In the words of Thomas Jefferson....
In June 1815, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to John Adams...in the letter he wrote the immortal line 'I cannot live without books'.
This is so true for me. My whole life I have loved nothing better than to read. I will read most anything (excepting horror or scary stuff). I panic if I have nothing to read - anything will suffice. I have been known to walk a whole 20 minute detour in order to get something to read if I know that I will be sitting on the Star Ferry (all 10 minutes of the ride) with nothing to read!
I am able to read fairly quickly which can be an advantage at work but with regards to buying books (particularly in HK) can work out incredibly expensive - that's where The Central Library comes in.
So I have finally finished up the four books that were under "Currently engrossed in"....The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy was a great read, took me back about 20 years when Jean Plaidy was almost all I read for about 2 years. Jean Plaidy writes historical fiction as no one else has ever managed to (at least in my eyes), it's almost 'chick lit' based in Tudor Times. I remember at the age of 10 reading, with wide eyes and baited breath, about Catherine de Medici in her Medici trilogy; supplementing my Tudor history reading list with her Tudor series and my heart almost broke for Mary, Queen of Scots in the Royal Road to Fotheringay.
I thought I had grown out of Jean Plaidy's books a long time ago.....probably because they were just not on book shop shelves any more. Anyway, about three weeks ago I was in Dymocks at the Star Ferry and saw that a number of her books had been republished...I took the lot! I have worked my way through them and they worked their old magic on me... this time round my factual knowledge was far better, but that is the secret of Jean Plaidy...she takes the well known facts and weaves in the padding...the whispered conversations, the thoughts and the prayers of her characters making them more real than anyone else ever has.
It has been a good couple of weeks reading.
This is so true for me. My whole life I have loved nothing better than to read. I will read most anything (excepting horror or scary stuff). I panic if I have nothing to read - anything will suffice. I have been known to walk a whole 20 minute detour in order to get something to read if I know that I will be sitting on the Star Ferry (all 10 minutes of the ride) with nothing to read!
I am able to read fairly quickly which can be an advantage at work but with regards to buying books (particularly in HK) can work out incredibly expensive - that's where The Central Library comes in.
So I have finally finished up the four books that were under "Currently engrossed in"....The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy was a great read, took me back about 20 years when Jean Plaidy was almost all I read for about 2 years. Jean Plaidy writes historical fiction as no one else has ever managed to (at least in my eyes), it's almost 'chick lit' based in Tudor Times. I remember at the age of 10 reading, with wide eyes and baited breath, about Catherine de Medici in her Medici trilogy; supplementing my Tudor history reading list with her Tudor series and my heart almost broke for Mary, Queen of Scots in the Royal Road to Fotheringay.
I thought I had grown out of Jean Plaidy's books a long time ago.....probably because they were just not on book shop shelves any more. Anyway, about three weeks ago I was in Dymocks at the Star Ferry and saw that a number of her books had been republished...I took the lot! I have worked my way through them and they worked their old magic on me... this time round my factual knowledge was far better, but that is the secret of Jean Plaidy...she takes the well known facts and weaves in the padding...the whispered conversations, the thoughts and the prayers of her characters making them more real than anyone else ever has.
It has been a good couple of weeks reading.
posted by Madame Chiang at 5:29 pm
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