What are you reading?

[bande]

I finished these three books within the last month. I recommend all of them to chinese language learners. The first book is 杜拉拉升职记 by 李可. Dulala the female protagonist works in HR for American company. It's a good read both for business vocabulary and it's an interesting perspective. Somebody working in a white collar environment in the mainland may find it unnecessary, but otherwise it's probably worth your time. The second book is 藏地密码1 by 何马. This novel is a wilderness adventure novel set in Tibet. In the past, a lot of Chinese language materials were rather boring and they were hard to read through. In contrast, this novel compares well with many english language thrillers that I've read. I should point out that this series has 8 books and I've only read the first one, so it may be too much of a commitment to take on the entire series. Also, those who are passionate about Tibet probably don't want to read this series. The third book is 小巨人 by 保·伯林翰. this book is the chinese translation of Small Giants by Bo Burlingham of Inc magazine fame. It's not a bad business book, but then if you're not interested in reading Inc magazine , then this book isn't going to do much for you. Curiously, the reviews on joyo were rather unfavorable. Finally, thanks to everyone for the wonderful posts on the forum over the years.

[Caidanbi]

Right now I'm reading "The Book and the Sword" by Louis Cha (Jin Yong). But I'm reading the English translation, because my mom wants to read it after me, and she can't read Chinese. If I really like it, I plan on buying the Chinese version for myself ^-^

[Gleaves]

I just started 多情剑客无情剑 (Sentimental Sowrdsman, Ruthless Sword) by Gu Long. I'm finally in the mood for some of this wuxia stuff. I'm pleasantly surprised that it is not too difficult. Which is good because it is 1200 pages.

(Random thought - I am much better with simplified text, but I am reading this in traditional and I love how quickly some of the pages go when there is lots of dialogue. Makes me feel better than I am.)

[flippant]

Paul Auster - New York Trilogy

三毛 － 撒哈拉的故事 fun. plain language but elegantly phrased at times.

and 丁丁 － 七个水晶球，which is kicking my ass with all the phonetic names, formal modes of speech and synonyms.

[Sailor]

古诗十九首 and 三言二拍

[bande]

I finished the second book in the 杜拉拉 series. Overall, I'd say that the first book was much better than the second book, but there were still worthwhile. Still, I wasn't interested in, and ended up skipping sections that just focused on a new minor character. Hopefully, the third book will be more focused, although this book was still a good source of business vocabulary. Here's the full title: 杜拉拉升职记2:华年似水. I was sold both books at the same time, so you might as well buy both.

[skylee]

I have finished "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. The story is unexpected and I find it disturbing. I don't really like the way the story is told.

[Meng Lelan]

Now slogging through "Introductory Nemeth Code" which is used to braille math books for the blind. Have to memorize the whole book.

[Lu]

Now reading Der Vorleser (in English The Reader). I always get a kick about still being able to read German, and it's an interesting book, but I saw the movie before and it follows the book very closely, so it's getting a little boring to read things I already know.

Also just finished Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm amazed that I've never read Vonnegut before, he's so great, that book really spoke to me.

[rivercao]

I'm reading 战国策, a classic Chinese book, it recorded the stories happened in ChunQiuZhanGuo period, it's all fantastic.

To be honest I sometimes need the simplified translation as it is way too difficult in Classic language.

[skylee]

Now reading Der Vorleser (in English The Reader).

I have read the beginning of the English version. Now the book is somewhere in one of the boxes for the bookshelves and I don't know when it will resurface.

I wanted to re-read "The House of Mirth" but the hard copy is also deep in the boxes. So I am now reading the Gutenberg soft copy. Not good. Need to dig up the book.

PS - I have just opened four boxes (did not know which boxes the books were in) and dug out both books. Will just leave the book boxes there for the moment as I don't even want to look at them.

Edited April 18, 2010 at 10:55 AM by skylee

[Lu]

Annoying when all the books are in boxes... When I moved last time I was actually looking forward to the unpacking of the books the most, was happy to see them again, arranging them on the shelves... I just love books.

[chrix]

rivercao, the Zhanguoce is a collection of anecdotes whose veracity is in question (and in most cases impossible to verify if the events really happened or not). We have a thread on the Zhanguoce in the Classical Chinese forum: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/23460-%e6%88%b0%e5%9c%8b%e7%ad%96-%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e5%8a%9b-%e5%8f%a4%e4%bb%a3%e6%bc%a2%e8%aa%9e-wang-li-classical-chinese

[rivercao]

rivercao, the Zhanguoce is a collection of anecdotes whose veracity is in question (and in most cases impossible to verify if the events really happened or not). Have a look at this thread here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/23460-%e6%88%b0%e5%9c%8b%e7%ad%96-%ef%bc%88%e7%8e%8b%e5%8a%9b-%e5%8f%a4%e4%bb%a3%e6%bc%a2%e8%aa%9e-wang-li-classical-chinese

Thanks for sharing, the book is classic indeed, and many of Chinese idioms is originally from it.

After I finish my reading, I can post my thoughts here.

[in_lab]

Now reading Der Vorleser (in English The Reader). I always get a kick about still being able to read German, and it's an interesting book, but I saw the movie before and it follows the book very closely, so it's getting a little boring to read things I already know.

I had the same experience watching the movie. It was boring because it was exactly like the book which I had read already. And the book is short enough that the movie doesn't leave much out.

[Lu]

I had the same experience watching the movie. It was boring because it was exactly like the book which I had read already. And the book is short enough that the movie doesn't leave much out.

Actually that makes this a very interesting case. Normally the people who read a book first won't like the movie adaptation as much, and I sometimes see the movie before reading the book because that will make me like both better than the other way around. But here's a movie that follows the book so well that apparently the reader/viewer can only enjoy it once, no matter what version they look at first.

Sorry for the off topic. I just finished Der Vorleser and haven't picked my next book yet, so I'm not reading anything right now.

[Lu]

Reading Ma Jian's Beijing Coma. Pretty good, it's fictional of course but gives a good inside view of the TAM protests. Featuring 'Han' Dan, 'Bai' Ling and 'Ke Xi' as student leaders. Although I don't know enough details of what really happened to know how close to the truth it is.

[Lu]

Just finished 山楂树之恋, I really cried at the ending, so very sad. The main story is pretty run-of-the-mill: boy and girl meet, fall in love, overcome difficulties, and just after they finally get together one of them dies. (In the west, they would have gotten married and lived happily ever after, but in China, one or both always die(s). Preserves the perfect love.) But all that is against the background of the CR, and it makes it more interesting, gives a nice view on what life was actually was like, and what a high school graduate could expect from the next few years of her career, or lack thereof.

Zhang Yimou is making a movie out of this book, and I kept picturing scenes from The Road Home, especially with the first part of the book, when both protagonists are living in a small mountain village.

Also this book was really easy. I read it in ten days, which is unprecedented speed for me.

[sukitc]

I am reading 獵命師傳奇 by Giddens. I have read his 功夫 and enjoyed that tremendously. However, this 獵命師傳奇 is a more difficult read, as it's a fantasy. But, usually I find that books get easier if I persevere past the first few chapters.

[Yezze]

I am currently reading 大林和小林. After 3 yrs of Chinese (online high school class), and only starting to read at the end of the third year... its difficult, but i am learning a lot.