Shopping this morning..
The wonderful thing about having Dymocks at the Star Ferry is that one can indulge in early morning literary retail therapy.
My purchases this morning consisted of two books for my upcoming holiday....
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings and Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallace. The Middle East being one of my great interests, adding in Lawrence of Arabia and an adventureress...sounds like a gripping read to me! Gertrude Bell was an important person toT.E. Lawrence as not only did she understand and agree with him on many Middle Eastern issues but she also supplied him with vital intelligence for his military movements. Being such an expert on Middle Eastern issues (particularly Iraq and Persia) took Bell into many experiences that a woman at her time would otherwise probably not have been included in. One such occassion would be the Cairo Conference of 1921 when Churchill in trying to solve the problems of the Middle East called in his most knowledgable people including Bell and Lawrence.
Bell was involved in the sketch that drew up the borders between Iraq and Transjordan and also was a close friend and confidante of King Faisal, the first king of the new state of Iraq and was instrumental in him being placed on the throne of Iraq...so she could be called Iraq's "Founding Mother".
I have just realised that this has become more of a quick brief on Middle East history than a summary of my retail excesses!
Anyway - back to subject....
As a more local read I chose Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China he Lost by Jonathon Fenby.Chiang Kai-shek (as well as being the name of one of my cats)is a character that has interested me for a long time. I have read a number of books about him and this looks as if it will be a worthy addition to my reading time.
I am enjoying Disney War but the size of it in hardback means that carting it around to read on my escaltor, Star Ferry, elevator commute is just not feasible so it has been relegated to bed time reading which I can just about manage if I prop it up on my pile of pillows and wedge it into the gap!
My purchases this morning consisted of two books for my upcoming holiday....
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings and Ally of Lawrence of Arabia by Janet Wallace. The Middle East being one of my great interests, adding in Lawrence of Arabia and an adventureress...sounds like a gripping read to me! Gertrude Bell was an important person toT.E. Lawrence as not only did she understand and agree with him on many Middle Eastern issues but she also supplied him with vital intelligence for his military movements. Being such an expert on Middle Eastern issues (particularly Iraq and Persia) took Bell into many experiences that a woman at her time would otherwise probably not have been included in. One such occassion would be the Cairo Conference of 1921 when Churchill in trying to solve the problems of the Middle East called in his most knowledgable people including Bell and Lawrence.
Bell was involved in the sketch that drew up the borders between Iraq and Transjordan and also was a close friend and confidante of King Faisal, the first king of the new state of Iraq and was instrumental in him being placed on the throne of Iraq...so she could be called Iraq's "Founding Mother".
I have just realised that this has become more of a quick brief on Middle East history than a summary of my retail excesses!
Anyway - back to subject....
As a more local read I chose Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China he Lost by Jonathon Fenby.Chiang Kai-shek (as well as being the name of one of my cats)is a character that has interested me for a long time. I have read a number of books about him and this looks as if it will be a worthy addition to my reading time.
I am enjoying Disney War but the size of it in hardback means that carting it around to read on my escaltor, Star Ferry, elevator commute is just not feasible so it has been relegated to bed time reading which I can just about manage if I prop it up on my pile of pillows and wedge it into the gap!
posted by Madame Chiang at 10:34 am
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