There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

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MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Fri May 08, 2020 11:59 am

Given the new Super Challenge, I figured it might be useful for me to make a list of the books that I currently have and really want to prioritise reading. They will be heavily geared towards French because it's very easy to find French books in charity shops here.

French:
-Marianne, Juliete Benzonn, 334 pages
- Courrier sud, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 153 pages (as this is one of the Book Club picks this month, hoping to read it asap!)
- L'oeil du prince, Frédérique Deghelt, 382 pages (100 already read before challenge started)
- Les Rois Maudits books 6 and 7, Maurice Druon
- La France et la Roumanie communiste, Gavin Bowo
- Les amants de la petite reine, Annie Degroote
- Les insomniaques, Camille de Villeneuve
- Les honorables, Josette Pratte
- Élise ou la vraie vie, Claire Etcherelli
- L'étoile du nord, Georges Simenon
- Le pouvoir au femenin, Elisabeth Badinter
- Adam Haberberg, Yasmina Reza
- Les rivières pourpres, Jean-Christophe Grange
- L'éléphant bleu, Ysabelle Lacamp
- Fendre l'armure, Anna Gavalda
- Le grand Meaulnes (50 pages already read)

Spanish:
- La sombra del viento, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, 574 pages
- La casa de los espiritus, Isabel Allende,

Russian:
- Волшебный корабль (13 pages already read)
- Болшебник изумрудного города

I will go back and add details and make corrections - I only added what I could without having to move!
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Corrections appreciated.

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MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Sun Jun 21, 2020 3:42 pm

Well, six weeks later and I am no further with any of those books!

As I have said previously, I have been doing a Masters full-time and working in a charity three days a week, plus some other commitments and then life! I have now handed in my Masters dissertation and am re-discovering what it means to be a human. It has been an incredibly hard year. I don't regret my choices. In general, I don't really have regrets in my life - you can't change it and it's made you the person you are today. And there have been a lot of wonderful pluses this year - it meant I didn't take on any debt (I had a grant that covered my fees and my wages covered living, just!). I have continued work experience, I got a promotion this year, I love my colleagues, I learned a huge amount, I met the person I am seeing, I made friends... But it has also made me exhausted. There have been a lot of life lessons, some of which have been painful. Plus, I didn't particularly enjoy my Masters and didn't get out of it what I had hoped. So I am very ready for a new stage.

I am continuing to work at my current workplace for now, but will be going down to one day a week (technicalities pending, as is the exact time this will happen... but this is the plan). And I will be starting a PhD in September. :o I am moving in with my partner tomorrow, so there's quite a few changes. This week is going to be a bit hectic - I handed in my dissertation on Thursday, worked Friday, and then packed all weekend as I'm moving tomorrow (and the flat we're renting is unfurnished and many things are not sorted), then working Tues/Wed/Fri. But after that I am hoping to start a much slower life and just recover a little.

Hopefully, as things get a bit slower, languages will come back in the mix as they basically vanished from my life. Looking forward to getting back into the super challenge and catching up with the forum.
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Corrections appreciated.

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Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby Carmody » Sun Jun 21, 2020 11:49 pm

Would it be possible for you to rate the books you read in French as to how good they were?

If you are short on time just give a book a number say 5/10 so I will know if it is worth reading.

Thanks.
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MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:03 pm

Carmody wrote:Would it be possible for you to rate the books you read in French as to how good they were?

If you are short on time just give a book a number say 5/10 so I will know if it is worth reading.

Thanks.


I tend not to do this, just because what I like is not necessarily what other people like! I personally hated the Amelie Nothomb book that I read a while back, but I know other people love her. Will definitely share some thoughts though, as I progress with books.
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Corrections appreciated.

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frenchfish55
Yellow Belt
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Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:51 pm
Languages: Russian(N),English(C1),French(A2)-Active learning
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18440
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Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby frenchfish55 » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:38 am

MamaPata wrote:Well, six weeks later and I am no further with any of those books!

.

Hello could you please tell us more about you Master, PhD or whatever it's called there? Is there thethis?
By the way Волшебник изумрудного города, not а Болшебник

2 I wanted to ask about your preparation to french C1. Is true that you didn't work on your active skills and grammar?
3 Is your full-time job a translater or could you please describe your functions.?
4Do you have something like time management. Now it's 5 o'clock.Time for russian content or so on.
How did you find so much spare time for your languages?
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