What are you reading?

[imron]

Finished 《色戒》which has probably been the least interesting of all the books I've read so far. It's a collection of about 8 short stories, that just seem to go on and on about nothing in particular and then stop.

It was interesting to read a book in traditional characters though, but once the novelty of figuring out the characters wore off, I really struggled to maintain an interest in the content.

Am starting now on《神雕侠侣》which should make for a nice change of pace!

[muirm]

Just finished 欢乐英雄。It was definitely light on the Kung Fu compared to 多情剑客无情剑，but the dialogue was much wittier. It tells the heart warming tale of 4 friends whose friendship and devotion to each other sees them through many tough situations. Now I'm going to start on 金庸 and see if I 追得上 imron.

If anyone is interested I scraped all the 武侠 novels from haodoo.net and converted them from epub to plain UTF8 text files suitable for reading in Pleco. I made both traditional and simplified versions because sometimes I just can't decide which type I like most. It seems to be quite a complete library, ranging from the complete works of 古龙 and 金庸 to a few other lesser-known authors (note it doesn't have the newest edition of most of the 金庸 books). Also note I do not condone stealing, so I buy hardcopies of the books before I start reading them (and I pretend that entitles me to a digital copy). I am willing to share them, though, and leave it up to your conscience to do the right thing.

[renzhe]

Now I'm going to start on 金庸 and see if I 追得上 imron.

Haha, good luck with that!

I'm still on 水浒, making good progress. I'll post an update next week once I hit 200 pages.

[imron]

Now I'm going to start on 金庸 and see if I 追得上 imron.

Actually it won't be so hard if you only read 金庸. I mix lots of other genres and authors into my reading and am only on my 4th 金庸 novel so there'll be plenty of time to catch up.

Incidentally, what I really love about reading 金庸 is seeing all the parts/names that《武林外传》took from his novels. Some of the bigger ones (names of major characters etc) I can recognise instantly, but I'm seriously going to have to go back and watch it again once I've read them all, just to spot the others. For example, 郭靖，黃蓉 and 郭芙 > 郭芙蓉 and so on. 无双 has made an appearance in this current book too.

[Gleaves]

Incidentally, what I really love about reading 金庸 is seeing all the parts/names that《武林外传》took from his novels.

That's very cool. I made my way through book one of 射雕, but have put it down for the moment because I want to focus on reading speed (I find Jin Yong too dense and too good to rush through).

I recently finished up 天劫 and 斗破苍穹, a horror novel and fantasy novel, respectively. Both were pulpy pop fiction. I enjoyed both, but neither will be up for literary awards any time soon. The plot of 天劫 was especially ludicrous. But they were easy, so they made for good practice to push my reading speed. Both are part of a series, so they ended more like a season of tv than a proper ending. I'm working on the sci-fi book 蓝血人 now.

Good work on tearing through 古龙, muirm.

[maybe]

西游记 (journey to the west) a classic of chinese literature, a very nice reading

[muirm]

Well, my 金庸 books hadn't arrived yet so I killed some time with 陆小凤传奇 by 古龙. It was a pretty fun little story culminating in a misdirection-laden, multi-layered climax that leaves you guessing to the very end. One thing that was a little disappointing was the main character 陆小凤. His Kung Fu is clearly very 厉害, but at the end of the book I realized he barely fought with anyone! In fact, there were only a couple times he was involved in a fight, and both times he used his 灵犀一指 finger-clamp move to trap their weapon and essentially stop the fight (he doesn't deign to kill people). Has anyone read the full 陆小凤 series? Do we get to see him 出手 in more detail?

I have to admit, Gleaves, 斗破苍穹 sounds pretty sweet based on the description you gave before. Once I am looking for a break from 武侠 I think I will give it a whirl.

[imron]

but at the end of the book I realized he barely fought with anyone!

不战而屈人之兵，善之善者也

[muirm]

That does seem pretty apt seeing as 陆小凤 often used his wits to avoid fights and outmaneuver enemies. The only problem is 不战ing doesn't make for a very exciting hero in a Kung Fu novels!

[Lu]

Just finished 韩寒's 像少年啦飞驰, I was a bit disappointed, basically it's a kid who likes girls and later cars and does a bit of 文学 and that's it. I guess I was expecting a more critical or perhaps more mature work, although I know Dutch writers who write similar novels and I like them just fine. I suppose I need to adjust my expectations. Now reading 慕容雪村's book on a lawyer who at some point must have had a conscience but it has withered and died long ago, and every chapter sees the lawyer do new awful things, each more awful than what he did before. A good enough read so far, but to balance out all the sexism (韩寒), rank mysogyny (慕容雪村) and objectifying of women (both), after this one I really need to read a book about a strong, independent woman, who is smart and kind, overcomes adversities and helps friends and wins the love and respect of the people around her, while building a relationship of mutual love and respect with a hot guy. Now that I think of it, that must be why I like A town like Alice so much.

[skylee]

a hot guy

objectifying ...

[roddy]

I really need to read a book about a strong, independent woman, who is smart and kind, overcomes adversities and helps friends and wins the love and respect of the people around her, while building a relationship of mutual love and respect with a hot guy.

Go Lala, Go! ?

Reading 丁庄梦. 43% of the way through it*. Seems a lot easier going than 受活 and there's a good English translation available, so might be worth a look for anyone who wants to tackle something contemporary.

*my Kindle told me, I didn't count. Although I probably would have.

[muirm]

Today I finished 绣花大盗, the second part in the 陆小凤 series. To answer my own question, yes, you do get to see the hero do more fighting beyond his finger grab technique. We are starting to see just how much of a 功夫奇才 he really is.

My 金庸 books should finally be coming next week, so get excited for that!

[skylee]

Because I plan to see the French movie "The Monk", I have downloaded the book from the Gutenberg project and I plan to read it on my cell phone.

I've also had Kissinger's "On China" on my bedside table for a week now. It is a thick hardcover, and I find it a bit daunting. I might just return it to the library.

[imron]

My 金庸 books should finally be coming next week, so get excited for that!

Which ones are coming, and what one do you plan to read first?

[muirm]

I ordered the complete set (newly-revised) off taobao for ¥440. I'll have to ship them back home when I return to the US, but oh well. Reading them in order of publication sounded like a reasonable idea, so I'm going to do that too.

[imron]

Nice.

[skylee]

oh the newly-revised version!!! He really shouldn't have revised them so many times.

[bhchao]

Currently reading the newest biography of Deng Xiaoping by Vogel.

[gato]

I'm reading Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood". It's a Chinese translation by 赖明珠 published in Taiwan. I bought it when I was Taipei many years ago, but haven't gotten until now. So far so good. The language seems a bit colloquial, but I'm getting into the characters. I browsed through Jay Rubin's English translation in the bookstore today. He's the English translator of Murakami. There were some passages in his translation that were more literary but others were just as colloquial. That's probably just Murakami's style. I've read his "Wild Sheep Chase" and "Dance, Dance, Dance" before, also translated by Rubin. They were also fairly colloquial. It would be interesting to compare Lai's translation with one done in mainland China to see how they differ.