What are you reading?

[古文奇才]

Mencius

[edelweis]

@古文奇才

Well, do you find it easy? difficult? interesting? boring?

Is it for leisure, for research?

Any particularly interesting passage?

Any recommended translation?

[古文奇才]

Well I just finished the first chapter so I can't say too much about the entire book. But really, it's just a repetition of Analects. Over and over about how a good ruler should be nice to the people. He seriously says that like 50 times.

 

There was one interesting passage where he said that invading a country was justified if it improved the lives of the people. I found myself wondering whether the average Iraqi was better off now or back in 2003.

[edelweis]

Hmm is the invasion supposed to improve the lives of the invaded people, or the invading people?

[古文奇才]

Supposed to be the lives of the invaded people. Like liberating them.

 

Mencius also describes historical wars, claiming that some were good and some bad.

[edelweis]

I see. To make a parallel with Irak & Afghanistan, does Mencius advocate annexing/colonizing the invaded countries, or retreating once they're theoretically "pacified"?

[古文奇才]

He would probably say whichever is better for the people.

[edelweis]

Well, doing one or the other doesn't seem to give great results anyway

[imron]

Just a friendly remember this topic is about what you are reading, not various wars and who started them for what reasons.

[muirm]

I finished books 2 and 3 of the 三体 series. Pretty enjoyable science fiction that makes you think in new ways about contact with alien cultures. The author took it over the top at the end of the 3rd book, though, in my opinion.

 

Now I'm back to kung fu novels with 飞狐外传. I moved recently and now have > 1 hour on the train every day, so I should make good progress next year through the rest of 金庸.

 

@imron: I didn't ignore your thumbs-down for 飞狐外传, but I have the entire collection so I'm just going to power through in order regardless...

[lips]

Finished this a while ago.  Interesting perspectives and anecdotes.

 

On China, by Henry Kissinger.

[Guest realmayo]

Just read 余华's 许三观卖血记, I liked it, not as depressing as 活着 but equally straightforward to read, a relatively easy way to ease into the new year. Next up is 麦家's 解密 which I'm sure will be more difficult to read and take a good bit longer.

 

Edit: I should add, I chose the book because it was recommended earlier in this topic.

[Guest realmayo]

Finished 麦家's 解密 (Mai Jia's Decoded). It felt considerably more difficult that Yu Hua. That's true for the language, and also for the plotting which I suppose is intended to be complicated. So not an easy book for me, and I got a bit bored and bogged down in the last third or so of the book, although overall I enjoyed it. But given that I'm trying to read quickly and read lots every day, the book was a bit too complicated to do that and actually enjoy reading it all too. So next up hopefully a much easier book, The Seventh Day 第七天 by Yu Hua.

[dnevets]

I bought 活着 three (three!) summers ago and only ever found the time to get through half a page here and there... laziness... But over the last week or so I've finally read through to the end. Soul-crushingly depressing in parts, but a bloody good read. Highly recommended to anyone that hasn't already read it. Any recommendations for what to tackle next? Difficulty level needs to be about the same, and the same length too, certainly not anything that's longer.

[Guest realmayo]

Obvious choice is more Yu Hua! But you'll want something different. Some people might suggest 平凡的世界 which ticks the box for being of similar difficulty, but unfortunately fails on length because it's probably about 10 times the length.

 

I found it surprisingly difficult online to find suggestions about novels. I got some ideas from combing this topic but not easy. What would be ideal would be something for novels a bit similar to the setup to the First Episodes topic: not with any vocab lists or detailed synopses, but just a list, all in one place, of novels people have read along with a note as to the difficulty, length and subject matter.

 

Of the books that I've got waiting for me to read, the ones that at a glance seem not too difficult are 《我们家》 by 颜歌 and 《成都，今夜请将我遗忘》 by 慕容雪村.

[Guest realmayo]

Meanwhile, I was reminded of this http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/23586-the-2010-aims-and-objectives-progress-thread/page-8#comment-235365 post talking about character counts being given in books published in the PRC (usually shown on the same page that gives publication date etc): I just noticed that these must include punctuation marks as characters, thus plumping up the overall 字数 by, well, a lot.

 

(oh I just saw it's mentioned here too http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/24376-concept-of-word-in-chinese/page-2#comment-202464)

[daofeishi]

I just started a collection of five novellas by 王小波 named after the first of them, 黄金时代. I can't believe I haven't gotten around to read him before now, and also how funny his texts are in a way I think any westerner can relate to. I'm surprised I haven't seen him in translation before, or that so few translations exist for that matter. 

[imron]

and also how funny his texts are in a way I think any westerner can relate to

This book started out ok, but soon bored me to tears.

 

I agree that more Yu Hua is a good idea (check the book of the month sub-forum, there are several of his), and think that 平凡的世界 is actually probably a little more difficult in terms of language so might not be as good a choice just yet.  The same author has another book 《人生》which is not as good, but still ok, and much shorter.

 

If you're wanting a complete change of pace (all the books above are set in, around and just after the cultural revolution) you might consider 《圈子圈套》which is set in more modern times (it focuses on sever Beijing-based IT companies). See discussion here.  There'll be a bunch of technical and business jargon to get familiar with, but the language used isn't particularly difficult and it's a decent read.

 

See also this post of mine, where I list the books I'd read that year, pointing out which ones I think are suitable for people just starting to get comfortable reading novels.

[Guest realmayo]

daofeishi，I really enjoyed the title piece 黄金时代 but haven't got around to reading any of the others -- they're all good (so far)?

[roddy]

Great to see someone discovering Wang Xiaobo - there are quite a few posts in the archives from me way back when. 

Here's one and Gato is also a fan. His longer pieces I do struggle with a bit, but his essays I have fond memories of. Used to go an extra circuit of Line 2 in Beijing to read a few more...

 

I believe the rights to his works are very tightly held, hence the lack of translations.