leosmith Posted October 18, 2011 at 10:22 AM Report Posted October 18, 2011 at 10:22 AM I know there are some other threads on this, but this is tailored to my specific needs. I would like suggestions for some novels to buy while I’m here in Beijing. Here are the requirements. Absolute requirements: Originally written in Mandarin. In other words, an English book translated into Mandarin isn’t acceptable. Has a translation in English. It’s acceptable if the English translation isn’t available in Beijing, as long as it is available in the US. Is paper. Online, kindle, etc not acceptable. Is a paperback. No hardbacks. Easy to moderate difficulty. I can get through any of the Chinese Breeze readers pretty easily without looking anything up, but I realize I’m still a beginner. So, the easier the better. Content. The book must have a happy ending, be generally up-beat, have good conquering evil, the guy getting the girl, etc. I prefer fiction. Adventure, mystery, romance, suspense. I don’t like poetry, war, politics, religion, horror. Absolutely no children’s books. It must take place during modern times. I prefer books about things that could really happen, and deal mainly with real life situations, but don’t mind the occasional stretch of the imagination (for example, the matrix would be ok, but star wars wouldn’t). All this being said, I realize that any decent book is going to touch upon some of the things I don’t like, and that’s ok as long as the main theme isn’t one of those. 100-600 pages long Not necessary, but would be nice: a) Mandarin audio b) parallel text format, for example, one page Mandarin, one page English c) occasional adult content d) pinyin, but only if it’s way off to the side or on a different page Quote
imron Posted October 18, 2011 at 11:28 AM Report Posted October 18, 2011 at 11:28 AM Consider 活着 by 余华. It meets most of your requirements although it does have some not so up-beat moments, and it's not so modern times (40's (?) to present time), and while it is fiction, it's more drama than adventure. It touches on war and politics, but only so much as those things are happening around the events of the story (can't really be avoided in that timeframe for anything set in China) and are not central parts of the story itself. On the plus side, it is originally Mandarin, has an English translation, is readily available in paperback, is easy-to-moderate in difficultly level and is under 200 pages long. We have a thread currently discussing it, but even without that, I would still recommend it as a first book. 1 Quote
imron Posted October 18, 2011 at 12:15 PM Report Posted October 18, 2011 at 12:15 PM Also, I know you specifically mentioned you wanted something with an English translation in your absolute requirements, but if you're willing to give this up to get everything else, you could also consider 圈子圈套. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted October 19, 2011 at 12:58 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 12:58 AM If you love 散文, you might like these books by Zhang Peiji. Each of the book is a collection of 散文s by modern Chinese writers, along with Zhang's translations. 《英译中国现代散文选 一》 《英译中国现代散文选 二》 《英译中国现代散文选 三》 Quote
miss_China_so_much Posted October 19, 2011 at 08:02 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 08:02 AM 冯骥才《三寸金莲》, you can buy the English translation from Amazon Another book from the same author, 《一百个人的十年》, has been translated into English as well. The English title is <Voices from the Whirlwind>, you can also find from Amazon Oh, I just realized that you want happy ending. Well, 三寸金莲 has a sort of happy ending. 一百个人的十年 is about cultural revolution. It's far from happy but glad it's over, right? Quote
leosmith Posted October 19, 2011 at 09:42 AM Author Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 09:42 AM Consider 活着 by 余华Perfect. Thanks imron.you could also consider 圈子圈套 Unless this is only slightly harder than the Chinese Breeze readers, I'll wait on it.If you love 散文Are you joking, or did you fail to read the first post?It's far from happy but glad it's over, right?ha ha. At least it's not poetry. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:19 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:19 AM I said "if". I knew you were looking for a novel/fiction, but I didn't thought it would hurt to have another option, so there went the post. Well, I shouldn't have ventured the uninvited suggestion. Quote
leosmith Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:45 AM Author Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:45 AM I knew you were looking for a novel/fiction, but I didn't thought it would hurt to have another optionWhy not just admit you didn't read the first post? In it, I said that I don't like poetry. 1 Quote
imron Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:48 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:48 AM Unless this is only slightly harder than the Chinese Breeze readers, I'll wait on it. You can get a feel for the difficulty level here. There are links to the audio book version in the thread I linked to above, which was highly rated by those who listened to it. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:50 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:50 AM Okay, I am sorry. I didn't read it to the end. Quote
imron Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:50 AM Report Posted October 19, 2011 at 10:50 AM In it, I said that I don't like poetry. I wouldn't class 散文 as poetry, although your preference for fiction would probably exclude most of it. Quote
leosmith Posted October 21, 2011 at 03:36 AM Author Report Posted October 21, 2011 at 03:36 AM I stand corrected. My apologies kenny2006woo. But I'm only interested in fiction novels at the moment. No short stories or essays. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted October 21, 2011 at 04:42 AM Report Posted October 21, 2011 at 04:42 AM No worries, Leo. Quote
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