Rdearman 2016-24 You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too.

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rdearman
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:07 pm



OK, quick review of this book. The spine of the book had some wonderful glue, it didn't break or crack and all the pages stayed in. OK, now that I've covered everything good about the book...

About halfway through, I had a look online at some reviews. I thought perhaps it was just me since this book had won some literary prize (Prix de Flore), but many of the reviewers had the same view as me. Chiant, chiant, chiant (Boring, boring, boring).
C'est atrocement mauvais !!! autant sur le fond que sur la forme. Un auteur surestimé !!! On se moque des lecteurs…

I generally prefer genre books, scifi, murder, action, thriller, etc. I like those books because the characters do stuff! They kill a dragon, have a car chase, shoot a blaster, investigate a murder, they do something. This book is all about navel-gazing. Any action happens "off-stage" and is generally related back by the POV character. The scifi book was bad because it was just a crazy mixture of words, this book is bad because it sucks. It does however appear to be a bit like marmite, you love it, or you hate it. I'm firmly in the hate it camps. I persevered however and learned a lot of words, which I probably don't need. Lots of swear words, slang words for homosexuals, Jewish people, condoms, etc. Many medical terms relating to HIV & AIDS and associated issues.

There was one section I didn't understand anything, even though I knew the words. I think this part was referring to something which happened in France in the 80's or 90's and I just didn't have the social context to figure it out. Sometimes, knowing all the words still won't let you comprehend what is going on!

Next up:



In 1978, la ruche d'Hellstrom (Hellstrom's Hive) won the Prix Tour-Apollo Award for best science fiction novel published in French. I have read most of Frank Herbert's books, but I don't remember reading this one. I've looked quickly through it, and it is going to be difficult for me. It is 400+ pages of very small print dense text.

===
So you might be wondering if after 10 of the 21 books if I'm actually improving? Errr... probably? The last book I was averaging about 90 pages a day, and I think actually it was more like 120 per day since I had a longish break from it for about a day and a half, (OMG it is boring, anyway) so I think I'm still averaging a little less than a page per minute. After I'd looked up most of the slang and swear words, I rarely had to stop to look anything up, so I'm going to say that I'm improving even if I'm not, and I'm just self-delusional.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:32 am

rdearman wrote:There was one section I didn't understand anything, even though I knew the words. I think this part was referring to something which happened in France in the 80's or 90's and I just didn't have the social context to figure it out. Sometimes, knowing all the words still won't let you comprehend what is going on!


I thought of this the other week. Sometimes you know each individual word and still don't understand what it's about. (And interestingly enough, sometimes you don't know all the words, but still understand perfectly what is going on.) I'm starting to think that Context is Everything to a polyglot. :?
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Sun Jul 25, 2021 3:32 pm


Quick update on the book. Yes, it is a much more difficult read, I've only managed 56 pages. The text is dense, and the words are difficult. But the words are almost always hard at the beginning until you get the author's style and wording. So I'm hoping to make faster progress as I get into the book. But it is WAY more interesting than the last book, and things are already happening. Carlos the spy has already been captured by the hive after spending the day snooping around with binoculars.


I wanted to post about the other stuff I'm doing, not just the French reading. I've continued to do a lot of language exchanges. Each week I do at least 2-3 exchanges in Italian, and one in Mandarin, and one in French. I am still watching a lot of Korean dramas, and I want to get back into doing some actual study of the language. I did a little review of the projects that I currently have going, and it amounts to 21. Coincidentally, the same number as the number of French books I had to read. All on top of looking for a job at the moment. (I can't live on my YouTube income because it is equal to zero. :lol: )

So for The Autodidactic Podcast I decided to run a series on my own "Destupidification Project" which involves me using all the techniques I talked about in previous seasons to teach myself things. So that is 13 weeks of pretty intense study. I've also linked this to my YouTube channel to show the results of what I'm talking about on the podcast, so in addition to sound editing, there is a lot of video editing as well. I've memorized PI to 50 decimal places, and now I'm working on memorizing all the squares up to 100.

I've got another 11 French books to read, although I've not imposed a deadline on that, I'm trying to read at least an hour each day. Then I have ~16 paperbacks in Italian to tackle.

I am writing a prequel and a third book in my action series (I figured out how you can click on a book image, try it):


So I need to spend 1-2 hours a day just writing, I'm already about a year overdue on delivering these books. :(

I am writing a proposal for a non-fiction language learning book to send off to a publisher (hopefully before the end of next month). Still need to complete the proposal and then figure out which publisher to hit up first.

Then I've got the "honey dew" list from the wife with a ton of things which have to be repaired, fixed, cleaned or otherwise sorted out around the house.

I'm considering getting back to running another marathon. I've done 2 already, so I know what a commitment they are in terms of training, but we'll see about this one. I don't know if I really want to do this, but it would help with the diet and health, and stop me sitting around so much.

I want to do a series of videos on how to use Gradint to create your own Pimsleur type of audio courses. I've been meaning to do this for a while, ever since I did my own for Mandarin using the Spoonfed Chinese audio, and one for Setswana using the Peace Corps audio.

My Italian language exchanges are going pretty well. The people I'm speaking with are regulars, so we've now got past all the friends, family and what have you done today type discussions after having exhausted them. Now we're moving on to doing picture drills or picking obscure topics. For example, this week I was explaining servo motors, embedded programming and things like conveyor belt controls, etc. So I'm really going deep in the weeds for Italian, and it is cool. Learning words which even the native speakers have to look up!
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Jul 25, 2021 4:53 pm

rdearman wrote:I want to do a series of videos on how to use Gradint to create your own Pimsleur type of audio courses. I've been meaning to do this for a while, ever since I did my own for Mandarin using the Spoonfed Chinese audio, and one for Setswana using the Peace Corps audio.
Well done on all fronts. I like the idea of a do-it-yourself Pimsleur series.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:44 am

rdearman wrote:My Italian language exchanges are going pretty well. The people I'm speaking with are regulars, so we've now got past all the friends, family and what have you done today type discussions after having exhausted them. Now we're moving on to doing picture drills or picking obscure topics. For example, this week I was explaining servo motors, embedded programming and things like conveyor belt controls, etc. So I'm really going deep in the weeds for Italian, and it is cool. Learning words which even the native speakers have to look up!
The French women approached by Easy French seem to have a view of the stereotypical italian as charming and sophisticated, so you should perhaps try to work some italianisms into your French :-)
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:38 am

DaveAgain wrote:
rdearman wrote:My Italian language exchanges are going pretty well. The people I'm speaking with are regulars, so we've now got past all the friends, family and what have you done today type discussions after having exhausted them. Now we're moving on to doing picture drills or picking obscure topics. For example, this week I was explaining servo motors, embedded programming and things like conveyor belt controls, etc. So I'm really going deep in the weeds for Italian, and it is cool. Learning words which even the native speakers have to look up!
The French women approached by Easy French seem to have a view of the stereotypical italian as charming and sophisticated, so you should perhaps try to work some italianisms into your French :-)

I doubt the wife would encourage that behaviour. But also there was a survey.


French people who were surveyed, the language of love was Italian and the most attractive accent to hear someone speaking French was the English one, taking 39% of the vote.

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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:40 am



I'm more than halfway through this book now, and it is really good. Like most Frank Herbert books to be honest. I should complete it this weekend, all things being equal. But something has occurred which might set back my reading. I have got a job. So I'll be spending at least a couple of days a week travelling into the office and then working at home. But this will curtail quite a bit of reading and watching Korean dramas. As well as my podcast and other things. Still, it is always good to have an income! It might be that the amount of books reads increases, since I will now have some dead time while commuting.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby IronMike » Fri Jul 30, 2021 12:47 pm

Congrats!
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Fri Jul 30, 2021 12:59 pm

IronMike wrote:Congrats!

Thanks. I was getting very worried there for a while, but it seems the opening up after the pandemic has created a huge flood of new jobs in the UK. So just need to complete Yea Olde Probationary Period, and then start thinking about a nice holiday next year. Maybe Korea. :)

EDIT: I realize the pandemic isn't over with, I'm just referring to the loosening of restrictions in the UK. ;)
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:19 pm



Another top book by Frank Herbert. It is about a secret group of humans who model their lives upon social insects, and the unsettling events that unfold after they are discovered by a deep undercover agency of the U.S. government. I really did like this book, although the ending was a little predictable for me. Probably because I have read a lot of his books, and they have a sort of cynical ending. Anyway, I wouldn't like to give any spoilers, so just have a read in whatever language you want.

I pondered a long time on what book I should start next. I looked at Lucrèce "La Nature Des Choses" 300 pages of ancient Roman poetry.... not just yet. Then I looked at "Le roman français depuis la guerre", which is a book about books! It is just a couple of pages about a book and an author. Sort of an encyclopedia of French literature after the war. It isn't really a book, but a reference book, and I'm seriously considering pulling it out of the books I plan to read and just throw it away. I put it back on the shelf, I don't know if I'll throw it out or just muddle through it, but either way it has gone to the back of the queue.

So next up is:

It seems that "Le gerfaut des brumes" is a series and I have book three called "Le Trésor". I'm going to assume that I don't have to have read the first two books, and I'm not going to read them anyway. There were no reviews of it on Goodreads, although many people rated it 4-5 stars, so hopefully it will be good.

I think I am probably making a mistake by pushing a lot of the stuff I'm dreading back to the end. Sometimes I think I'll be sick of reading French by then, and I'm only going to torture myself. Other times I think that I'll be fantastic at French reading by then, and they will be a breeze to read. I also wonder what my new colleagues will think if they see me reading a romance novel in French. :lol:
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