I plan to read my first book - any suggestions?

[xuefang]

I need a book for my 阅读 course. I'm looking for something easy as it's going to be my first Chinese book. I have about 15 to 16 weeks to finish it and then have to write a short review about it. A lot of you have recommended 家 by 巴金, but my teacher thinks it would be easier to read something related to the modern life. I have bought the 家 and it's still very difficult for me.

Do you have any suggestions of a book that is even easier than 家? It doesn't have to be a great book, the most important factor right now is that it's got to be a book I can finish this semester.

[Gleaves]

Join the 活着 effort.

[imron]

I know others on this forum have expressed a different opinion, but I don't think 家 is an appropriate first book. It contains a fair amount of antiquated language, and in my opinion, the story is not particularly gripping. I mean it's still an interesting read and provides some useful insight into Chinese society at the time, but I just didn't find it was the sort of book that you didn't want to put down. In fact often I found it the opposite, and if I hadn't been forcing myself to read a fixed amount each day, I probably would never have finished it. 春 was even worse in this regard, but 秋 on the other hand was much more interesting (but still containing antiquated language use).

A while back I posted in this thread with some recommendations for a first book to read, including 活着, which I think is a much better first book. This is especially so now that there is a current thread on the forums for reading this book.

[xuefang]

Thank you Gleaves and imron! I will take a look at 活着 and ask my teacher what she thinks.

[heifeng]

Read anything by 琼瑶 & then go watch the tv series to see what was changed!

[skylee]

Hi xuefang. That cat in your avatar is cute.

Reading your post I tried to recall what I read when I was a kid/teenager. And I think you could consider these two writers - 三毛 and 亦舒. I think their works are relatively easy, provided that you are not required to read books written by mainland writers. I suggest you consider reading 三毛's 稻草人手記, which I read when I was about 13/14 IIRC. For something written by 亦舒, you could consider her 朝花夕拾 (note - not the book of the same name by Lu Xun), or 喜寳.

[xuefang]

@heifeng, Thank you for recommendation! Our teacher actually said that it would be a good choise to choose a book that is based on a TV series (or the other way around) so we could watch and read, making it easier for us to understand.

@skylee, That's my cat Lucy, she is super cute! Anything in Chinese will do, even translations. I will check those books out and see what could be the most suitable for me. My vocabulary isn't that big yet and it's going to be a huge challenge for me to read my first Chinese book, but in the same time I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you everyone again for helping me! It's nice to have a few options.

[skylee]

Those books I suggested, I still enjoy reading them, after all these years. Wow.

[feihong]

If you must have a science fiction novel as your first Chinese book, you could do a lot worse than 饥饿游戏 (The Hunger Games). I'm sure there are easier books to read, but considering the genre it doesn't have too many weird words or phrases, and it's written for a young adult audience. In terms of sub-genre, it's a speculative science fiction thriller. It's also not very long, but if you're not at 3000 characters yet you'll probably be using the dictionary quite a bit.

[Lu]

But isn't The Hunger Games an American (or at least English-language) book? In my opinion, one of the great things about learning a foreign language is that you can now appreciate its literature in the original. If you're going to read a book in Chinese, might as well read a Chinese book.

That said, I support the 活着 suggestion: it's not too thick, easy language, the story keeps you reading, and of course there is now a thread on it. My first book was 棋王 by 张系国 (if I got that name correct...), thicker than 活着 and a little more difficult, but a fun book. Taiwan's NTNU has a textbook on it, with much of the vocabulary explained.

[feihong]

Yes, reading Chinese literature is great, but the advantage of reading The Hunger Games as a first book is specifically that it is an American book, so you can refer back to the original text if you didn't quite understand something. But I see that I forgot to mention that in my initial reply. Also, I think that within its genre, The Hunger Games is well-written but still relatively easy to read.

[Lu]

the advantage of reading The Hunger Games as a first book is specifically that it is an American book, so you can refer back to the original text if you didn't quite understand something.

Then I would still recommend a Chinese book that has been translated into English.

[Gleaves]

I'm guessing this goes without saying, but I just thought I would add that I've had good luck reading what interests me. At times this has meant reading things a good bit above my level and also translations (for instance, I wanted to read A Game of Thrones, so I figure why not do it in Chinese). Struggling through a difficult book that I am enjoying is much easier for me than cruising through an easier book that I find dull (I have been limping through 家 for months).

[skylee]

Struggling through a difficult book that I am enjoying is much easier for me than cruising through an easier book that I find dull

I agree.

[Lu]

Of course you should read what interests you. The main thing is to keep reading, if the book is boring it'll just put you off it. If you can read above your level and but still keep reading, of course that's what you should do.

I still maintain that reading books that have been translated from your own native language into Chinese is a bit of a waste of effort. Generally you'll enjoy it more in the original. Game of Thrones is very much a case in point: I wouldn't say it's a fine example of good writing (the story is good, the writing not particularly, imo), but Martin does have some fun with archaic or modified-archaic English and I would worry whether that comes across in translation.

[Gleaves]

Stuff definitely gets lost in translation. For me, it is just about motivation/fun. Most of the time I have a book from a Chinese author I want to read, but sometimes I don't. So if the choice is read a book in English or read a translated version, I'll go with the Chinese version simply out of an interest to practice my Chinese.