Tag Archives: reading

The book thief – a review

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Title: The Book Thief

 Author:  Markus Zusak

Publisher: Pan McMillan, Australia, 2005

Staff Pick: Thanh

Read from the blurb of the book: “It is 1939.  Nazi Germany.  The country is holding its breath.  Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.”

Ah well, I said to myself, another Jewish story, in the line of The Schindler’s List, The Pianist etc…  Which reminds me of my good German friend Manfred.  He’s a gentleman, in the usual sense we understand, and in the literal meaning of a gentle, soft speaking, and decent soul.  Once, he said to me:  “Yes, during that time, Germany under Hitler did unspeakable evil, but the country never lacks of decent people, and ever since we try our damnedest that nothing of the sort ever happens again.  Why even now, a book, a movie crop up to point a finger at us again and again?” Continue reading →

华人阅读小组六月活动记录 – 远方

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六月的读书小组活动准时在十二点开始，其实华人朋友们早就来到

图书馆等待，他们不但非常热切地参与这个活动，还把活动的迅息传播

到周围的社区，所以每个月都会出现新的脸孔。

     围绕着远方这个主题, 大家你一言，我一语展开了热烈的讨论。他们

分享了到世界各地旅遊的经历，亦谈及他们闲时在家阅读，神游远方的乐

趣。还有，华人朋友们都远离家乡，从北半球来到南半球，当大家想念远

方的祖国和亲人，通讯是何其重要！ Continue reading →

The Warwick Prize for Writing

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The Warwick Prize for Writing was launched in 2008 and is an innovative literature prize that involves global competition, and crosses all disciplines. The Prize is given every two years for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form. Continue reading →

Miles Franklin Award Winner

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The Sri Lanka born author Michelle de Kretser has won this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her book ‘Questions of travel’ has been decided from all female writers’ shortlist for its “witty and poignant observations” in the vivid language to deal with many issues that Australian society concerned, such as home and away, travel and tourism, refugees and migrants. Continue reading →

Alan Walker Village Book Group

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder – and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family.He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Group Comments: Continue reading →