What are you reading?

[lilongyue]

Reading a ghost story by a Taiwanese author called Div (另一種聲音). This book is called <抽鬼> but I also bought one called <惡靈地下道> by the same author. The level is perfect for me, plenty of new vocabulary, but if I'm too lazy to look up words, I can still follow the story. <抽鬼> is only the second novel I've read in Chinese, and I'm enjoying the difference in writing styles between this book and other material I've read. Looking forward to reading more!

[skylee]

I'm reading Twilight in Chinese...i.e. 暮色...It's an easy, relaxing read (much like the English version I'm sure),...but here are still plenty of chengyu and new vocab that I have been picking up out of it. I guess I'll throw it into the random word of the day thread slowly, or just make a list and post a new thread...eventually

I've just finished reading the 4 books in the series and I quite enjoyed it. The English version is actually very easy as it's meant for teenagers, I think. I've only had a brief look at the Taiwan translation of Twilight and I've found the translation inadequate.

[roddy]

Just finished 巴金's 家. Been spending more time reading Chinese than usual lately, am planning to tackle the sequel to 三体 (science fiction, see here), and also 吴思's 血酬定律 - happened across this online a while back and really enjoyed the first few chapters, but I need the paper version if I'm going to make any decent headway. From what I've read it's basically the economics of banditry and how it evolved into the Party. Apparently the Taiwanese version is more . . . comprehensive.

'Course, I actually need to put in the amazon.cn order first . . .

[wushijiao]

Just finished 巴金's 家

Any thoughts?

As for me, I'm reading two books right now:

1) India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, by Ramachandra Guha. So far, I'm loving that book. Guha reminds me a bit of Ken Burns, in that using credible and insightful contemporary sources, he creates a lively and compelling narrative that enables you to feel the social tension and complexity of the issues at the time.

2) 胡溫新風險 by 巴牛. This is kind of the run of the mill HK political book recaping the challanges the current leadership faces, but pretty interesting.

[gato]

India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, by Ramachandra Guha.

Hey, I just bought that book on amazon. I've started reading 古文观止. So far so good.

By the way, it looks like one can order books from Taiwanese online bookstore now in the mainland. Both 诚品 and 三民 can ship directly to mainland addresses.

http://www.sanmin.com.tw/page-service.asp#41

http://www.eslite.com/product.aspx?pgid=1001116081275648

I don't know if that's a new thing or not. But I know at least the 诚品 (eslite) website was blocked in the mainland previously.

[renzhe]

VICTORY!

I have finally finished 雕英雄传. It was my first real book (though I finished a few short stories and the BotM in the meantime), and I've finished the almost 1400 pages of it.

I started in June, and it was painful (a few pages a day), but my speed picked up massively in the meantime. I think I read the third book in two weeks or so. So my recommendation to anyone who is struggling with reading is to attack it with volume -- it works!

Great book, with some very cool characters.

[rob07]

VICTORY!

I have finally finished 雕英雄传. It was my first real book (though I finished a few short stories and the BotM in the meantime), and I've finished the almost 1400 pages of it.

Great work!

I finished 红楼梦 last November (same length) so I know how you feel - fantastic! But I had read quite a bit in the 200-400 pages range before I went for a big one. Very brave of you to go for 雕英雄传 first.

What are you going to read next?

[renzhe]

I have Ba Jin's "Jia" ordered and should get it by the end of March.

Until then, either comics or shorter online stories, depending on whether I need a rest.

I'm thinking about HSK in April, so I might concentrate on practice materials instead.

[Gleaves]

Congrats, renzhe. I find it encouraging that volume and exposure led to progress.

I'm focusing on 漫画 before making the jump to books. I'm currently reading three.

死亡筆記本 Death Note

A bored/brilliant high school student finds a notebook that kills people when their names are written in it. Very cool cat and mouse thriller. I'm on book 5 of 12 and am already not looking forward to seeing it end.

入侵 Eternal Sabbath

I've read through the first book (of eight) of this psychological thriller. Unexpectedly violent at times due to the main character being able to enter people's thoughts (in which crazy stuff ensues). I'm quite intrigued thus far, but it is definitely bizarre.

厄夜怪客 Hellsing

I'm in the middle of book one (I believe this series is ongoing). Vampire slaying. Outlandishly violent. Violent enough that I feel funny reading it on the train. But it is quick reading, so I will get through the first book to see if an interesting storyline emerges.

[skylee]

I have finally finished 雕英雄传.

I suppose you haven't forgotten the 射 part, right?

btw, I always find it confusing that people seem to use 雕 in the name of this book. I use 鵰, with a bird radical on the right. I am not sure if one of them is a mistake, or if the former is the simplified form of the latter. Anyone knows?

[leeyah]

Anzhao my 古汉语词典　鵰 actually is the traditional form of 雕 with the right part of it 隹meaning small bird, right? Otherwise 鵰 is also called 雕的异体字 (?!)

By the way, as this is what are you reading? thread, well, I like to read practical stuff and I do take care of what I eat So I am currently reading "病从口中入"

Excellent for expanding vocab！

[renzhe]

Yeah, 雕 is the simplified form of 鵰. Actually, AFAIK, it was a phonetic loan onto an already existing character. 雕 has the same pronunciation as 鵰 and means "to engrave". Now it has acquired the additional meaning of the condor/eagle. As leeyah wrote, the right part has basically the same meaning anyway.

And I actually read the "Legend of the engraving hero", which book are you talking about?

[Takeru47]

Congrats' date=' renzhe. I find it encouraging that volume and exposure led to progress.

I'm focusing on 漫画 before making the jump to books. I'm currently reading three.

死亡筆記本 Death Note

A bored/brilliant high school student finds a notebook that kills people when their names are written in it. Very cool cat and mouse thriller. I'm on book 5 of 12 and am already not looking forward to seeing it end.

入侵 Eternal Sabbath

I've read through the first book (of eight) of this psychological thriller. Unexpectedly violent at times due to the main character being able to enter people's thoughts (in which crazy stuff ensues). I'm quite intrigued thus far, but it is definitely bizarre.

厄夜怪客 Hellsing

I'm in the middle of book one (I believe this series is ongoing). Vampire slaying. Outlandishly violent. Violent enough that I feel funny reading it on the train. But it is quick reading, so I will get through the first book to see if an interesting storyline emerges.[/quote']

I recently bought some 漫畫 from books.com.tw and I noticed that they have a very strong ink/plastic smell to them. If you bought yours from 台灣 (as I noticed you typed the names in traditional), do yours have the same problem? I find it uncomfortable to read them because the smell gives me somewhat of a headache. I'm just curious to see if anyone else has experienced the same problem.

On another note, I am looking for good novels to start off with. I found some 魯迅 novels and all of 金庸's novels in traditional, but I was wondering if there were any other novels that would be good to start off with to build vocabulary quickly that are written in the modern vernacular. I am very much anticipating reading 金庸 novels (I love watching the drama series), but thought I should start off with something a bit lighter and easier to read. Anything with lots of fantasy/sci-fi elements suits me well.

I already bought 西遊記 but obviously don't want to take that on quite yet.

[dalizee]

Now i'm reading "Medieval chinese novels". They are really great.

[Gleaves]

Takeru47- I haven't notice a smell on the manga books I have been reading. They are the Taiwanese versions, but I've been ordering from a shop in New York (comickingdomusa.com). I don't have much advice on novels for you, but check out the science fiction thread.

[Shadowdh]

Gosh where do I start... a few texts on the economic shenanigans that are going on, a few books on China and Tibet, and the book of the month (although that is the one from a couple of months ago... most of my reading is by necessity at the moment, ie for University but soon, very soon I hope to get back into reading for recreation...

Dalizee... I would be interested in the books you are reading... are they electronic copies...?

[Lu]

Renzhe, congratulations! (Mixed with some envy...)

I finally made some good resolutions (well in time for Iranian new year, so nice that there's always another new year coming up), and one of them is reading at least 10 pp of Chinese per day. So maybe I'll finish 书剑恩仇录 sometime too.

[renzhe]

Keep it up!

I found that dedicating an hour to reading every day really helps you keep moving, and works great for motivation.

[renzhe]

I've just finished reading 棋王 by 阿城. Went relatively painlessly.

[rob07]

I've just finished reading 棋王 by 阿城.

China is just starting to get some world class western chess grandmasters. 王玥 is playing in Linares right now. (Linares is an annual invitation only round robin tournament for the top 8 chessplayers in the world - sort of an informal world tournament championship.) Unfortunately he is coming last.