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 Aug 13, 2021 7:11 pm



This book is not tracking well. In a week I have only managed 50 odd pages. Which leaves me with about 400 pages. At this rate it will be October before I complete it.

My new French colleague who saw me reading in French promised to bring me some of his old French books. Sigh. I seem to be gaining French books not loosing them!

I have picked up Korean again. I am actually booking a trip for next year, so I have dug out the FSI. I might ditch the French on the train since it doesn't work for me anyway. Or just cram lots of reading into the weekend.

I have noticed however that even this minor slow down is causing some slippage of vocabulary. Lot's of words I had worked out from context I lost and have to lookup or figure out again. Massive input does help. I really want to pickup FSI French again but that is a bridge too far.

Also I made a stupid bet with Kris Broholm that involves me doing a lot of work, or loosing a lot of money. For some reason I seem to believe that there is 72 hours in a day and I sign up for all kinds of stuff I don't have time for.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby jeffers » Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:02 pm

rdearman wrote:My new French colleague who saw me reading in French promised to bring me some of his old French books. Sigh. I seem to be gaining French books not loosing them!

That could be the start never-ending cycle, but you could make it work to your benefit by giving them some of your books French books that you don't want to read.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Fri Aug 13, 2021 9:40 pm

jeffers wrote:
rdearman wrote:My new French colleague who saw me reading in French promised to bring me some of his old French books. Sigh. I seem to be gaining French books not loosing them!

That could be the start never-ending cycle, but you could make it work to your benefit by giving them some of your books French books that you don't want to read.

Well that would take the sting out of the challenge. :D
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:59 pm



OK, I'm ready for this book to be over with now. I'm 6 pages away from the 1/2 way mark. The book is a bit odd for me. The main character professes his undying love for his wife, escapes the Bastille and pretends to be dead. Shags some evil woman just because she professes to love him and tells him about some conspiracy (which he stops). Discovers his wife is about to be killed because she threatens the queen and accuses her of having him killed for some reason (something to do with events in one of the first two books, which I don't have), since she doesn't know he is only pretending to be dead. I thought it was a romance novel, and I don't have much experience reading romance novels, but I'm pretty sure they aren't like this.

The reason for the slow reading speed here is twofold. Firstly, as I have said before commuting distractions stop me from reading along quickly, so I have parked that, and I'm just studying Korean on the train. Secondly, this book is written by a French author for French people. Previous books were translations of books written in Spanish or English into French (for the most part) and this author has a very good grasp of the French language and a good vocabulary. This is at odds with the reader, who has a poor grasp of the French language and a poor vocabulary. I think that translations tend to be done in a simpler language.

Tonight I will pass the 1/2 way point, and I'll only have another 269 pages to go. But I am really ready for this book to be done. I'm not even contemplating the next book on the list yet, but I am definitely going to try to pick something small, easy, and interesting.

In other news, I've stopped doing language exchanges since I just don't have time for them. Other than the reading in French and study of Korean on the train, I've more or less stopped with everything. I am hoping to be able to do some 45 minute language exchanges during my lunch hour, but don't know how successful that will be. It has never really worked for me before.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:00 am


YAY! I am done. I think this was one of the more difficult books for me of the 21. Basically it was written for French natives by a French author with an excellent grasp of their native language and a huge vocabulary. I don't have the same skills, so I struggled. The latter half of the book was probably easier vocabulary wise because I'd already taken the hit in the first part of the book.

The book itself is not bad. Lots of daring do, and romantic urges, but not really my cup of tea. Also, lots of references to the other two books in the series before this one, which I don't have and didn't read. It took a long time to read, I thought it would be quicker, and I could read on the commute, but that just wasn't possible. Maybe I'll have better luck with the next book.

Next up!


A memoir about a young Jewish boy and his brother trying to escape the Nazis in WWII. Apparently there is a film made about this book, but I haven't seen it. I got this book at Blackwells book store in Oxford, second-hand, because apparently it was/is required reading for French literature students. It is another French book, written by a French person, in French, but because it is a young adult book I'm hoping it will be easier than the last book.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby Carmody » Tue Aug 24, 2021 5:40 pm

Yes, Un sac de billes
will be easier
I read it and absolutely no worries over verlang. Let us know what you think.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby jeffers » Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:23 pm

I read about a third of Un sac de billes during the last Super Challenge. The only reason I stopped was that I had decided that I wanted to read it very intensively, making notes as I went along, so I put it aside until I had time. Which never happened of course! :lol:
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby rdearman » Mon Sep 06, 2021 1:54 pm



OK, more than 1/2 through the book now. It is OK, although I think I'm just a bit burned out on reading at the moment. In addition to this book I've got a couple of non-fiction books I need to read for work, and I am still attempting to complete at least part of my destupidifacation project. I am really struggling with all the stuff I need to do, and I'm not sleeping well.

However, the book itself is alright, and while I don't know all the words, and I'm probably not hitting the 98% coverage per page, I understand everything and I follow the story with ease. On occasion, I'll look up a word, but I only look up a word if it meets 2 criteria.
  1. I cannot figure out the word from context
  2. I cannot continue without understanding it, e.g. it is a critical word, and it is important to the story for me to know this word. (E.g. if it is the name of some flower or tree or whatever, then I skip it.)
On the bright side, most of these words seem to clump together. I'll encounter 3-5 words in one paragraph that I don't know and can't figure out. But once I look up 1 or 2 of them, the rest become obvious from the context.

In the beginning of the book, the parents of the author sent their two sons off alone across the country to get away from the Nazis. I was thinking this book is going to be depressing as sin and I probably don't want to read it. However, I figure since the guy lived to write a memoir then at least I know the young kid lives, and I know from history class that the Nazis lost the war, so I decided to press on. It was pretty shocking to me the part about them being sent off at the age of 7 across the country alone.

I only have 100+ pages to go, so with a bit of a push I could get it done soon.
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Sep 06, 2021 2:26 pm

rdearman wrote:
In the beginning of the book, the parents of the author sent their two sons off alone across the country to get away from the Nazis. I was thinking this book is going to be depressing as sin and I probably don't want to read it.
I thought that, but Mr Joffo seems a cheerful sort of a chap, and that comes through.

In the sequel he's briefly a chewing-gum kingpin. :-)
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Re: Rdearman 2016-21 [Presto e bene non marciano insieme]

Postby Carmody » Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:15 pm

Hope you enjoy the last 100+ pages. I really liked it. I think I enjoy Young Adult literature.
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