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rachelsbrittain

rachelsbrittain

Joined January 2017

writer. reader. obsessed with stories. contributing editor for BookRiot.com she/her rachelbrittain.com
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rachelsbrittain
Russian Fairy Tales | Aleksandr Afanas'ev
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Where are my fellow fairy tale lovers at? I've got a quiz for you!

bookriot.com/fairy-tales-quiz/

BookmarkTavern 13/15! I just wish it told me which ones I got wrong! 😅 3d
Sharpeipup 5/15 guess I need to read more fairy tales. Got any recommendations? 3d
rachelsbrittain @Sharpeipup I really enjoyed the tagged book if you're interested in branching out into Russian fairy tales. But also if it makes you feel better this was a really hard quiz 😅 3d
36 likes4 comments
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Pickpick

A brilliant feminist biography of Anne Boleyn that upends everything you thought you knew about Henry VIII's 2nd wife and reexamines her depection as a seductress. In actuality, Anne was a devout reformer educated in Hapsburg and French courts filled with the Reformation movement. And while diagnosing historical figures can be touchy (Nolan claims Henry had sociopathy), I do agree that romanticizing a relationship that ends in murder is troubling.

Branwen Oh wow! This looks absolutely amazing! 3d
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Book mail!

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Earthlings | Sayaka Murata
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If I had a nickle for every horror novel that turned cannibal I'd have several nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's still weird it's happened several times.

bookriot.com/cannibalistic-horror/

ju.ca.no Indeed😅 it did come as a surprise for me in this one😅 1w
rachelsbrittain @ju.ca.no same! I read Convenience Store Woman first and was expecting more of the same. Boy was I wrong! 1w
ju.ca.no @rachelsbrittain me too! And I had a german translation and there was a quote about the book on the back which said it was funny- but the german word for it does not mean funny in a weird way but more like hilarious. And it definitely was a wrong translation and gave me very wrong expectations 😅 1w
41 likes3 comments
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Pickpick

This fun cozy murder mystery follows three generations of women living together after the matriarch, Lana, is diagnosed with lung cancer. The formidable real-estate tycoon and her daughter Beth are constantly at odds, but when teenage Jack discovers a dead body during a kayak tour, they come together to pick apart what really happened. It took me a minute to warm up to Lana but eventually she won me over just as she does everyone else.

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Larkken Jinn-Bot looks intriguing hope it‘s good! 1w
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Sighs in "I was born in the 90s" ?‍?

PathfinderNicole As someone born in the last half of 89 I am going through it with you 1w
BookmarkTavern Oh no! 😂😂😂😂 1w
LeslieO Haha! I was in my thirties in the nineties. It was yesterday! 🤪 1w
See All 6 Comments
5feet.of.fury 1984 🙃 1w
Blueberry @NataliePatalie It's Molly! 1w
Catsandbooks Yeah when I saw they announced the 90s dolls as historical, I was like where's my cane and senior discount I'm old now 😂 1w
37 likes1 stack add6 comments
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rachelsbrittain
Mister Seahorse | Eric Carle
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Took my sweet nephew to the library today, and we found several fun new books to read, including this great book from Eric Carle about fish dads. He loves Eric Carle books and immediately recognized the artwork! @sebrittainclark

Yuki_Onna Aaaahhh, what a sweet precious little one your nephew is! 💖 2w
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 2w
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@sebrittainclark tells me all the books in my recent #libraryhaul have something in common, but I can't imagine what.

Yuki_Onna 🤔🫠 2w
julesG That's tricky. Can I get a hint? 2w
Ruthiella Hmmm what could they have in common? 😂👑 2w
MissyD I know I know. They all came from the library. 🤣🤣🤣 2w
Aims42 😂😂😂 2w
53 likes5 comments
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rachelsbrittain
Terrace Story: A Novel | Hilary Leichter
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These wonderfully surreal interconnected short stories come together around an apartment that miraculously expands to have a terrace when a particular guest come to visit. I really enjoyed how the stories slowly developed the premise through characters and generations affected by this strange phenomenon. Hilary Leichter is just brilliant.

Megabooks Stacking! 2w
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Ali Hazwood's books are like a really rich chocolate cake-- you know what you're going to get and it's delicious when you're in the right mood for it. Yes the enemies to lovers, oblivious heroine who doesn't realize the gruff, giant of a man is in love with her is all the same, but dang if I don't still enjoy it every time. And the theoretical vs experimental physicist drama was quite interesting.

Emilymdxn I‘m the exact same! People criticise the books for being samey but like, they‘re the same as something amazing… 2w
rachelsbrittain @Emilymdxn haha agreed! If you don't want to read something really similar to a previous book that's fine, and sure I wouldn't want to read that all the time, but everybody loves some chocolate cake now and again 😂 2w
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I think seeing Six live this week might have reignited my preteen-era Tudor obsession. Oops.

julesG Enjoy your reading. (totally off topic, I enjoyed your Book Riot article about fantasy libraries) 2w
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Untitled | Untitled
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Not Good for Maidens | Tori Bovalino
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Steer clear of the Goblin Market. It's a warning May didn't head and now, nearly two decades later her niece and much younger sister are repeating her mistakes. But what exactly happened in the market to force May and her sister from Yorkshire? And what awaits the younger generation now that they are venturing into the market themselves. A wonderfully dark fairy tale.

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Bookshops & Bonedust | Travis Baldree
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Bookshops and Bonedust took the top spot for August, but The Mountain the Sea beat it out to move forward in the #2023ReadingBracket @chasjjlee

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Not Good for Maidens | Tori Bovalino
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Book mail! Arc written by a friend of a friend.

Addison_Reads Oh....this looks intriguing. Stacking. 1mo
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rachelsbrittain
Thornhedge | T. Kingfisher
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I loved this clever reimagining of Sleeping Beauty where a changeling has taken the place of the princess and the real child, who was whisked away by faeries, must now keep her from causing any harm. One of the most inventive retellings I've ever read, though the ending felt maybe a little neat for my taste given the rest of the story.

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Thornhedge | T. Kingfisher
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Thornhedge | T. Kingfisher
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"In the early days, the wall of thorns had been distressingly obvious."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

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Bookshops & Bonedust | Travis Baldree
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I loved this prequel to Legends & Lattes even more than the original! After an injury prevents her from continuing on with her adventuring, Viv finds herself surprisingly invested in a local bookshop that's struggling to make ends meet. This one is faster paced than L&L but just as cozy and cute!

#NetgalleyBingo : LGBTQIA+ Main Character

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A boy tells the story of how he came to betray his master to the Roman Legion who captured him in this fun historical middle grade novel. Samir is a storyteller, a "seller of dreams" who trades his highly exaggerated wares as part of a caravan along the Silk Road. The boy he rescues from being stoned by monks is not impressed with his lack of honesty and piety. But, as with all people and stories, the truth is a bit more complicated than that.

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Pickpick

Another gorgeous WWI era historical fiction novel about books from Pip Williams, this time following a bindery girl who longs to read books at Oxford, not just bind them. I really appreciated the insight into the divide between Town and Gown in Oxford and the look at refugees and attitudes toward war in England before, during, and after WWI. A really excellent historical fiction novel.

#NetgalleyBingo : Author You've Read Before

JanuarieTimewalker13 Sounds really good!! 1mo
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My #weekendreads. An ebook and two audiobooks.

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Untitled | Unknown
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Comemadre | Roque Larraquy
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Panpan

I enjoy reading translated books but this one fell short for me. The premise of a psychiatric facility in early 1900s Argentina decapitating patients to see what they say in the moments between decapitation and death was really interesting to me but it just didn't explore it in a way I found at all satisfying.

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Cursed Bunny | Bora Chung
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A weird and intriguing speculative short story collection full of strange toilet creatures, ghosts, and cursed lamps. I really loves it overall-- just my kind of short stories. That said, a couple of the stories didn't really fit in with the collection and one was wildly abelist/ talking about blindness in a really derogatory way. TW for suicide, rape, incest, child abuse, and others

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Cursed Bunny | Bora Chung
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Life is wild so I'm reading a really wide variety of books that I'm picking up and putting down right now. What about you? #WeekendReads

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Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy | Faith Erin Hicks
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Got around to this one much sooner than I would have otherwise thanks to #NetgalleyBingo . A hockey player wanting to keep her temper under control after lashing out against a cruel teammate befriends a drama kid only for both of them to find more than they bargained for. Cute but I think it could've continued on for onger tbh. Felt like it ended too soon but maybe that's just because i was enjoying it.

Netgalley Bingo: Comic or Graphic Novel

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Nimona | ND Stevenson
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I adore Nimona, and if you do too, you'll love these other comics and graphic novels with a similar vibe.

bookriot.com/graphic-novels-like-nimona/

TieDyeDude Sweet! At least three have been added to my library holds 😁 2mo
rachelsbrittain @TieDyeDude love it! Hope you enjoy them 😊 2mo
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Want some queer royal romance recs to fill all your prince / princess needs? I've got you!

https://bookriot.com/queer-royal-romances/

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Prism Stalker | Sloane Leong
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Underrated comics for the win!

bookriot.com/most-underrated-comics-according-to-goodreads

TieDyeDude Eve was very good. I just bought the follow-up that came out earlier this year. 2mo
Bookgoil I loved Eve I will have to check out the rest 2mo
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Got some good looking books on my Netgalley shelf right now. Perfect timing to try to do some #NetgalleyBingo

Netgalley Bingo: post a Netgalley shelfie

TheKidUpstairs I'm so excited for 2mo
Soubhiville Fun! 2mo
Tea_and_Starstuff Oooh, good options. Bookshops and Bonedust is the one I have on pre-order, but I am very curious about Bored Gay Werewolf - it's a fun looking cover! 2mo
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In the near future, a chef applies for a position in an elite, guarded community atop a mountain after a worldwide smog outbreak causes wide-spread crop destruction and famine. Here, animals and food available nowhere else are carefully curated in underground labs. But what secrets are her employer and his daughter hiding? And how do they lead to the community's eventual destruction? #NetgalleyBingo @Larkken

Netgalley Bingo: Publishing in 2024

rachelsbrittain Cont.: I didn't love this one nearly as much as How Much of These Hills is Gold and I didn't feel like our narrator was as fully fleshed out, but it was a really interesting exploration of food and environmental destruction and how humanity approaches--and ignores--both. 2mo
Larkken Nice! I really liked their first book 2mo
Soubhiville I loved How Much of These Hills- one of my best of last year. Thanks for your review! 1mo
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@Larkken just shared this fun Netgalley bingo board for August! My life is wild at the moment but I think it'd still be fun to see how many I can do! I managed to get through several arcs during #JuneofARC so I figure it's worth a try. Reading the tagged book right now #NetGalleyBingo

Larkken Litsy has taught me that there can never be too many bingo boards 😆 2mo
rachelsbrittain @Larkken too true 😂 2mo
Megabooks I‘m excited for this book! 2mo
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rachelsbrittain
Chlorine | Jade Song
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A teen dealing with the extreme pressure of high school, swim team, and adolescence recounts her experiences leading up to her transformation into a mermaid. It's a gorgeous literary coming of age novel with a slight speculative feel even though there's no actual, confirmed fantasy to the story. Anyone who struggled with high pressure high school experiences will relate to Ren whether or not you went to her extremes.

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I love gifting books and puzzling out the perfect book for the perfect person! I don't have one specific book I love to gift because I always try to tailor it to what I think that person will enjoy. But I did once gift a book to my brother in law who isn't a big reader. He was grumbling but when he realized it was a book about ridiculous bird names he finally understood why I'd gotten it for him 😂

#SundayFunday @ozma.of.oz

BookmarkTavern I love the name of this book so much. 😂 Thanks for answering! 2mo
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Chlorine | Jade Song
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My #weekendreads for this weekend. What are you reading?

Matilda Conspirituality 👀 and Going Bicoastal ! 2mo
rachelsbrittain @Matilda immediately had to look up the first book based on title alone, and, um, I definitely need to read that 😂 2mo
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My top read of July was The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler #TopReads2023 #2023ReadingBracket @chasjjlee

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Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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A lifelong temp worker runs through a series of stranger and stranger jobs including as a replacement pirate and a serial killer's assistant. But being a temp is more than just a job-- it's a lifelong pursuit of finding permanency, something that might outlast even humanity itself. A wonderfully weird story.

Tea_and_Starstuff This sounds fascinating! Will have to check it out. 2mo
rachelsbrittain @Tea_and_Starstuff I saw it recommended on a tiktok and couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it before! 2mo
DaveGreen7777 I had to add it, the book description had me at “replacement pirate”! 😁 🏴‍☠️ 2mo
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The Last Cherry Blossom | Kathleen Burkinshaw
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This middle grade historical fiction novel follows a young girl living in Hiroshima during WWII. Loosely based on her mother's own experiences during the war, Burkinshaw provides fascinating insight into what life was like in Japan during WWII as well as the horrors that even those that survived the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima faced.

rachelsbrittain TW for graphic depictions of death and injuries, suicidal ideation, and war 2mo
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This spicy sapphic historical romance follows a Caribbean heiress and a business savvy duchess who must decide if they're willing to risk everything for a chance to be together. It's a fun read full of scenic Paris settings, art, friendship, and found families.

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rachelsbrittain
She Is a Haunting | Trang Thanh Tran
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I generally prefer my horror to be faster paced so it took me a while to get through this Sapphic YA haunted house story, but I did enjoy the journey. Jade is spending 4 weeks with her estranged father in Vietnam at the colonial house he's renovating but strange things are happening. To convince her father the house is haunted, Jade teams up the niece of her father's real-estate partner to fake hauntings until the real thing becomes undeniable.

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The Very Hungry Plant | Renato Moriconi
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This cute picture book about a carnivorous plant plays on expectations. It's full of simple, cute illustrations, and while I started to think it was getting a bit tedious in its repetition, it won be back over with the ending.

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I'm Weird Babrie! How about you?

bookriot.com/which-barbie-are-you-based-on-your-book-picks/

Kshakal I did it and got author Barbie!! 2mo
wanderinglynn @Kshakal 🙌🏻 I got author Barbie too. 2mo
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Dilara I got Weird Barbie too. 2mo
ImperfectCJ Weird Barbie here! 2mo
KateReadsYA I got President Barbie 🥰 2mo
mrsmarch Stereotypical Barbie 🤦🏼‍♀️ 2mo
Vansa 😂😂Stereotypical Barbie here. Quite happy with that, given that most of Bookriots choices aren't books I enjoy! 2mo
slategreyskies I got Doctor Barbie. Well, that was a surprise. 😂 2mo
dabbe Another Author Barbie! 🤩 2mo
ChaoticMissAdventures Most of these books I didn't know or haven't read 😂 I ended up with stereotypical Barbie 👠 2mo
swishandflick I got Lawyer Barbie (🤣) but I feel like Zoloft Barbie should have been an option, lmao. That would have been more accurate. 2mo
RosePressedPages I got lawyer Barbie! So fun! 2mo
EKonrad I got Author Barbie. 😊 Thanks so much for sharing the link to this quiz! 2mo
Sharpeipup Lawyer Barbie here! 2mo
WorldsOkayestStepMom I got Lawyer Barbie! 2mo
bookandbedandtea I got president Barbie 😄 2mo
Kristy_K I got Lawyer Barbie! 2mo
43 likes18 comments
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rachelsbrittain
She Is a Haunting | Trang Thanh Tran
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Coffee shop reading

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She Is a Haunting | Trang Thanh Tran
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Some YA horror and historical sapphic romance this weekend #WeekendReads

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She Is a Haunting | Trang Thanh Tran
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Nothing fun about 2 days of migraine in a row, but I did at least get to break out a new book I've been wanting to read and socialize my new little guy (Casper) for the first time

RowReads1 🥰 what‘s his name? 2mo
Linear Awe look at the little Nope-Rope 2mo
rachelsbrittain @RowReads1 Casper 😊 2mo
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CaitlinR Sorry about the migraine 🤕! 2mo
Soubhiville Oh how cute! (Hope you feel better!) 2mo
AmyG Feel better. And while not a fan of snakes….he is kind of cute. 2mo
dabbe What kind of 🐍 is Cute Casper? 2mo
rachelsbrittain @AmyG haha I completely understand that! I know I'm in the minority here for having two of them and thinking they're absolutely adorable 😂 thanks 2mo
rachelsbrittain @dabbe a baby blue eyed leucistic ball python! 2mo
dabbe Dare I say he‘s adorable! 🤩🤩🤩 2mo
rachelsbrittain @dabbe haha thank you! I think so too 😊 2mo
julesG Hope you're feeling better. Caspar is cute. Can't imagine having a snake as a pet, but would love to pet one should a friend have one. 2mo
Lizpixie He‘s a sweetie!🐍Hope you‘re feeling better♥️ 2mo
marleed Oh I hope Casper can distract you from the migraine. Great name, btw! 2mo
Bette Not a snake person either, but he is very cute. Is that his final color or will he change? …so I just read up on leucism vs albinism — that‘s fascinating. Casper is teaching me something new! 🐍❤️ 2mo
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Pickpick

Mammoths are brought back from extinction-- but after humans have already hunted elephants to the point that they only exist in captivity, will wild mammoths really be able to survive, much less thrive? I really enjoyed Nayler's new books which focuses on mammoths and poachers instead of octopuses and fishing. It's shorter and not as mysterious, but just as good.

Soubhiville Oooooo, I didn‘t know anything about this! Into the TBR it goes! Thanks. 2mo
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