The Forum Book Club thread 2020. August: Tiempos recios

This is a room for the discussion of travel plans or experiences and the culture of places you have visited or plan to visit.
User avatar
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
x 1807

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. Getting ready for the Super Challenge

Postby MamaPata » Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:49 am

That sounds like a great way of doing things!

I will propose:
Courrier sud by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Obviously most famous for Le Petit Prince, this is his first novel based on his experience as a pilot in the French airmail service. Nice and short, should appeal to any French learners.

The Wizard of Oz
Not sure this really needs an introduction! Very widely translated.

The Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Popular fantasy novel - For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy. For Althea’s young nephew, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard the ship, the Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the ship—and the Vestrits—may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider: the ruthless buccaneer captain Kennit, who plans to seize power over the Pirate Isles by capturing a liveship and bending it to his will. Fantasy isn't totally my thing, but I know a lot of people who love her books. Originally English, but widely translated - I'd be reading it in Russian.
3 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
kanewai
Blue Belt
Posts: 753
Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 9:10 pm
Location: Honolulu
Languages: Native: English
Active: Italian
Maintenance: Spanish, French
Priors: Chuukese (Micronesian), Indonesian, Latin, Greek (epic and modern), Turkish, Arabic
x 3219
Contact:

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. Getting ready for the Super Challenge

Postby kanewai » Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:51 am

I look forward to joining you all again one day. Right now I'm trying to wrap up a lot of big epic series, none of which would fit nicely into the book club format. Once I'm through with them I'll be back!
1 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. Getting ready for the Super Challenge

Postby Mista » Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:40 pm

The poll is up: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 7a6dd18aae

Voting closes in 4 days.

Thanks for all the good suggestions!
2 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby Mista » Thu Apr 30, 2020 11:11 pm

The results are in, and we have no less than five winners! (Which I find a little worrisome, because I want to read then all...) They are:

- The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
- The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
- The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- Southern Mail by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2 x

User avatar
marie39
Yellow Belt
Posts: 71
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:50 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Malay
x 187

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby marie39 » Fri May 01, 2020 11:56 am

Mista wrote:The results are in, and we have no less than five winners! (Which I find a little worrisome, because I want to read then all...) They are:

- The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
- The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
- The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- Southern Mail by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


When I click on the thread with the poll, it shows that The Plague won by 1 vote. The Winter Queen is in second place. I'm going to try to read both of those since Tadoku is also happening this month. I also really want to read The Chestnut Man and the Spanish version is on Kindle Unlimited so I might get to that too.
1 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby Mista » Fri May 01, 2020 12:09 pm

marie39 wrote:
Mista wrote:The results are in, and we have no less than five winners! (Which I find a little worrisome, because I want to read then all...) They are:

- The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
- The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
- The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- Southern Mail by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


When I click on the thread with the poll, it shows that The Plague won by 1 vote. The Winter Queen is in second place. I'm going to try to read both of those since Tadoku is also happening this month. I also really want to read The Chestnut Man and the Spanish version is on Kindle Unlimited so I might get to that too.


I guess the information was lost in the thread if you haven't been following it regularly, but I suggested that we try to change the rules so that we read all books that get 3 votes or more, that's why there are so many books this time.
3 x

User avatar
marie39
Yellow Belt
Posts: 71
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:50 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Malay
x 187

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby marie39 » Fri May 01, 2020 12:52 pm

Mista wrote:
marie39 wrote:
Mista wrote:The results are in, and we have no less than five winners! (Which I find a little worrisome, because I want to read then all...) They are:

- The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
- The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
- The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- Southern Mail by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


When I click on the thread with the poll, it shows that The Plague won by 1 vote. The Winter Queen is in second place. I'm going to try to read both of those since Tadoku is also happening this month. I also really want to read The Chestnut Man and the Spanish version is on Kindle Unlimited so I might get to that too.


I guess the information was lost in the thread if you haven't been following it regularly, but I suggested that we try to change the rules so that we read all books that get 3 votes or more, that's why there are so many books this time.


Thanks for clarifying. I must have missed that. I'll try to at least get to the three that I mentioned above this month. Five is a lot!
1 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby Mista » Fri May 01, 2020 1:00 pm

marie39 wrote: Five is a lot!


It is! But, just to make this very clear to everyone: there is no pressure to read all the books - the idea is to read one of them, but, of course, everyone is welcome to read as many as they like
2 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby Mista » Sat May 02, 2020 11:58 am

Well, my plan is to try to squeeze in all five books, but two of them, Brothers Lionheart and Winter Queen, will be long term projects for Icelandic and Russian respectively.

I got The Chestnut Man in Danish on audiobook yesterday. So far, I've listened to the first ten minutes, and so far I'm able to follow as long as I concentrate hard. I'll try it out in the car tonight and see if that will work. I don't think I'll be able to finish this in May, but I'm planning to focus on Danish in June, so I'll probably finish it by the end of that month.

The two French books are both fairly thin, so I think it's doable to read both in a month, but it depends on how much time I'll be able to give it, considering exams are starting soon. Southern Mail is available from the public library, and I have an appointment to pick it up on Tuesday - they opened a restricted service this week, and I've placed an order for a whole bunch of books and DVDs. The Plague is available from the university library, which is running the same sort of pick up service, but I thought I'd wait a few days and see if I get the reading list for the summer course before I place my order there.
3 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: The Forum Book Club thread 2020. May: The Chestnut Man, The Brothers Lionheart, Winter Queen, The Plague, Southern M

Postby Mista » Fri May 15, 2020 10:38 am

So, how are you all doing with your reading? I've seen several people posting about it on their log, but that is at any rate a little while ago now.

I'm close to finishing Southern Mail. I'm honestly a little confused about the chronology, and also the identity of the first person narrator, but the symbolism is clear, and that seems to be the essential thing with this author. He's easily recognizable from Le Petit Prince , although the story is quite different.

As for La Peste, I'm picking it up from the library today.

I've been listening to The Chestnut Man in Danish on audiobook, and have made much more progress than anticipated. I've actually made it through 8 of 14 hours, so if I keep it up at that rate, I'll be done before May is over. In the first 2-3 hours, I was losing a lot of information and not really keeping up with the story (this is my first audiobook in Danish), but now I'm following the story just fine.

My Russian study week is next week, so I'll be starting on Winter Queen then. I'm planning to get it on kindle and on audio, and to work intensively with it one chapter at a time (hopefully, the chapters have a practical length).

The Brothers Lionheart is moving along at a slow but steady pace, I've reached the fourth chapter now, I think. Also working on this just onbe week out of four.

What will we be reading in June?

It's time to start thinking about next month's books. Please give me your nominations within the next week, and I'll set up a poll next Friday.

My nominations are:
- The Aeneid, by Vergil. I want to read it in Latin, but there are of course plenty of translations of this.
- The Stranger, by Albert Camus. I've read it in French, but now I'm planning to read it in Portuguese. This is a book that is common on introductory French lit. courses, because it has no passé simple, so there's less scary grammar to worry about for people who aren't used to reading literature. I'm also considering using this chance to read Meursault, contre-enquête by Kamel Daoud.
6 x


Return to “Travel and Culture”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest