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Were you, like me, misplaced in time? Do you have an inner mid-20th century housewife or man-in-a-gray-flannel-suit? Do you long for the style and culture of the 1930s, 40s and 50s with a smattering of the 20s and early 60s mixed in? Pull up a chair, mix yourself that Tom Collins and tune up the hi-fi...time for Retro Reads. (I have not really put them in order of favorites and I have not yet read all these titles myself. I added titles as I thought of them.)
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3.87 avg rating — 986,161 ratings
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8

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3.59 avg rating — 65,086 ratings
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9

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4.46 avg rating — 770,033 ratings
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9

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4.06 avg rating — 163,758 ratings
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11

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3.99 avg rating — 9,647 ratings
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12

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3.87 avg rating — 81,711 ratings
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13

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3.90 avg rating — 2,975,989 ratings
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14

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 132,768 ratings
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15

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4.40 avg rating — 482,157 ratings
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16

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3.78 avg rating — 27,325 ratings
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17

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4.07 avg rating — 8,197 ratings
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18

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3.71 avg rating — 3,338,283 ratings
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19

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3.61 avg rating — 462,665 ratings
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20

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4.15 avg rating — 1,705,045 ratings
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21

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3.68 avg rating — 18,027 ratings
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22

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3.82 avg rating — 14,764 ratings
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23

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3.86 avg rating — 22,532 ratings
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24

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4.21 avg rating — 3,435 ratings
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25

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3.70 avg rating — 25,392 ratings
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26

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4.08 avg rating — 18,392 ratings
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27

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4.31 avg rating — 538,000 ratings
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28

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4.09 avg rating — 113,751 ratings
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29

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,855 ratings
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30

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3.64 avg rating — 32,264 ratings
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31

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3.89 avg rating — 163,702 ratings
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32

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3.94 avg rating — 48 ratings
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33

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3.57 avg rating — 885 ratings
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34

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4.24 avg rating — 721 ratings
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35

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4.24 avg rating — 63,566 ratings
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36

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4.15 avg rating — 1,038 ratings
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37

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4.12 avg rating — 20,803 ratings
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38

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3.90 avg rating — 4,002 ratings
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39

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3.54 avg rating — 3,095 ratings
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40

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4.17 avg rating — 200,901 ratings
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41

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3.65 avg rating — 80,503 ratings
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42

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3.98 avg rating — 19,392 ratings
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43

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3.91 avg rating — 447 ratings
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44

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4.05 avg rating — 1,563 ratings
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45

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4.12 avg rating — 300 ratings
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46

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3.88 avg rating — 3,181 ratings
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47

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4.20 avg rating — 9,271 ratings
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48

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3.98 avg rating — 97 ratings
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48

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3.75 avg rating — 17,371 ratings
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50

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3.61 avg rating — 114 ratings
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51

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4.08 avg rating — 2,137 ratings
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52

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4.03 avg rating — 228,124 ratings
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53

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3.97 avg rating — 750 ratings
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54

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4.19 avg rating — 780,421 ratings
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55

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3.69 avg rating — 24,905 ratings
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55

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3.95 avg rating — 69,084 ratings
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57

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3.98 avg rating — 375 ratings
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58

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3.63 avg rating — 2,360 ratings
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59

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3.82 avg rating — 8,058 ratings
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60

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4.12 avg rating — 204,263 ratings
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61

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4.19 avg rating — 39,061 ratings
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62

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4.28 avg rating — 162 ratings
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63

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4.71 avg rating — 7 ratings
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63

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3.75 avg rating — 8 ratings
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65

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3.99 avg rating — 91,547 ratings
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66

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3.81 avg rating — 28,173 ratings
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67

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3.90 avg rating — 446 ratings
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68

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3.86 avg rating — 5,750 ratings
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69

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3.91 avg rating — 87,738 ratings
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70

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 403,467 ratings
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71

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3.87 avg rating — 31,628 ratings
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72

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4.48 avg rating — 192 ratings
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73

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4.49 avg rating — 3,545 ratings
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74

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3.86 avg rating — 5,534 ratings
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75

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 92,037 ratings
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76

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3.83 avg rating — 8,105 ratings
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77

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3.67 avg rating — 11,873 ratings
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78

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3.78 avg rating — 3,789 ratings
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79

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4.36 avg rating — 363 ratings
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80

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4.16 avg rating — 137,169 ratings
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81

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4.50 avg rating — 1,459 ratings
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82

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4.48 avg rating — 1,181 ratings
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83

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4.19 avg rating — 41,738 ratings
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84

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3.97 avg rating — 2,060 ratings
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85

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4.18 avg rating — 1,348 ratings
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86

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4.10 avg rating — 4,988 ratings
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87

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3.97 avg rating — 17,291 ratings
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88

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4.18 avg rating — 4,210 ratings
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89

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4.01 avg rating — 674 ratings
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90

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4.09 avg rating — 1,984 ratings
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91

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4.14 avg rating — 3,666 ratings
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92

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4.20 avg rating — 3,664 ratings
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93

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4.19 avg rating — 4,406 ratings
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94

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4.21 avg rating — 3,354 ratings
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95

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4.21 avg rating — 3,218 ratings
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96

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4.12 avg rating — 3,898 ratings
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97

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4.11 avg rating — 5,408 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,906 ratings
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99

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4.09 avg rating — 6,333 ratings
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100

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3.93 avg rating — 16,025 ratings
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163 books · 134 voters · list created July 25th, 2008 by Lori (votes) .
59 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Since "American" is one of the tags you used for this list, I take it it's to be "mid-20th century-American" only ... not also "European" or "Latin American"?


message 2: by Lori (new)

Lori That was actually rather limiting wasn't it? I am not really familiar with the retro reads from Latin America and the only European I have passing familiarity with are British. For me, separate lists from Europe and Latin America would be useful.

Lori


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Yes, I agree that separate lists for other parts of the world would make sense. Was just wondering what books such as "Katherine" and "The World of Suzie Wong" were doing on this one then ... or is this simply because they were written in the time period covered?


message 4: by Lori (new)

Lori I think I was just tossing up some titles that I was aware of. (I did this 2 years ago...when I first joined Goodreads.) And...I didn't put all the titles up. Others have added to the list. It is kind of a free-for-all. I am in the middle of another big project right now and have not really spent time with this list the way I would like.

However...I would love to do something with more obscure 'popular fiction' from the mid 20th century (not necessarily 'famous' or 'literary' titles). Last I looked, my down town library still had quite a few of these older popular titles on the shelf and I would love to rescue some of them from obscurity.


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