Book reading for December?

[roddy]

No, but have got something from books.com.tw. Ooh, and their own e-reader...

[murrayjames]

On 4/28/2020 at 10:04 AM, roddy said:

The only thing I can see above where there's any agreement is 曹文轩' s 草鞋湾, the kids detective story. Which I realise might not be to everyone's taste, but Lu's going to be reading it anyway, Xiao Kui's said he's on board, and I'm keen to get us started on something.

 

Yes, let’s do it! I just bought the book on 京东. The artwork looks great, by the way (pictures attached).

 

 

 

 

[roddy]

Excellent. I'm enjoying the tracking on JD.com, it's updated three or four times already. Currently my book is on the way to the 京东专线 . Whatever that means. I see they have a note about possible delays due to .... y'know... but does anyone have any idea how long it might take to arrive here in the UK? 

 

I'd suggest anyone who wants to participate orders a copy (it's also on Kindle from Amazon.cn if that works) and we get started when... three people have a copy, and one of those takes the initiative and starts a topic? 

[Lu]

Sounds good. I still have 150 pages to go in my current book (六人晚餐 by 陆敏), so a little delay works very well for me. I'll try to finish this book as soon as I can, so I can read along with this new one.

[PerpetualChange]

Just to confirm - so this book is NOT available aside outside online ordering from Mainland websites and Mainland ebook stores? 

That excludes my ability to participate but that's fine, I will check in occasionally and maybe the next book will be one more wildly available to those not in China. 

[roddy]

Not necessarily, it can be found on Amazon.com (at a bit of a premium) and you might turn it up on ebay (wrong book, right author) or similar site with a bit of luck. I'm in the UK, but have ordered from JD.com on their global site - was able to use a UK mobile number for verification and a UK bank card for payment, so no reason it wouldn't work from the states. 'Course, I haven't got it yet...

[imron]

Did anyone manage to find an electronic version of this for sale from somewhere that doesn't require a Chinese phone number to register?

[roddy]

No. While looking, I did find a preview if that helps anyone.

[roddy]

My book's due Tuesday 12th, according to Fed Ex. Oddly the three books I ordered slightly later the same day are due this Thursday. 

[roddy]

How're people getting on with attempts to get the book? Mine's coming via Fedex now, but slower than it might have been normally - hopefully here early next week. @murrayjames, @PerpetualChange, were you able to get copies? @imron, are you joining us?

[somethingfunny]

My copy also due next Tuesday.

[imron]

1 hour ago, roddy said:

@imron, are you joining us?

Probably not, but I was interested in getting an electronic copy for analysis.

[roddy]

I did spend a bit of time looking to see if a copy had fallen onto the internet anywhere, but no joy. Possibly just too new. It could be out there, I wasn't looking very long.

[murrayjames]

My hardcopy arrived last week, two days after I ordered it. Mail to Shanghai sure is fast.

 

Like Roddy, I was not able to find an electronic copy online. I searched for various phrases from the book (in quotes) on Google. That almost always works; in this case, nothing came up.

[PerpetualChange]

17 hours ago, roddy said:

How're people getting on with attempts to get the book? Mine's coming via Fedex now, but slower than it might have been normally - hopefully here early next week. @murrayjames, @PerpetualChange, were you able to get copies? @imron, are you joining us?

 

I gave up. I did place an order for the physical copy, which will arrive in June apparently (hopefully sooner). If it does ever arrive, I will surely join up and probably just be a few weeks late to the discussion. I am reading about 2% of my current novel per day and am already 34% through, so I suspect I will be ready to begin my next novel when this arrives anyway. I will fill the gaps with some short articles in the meantime. 

 

I am interesting in reading a children's book. I've often been recommended to read Childen's books or watch cartoons by native Chinese speakers, but in my opinion, books and TV for children and teenagers are not necessarily easier for second language learners than adult books, because most language learners who have studied a few years will have learned to express themselves on a variety of topics, while children can communicate with great depth on a narrower subset of topics. In other words, the hours you spent cramming about 環保 in Chinese Semester 4 probably won't matter much when a children's book hits you with colloquialisms and adjectives and binomes and even chengyu and common sayings that your coursework found superfluous to teach. So I am very curious. So far I have read 小王子，活著，家，撒哈拉故事 in that order, and the first was easily the hardest one with the most word look ups, and not necessarily because it was my first novel IMO. 

[roddy]

Mine's turned up. So Lu, @murrayjames, and I have copies, @somethingfunny has one on the way. @Xiao Kui, are you joining us? Anyone else? 

 

There seems to be some readings on Ximalaya, but not sure they're official or complete. 

 

I'm still finishing off 荒潮, hoping to get through that this week. If anyone wants to get started, do go ahead and post a new topic, otherwise I'll get to it when I can. As long as we start in May...

[Lu]

I finished my previous book on Saturday and will start this one today. I'll make a new topic unless someone else does it first.

[somethingfunny]

Mine just arrived. 

[PerpetualChange]

6 hours ago, roddy said:

Anyone else? 

I should be able to join up in June. 

[Lu]

Alright, I made a topic. It's here. I plan to read one or two chapters (10-20 pages) daily but I don't know if I'll also be that diligent about posting (especially vocab lists), so if someone else wants to contribute, they are very welcome. And if something is missing from that first post, let me know and I'll add it in. I've never been 主持人 of the Book of the Month before.