Book reading for December?

[Geiko]

I bought 异兽志, so I'll definitely join in October or November! 

[PerpetualChange]

Anyone have a thought on the general difficulty? I own the book but can't understand what it's about based on the back cover summary lol. Something about fantastic beasts and mystical creatures telling a story about human emotions or I'm just missing an elaborate metaphor and should read something else. 

 

I should be done my current novel (Gu Long) by this month.

[Lu]

1 hour ago, PerpetualChange said:

Anyone have a thought on the general difficulty? I own the book but can't understand what it's about based on the back cover summary.

I usually only know how difficult it is after I've started and read a few pages... For older books, often someone has already read them and can say something about the level, but that's usually not the case with new books.

Back cover summaries are often pretty useless, I don't know if Chinese people just have different expectations of back cover summaries, or Chinese publishing houses have a different idea of what people need to know, or if they're just difficult because they tell a complicated story in a few sentences, or some other reason

[roddy]

Geiko and I have both posted links to (perhaps not complete) online versions earlier in the topic, so you can have a look and see how readable it seems. From what I've glanced at, it seems fairly straightforward. 

[PerpetualChange]

I've been woefully bad at updating CTE (I should read a novel inside it just to get it up to speed), but I scored 80% on initial pass and was still marking many words as known. Not great but about as good as any novels I've read have been for me - I'm also sure I'd get a lot of the unknown words in context. 

[ouyangjun]

Count me in for 异兽志.  Just ordered it online to ship here to the US.  Hopefully it arrives prior to October.

[roddy]

Started a new topic for 异兽志, looking forward to seeing what people think. Also edited this topic to open discussion for November - do we have any suggestions? 

[Lu]

I'm considering joining @Fred0 and read 她名叫蝴蝶, which I've owned for so long I don't even remember why I bought it. But I'd also like to read either more Sanmao, or more Zhang Yueran (誓鸟).

[imron]

1 hour ago, Lu said:

I don't even remember why I bought it.

To read it of course!

[Lu]

I have something else to read in the next few weeks (to write a paid book review about, hurray), but if there are plans for December I can join again.

[roddy]

Looks like November has passed us by, does anyone want to think about December? I should have time to read a whole book. No change to what's on my shelf, but it's early enough to buy something else in time and I'm likely happy to follow someone else's lead. 

[Lu]

Let's see... My nominations:

我叫刘跃进, which is on my shelf and also on Roddy's list. I've read a few pages in the past and it looks like vintage Liu Zhenyun: various slightly over-the-top characters from different walks of Chinese life whose lives get intertwined because of unfortunate coincidences. Sarcastic and humourous commentary on Chinese society and life in general.

面包男孩 by Li Shanshan. Li writes lovely and interesting children's poetry, so though this book doesn't necessarily appeal to me in itself it could be good. With pictures and lots of white, looks like a quick read.

石榴树上结樱桃 by Li Er. Douban says: village elections, capable village head is due to be reelected but then a woman has an unlicensed pregnancy and disappears. Li won the Mao Dun Prize last year, for a different book.

 

Nomination for sometime next year:

誓鸟 by Zhang Yueran, which I know nothing about but given the author it must be good.

[Lu]

December is almost upon us, anyone up for a group read? If not I'll just read by myself and not start a topic on it.

[NinKenDo]

I'm just gonna be going through readers this month.