Welcome to today's Coffee Klatch! ☕
Where are we meeting today?
This is my favorite coffee spot in town. So far.
I've always loved a garden café. My favorite one in Hoi An overlooked rice paddies.
Lush. Green. Complete with a proper lotus pond (not visible here).
Mui Ne tells a different story. It's drier, so "lotus pond" gives way to "rock garden."
But... a rock garden is still a garden, and beautiful in its own way. The one in the top photo has a magnificent mango tree in the middle. You can't really tell, though; I seem to have missed mango season.
In both pictures, I have a salted coffee on my table. What's your pleasure? Coffee? Tea? Juice? Or, if you're reading this later in the day... Wine? Milo? A sleepy cup of warm milk?
I promised Mondays would be about books and coffee, so let's get to the books.
The story is a bit dark. Raw. Following a kid who's been through some rough stuff. But the thing that surprised me most wasn't the plot - it was the language. There's so much Aussie slang!
You know those books that seem to have their own dialect? (I'm looking at you, A Clockwork Orange... and you too, Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books!) This is one of those.
I'm lucky enough to have several Australian friends, so I don't get completely lost, but I still find myself looking things up on a regular basis. Thankfully I'm reading it on my Kindle. Some of the more common slang can be explained with a quick underline. The rest? Google and my Aussie pals to the rescue!
For example:
Flash = good, healthy, or in decent shape.
Crook = "sick or unwell", or alternatively "angry, cross, or telling someone off"
Bricking it = being extremely scared/terrified
So... what are you reading at the moment? What makes that book unique for you?
I just started a book where the main character is working on a private yacht. I find the setting fascinating. The characters, not so much.
ReplyDelete