Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Huntn]

​

We recently started Season 3 of The Witcher, and several episodes in, I looked at my wife and asked, do you know what the point of this story is? She said “no“, it just seems to be meandering, so we set it aside.

Then I went and found an early Witcher book, The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and I was both pleased and surprised by how well this story reads, especially if it has been translated from Polish, which I assume. I have read other translated books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and in comparison seemed a little off to me.

Antyway, we meet the Witcher, not an origins story, but his past is mentioned, he goes to a town to take care of a Striga, in this case a Kings daughter transformed into a monster, there is a way to save her, and I was drawn in immediately, the description of the fight was great, while noting I like the genre, which makes a difference I think. So, I’ll continue on.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"The Last Days of The Ottoman Empire" - Ryan Gingeras.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I'm not very far into it yet but so far, it feels like one that I will revisit multiple times!

 

[KaliYoni]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and that in comparison seemed a little off to me.

Yes, all three of the books in that series have clunky and drab English translations. My recollection is that nobody thought they had a massive hit on their hands so a quick-and-dirty translation was commissioned. So quick-and-dirty, in fact, that the translator chose to use a pseudonym!

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Seeing a post about Polish-to-English works made me think of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft. My flippant blurb about it is "Kundera without the sexism". Or if a Polish countryside noir in a Maupassant vein seems more appealing, check out Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (I don’t feel the translation is as expressive as Croft's work, though).

And now that I'm talking about weird stories, nobody tops Ottessa Moshfegh.

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is on my TBR; I’ve heard good things about it. I also want to read Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh.

 

[AL2TEACH]

 

[Huntn]

Yes, all three of the books in that series have clunky and drab English translations. My recollection is that nobody thought they had a massive hit on their hands so a quick-and-dirty translation was commissioned. So quick-and-dirty, in fact, that the translator chose to use a pseudonym!

----------
Seeing a post about Polish-to-English works made me think of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft. My flippant blurb about it is "Kundera without the sexism". Or if a Polish countryside noir in a Maupassant vein seems more appealing, check out Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (I don’t feel the translation is as expressive as Croft's work, though).

And now that I'm talking about weird stories, nobody tops Ottessa Moshfegh.

I would guess that to translate a book, you’d have to be fluent in both languages, and you’d need to possess good novel writing skills. For GwtDT it seemed to have all the elements of a thriller but was a bore to read lacking the highs I’d espect a thriller to have. 🤔

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"The Last Days of The Ottoman Empire" - Ryan Gingeras.

This is brilliant; incredibly well researched, absolutely fascinating, a most unusual and compelling perspective, and crammed full of details (or connections, or links, of the 'join the dots' variety) that I hadn't known until now.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I would guess that to translate a book, you’d have to be fluent in both languages, and you’d need to possess good novel writing skills.

Re translation (and I have known professional translators), not only do you have to be fluent (exceptionally fluent, flawlessly fluent) in both languages, but the "rule of thumb", or standard practice, is that you translate whatever the text is into your own (native) language.

For GwtDT it seemed to have all the elements of a thriller but was a bore to read lacking the highs I’d espect a thriller to have. 🤔

Actually, I think that the book may have presented challenges (to the reader) even in the original language.

Moreover, I have to say that I found the first 50 pages of it hard going; in fact, right up until the appearance of Lisbet Salander - who stole every scene she was in and grabbed the narrative by the throat - it was a tough read.

However, to my mind, once Salander appeared, I couldn't put it down.

 

[Crowbot]

I would guess that to translate a book, you’d have to be fluent in both languages, and you’d need to possess good novel writing skills. For GwtDT it seemed to have all the elements of a thriller but was a bore to read lacking the highs I’d espect a thriller to have. 🤔

It's also helpful for the translator to be fluent in the cultural aspects of both languages. And, of course, an understanding of the idiomatic differences. Saying something in one language can mean something different when directly translated. Like my favorite Yiddish curse:

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's also helpful for the translator to be fluent in the cultural aspects of both languages. And, of course, an understanding of the idiomatic differences. Saying something in one language can mean something different when directly translated. Like my favorite Yiddish curse:
View attachment 2247255

Agreed.

Actually, I should have expressed myself more clearly, but this is also exactly what I meant when I wrote that one needs an "exceptional" or "flawless" fluency, for this includes a cultural knowledge and a nuanced and idiomatic understanding of both languages.

 

[splifingate]

I'm not very far into it yet but so far, it feels like one that I will revisit multiple times!

Oooh! One that I have not read (and did not know was written)!

Thank you

He passed far too soon....

 

[splifingate]

Again, I am reaching the end of a series by Peter F Hamilton (Evolutionary Void).

I don't really know just what it is that keeps me coming back, but I sure do feel closer to the future I had always imagined that I'd want to experience.

 

[Lioness~]

Oooh! One that I have not read (and did not know was written)!

Thank you

He passed far too soon....

He passed, but he’s not gone. He left a huge legacy to the world.
I actualy watched his funeral ceremony live. It was immensely beautiful and very special.
If you miss him, try Plum Village's free app:

‎Plum Village: Zen Meditation

‎Looking to touch peace, calm and ease in today’s frantic and often stressful world? The Plum Village practices are an invaluable support. Use mindfulness meditation techniques taught by a renowned Zen Buddhist Master to connect deeply with the present moment, soothe anxiety, experience more...

apps.apple.com

Maybe especially this: https://link.plumvillage.app/e6uj

 

[splifingate]

He passed, but he’s not gone. He left a huge legacy to the world.
I actualy watched his funeral ceremony live. It was immensely beautiful and very special.
If you miss him, try Plum Village's free app:

‎Plum Village: Zen Meditation

‎Looking to touch peace, calm and ease in today’s frantic and often stressful world? The Plum Village practices are an invaluable support. Use mindfulness meditation techniques taught by a renowned Zen Buddhist Master to connect deeply with the present moment, soothe anxiety, experience more...

apps.apple.com

Maybe especially this: https://link.plumvillage.app/e6uj

Thank you

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

Just started:

The Shards

by Bret Easton Ellis

Ellis is most famous for American Psycho, which I've never read. Stories about killers and murders are not usually my thing, and the subject matter of The Shards is hardly different, but I'm finding I can't put it down. It's written as if Bret himself is looking back on his high school years, and though some of it is based in reality, I don't think he and his friends were ever stalked by a serial killer like the kids in this book. So we'll see where this goes. It's quite long, but I'm already very much into it.

 

[KaliYoni]

Ellis is most famous for American Psycho, which I've never read

Then you can follow up with this:

Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er).

Unlike boomers, who often bristle at being criticized by young people, I say good luck to young people trying to make me and my peers feel bad.

www.nytimes.com

;-)

 

[Jeffrey Hart]

I’m reading Dune.

 

[Crowbot]

Again. The final installment of the series begun with 2001.

 

[obeygiant]

Behold a Pale Horse By Willam Cooper

Written in 1990 fascinating book.

 

[rhett7660]

Book five of the Horus Heresy... This series is pretty darn brutal and if you are into this type of stuff... really good! Oh and the series is some 50+ books and then a few extra books to tie it all up!

 

[skottichan]

Currently, I'm catching up on all the events in the Krakoan Era of the X-Men books (there is a LOT, just finished Sins of Sinister, so I'm getting close).

I recently reread Frank Miller's Born Again run of Daredevil. I wish his modern work as still this good.

 

[Apple_Robert]

David Grann

David Grann is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and an award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker magazine.

www.davidgrann.com

 

[Jeffrey Hart]

Book five of the Horus Heresy... This series is pretty darn brutal and if you are into this type of stuff... really good! Oh and the series is some 50+ books and then a few extra books to tie it all up!

I read the first book in the series. Lots of gore, seemingly senseless violence…but I thought the God-Emperor was pretty cool.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A small pile of books (five, at the current count, and rising) are sitting on the tablecloth in the kitchen, awaiting their return to the library.

Meanwhile, in the library, at least another four books await me, - they are on hold - and shall be collected when I next pay a visit, possibly tomorrow.