americanconservative]

A Jewish Hanukkah Menorah defies the Nazi swastika, 1931

It was the eighth night of Chanukah in Kiel, Germany, a small town with a Jewish population of 500. That year, 1931, the last night Chanukah fell on Friday evening, and Rabbi Akiva Boruch Posner, spiritual leader of the town was hurrying to light the Menorah before the Shabbat set in.

Directly across the Posner’s home stood the Nazi headquarters in Kiel, displaying the dreaded Nazi Party flag in the cold December night.

With the eight lights of the Menorah glowing brightly in her window, Rabbi Posner’s wife, Rachel, snapped a photo of the Menorah and captured the Nazi building and flag in the background.

She wrote a few lines in German on the back of the photo. “Chanukah 5692, (1932), “Death to Judah”, So the flag says, “Judah will live forever”, So the light answers.

[sethshead]

Everyone loves that defiant photograph of a menorah on the windowsill with a Nazi flag in the background.

People seem less aware that the only reason the photograph survived, the only reason that menorah survived, the only reason Rachel Posner, who took the photo, survived, was that the family was able to emigrate to British Palestine. Just a few years later, in 1939, the British would close Palestine to further Jewish immigration due to years of violent Arab protest. The Arab leader, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, would move to Iraq and while there assist in the pro-Axis coup d'état and organize the Farhud, before moving on to Berlin and recruiting Muslim SS divisions for Hitler.

Meanwhile, how many Jews would die in the Holocaust for being refused refuge in the land of their ancestors? This is why for Jews, Zionism, self-determination, sovereignty, not being dependent on anyone else telling us if we can escape persecution, if we can be allowed to survive, represents life itself. If you are against that, if you are anti-Zionist, then we know where you stand on our continued existence. At the very least, you have no right to sentimentalize the photograph of the Posners' menorah.

[james-riley-author]

Assuming your story thieves and revenge of magic books are in the same universe, who do you think would be friends with who?

In my head, Revenge of Magic isn't connected like the other two/three series are, but that doesn't mean they can't be in yours! So with that said, and also with the warning that my opinion on this doesn't matter as much as yours, here's some thoughts off the top of my head:

Cyrus would love Charm, but not vice versa. Charm would probably be closest with Rachel and Jia.

Rachel and Kiel would get along pretty well, and have fun talking magic/how great they both are.

Xenea and Moira would get along WAY too well, for very different reasons than the last two.

Owen would lose it over Ember, and never stop trying to be her best friend.

Gwen would always be trying to cheer Fort up.

Kara would be traveling back to Atlantis to find out why it was so similiar in both series, in spite of the series not being connected.

And Bethany would just have fun bringing everyone together.

[niamhoftirnanog]

Please talk to me about books

I am always open to book discussions, feel free to send me an ask or a message 😊

Follow @niamhs-reading-adventures for my book reviews!

Photo from when I reorganised my shelves.

Books I will always be happy to talk about

The Medoran Chronicles by Lynette Noni

The Prison Healer trilogy by Lynette Noni

Percy Jackson Universe by Rick Riordan

Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

What If It's Us? and Here's to Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey MicQuiston

Unearthly trilogy by Cynthia Hand

Books I've Recently Read

August 2022

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

July 2022

Naturally Tan by Tan France

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

June 2022

Beach Read by Emily Henry

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry

The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Beyond the End of the World by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Smoke and Shadow by Gene Luen Yang

The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni

May 2022

The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise by Gene Luen Yang

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search by Gene Luen Yang

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Rift by Gene Luen Yang

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

April 2022

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Kiel

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand

One Would Think the Deep by Claire Zorn

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

The Build-up Season by Megan Jacobson

[anchorageroleplay]

MWF?

Hi Anon, here are some suggestions that will hopefully spark some ideas for ya!

Gemma Chan, Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Mindy Kaling, Sofia Vergara, Beren Saat, Kate del Castillo, Kristen Bell, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Amy Adams, Rachel McAdams, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Janelle Monáe, Zendaya, Gabrielle Union, Tessa Thompson, Yalitza Aparicio, Yara Martinez, America Ferrera, Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria, Nazanin Boniadi, Aisling Franciosi, Ayelet Zurer, Angelique Cabral, Christina Hendricks, Katie McGrath, Natalie Martinez, Priyanka Bose, Kiele Sanchez, Rachel Weisz, Sarah Shahi, Hannah Simone, Tuba Büyüküstün, Laura Prepon, Tuba Büyüküstün, Fahriye Evcen, Hazal Kaya, Bergüzar Korel, Cansu Dere, Neslihan Atagül, Serenay Sarıkaya, Hande Erçel, Demet Özdemir, Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Brie Larson, Saoirse Ronan, Alicia Vikander, Carey Mulligan, Blake Lively, Emma Watson, Viola Davis, Lupita Nyong'o, Kerry Washington, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Regina King, Melisa Asli Pamuk, Renata Notni, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Candice Patton, Kylie Bunbury, Lucy Hale, Ayca Aysin Turan, Greta Onieogou, Pooja Hegde, Samantha Logan, Lauren London, Pinar Deniz, Adria Arjona, Aiysha Hart, Ana de Armas, Bae Suzy, Im Jin-ah, Shay Mitchell, Sofia Carson

Let us know if you need anymore suggestions!

[girlactionfigure]

Chanukah 1932

"It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our light will outlast their flag.’ My grandfather, the rabbi of the Kiel community, was making many speeches, both to Jews and Germans. To the Germans he warned that the road they were embarking on was not good for Jews or Germans, and to the Jews he warned that something terrible was brewing, and they would do well to leave Germany. My grandfather fled Germany in 1933, and moved to Israel. His community came to the train station to see him off, and before departed he urged his people to flee Germany while there’s still time.” - Yehudah Mansbuch

Written on the back of the photo: “Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights”.

Today, both the Posner family’s menorah and the photograph are on permanent display in the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum. But each year, the menorah is returned to the family for one week when Rachel and Akiva’s descendants continue to light the Hanukkah candles using the same menorah that was brought to Israel from Kiel 90 years ago.

Humans of Judaism