19/10/2008 Book Lovers Gathering at The Book Attic

Since all attendants and the host of last night gathering were local Hong Kongers, thus this book lover gathering was held in Cantonese.

Our host of honour, Mr. Joseph Poon has taught at The University of Hong Kong for eighteen years. An Associate Professor and Translation Programme Coordinator at the School of Chinese, he teaches mainly Translation, specializes and has published on literary translation, classical literature, literary criticism and language education.

Joseph introduced 27 titles/authors in English classics that he has enjoyed reading. Last night, he shared with us his opinions and interesting stories about some authors and translators; the topics were so interesting that even after the gathering was ended we wanted to hear more.

Five of us continued the interesting discussion while enjoying delicious Chinese cuisines in a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood till nearly 11 pm. It was a wonderful evening, I wish you were here.

Jennifer
Book Lover

Category:

Education

Tags:

• classics
• translation
• book
• lovers
• gathering
• attic
• 愛書人聚會
• 二手書店
• 英語
• 早古書
• 舊書
• 香港
• 灣仔
• 文化
• 古典文學
• 以書會友
• 翻譯

[tsmlee]

I also like his concluding remarks -

1. We are all very busy at work, so should cherish time to read classic books.

2. Reading cherish books is not aimed at getting any knowledge from them, but it helps us to understand ourselves more, and reflect on our values and attitudes.

I really appreciate such candid and true remarks. This again shows how much Joseph loves and treasures reading. He reminds me that reading is a treasure that no materialistic thing can replace.

[tsmlee]

Joseph speaks with his heart, sharing his views without reservation and with great interest.Joseph didn't give any introduction to himself, so I am blank as to who he was at the beginning of the talk. After the talk, I felt he was humble, very interested in reading, like sharing with people, understanding.

[tsmlee]

The talk, not only is it informative, it really amazed me to hear Joseph detailed yet lively account of each of the book and author. He seems like a historian, knowing the life of each author and why each wrote his/her book. Unlike history lesson, his talk hooked us all every second. Not one of his words is wasted. With such a good speaker, I think his talk deserves appreciation and it would be beneficial to us all if such a talk by Joseph can be repeated.