recommended novel to prepare for the HSK6 exam?

[yedafu]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for a nice Chinese book to read while preparing for the HSK6 exam.back on the days when i was preparing for an English exam i was reading the Hary potter series which was great(great as in not to many new words and a nice plot that keep you reading). so i was wondering what will be an appropriate book for the HSK6 exam, i would like some native novel and not one that translated into Chinese. 

so any suggestions? 

Thanks! 

 

 

[Angelina]

I find 《十点读书》decent light reading material. 

[yedafu]

thanks! but its like small articles on variety of topics isnt it? i would like a real book...

[Angelina]

Yes, small articles published every day at 10 pm. 

[Guest realmayo]

A lot of people start out with 《活着》 by 余华, which I think could be the kind of novel you're after.

[ZhangKaiRong]

I second on Yu Hua, most of his books are very good, language is contemporary one, and even though he uses a lot of chengyus, most of them are quite useful and a nice addition to your vocab. On top of 活着，兄弟 also very good.

 

I can also recommend you 慕容雪村, a good novel of his is 成都，今夜请将我遗忘.

 

我们家 from 颜歌创 is also quite funny, especially if you have been to Sichuan/Chengdu before, you will laugh a lot on the typical characteristics of the region.

[Angelina]

I still maintain that 微信 is a good place to start reading Chinese. Here is one article (written by 余华) on how 余华 once despised 鲁迅. Here is how 《十点读书》celebrated 鲁迅's birthday with a moustache GIF.  When it comes to printed books, 余华 and 鲁迅 are obvious choices, the language of 余华 being more contemporary and better for beginners. 

[laurenth]

Angelina,  what is 《十点读书》? Googling that title returns all sorts of links on Weibo, Ximalaya, Weixin, etc.  Thanks.

[Angelina]

[laurenth]

Thanks Angelina, found it.

[Angelina]

If you find anything similar, do share. 

 

I have discovered a literary magazine called INK:Literary Monthly 《印刻文學生活誌》

[imron]

I second on Yu Hua

And I third him :-)

 

If you're looking for something more contemporary, 《圈子圈套》is also a decent read.

[eslang]

@ yedafu

 

Chinese Text Sampler: Readings in Chinese Literature, History, and Popular Culture

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dporter/sampler/sampler.html

The numerical ratings next to each title provide a rough measure, on a scale from one to seven, of the relative difficulty of the text based on the usage frequency of the characters it contains in modern Chinese. A low number indicates a relatively accessible text, with a low percentage of less commonly used characters. A higher number indicates a more difficult text, with a higher percentage of such characters. This measure does not, obviously, take into account the additional challenges posed by texts written in the traditional literary style.
 

@ Angelina

Maybe the site below might be of interest to you?

 

《中国文艺》杂志电子版 中国文艺杂志在线阅读 全刊杂志赏析网

http://qkzz.net/magazine/1683-4410
 

Example: 

For 'pure literature', search can be narrow down to ''纯文学"

纯文学类杂志大全

http://qkzz.net/pure/

 

Or further research and studies into 'literature by authors from the minority area' "民族文学"

《民族文学》杂志电子版

http://qkzz.net/Magazine/0257-2850/index_2.htm

 

Lately, I like this author's style of writing, and start reading some of his works.

房间(小说) - 全刊杂志在线阅读

于晓威 (满族)

http://doc.qkzz.net/article/c8fe05b7-93a5-402e-81aa-165351286655.htm

 

　作者简介:于晓威,满族,1970年生,毕业于上海社科院首届全国作家研究生班。中国作家协会会员,辽宁省作家协会主席团成员。在《收获》、《上海文学》、《民族文学》、《小说界》等数十种文学刊物发表中短篇小说100多万字。作品多次被选刊转载,并被选入国家九年义务教育初中语文课本,以及多种版本“中国年度最佳小说选”。著有小说集《L形转弯》、《勾引家日记》,长篇小说《我在你身边》。作品被翻译成多种文字。曾获全国少数民族文学创作“骏马奖”、辽宁文学奖、辽宁省优秀青年作家奖等奖项。

 

 

[mouse]

I wouldn't recommend Lu Xun nor most of the stuff on the Chinese Text Sampler. Too old. If you write like May Fourth writers, you're likely to lose marks in exams. Also most of literary, dialect and obsolete vocabulary you come across in those texts are highly unlikely to appear in an HSK exam.

 

San Mao is good for simple, straightforward Chinese. I also recommend Yu Hua, but it might be a good idea to pick up his 十个词汇里的中国, as it fits more with the kind of material the HSK is likely to test you on.

 

Frankly, I think you'll be better off reading newspapers than novels if you want to prepare for the HSK.

[Angelina]

Lu Xun is like Shakespeare for Chinese, no one wants to speak English like Shakespeare, but there is a big difference between non-native speakers who have read Shakespeare and non-native speakers who have not read Shakespeare, the first group would easily pass any language proficiency exams. 

 

Having said that, it is better to start with Yu Hua. 

[laurenth]

I also recommend Yu Hua, but it might be a good idea to pick up his 十个词汇里的中国, as it fits more with the kind of material the HSK is likely to test you on.

 

 

Maybe it's a stupid question, but is 十个词汇里的中国 available at all in simplified characters? I thought the book was banned on the continent.

[Angelina]

I haven't seen 《十个词汇里的中国》in any bookstores or libraries, but I haven't looked for it, will try to see if it is available. 

[Angelina]

I haven't seen 《十个词汇里的中国》in any bookstores or libraries, but I haven't looked for it, will try to see if it is available. 

[mouse]

 

 

Lu Xun is like Shakespeare for Chinese, no one wants to speak English like Shakespeare, but there is a big difference between non-native speakers who have read Shakespeare and non-native speakers who have not read Shakespeare, the first group would easily pass any language proficiency exams. 

 

If you say so.

 

 

Maybe it's a stupid question, but is 十个词汇里的中国 available at all in simplified characters? I thought the book was banned on the continent.

 

Oh yeah, good point, I didn't even think of that. Yes I think it's only available in full-form, so scratch that.

[imron]

I wouldn't say Shakespeare, more like Dickens.

With Shakespeare there's quite a bit of it that is unintelligible to a native speaker without some kind of reading guide and explanation. Dickens however just feels a bit antiquated.