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[khiemtran]

Home again, and with brain not completely fried, largely thanks to an upgrade to premium economy from Qantas. Unfortunately, my laptop's brain did not fare quite so well, possibly due to a virus attack last week, possibly due to a hard disk error combined with our corporate security software. The rescue attempt will begin shortly.

Also of interest - I managed to have a conversation in Spanish with the taxi driver on the way home from Sydney Airport. Only it turned out he was actually Italian and his Spanish was about as bad as mine. We did manage to communicate surprisingly well. He told a few funny stories (in English) about avoiding getting ripped off by taxi drivers in Naples and Sydney. At least I know now that it happens to other taxi drivers too.

In other news, I brought back Harry Potter y la camerata secreta, which should help me build a bit on what I know now.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I found the Welsh translation of the first Harry Potter much easier to read than some other children's books I'd tried. I made me realise J K Rowling's real talent, which is telling a complex story in every day language.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, this one looks quite readable, and it helps that I'm already familiar with the characters.

I didn't quite make it to the end of the series, but I do think that a lot of the criticisms about her prose and level of craftsmanship were misguided. She was clearly doing something right.