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Any good books about Hong Kong?

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  1. #21

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    'Golden Boy' was titled 'Gwailo' outside the US. If you enjoyed that, you might like 'Diamond Hill', a view from the other side of the tracks.

    Diamond Hill

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  2. #22

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    Pete Moss's "No Babylon: A HK Scrapbook" is also an excellent read.

    Peter Moss, author of the autobiographical trilogy Twilight of Empire

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  3. #23

    A while ago there was a article about a book in the Review section in Sundays SCMP about a young family living on one of the islands with an autistic (I think) child. Does anyone remember the title?

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  4. #24

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  5. #25

    Thats it. Cheers!


  6. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by drumbrake:
    One 'soon to be released' is 'Eating Smoke' - TimeOut had an interview with author Chris Thrall.
    Read this last week - thought it was dreadful. I would be very surprised if he had actually made it through the Royal Marines training course with the attitude that he had. The only saving grace was the lack of self-pity for the totally self-inflicted mess he got himself into. Not recommended!
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  7. #27

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    I've found some gems published by local universities. You might have to go digging through all the academic non-fiction books, but HKU has put out some good books.

    http://www.hkupress.org

    Also, some of the non-fiction books are actually quite good reads if you have an interest in HK and its history.

    This was interesting:
    http://www.amazon.com/Not-Slightest-.../dp/0774810459


  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Satay Sue:
    Read this last week - thought it was dreadful. I would be very surprised if he had actually made it through the Royal Marines training course with the attitude that he had. The only saving grace was the lack of self-pity for the totally self-inflicted mess he got himself into. Not recommended!
    Are you not recommending the lifestyle or the book?

    Personally I thought the book was quite an interesting description of a sub-culture (drugs) about which I know relatively little. But it could have done with a bit more editing - it's perhaps 100 pages too long.
    Last edited by PDLM; 25-10-2011 at 03:09 PM.
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  9. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by bookblogger:
    'Golden Boy' was titled 'Gwailo' outside the US. If you enjoyed that, you might like 'Diamond Hill', a view from the other side of the tracks.

    Diamond Hill
    Agreed that it's a look from the other side. I read and enjoyed Gwailo (Golden Boy...really???) and I'm well into Diamond Hill at the moment...interesting but a bit hacked together so far...the anecdotes don't really flow as well as Gwailo did IMHO...

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Are you not recommending the lifestyle or the book?

    Personally I thought the book was quite an interesting description of a sub-culture (drugs) about which I know relatively little. But it could have done with a bit more editing - it's perhaps 100 pages too long.
    The book. Guy sounded like a lazy bum. I stuck with the whole thing as I wanted to know what happened in the end! And as I say, I seriously doubt his version of what happened at the end of his Marine "career"- as I'm the daughter of a Royal Marine officer. I tried not to let that influence my reading of the rest of the book and disregarded that in my mind. But unfortunately I just didn't like him at all.
    Last edited by Satay Sue; 25-10-2011 at 04:14 PM.