What are you reading?

[Lu]

56 minutes ago, realmayo said:

Lu what 迪安 book are you reading? I see there are several on Amazon Kindle.

芙蓉如面柳如眉.

[imron]

Realmayo, out of curiosity which one have you left til later?

[Guest realmayo]

Imron, it's 在细雨中呼喊 -- not for any particular reason, probably because I just heard less about it.

 

Thanks Lu, have bought it from Amazon.cn, it better be 2 RMB well spent!

[Lu]

I will personally reimburse you if it isn't worth every 分.

[imron]

@realmayo that's probably one of my least favourite ones.  Unlike his other novels that one felt a bit all over the place.

[Guest realmayo]

Well thus far I've been very reliant on these forums and in particular this thread for suggestions so perhaps if the novel hasn't 受'd 欢迎 here then basically it's much less likely to come up on my radar....  Of course a lot of my reading suggestions have come from both of you two, though extra kudos has to go to Lu simply by virtue of having several posts on the maiden page of this now very extensive thread! Skylee of course gains infinite merit for starting the thread in the first place

 

I've been meaning to start a post that simply excerpts and organises some of the suggestions and 'reviews'/descriptions from here and elsewhere to make it easier for anyone (including myself) to find stuff.

 

 

 

[imron]

You'll find my thoughts on 在细雨中呼喊 buried in here somewhere. 

[Lu]

Realmayo, glad to have inspired you! I just checked back and I've been on this thread for almost 13 years... The first Chinese book I finished was 棋王 and that's on page 1. Crazy.

[Mati1]

Out of curiosity, are graded readers suitable for this thread? I know that there are not that many ...

 

Other than those, I want to read the titles from the "Abridged Chinese Classic Series" by Sinolingua (围城，家，。。。) which I have sitting on my shelf, but I need to keep learning those 汉字 first.

 

(At the moment and in the near future I am reading the DeFrancis series; bought them all so ... heh)

[roddy]

Graded readers I'm sure would be welcome, but there's quite likely already discussion about whatever you're reading - and if not, you might bring it to more people's attention by starting a new topic. 

[Wurstmann]

I just placed an order for 平凡的世界 and 解忧杂货店 on Taobao, although I'm still not finished with 芙蓉如面柳如眉.

[Geiko]

5 hours ago, realmayo said:

Imron, it's 在细雨中呼喊 -- not for any particular reason, probably because I just heard less about it.

 

I agree with Imron, after having read 活著 and 許三觀賣血記，this book was very disappointing. Even if the vocabulary was quite simple, I had a hard time reading this novel, the story wasn't chronological, in one chapter one character dies and in the next chapter he talks about his youth, it was very confusing, and several times I thought it was better to give up. In the end I finished it, but I've already forgotten it

[Geiko]

I just finished reading 步步驚心, recommended by Skylee in the Chinese chick lit topic. It was harder than the books I've been reading so far, and there's a lot of "outdated" vocabulary （朕、福晉 、太監、貝勒、姬妾、plus the names of historical characters from early Qing dynasty). But it's easier than other period novels, so it's a good beginning if you're interested in this genre. It has 409千字，535頁 and I spent two and a half months to finish it (there was Chrismas in the middle, if I can use it as an excuse, and by the end I was a bit bored). There is also a TV series, but according to wikipedia, the end is different, (possible spoiler alert) 

 

 in the TV drama it ends "well".

[Lu]

20 hours ago, Mati1 said:

are graded readers suitable for this thread?

Anything is suitable for this thread, I think. Even books that have nothing whatsoever to do with China. I only post my Chinese and China-related books, but others write about other books sometimes.

[abcdefg]

Just wanted to say how much I admire you diligent "readers." I keep following this thread with hope in my heart, though I still only read at the level of a child. Lu and Realmayo and Imron and others: you are an inspiration! Maybe one of these days I'll knuckle down and make some headway with reading in Chinese simply for pleasure, but I refuse to make any rash promises.

[laurenth]

On 07/02/2017 at 9:57 AM, realmayo said:

Personally I don't know if not reading someone because you like them too much is a good idea.

 

If you fear that you could run out of 余华 material, you could also contemplate reading some of his novels more than once. I know I should. 观卖血记 and 活着  were among the first novels I read in Chinese. But my reading ability has improved quite a lot since then. Back then, there were some parts and many details that were lost to me. Now, thankfully, the parts I'm forced to gloss over or skip have become infrequent. I've read 天下无贼 three times (the novella, not the whole book). Each time, I discovered and enjoyed things that I had not fully understood previously. 

[Guest realmayo]

On 08/02/2017 at 1:41 PM, laurenth said:

you could also contemplate reading some of his novels more than once

Ha that's a good point except ... where some of 余华's novels are concerned I don't think I have the emotional resilience! 许三观卖血记 might be a possibility though, or 第七天.

[Guest realmayo]

On 06/02/2017 at 10:08 AM, Lu said:

Did the main character, Xia Fangran, murder them, or did something else happen?

I gave up on 韩寒 about a third of the way through and have now started this so ... I'm sure you'll use spoiler tags if you report back on the ending right

 

Also I have the author as 笛安, did you do a typo or does she go by different spellings?

 

Am also reading 这些人，那些事 by 吴念真 which @Geiko recommended earlier in this topic and I'm enjoying that too.

 

[Lu]

You're right, it's 笛安, I've been misspelling it. Corrected my earlier post. And don't worry, I say so very little about the content because I didn't want to spoil anything!

 

This week I read short stories by Ba Jin ('The general', about an exiled Russian man in China and his wife, both very unhappy), Ye Zhaoyan (didn't like it much, but I went into it with an existing dislike for Ye, so it might be better than I give it credit for) and Feng Tang ('Xiao Ming', satirical scifi-ish story which I found very funny. I vaguely remember something about Feng Tang being horribly sexist elsewhere, but this story was just good fun and quite biting. I liked it a lot).

 

ETA: Also read a short story by Yan Ge, of whom I'm hearing more and more. 'The writer who lives in a suitcase', also very nice.

[Guest realmayo]

As it happens, someone suggested I read Feng Tang just a couple of days ago. It was only then I realised he's one of the regulars on the 锵锵三人行 talkshow. Hmm and I have several of his books in e-format from when I was last in China.