Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Our Favorite Books at Walk the Talk

Very well, Madame Chiang, you have gotten me to spill the beans on my favorite books so I shall honor your request!

My wife and I have got about 1,200 or so books at home; I've probably bought half of them. We also have a small "Walk the Talk" library here in our office in Tsim Sha Tsui with another 50 volumes.

The Last 5 books I bought:

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (for obvious interest in history)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (for my mother, I swear:))
How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen (Amusing anti-New Age rant)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Hatton (touching story)
Delicate Access by Madeleine Marie Slavick (great Hong Kong poetry)

The 5 books I am reading now:

History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400-1668
by Malyn Newitt (great, great book)
Singapore Burning by Colin Smith (not bad journalist's history of the fall of Malaya and S'pore)
Religion and Culture: An International Symposium Commemorating the Fourth centenary of the University College of St. Paul - Ed. Instituto Cultural de Macau (OK but dry)
In Search of Justice: The 1905-06 Anti-American Boycott by Guanhua Wang (Not bad)
Confessions of an Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey (dry and slow going)

Last 5 Books Read

China Races by Austin Coates (amusing book about the history of racing on the China Coast)
Gweilo by Martin Booth (excellent, poignant memoir of growing up in HK)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (so-so vampire thriller)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (fun, creative novel set it 6 eras in time)
Macau 300 Years Ago by Charles Boxer (excellent review of primary sources)

5 Books I'll Cherish and Read Again (off the top of my head)

The Republic by Plato
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon (1-4 only)
Polyarchy by Robert Dahl
Desert Road to Turkestan by Owen Lattimore
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

I'll tag Free Agent Rick in Bangkok, Martin at My Olive Tree in Macau to see what's cooking in the City of the Name of God, and my partner Stefan...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harry Potter eh! heheheheh. I've just blog my book meme:) Cheers!

Free Agent said...

Hi Dave, I've put up my book list!

cheers,
Rick

Madame Chiang said...

Some there that will definitely interest...many thanks.