What are you reading?

[Luxi]

23 hours ago, 艾墨本 said:

I've since dropped 古龙's  《流星蝴蝶剑》due to it's portrayal of women. Just couldn't get past it.

 

He-he-he. Stay away from "The Water Margin" then.

[Lu]

On 31/03/2018 at 3:47 PM, 艾墨本 said:

I've since dropped 古龙's  《流星蝴蝶剑》due to its portrayal of women. Just couldn't get past it.

Try Zhang Jie!

[Geiko]

I finished 盗墓笔记, if I have time I'll comment a couple of things I noticed in the thread I opened, but in case I don't have time to do it, my general impression of the novel was good: it's not the type of reading I like, but the story is fun, the rythm is fast and language-wise is OK. There was a couple of parts where I got a little lost, but I kept on reading and I found myself The most frustrating thing was that when I reached the last sentence, I didn't understand it! The sentence is easy, I just don't understand the importance in the story, so I guess I missed some key points.

 

I just found in Viki.com they have a TV series based on this book (link to the first chapter here). I started watching it yesterday, the series is slightly different from the novel, but from what I saw in the opening, the plot will be quite faithful to the book. The best thing is that I know a lot of the vocabulary the tomb robbers use. The series is short, only ten 45-minute chapters, and I hope it will help me fully understand the story, visualize the monsters and perhaps understand that last sentence?

 

Meanwhile, I've started to read another novel: I'm taking part in an Instagram reading club, the organiser is Spanish, so she suggests translations into this language, but when she chose "Nothing", by Janne Teller, I thought it would be great to read it in Chinese. It's a young adult book, so the writing style is easy, and I found a traditional Chinese version for only 5 € in Kobo.com. The story is simple and quite interesting to read, it's about a boy who realises that nothing is important in this life, so he quits school, and how this decision affects his classmates. Let's see how it goes!

 

[Guest]

I'm reading, but currently a Chinese translation of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner (追风筝的人). Slow going, but trying to average out two pages a day given the plethora of new words. Slowly getting easier and easier as I progress as all of the major new words in the story (location names, certain frequently used adjectives etc). Enjoying reading one of my favourites in a new language and looking forward to being able to say I've completed it.

 

That said, I've butchered this poor book with my highlighter for the sake of vocab. No regrets. ;) 

[imron]

Underlining with a mechanical pencil was how I used to do it.

[Lu]

6 hours ago, Napkat said:

I've butchered this poor book with my highlighter for the sake of vocab. No regrets. ;)

That's not butchering, that's making full use of it. Or perhaps it is butchering in the sense that it gets you tasty meat.

[Lu]

Trying to get back into my good reading-in-translation habit... Over the past week, I read, in English translation:

- Wang Shou, 'Death of a Playboy'. Man covets his friend's wife, they go out, but he dies in an accident without her noticing. Interesting enough tale.

- Han Song, 'The Last Subway'. Man sees mysterious goings-on on the last subway of the night. About how the children do away with history and the experiences of the old, or that is how I read it. Good story, not your usual scifi.

- Zhang Yiwei, 'Only Later', rather chilling story about a young woman without much perspective. Better than I am describing it here.

 

Also keeping up with the 三国演义, at the moment reading about a series of battles between 吕布 and 曹操, they're fun to read. The earlier battles in the book I didn't find very interesting (A rode out with his sword, but B slew him; C pursued B, but B turned north and was saved by E... etcetera), but this part consists mostly of tactics and scheming, which makes it fun.

[艾墨本]

Your description of 三国演义 makes it sound strikingly similar to Le morte de Arthur 

[Lu]

14 minutes ago, 艾墨本 said:

Your description of 三国演义 makes it sound strikingly similar to Le morte de Arthur

I haven't read that, so unfortunately I can't fully appreciate your comment.

[imron]

But surely you have heard of the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?

[Lu]

Sure, of course, I know the people involved, just like any Chinese would know who Lü Bu and Cao Cao are. But I assume the comparison was about the specific book.

[Zeppa]

Watching the 1994 TV version I was struck by how it must have influenced the makers of Game of Thrones.

[realmayo]

2 hours ago, Zeppa said:

Watching the 1994 TV version I was struck by how it must have influenced the makers of Game of Thrones

I thought the same watching the 2010 version.

[Zeppa]

It might have been 2010 too. I was watching 1994 on the computer and then wanted to continue on the phone, but it was harder to locate the right series. Anyway, the pace, the massive battle line-ups, the slicing of body parts - very similar, obviously an influence.

[murrayjames]

Lu, why do you read Chinese literature in English/Dutch translation, when you can read it in Chinese?

[Lu]

15 hours ago, murrayjames said:

Lu, why do you read Chinese literature in English/Dutch translation, when you can read it in Chinese?

Because it's a lot faster. I also continue to read (other works) in Chinese. Reading short stories in translation is a good way for me to get to know different authors in a relatively short time, whom I then sometimes continue to read in Chinese.

[realmayo]

On 08/04/2018 at 10:02 PM, Zeppa said:

the massive battle line-ups

 

Red Cliff seemed the clearest link to me.

[Zeppa]

I haven't got that far. But I know there was a film Red Cliff too. Maybe that was similar. I am taking the novel slowly, and mainly on paper.

[realmayo]

1 hour ago, Zeppa said:

I haven't got that far.

Report back on any Game of Thrones similarity once you get there!

 

[Zeppa]

It could be a while.