Loving Home Newsletter

Make reading better in many ways

Holding a book to read looks like a static activity, but there is more to it than just taking in the words. If you are willing to expand your daily lives and read with an open mind you can have fun. The SHKP Reading Club is dedicated to promoting fun reading and has recently held many activities to encourage people to experience the multi-dimensional joys of reading.

Explore multi-media reading and writing

The SHKP Reading Club and Hong Kong Arts Development Council held an inaugural two-day-one-night Reading & Writing Camp at Noah's Ark Hong Kong in October. Nearly 60 upper secondary students attended a seminar before the camp called the Promise of Light: Ann Hui on the Meaning of Great Works put on by the Institute of Creativity at the Hong Kong Baptist University. The camp used mediums like text, drama, poetry and music to relate to everyday experiences covering many different areas. The goal was to have participants develop a richer sense of reading and broader perspectives on what it means.

In addition, a group of young writers Ho-lok, Matthew Cheng, Leung She-kwan, Louise Law and Ricky Lai acted as mentors for literary field drawing that taught participants to use pen and paper rather than a sketch pad to describe the beauty around Noah's Ark and what they felt. The mentors coached the students at the workshop to develop and refine conceptual ideas and use them in writing to experience what it means to lead a literary lifestyle.

When reading meets sport

If reading is an exchange between the reader and author then exercise is a dialogue between the mind and body. What happens when the static and moving processes meet? The SHKP Reading Club held a Sport & Reading seminar with four highly-accomplished athletes talking about their personal experiences. There was mountaineer John Tsang who has climbed Mount Everest and loves to read Kyokuhoku Ni Kakeru. The author's life with the Inuit motivates him to bravely face adversity. Veteran vertical runner Lam Ka-ming has a soft spot for The Purpose Driven Life and feels that the motivational self-help book makes people think seriously about their goals in life. Triathlete Tania Mak loves 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done. She learned about time management and how to reduce stress to keep a focus and passion for sport. Marathoner Chong Hiu-yeung goes with Ohmae Kenichi, author of Don't wait for tomorrow!, who says that if you love to run, just go ahead. Don't wait for retirement to realize your dream. Lam Ka-ming led the nearly 100-strong seminar audience, including SHKP Club members, in plank exercises so they could feel the joy of blending sport and reading.

SHKP Reading Club
Website: www.shkpreadingclub.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/shkpreadingclub

Ricky Lai (first from right) was a mentor at the Reading & Writing Camp and took campers on a literary field trip in the scenic Noah's Ark surroundings
Top athletes Tania Mak, Lam Ka-ming, Chong Hiu-yeung and John Tsang (from second left to right) talk about reading
Lam Ka-ming leading a plank exercise so people see the benefits of blending sport and reading