A Book I tell You... Another Book... (#8)

So it's not a week, but maybe I'll be able to hit 52 by the end of the year... (see post below). Challenge heartily accepted and here is one that I have read through at double quick speed: Going Solo by Roald Dahl.

I have read Boy many a time and delighted in Roald Dahl's wonderful ability to recount his memories in the most humours and laugh-out-loud ways. Going Solo maintained much of this but also had a level of seriousness that I have not encountered in any of his writing that I have read up to now. This alteration is of course because of the time to which he was referring (from 1939) and the stories and ideals of the people he meets. Despite this backdrop Dahl still manages to inject much of the book with his wonderful humour.

I was hooked within the first two pages simply because of the explanation of the collective vocabulary the the Empire Builders as-was had in common, regardless of location. Some are words that I am very used to hearing and I can put this down to the fact that my father and my grandfather are all connected to various parts of the British Armed Forces. The fact there are a few words thrown in their that I use makes it all the funnier.

I would always recommend Roald Dahl to anyone. The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox have long been favourites and I vividly remember the first time someone but an old battered copy of Boy into my hands. I didn't put it down until it was finished and there was little difference for this. Dahl's autobiography is a must for any fan of his writing and it is so much fun to join him as he flies (almost literally) through Africa. Magical!

Nelly x

Go With The Flow.

So it is no surprise that my 52 books challenge has become as flat as a pancake, but I have not stopped reading, oh no! I recently discovered the most amazing bookshop in the world: Flow.

Flow is a second hand, predominantly English bookshop tucked away in a tiny room just off the Mid-Level escalators in Soho (and who ever thought a few years ago that I'd be writing that sentence!) Flow really is the last word in second hand bookshops. The organisation is brilliant and logical (titles in alphabetical order or books by subject) and but the overflow is a jumbled mess of all sorts, but to my mind this makes the experience ten times more exciting. You never know what you are going to find! Flow is so called because it is all about the flow of the books themselves; coming into the shop, leaving and coming back to be sold again. It's like a localised Book Crossing!

I finally found my way to Flow (it felt a little like a treasure hunt) in order to find one particular book. I had been hankering after the book for a few weeks and it is one of the many books that I have sitting on my shelves back in England that have not been digitalised. The book in question was Matthew Reilly's Seven Ancient Wonders. I love all of his books, but this one and Temple have always been two particular favorites. To my joy of joys, there the book was, sitting happily on a shelf calling out to me to be bought. And so it was.... along with seven others... (though one was for a friend). Flow has thus cemented itself as one of my favourite places in HK!

So I have a reading list and all in proper book form. There is nothing better than having a real book with real pages in you hands, and the books that I will soon be reviewing are:

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave Finished!
• Vernon Godlittle by DBC Pierre  Had to call it a day on this one!
• The Guernsey Literary Peel and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
• Hell Island by Matthew Reilly  Finished, see review here.
• The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Also finished, see review here.
• Excavation by James Rollins Another finished, see here. 

Alongside these I am also reading Bloodlands by Timoth Snyder and Tea: A History of the Drink that Changed the World (I am a devoted tea lover) and Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in French (somehow Madam Pomfrey became Madam Pomfresh....!) Really it's not unusual for me to have a good ten books on the go at any one time, but that's the way I like it. Reviews will hopefully be flooding in shortly!!

Nelly x

Growth Over Regression.

The only direction in which to travel is forwards, going backwards doesn't allow the space for growth and development.Going backwards is not what I want to do and the last few days have thrown up options and ideas that once upon a time I would have jumped at had I been given the chance. When these became a reality it turned out that it wasn't what I wanted at all. Now no longer a 'what if' it can be put to bed and the path forward is now, for the moment, cleared of um's and ah's.

So, feeling as free and as positive as I felt in November 2011, life seems ten times more exciting again and I'm looking forwards with great excitement and a new personal challenge. This challenge concerns the wardrobe and will I hope (technology permitting) kill multiple birds with the proverbial stone! I am going to attempt to construct an (almost) entirely hand made wardrobe. I think that jeans are going to be beyond me, so it's going to be all about the dresses, skirts and tunics. Here are a couple of my inspirations (with major credit to Roisin at But it can't be from Dolly Clackett. She gave me an Easter egg! and her many Elisalex dresses - I have now bought the pattern!):

BurdaStyle is just too good to me!

Hopefully this will keep my brain whirring and my fingers occupied and I can amass a collection of garments that I want to wear, like and feel good in whilst saving money at the same time. The added benefit is that once summer come's round here it can sometimes be too hot and oppressive to spend time outside, so there won't be too much guilt and the fabric choices here are beyond amazing... I already have a fabric in mind for that wrap dress... So here's a prayer to the sewing machine gods - let me work out why my pedal is not working!!!

Toodles,

Nelly x

The Induction of Tradition

I love public holidays. Free days off work are always a winner. This Easter has been particularly sweet as I have finally been well enough to enjoy my time off!

This Easter has also brought with it that most wonderful of delights - a visitor - and begun what appears to be the bi-annual tradition of celebrating Easter in a random eatery at odds with the local cuisine. Two years ago it was Chinese in Glasgow, this year it was American in Hong Kong (we had originally been aiming at Mexican  but it was sadly closed!) Who know's where we'll be and what we'll be eating in two years time!!

I have also finally made it to Aberdeen of the Hong Kong variety. It made me feel much the same way that the Scottish version does, but was worth it for the comedy value of the confusion that it caused, and the promenade is a nice walk with sampans and fishing boats aplenty (though I can't imagine that it's anything Dad would recognise at all!)

The bonus of a visitor is the excellent excuse to go tourist, brush of the back pack and see all the sights again. I still haven't got bored of the light show or this most amazing of skylines. It even looks good in the rain! (helped by finally working out how to use the low light setting on the camera!!)

And for the "Mind.Blown." moment of the weekend, there was this semi-circular escalator. I kid you not, it was incredible!!

However work has returned and things will now once again rumble on, but the visitor is still here and Hong Kong is a city alive at night, so here's to a lack of sleep till Tuesday!!

Nelly x

52 books... stalling and walking

So there has been a bit of a hiccup over the past few weeks. What with illness, visitors, long days and of course the rugby ('MON SCOTLAND) reading has, alas, taken a bit of a back seat and it unlikely to get rolling again for some time. Hopefully summer will afford plenty of reading time, it being too hot to do much more than laze on a beach and read (and perhaps swim a bit too).

What did manage to happen this weekend was a hike - of sorts. The aim was to get to the top of mount parker. With no map and a partially signposted trail this didn't happen, but it was a really nice walk in the wilderness above the city anyhow - the best part being that it's right on my doorstep!

It was a strange walk in many ways with much of the path having been paved/concreted in place and where this hadn't happened it was so well worn you knew you were going in the right direction. Parts of it made me feel like I should be somewhere in Europe, but then you'd come round a bend or crest a hill and all of a sudent he skyline of Hong Kong is visible again. All in all, HK remains a crazy multi-personality place. Here are a few pictured from said walk...

Near the end of the walk we came across some wartime stoves that had been built after 1938 when the locals felt the threat of the Japanese being so close in Guangzhou. Measures for food rationing, air raid shelters and first aid were stepped up and these stoves and a nearby food store were built. In the end  Hong Kong fell into the hands of the Japanese after a mere 18 days, and the stoves were never used. Post war the area was left untouched hence their presence today.

It was quite surreal to stumble upon them and the atmosphere of the area changed subtly. It felt darker, a little lost and even a fraction spooky almost as if marked with the memory's of the fear under which they were built. There is also a deep sadness, most likely attributed to the fact that there were never used, which is a hangover of the swift pace and oppressive nature of the invasion. As the city develops at such a pace it is nice, in a strange roundabout way, to find something of such meaning hidden away up a secluded slope!

In other news, there is the excitement of an oven today!!! After ten months without one, I am rather excited at all the things I now may be able to cook - albeit on an incredibly small scale - and the next challenge is to get the sewing machine properly up and running... somehow I am going to become an incredibly technological genius.... perhaps! Here's hoping!

Nelly x

52 Books Challenge #7

This week has not been the best of them! Three days off for Chinese New Year was an excellent boon to the week but the lagging recovery from the last illness and they sudden swooping arrival of a new and nasty one meant that the week was rather turned on its head.

What this did mean however, was that the purchasing of sympathy books (when one buys books to make themselves feel better) is totally applicable and utterly guilt free. It is one of my sympathy purchases that is this weeks book: Fixing Shadows by Susan Barrett.

I spotted the spine of this book on a bookshelf and being a sucker for a decorative cover I had a peek. The cover indicates a vast cast, which this book has, but I barely warmed to anyone. By the end of the book, though still not enamoured of any of the main players, I could very much appreciate and enjoy the delicate weaving of the story and the interesting way in which it was told.

Two baby boy are born on the same night to a Duchess and her governess; one dies and the other does not. What follows is how their lives played out in the aftermath of that fateful night and what effect it had on the child who lived!

It took a while to trudge through the first few chapters and get used to the style and the absence of connection but it was well worth the effort and an excellent sympathy purchase indeed.

52 Books Challenge #6

So I'm back on track with a brand new unread book, but sadly this weeks book was a bit of a disappointment, so much so that I read it rather quickly and I'm sure there were bits and pieces here and there that I skipped. I wouldn't say that I would never read the author again ( I hear on the grapevine that her second novel was much better) but this one while not abysmal, wasn't great. The book in question is Trade Winds by Christina Courtnay.

 

The plot of the novel was, for the most part, it's saving grace. The writers personal knowledge and interest shine through and it is believable and in parts exciting, my personal problem was the way in which it was written. Set in the 1700's the dialogue did not match the time period and the section set in Scotland had swathes of dialogue that made me physically cringe. Having spent four years in Scotland, and having read Trainspotting, I know that this can be done better. It was the literary equivalent of Gerard Butler's terrible Irish accent in the film adaptation of Cecelia Ahern's P.S. I love you (a great book by the way).

All that said it was a joyful romp and although not one I am ever going to read again, I may brave Courtney's second novel.