A Thousand Pieces of Gold
I remember that there was a time during my teens that I absolutely detested reading. I’m glad I overcame that incomprehensible period. I am a very slow reader though, and can take several months to finish a book. One exception is “Harry Potter”. I am grateful to Al for introducing me to this magical world. If Al hadn’t given “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to me, I would still be wondering what all this big hoo-ha Harry Potter was about. Turns out that the book is so highly addictive that I couldn’t put it down and I ended up snapping up the next three books in the series at one go.
Al is probably in some ways more ‘westernised’ than me but perhaps all the more interested in Chinese culture. I never thought that I would enjoy reading “Falling Leaves” and “A Thousand Pieces of Gold”, two very ‘Chinese’ books, but I did. I am still halfway through the latter now but it is interesting to find out how all those Chinese proverbs came about. My mum said, ‘you should be reading the Chinese version of this book. Or else how are you going to work out the names of the characters properly when all you know is the pinyin?’ She does have a point, but there isn’t any translated version (not that I know of). Besides, I would probably take forever to get through the book if it was in Chinese.
Al, who seems to have a knack for picking up good and thought-provoking books, also gave “the Alchemist”, “Holes”, “the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, and “the Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories” to me. And each book is always personalised with a nice message. I don't buy many books but I treasure all those in my little collection.
I know you will read this, Al, and I want you to know that I appreciate it all very much! This piece is written for you.
Al is probably in some ways more ‘westernised’ than me but perhaps all the more interested in Chinese culture. I never thought that I would enjoy reading “Falling Leaves” and “A Thousand Pieces of Gold”, two very ‘Chinese’ books, but I did. I am still halfway through the latter now but it is interesting to find out how all those Chinese proverbs came about. My mum said, ‘you should be reading the Chinese version of this book. Or else how are you going to work out the names of the characters properly when all you know is the pinyin?’ She does have a point, but there isn’t any translated version (not that I know of). Besides, I would probably take forever to get through the book if it was in Chinese.
Al, who seems to have a knack for picking up good and thought-provoking books, also gave “the Alchemist”, “Holes”, “the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, and “the Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories” to me. And each book is always personalised with a nice message. I don't buy many books but I treasure all those in my little collection.
I know you will read this, Al, and I want you to know that I appreciate it all very much! This piece is written for you.
posted by yung | 12:28 am
2 Comments:
Yes it is. Chinese Cinderella sounds interesting, what's it about? Maybe i shall go get it...after i'm finished with A Thousand Pieces of Gold. That's by Adeline Yen-Mah too.
ok, will keep that in mind.
A Thousand Pieces of Gold talks about the stories of various Chinese proverbs told to her by her grandpa. A lot of Chinese history stuff...not sure if u'd like them.
But definitely informative and quite interesting, cos some of those characters i had come across in tv period dramas before. It's a not-so-boring way of learning some clips of history...
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