More About Boy: Roald Dahl's Tales From Childhood by Roald Dahl

Would you like to know a funny thing? I didn't know Roald Dahl is well know author of Children books until the recent years.

I have always had the impression that he wrote adult books. His first book that I read was a Hardcover book which housed 6 of his famous book - "Kiss Kiss; Over to You; Switch Bitch; Someone Like You; Four Tales of the Unexpected; My Uncle Oswald". I love those.

I bought More About Boy: Roald Dahl's Tales From Childhood from Book Tree not long ago. Obvious from the title, the story is about his childhood staring with his Norwegian father who travel away from his village and had become a successful man. His first wife pass away and during one of his trip back to his homeland, he married Roald Dahl's mother.

His father pass away when he was young but his mother held on with the family and believe that education British education is the best. He was sent to a boarding school till he graduated.

Reading this, I did not feel bored. I found that Roald Dahl could be an imp at times. His mischievous plots sometimes lead to the cane meeting his bum.

There are plenty of photographs and letters that his mother kept, printed here.

There were also School Report/Report Card from his school to his mother which mentioned that his "idea limited" "consistently idle: too pleased with himself" "I have never met anyone who so persistently wrote words meaning the exact opposite of what he obviously intended".

For me this is certainly and entertaining book.

Have you read Enid Blyton "Malory Tower Series" and "St Claire Series"? or  Elinor Brent-Dyer's "The Chalet School Series"? The stories about boarding school, pranks and the school master/mistress are fictional. If you enjoy them, then you will surely enjoy reading about Roald Dahl's experience with boarding school.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5. It's a keeper.

Golden Bones by Sichan Siv

Bought this quite some time ago. Only got around to read it last week.

This is the real story of a Cambodian boy who made it to America and to the White House. It's an amazing journey.

Sichan Siv was the youngest son of a Police Chief and have love to learn since young. He continued his studies even though after his father passed away and the family was not financially well off.

He came to be an employee of U.S relief agency. But Pol Pot overthrew the government his life was in danger along with his family members. It's known that the Khmer Rouge hates educated people and would execute them in a blink of an eye.

His dear mother and sister had told him to run and never to give up hope. He cycled across Cambodia hoping to go to Thailand. He survived due to his fast thinking. But the he was captured and put into a slave labour camp. He was ready to give up hope when he remembered what his mother had told him "never give up hope".

He reached Thailand in the end but not without some horrifying experience. He was selected to be sent to America.

He reached America, he felt homesick and worried about his family back home. And yet he did not let this deter him from starting a new life there. He worked as an apple picker, a cab driver and burger flipper but he never give up hope. He improved himself and was offered a job in the White House. He was US Ambassador to the U.N.

This is a very impressive biography if I do say so. Not many could have done what he had done.

The book was quite detailed. However, there are some places where it's a bit dry. This can't be helped as he was trying to give the readers a complete background on the political situation in order for them to understand what he was trying to say.

A good read

Gordon Ramsay's Playing WIth Fire

Synopsis from http://www.goodreads.com/

Not a sausage. That is what Gordon Ramsay had when he started out as a chef, working 16-hour days, 6 days a week. When he was struggling to get his first restaurant in the black, he didn't think he'd be famous for a TV show about how to run profitable eateries, or that he'd be head of a business empire. But he is and he did. Here's how."In the beginning there was nothing.Not a sausage - penniless, broke, fucking nothing - and although, at a certain age, that didn’t matter hugely, there came a time when hand-me-downs, cast-offs and football boots of odd sizes all pointed to a problem that seemed to have afflicted me, my mum, my sisters, Ronnie and the whole lot of us. It was as though we had been dealt the ‘all-time dysfunctional’ poker hand.I wish I could say that, from this point on, the penny dropped and I decided to do something about it, but it wasn’t like that. It would take years before the lessons of life, business and money began to click into place - before, as they say, I had a pot to piss in.This is the story of how those lessons were learned."This is Gordon Ramsay at his raw, rugged best. PLAYING WITH FIRE is the amazing story of Gordon’s journey from sous-chef to superstar. In his no-holds-barred style, Gordon shares his passion for risk and adventure and his hard-won success secrets
.
 Gordon Ramsay has launched a string of internationally celebrated restaurants in London with ten Michelin stars between them, with his stable of highly talented chefs, and has restaurants in Dubai, Tokyo, New York and Florida, with more planned.The author of nine best-selling cookery books and an autobiography, Humble Pie, Gordon is one of the biggest television personalities in the UK with his hit shows, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen and The F Word.He was awarded an OBE in 2006.

My Comments :

I got this book from BookXcess more than a year ago. Didn't get around to read it till recently.

It's a pretty impressive book. Yes, I have heard of Gordon Ramsay and knows that he is a famous Chef but I didn't know that he is this impressive.

Reading this book made me realised why he is so successful at what he does. I think those who have aspiration to open a business of any type should read this book. The way he manage his restaurant business is very good.

For example, treating customers complaint as a source of feedback and way to improve on customers service. Following up with customers and the complaints. Then trying to make it up to the customer without loosing too much of foot ground. Some companies would just throw away customers' complaint letters instead of following up with the customer.

He also trained his staffs to pick up the phone within 3 rings. Also to give service with a smile. All these small thing goes a long way in turn a business into a successful one

At some part of the book he may sound cocky but can't fault him as he have talent. Even this book is not free from the "F" word but it was not too much that it hinders ones reading.

What I admire the most in this book is that not only that he put in good things about himself but also talks about his own short comings. It really impressed me coz normally people would also want to say good things about themselves more over it's in a book; recorded for perpetuality.

Hope to get my hands on his others books

The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle by Russell Miller

Guess, there is no need for introduction when ones mention Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A mention of his name for avid reader will sparks a spontaneous respond "Sherlock Holmes?"

I was delighted when I saw this autobiography of Arthur Conan Doyle at the Non-Fiction section at Bookxcess.

It was a good read. To get to know the personal life of the man behind the famous Sherlock Holmes figure had indeed been very interesting.

Russell Miller did a splendid job on this book.

Sir Arthur family was quite poor when he was young. His father was an alcoholic and subsequently hospitalised for mental illness.

Despite all these, Arthur managed to do quite well in life. He married his first wife and had children but he then fell in love with another woman while his wife was dying with tuberculosis,

He become famous when the public fell in love with Sherlock Holmes. There was a public outcry when he decided to "killed" off Sherlock Holmes. In fact, an old lady smacked him with her handbag.

He had also championed many good cause. And later in life, he developed an interest in Spiritualism.

I think those who love "Sherlock Holmes" will find this book pretty interesting and eye opening.