What are you reading?

[natra]

We should make a Chinese-forums community on goodreads.com for this too.

Right now I am reading "Born at the Wrong Time" by Chen Sue.

[skylee]

I am reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. I think I've bought all his three books at a sale but am not sure where the other two are ...

[zening]

I'm reading English Humour and jokes, I need laugh recently.

[roddy]

Recently finished reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakam, have a collection of his stories cued up next. Can't remember which one. Am currently reading 敦煌之旅 which I would never have bought personally, but it was lent to me and I started reading it. Quite readable, but if you don't already have a fair knowledge of the relevant bits of history you may benefit from keeping a list of characters, a map and a timeline. I've outright skipped a couple of chapters of descriptions of Buddhist wall paintings.

Occurs to me know that this is all Chinese translations of Japanese originals. Not intentional.

For falling-asleep reading, Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds. In English, thank God.

[skylee]

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakam

This sounds very interesting (I am interested in Murakami's writing, not in running). I will have a look at it.

[roddy]

It's a very nice read, and he's an interesting guy. I liked the parallels he drew between running and writing - both solitary pursuits.

[doraemon]

I've been reading the entire series of Harry Potter all over again, but I got halfway through the last book and just went- "I really can't be bothered anymore". Hopefully I'll get to finishing it someday.

[cui ruide]

Most recently:

The Foundation, Asimov

Wild Sheep Chase, Murakami

Tropic of Cancer, Miller

Trying to force myself through the second half of Tropic before I jump into Dance Dance Dance (Murakami)--not that Tropic is bad, just Murakami's so enjoyable to read! Also makes me want to learn Japanese lately. I'm bad--I haven't been reading Chinese, but I have a pdf of 马原 Ma Yuan stories waiting for when I feel up to it. I've been trying to play more Chinese video games (work-related) lately, though, which exercises that muscle I hope.

[bande]

I finished reading 藏地密码2 a couple months ago, but unfortunately haven't gotten to post about it. While the series is interesting, I've taken a break from it. For a book supposedly about Tibet, it's taken a weird detour through South America. The specialized vocabulary about South American plant life and wild life has been too difficult to deal with in some ways even though I skipped most of it. I was definitely more optimistic about the series when I was just reading the first book. Still, after I finish some of my other current reading projects, I'm sure I'll return, and see if this series gets better.

[bande]

I finished reading 浮沉 by 催曼莉。The plot is reminiscent of the 杜拉拉 series style of white collar novels. In some ways I thought the writing was better than in 杜拉拉. For a quick synopsis, the heroine makes the jump from secretary to saleswoman and gets put into a high profile attempt to win an SOE as a client. I'd definitely recommend it for learning interested in business with vocabulary in a slightly more interesting setting than a textbook. Hopefully, this book won't be made into a movie and horribly ruined like 杜拉拉.

[zening]

I have finished Girl Who Kicked the Hornet by Stieg Larsson. It's cool.

[sukitc]

Just started reading 窗外 by 瓊瑤. I picked up the book by chance and just learnt, from the foreward, that 瓊瑤 is quite a well-known Taiwanese author who wrote numerous best-selling books since 1960s. I am a couple of chapters into the book. The language is really easy, but the story so far is not too engrossing (some girls in a Taiwanese high school). I am sure it will get better.

[skylee]

I have bought "關於跑步，我說的其實是……", the Chinese version of "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" mentioned by roddy. But I haven't really started to read it yet.

I am still reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". It's getting better.

[xiaocai]

络新妇之理, the Chinese translation of 絡新婦の理 by 京極夏彦, and thinking of re-reading his 姑獲鳥の夏 afterward.

[skylee]

My niece has just invited me to her collection of 彩雲國物語 ... I just might start reading it again ... 有書可看直須看，不看白不看嘛。

[xiaocai]

有書可看直須看，不看白不看嘛。

要的就是这种精神。And so far I think 络新妇之理 is the best among his 百鬼夜行シリーズ.

I've only seen the anime of 彩雲國物語. I think 十二国记 is a good one as well if you like this type of stories.

[renzhe]

I've just finished 祝福 by 鲁迅.

[dolldalera]

Just finished reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens. Now reading Rake's Vow, also by Laurens. Sorry, romance novel fan. I'm also reading My Country, My People by Lin Yutang.

[Gleaves]

I just finished A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, which I enjoyed very much despite the insane amount of transliterated names. I am moving from fantasy to science fiction. I just started 流浪地球 by 刘慈欣. I am only 20 pages in, but am enjoying it thus far.

[rob07]

I just started 废都 by 贾平凹. I had heard that this was banned in China, so I was surprised to see it published by a mainland China publishing house. After reading a bit of it, it has become clear that the reason the publishing house was able to publish it is that all the sex scenes have been cut (every 20 pages or so it says "A kissed B ... 此处作者有删节).

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm inclined to keep going with it and do without the sex scenes. Does anyone have a feel for how important they are? I suppose I might be able to find them on the internet ...