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HTLAL Book Club 2015 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Multilingual Lounge |  | |
| stifa Triglot Senior Member Norway lang-8.com/448715 Joined 4875 days ago 629 posts - 813 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 17 of 69 16 December 2014 at 2:10am | IP Logged | ||
Woah, that one looks interesting, and it's availible on the British Kindle store :D As stupid as it may sound, after having read about 50 books since Summer 2013, the series that I've enjoyed the most are still the Harry Potter books (read the 1st, 2nd and 4th in Japanese, and the rest in German - the latter translation being much better than the former), as they kept me constantly turning pages throughout. Another book I've enjoyed is "Sal de mis sueños" by Fernando Trujillo Sanz. I spent about a month getting through the first 140 pages, because the plot didn't seem that interesting to me, but after that point, I finished the last 70 pages or so in 4-5 days, because it suddenly got me wanting more. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I found the Song of Ice and Fire books much more enjoyable in German than in English. The German version was comparably easy to read, making it easier to keep track of what's going on. The translations are pretty good, no matter how many Germans there are who complain about "Eindeutschungen", like Köningsmund and Jon Schnee. I was suggested Herbstmilch by Anna Wimschneider by my German teacher, and I must admit that it has to be one of the most difficult books I've ever read. The text use a lot of southern German expressions, and a lot of dated expressions and vocabulary, fitting it's 1920s/1950s settings. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4891 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 18 of 69 16 December 2014 at 3:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I read some good to great books in French this past year, but struggled in Italian. I
don't know if it's the books I chose, or if Italian literature just doesn't do it for me. I'm hoping that as my comprehension improves my enjoyment of reading Italian will also improve. I've posted a lot in the SC log on books I've already read. My current books are: Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini. Giorgio Bassani. Italian. A romance set in the Jewish community of Ferrara during the rise of fascism. Le città invisibili. Italo Calvino. Italian. Marco Polo describes the fantastic cities he has seen in Kublai Khan's empire. Great writing, but I need the English translation to help me through it. I've been reading it on and off all year. La divina commedia, Inferno. Dante Alighieri. Tuscan. I've also been reading this on and off all year. It's awesome, but I am completely dependent on the parallel text. I am currently in the sixth ditch of the eighth circle of hell. L'oeuvre au noir. Marguerite Yourcenar. French. A novel about a fictional alchemist and philosopher in the 1600's. It's fascinating, but also difficult to read at times. I think it would be a difficult read even in English. I am so close to the end ... I might stay up late tonight to finish it. My French reading list for 2015 is ambitious; I'm not sure how many I'll actually get to: Jean Genet, Notre Dame des Fleurs Ágota Kristof, Le grand cahier Marguerite Duras, Un barrage contre le Pacifique Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse Louis Aragon, Aurélien Paul Claudel, Le soulier de satin Marcel Proust, Le Côté de Guermantes And my Italian list is full of books that are still beyond my reading level, for now. I still hope to read all these as part of the super challenge: Dino Buzzati, Il deserto dei tartari Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno Italo Calvino, many Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo. Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa. Paolo Giordano. La solitudine dei numeri primi 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 19 of 69 16 December 2014 at 10:29am | IP Logged | ||
German scifi is essentially non-existent. There is the long running Perry Rhodan series dating from the 1960s. I haven't read it, but it's regarded as pretty trashy space opera - though that's perhaps not fair. Written scifi really doesn't have much status here. At my local library there are about 50-100 shelves devoted to crime novels, and 6 to scifi/fantasy. Heyne (part of Random House) seems to be the main publisher of scifi/fantasy in German. You might want to check out their website for ideas: http://www.randomhouse.de/heyne/topics.jsp?men=506&top=FANTA SY Crime novels (Krimis) are huge here. The papers publish a list of the best 10 new crime novels published in the preceding month. It's sort of cool, as you have so much choice you can pick a place/era that interests you. For instance, there is a series of books that take place in Berlin in the 1920s-1930s that I may start reading as I find the era interesting; but there are likewise undoubtedly Krimis set in the DDR, or some Alpine village in the 1960s or amongst the Turkish community in Hamburg in the present day. One book I'd like to read next year is Kurso by Lutz Seiler, which won the German Book Prize this year. The title is a play on "Robinson Curso" and tells the story of a man in the DDR who ends up on an island in the Baltic that was known as a place where people who didn't fit comfortably into the DDR system could live. Edited by patrickwilken on 16 December 2014 at 10:32am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5209 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 20 of 69 16 December 2014 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||
I read that last year and I didn't find it too difficult. Much easier than Calvino, for example. Some of the language is a bit old-fashioned but you get used to it. It's a bit long, I felt it dragged on at points, but overall an enjoyable and not too challenging read. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4641 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 21 of 69 16 December 2014 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
A friend of mine who did his thesis on La Divina Commedia used to say that this is the book everyone in Italy knows but nobody has read from the beginning to the end;) Still it is great to be able to read 14th century Italian literature and make sense of it, even if you need to consult the parallel text. I want to find more time to read Italian books next year and I may steal some ideas from your list. I've read Il nome della rosa three times and it is a great read, but quite challenging, especially the first 100 pages or so. Later on it gets easier, also because there is more "action" later on in the book. I am a great fan of Umberto Eco, and on my list is one of his non-fiction books: Non sperate di liberarvi dei libri. I read Primo Levi many years ago, when I was doing Italian at university, but I must admit I have forgotten what it was about. Maybe I should put Levi back on my list as well. Looking forward to exchanging more about Italian literature with you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4690 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 22 of 69 16 December 2014 at 12:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I first read this Wikipedia
article, and then perused the recent winners of the German Sci-Fi awards. Ich bin halbwegs "Das Cusanus Spiel" hindurch, und es ist interessant und spannend, aber nicht so lockend dass ich mich davon nicht entreißen kann--ich bin immer noch nicht damit fertig. Es handelt über Zeitreisen und eine postapokalyptische Welt wo die Menschen versuchen die Natur aufzuerstehen mittels uralte, ausgestorbene Pflanzen. (translation) I'm halfway through "Das Cusanus Spiel" [The Cusanus Game], and it's interesting and exciting, but not so alluring that I can't rip myself away--I still haven't finished it. It deals with time travel and a post-apocalyptic world where the people are trying to rejuvenate nature using ancient, extinct plants. Next on my list to try was Andreas Brandhorst. I'd read a bit of an excerpt from one of his book through Amazon, but haven't yet started on a book in earnest, so I don't have much to report. Edited by geoffw on 16 December 2014 at 12:27pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5209 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 23 of 69 16 December 2014 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yep, good to see some discussion of Italian literature. I'm currently reading Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il gattopardo. It's a difficult one but very well written and culturally interesting. Il nome della rosa is also high on my list. I've not felt up to approaching Dante yet but I will at some point in my life. Like I said, I've read a few of Calvino's works and the next one on my list is Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore... it sounds like it'll be a strange one and I'm wondering whether my Italian will be good enough to appreciate it. Edited by garyb on 16 December 2014 at 1:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4846 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 24 of 69 16 December 2014 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a big fan of Russian 19th and early 20th century literature: Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol, Turgenyev, Pushkin, Chekhov... you name it! Since I started learning Russian, it has always been my goal to read the Russian classics in the original and this year I finally made a big step towards this goal.
I read Дама с собачкой (The Lady with the Dog) by Chekhov earlier this year with the help of a Russian-German parallel text. It was actually quite an easy read and a wonderful short story at the same time. It's about Dmitry Dmitrich Gurov, a married man from Moscow, and Anna Sergeyevna von Dideritz, who is also married. They get to know each other in Yalta during their vacations. One thing leads to another and they start a love affair which lasts until Anna Sergeyevna (who is called the "Lady with the Dog" because of the small dog she always has with her) has to leave Yalta and go home again. Back in Moscow with his family, Gurov tries to forget Anna, but he can't, so he decides to go to her town and pay her a visit. Their affair starts anew and they have to decide how to live this relationship in a society with very strict moral rules. I thought it was very interesting and very well written. It was especially interesting to see how Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna have to hide their love in public because no one must know about them. At the same time, their affair is their only source of happiness for both of them, so they have to find a way to live their love in secret. On the other hand, they don't really want to hide their love, so a very difficult situation arises for them. After Chekhov, I made a little break from Russian literature, but now I'm trying to read Игрок (The Gambler) by Dostoyevsky, also with the help of parallel texts. I have the audiobook as well, so I'm trying to do some L-R. So far, I've only read the first chapter, so I will tell you more about it later. Anyway, I think reading literature with parallel texts is a great and fun way to study a language! This is my reading list for 2015 in Russian: Фёдор Достоевский: Преступление и наказание (Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment) Лев Толстой: Анна Каренина (Tolstoy: Anna Karenina) Иван Тургенев: Первая любовь (Turgenyev: First Love) ...plus some bilingual collections of poems and short stories. Edited by Josquin on 16 December 2014 at 2:23pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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