kanewai's book shelf (current: italian)

[kanewai]

I made a final push this weekend to wrap up my reading for the Super Challenge. My final tallies were 100 books for Spanish, 91 for French, and 50 for Italian. I passed 100 "movies" for each.

I'm kind of in shock by how many books I've read these past 20 months. But also: I've probably only watched ten tv shows, total, in the same time period - the negative correlation between books-read and tv-watched is pretty strong here.

LIBROS / LIBRI / LIVRES / BOOKS

Spanish
Gabriel García Márquez. Cien años de soledad. 1967
Cixin Liu. El problema de los tres cuerpos. 2006
Shūsaku Endō. Chinmoku (Silencio). 1966
Santiago Posteguillo. Africanus: el hijo del cónsul. 2006. Las legiones malditas. 2008. Yo, Julia. 2018
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha I. 1605. puesto en castellano actual íntegra y fielmente por Andrés Trapiello
Jorge Luis Borges. El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan. 1944
Manuel Puig. El beso de la mujer araña. 1976

My super challenge is littered with discarded Spanish-language novels. The above are only the books I finished. I'm not sure why I struggle with Spanish literature - I've disliked a lot of the better known books and best sellers.

Close to half of my reading was from only three books by Santiago Posteguillo. His novels set in ancient Rome are excellent, though all are very, very long.

I struggled through part of Cervantes in the original, then finished the first book in a "modern" translation that didn't feel that modern. I appreciated it more than liked it. I finished the second book with an English-language audiobook, and genuinely enjoyed it.


Italian
Orlando furioso di Ludovico Ariosto. 1532. raccontato da Italo Calvino
Umberto Eco. Storia delle terre e dei luoghi leggendari. 2013
James S.A. Corey. Leviathan. Il risveglio. 2011
Apuleius. Le metamorfosi, o L'asino d'oro. 2nd century. traduzione di Lara Nicolini
Massimo Montanari. La fame e l'abbondanza. 1997
Michail A. Bulgakov. I racconti di un giovane medico. 1963. traduzione di Chiara Spano
Italo Calvino. Marcovaldo. 1963
Andrea Camilleri. La forma dell'acqua. 1994

I've enjoyed reading some of the older classics in modern Italian. They're not always easy reads, but they're definitely rewarding. I've also started to enjoy non-fiction in Italian. I don't always realize how much English-language bias has shaped my view of history.

For fiction: I want to read everything by Calvino. Camilleri's Sicilian was a challenge at first, but once I adapted to it the first Montalbano novel was a pleasure. I'll definitely be reading more.


French
Patrick Modiano. Rue des boutiques obscures. 1978
Marcel Pagnol. L'eau des collines. 1962
Maurice Druon. La reine étranglée. 1955
Alexandre Dumas. Le comte de Monte-Cristo. 1844. Vingt ans après. 1845
Michele Houellebecq. Sérotonine. 2019
Yasmina Khadra. Les hirondelles de Kaboul. 2002
Gustave Flaubert. Trois contes. 1877
Victor Hugo. Quatrervingt-treize. 1874
René Goscinny. Astérix et Cléopâtre. 1965
François-René de Chateaubriand. René. 1802
Ibrahim al-Koni. Les mages. 2010. translation by Phlippe Vigreux.

I am continually discovering new French authors that I enjoy. I don't know if French culture produces great writers, or if the French language is more suited to literature, or if I'm just wired to appreciate French books more - but French novels absolutely dominate my list of favorite books. It's only real competition is from American science fiction.


English
James S. A. Comey. Abaddon's Gate. 2013. Cibola Burn. 2014.
Sumner La Croix. From First Canoe to Statehood. 2019
Margaret Atwood. The Testaments. 2019


The queue for 2020

My goal for 2020 will be five actual books in each language. This won't really match up with any challenges, so it will be my own personal goal. These are currently the big ones at the top of my list, though that list changes all the time. And some are insanely long, so the idea of reading these particular five might be too much.

Fernando Aramburu. Patria. 2016
Fernando del Paso. Noticias del Imperio. 2006
Torcuato Luca de Tena. Los renglones torcidos de Dios. 1979
Julia Navarro. Dime quién soy. 2010
Santiago Posteguillo. La traición de Roma (Publio Cornelio Escipión #3). 2009

Alain Damasio. La Horde du Contrevent. 2007
Marcel Proust. Le Temps retrouvé. 1927
Marguerite Duras. Un barrage contre le Pacifique. 1950
Patrick Modiano. Dora Bruder. 1999
Tahar Ben Jelloun. L'enfant de sable. 2014

Luther Blissett. Q. 1999
Elena Ferrante. La vita bugiarda degli adulti. 2019
Petronius. Il Satyricon. First century
Umberto Eco. Storia della bellezza. 2004
Dante. Paradiso. 1320
Indro Montanelli. L'Italia del Medioevo: Dalla fine dell'Impero romano a Colombo (L'Italia dei secoli bui; L'Italia dei comuni; L'Italia dei secoli d'oro). 1965-1967

[lingua]

I'm glad to hear you got used to Camilleri. I've been putting off starting one for a long time but after reading a Montalbano short story not long ago I realized I would get used to it. Not sure if you knew about this link (http://www.vigata.org/dizionario/camilleri_linguaggio.html) but it could be helpful for future books.

[kanewai]

I'm glad to hear you got used to Camilleri. I've been putting off starting one for a long time but after reading a Montalbano short story not long ago I realized I would get used to it. Not sure if you knew about this link (http://www.vigata.org/dizionario/camilleri_linguaggio.html) but it could be helpful for future books.

I saw that site - it's great! What really helped, though, was for me to get an English language copy of the book. I had read about fifty pages in Italian, and was getting lost in the plot. I skimmed through the same chapters in English, and then re-read the Italian - and this time it flowed. After that little boost I kept reading in Italian without much trouble.

[kanewai]

2019 PART 2

AUDIOLIBROS / AUDIOLIBRI / LIVRES AUDIO / AUDIOBOOKS

This is the first year where I've been able to regularly listen to audiobooks in foreign languages. They've been an amazing resource for immersing myself & losing myself in a language ... and for racking up the hours!

What's interesting is that I crossed this listening threshold in all three languages, even though I feel I'm at very different levels in each. I still can't follow a story that's completely new, though - audiobooks only work if I've already read the story, or if I'm familiar with the topic (such as Roman history), or if there are study guides I can read after each chapter to catch anything I missed (such as the classics). Otherwise I get too lost. This limits the number of potential books I can listen to.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy English audiobooks as much as I do. I resisted for awhile, but now I almost enjoy listening to a good book as much or more than reading one - provided that there's a great narrator.

I would easily recommend any of these books - they're all very good to excellent. I'm not listing the books that turned me off.

Spanish
Santiago Posteguillo. Africanus: el hijo del cónsul. 2006. Narrated by Raúl Llorens.
Laura Esquivel. Como agua para chocolate. 1989. Narrated by Yareli Arizmendi.

Italian
Elena Ferrante. Storia del nuovo cognome. 2012. Storia di chi fugge e di qui resta. 2013. Narrated by Anna Bonaiuto
Indiro Montanelli. Storia di Roma. 1959. Narrated by Valerio Amoruso

French
Alexandre Dumas. Le comte de Monte-Cristo. 1844. Narrated by Éric Herson-Macarel.
J.R.R. Tolkein. La fraternité de l'anneau. Narrated by Thierry Janssen
Marcel Proust. La prisonnière. 1923. Narrated by Denis Podalydès. Albertine disparue. 1927. Narrated by André Dussolier

English
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Don Quijote de la Mancha, Book II. Translated by Edith Grossman. Narrated by George Guidall
Frans G. Benglsson. The Long Ships (Röde Orm). 1941. Narrated by Michael Page.
Hilary Mantel. Wolf Hall. 2009. Narrated by Simon Slater.
Viktor Frankl. Man's Search for Meaning. 1946. Narrated by Simon Vance
Dan Jones. Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands. 2019. Narrated by Dan Jones


The queue for 2020
Definitely:
Dan Jones. The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors. 2017. Narrated by Dan Jones.
Marcel Proust. Le temps retrouvé. Narrated by Michaël Lonsdale, Denis Podalydès, André Dussollier
J.R.R. Tolkein. Les deux tours. Narrated by Thierry Janssen
Hilary Mantel. Bring Up the Bodies. 2012. Narrated by Simon Slater.

Possibly:
Bram Stoker. Drácula. Narrated by Juan Magraner (Spanish)
Frank Herbert. Dune. Il ciclo di Dune 1. Narrated by Alessandro Parise (Italian)

I want to add a Spanish book right away, and just can't quite find the right one.

[kanewai]

2019 PART 3

PODCASTS / PODCAST / PODCASTS / PODCASTS

Seriously - it's the same word in all four languages! Only the Italian plural is slightly different.

I have some Romance-language regular podcasts I listen to, but all my true favorites are in English. There were some cutting-edge French podcasts I enjoyed, but they've gone off the air. I mostly listen to documentaries and news stories in Italian and Spanish, since those are the ones I can understand. I've tried to move on to more cutting edge and interesting Spanish pods, but my comprehension still isn't good enough to follow along.

Spanish
Abrimos la ópera - Half music, half discussion
Documentos - hour long documentaries out of Spain
Duolingo Spanish Podcast
Así Como Suena - short news stories out of Mexico
Podium Podcasts. Some of their dramas are interesting (Guerra 3, Informe Z); others are very difficult to follow

Italian
Fottuti Geni - A very irrelevant look at history's "geniuses"
Alle otto della sera - 20-episode documentaries. No longer producing new shows

French
Mécaniques du complotisme - Short series on various conspiracy theories.
Duolingo French Podcast
Au coeur de l'histoire - original documentaries from Europe 1 Studio. They have a new host for 2020.

English (small selection of language-related pods)
Helen Zaltsman, The Allusionist - Almost always interesting and enjoyable
John McWhorter, Lexicon Valley - a "podcast about language, from pet peeves to syntax"
Kevin Stroud, The History of English Podcast - an absolutely epic history of the English language, starting at the very beginning with Indo-European. It's going on three years now, and he only got to Chaucer a few months ago!

[Mista]

Let me know when/if you start on Un barrage contre le pacifique so I can join you. I have wanted to read that book since I saw it referenced when reading L'Amant - as far as I understand, she is writing about the same period of her life in both books, but is more brutally honest in the descriptions of her family members in L'Amant, because by the time she wrote it, they were all dead.

[kanewai]

Let me know when/if you start on Un barrage contre le pacifique so I can join you. I have wanted to read that book since I saw it referenced when reading L'Amant - as far as I understand, she is writing about the same period of her life in both books, but is more brutally honest in the descriptions of her family members in L'Amant, because by the time she wrote it, they were all dead.

I'm hoping to get to it this coming Spring - I'll keep you posted!

[kanewai]

Spanish
book: Manuel Puig. El beso de la mujer araña. 1976. It's the story of two very different men locked in a cell together. Molina is locked up on a morals charge, Valentín is a political revolutionary. Molina fills their nights with stories taken from old movies. I was worried that this would be too experimental for me, as the entire story is told in dialogue. It was more accessible than I realized. Some of the Freudian interpretations of transgender / gay identity were very dated (for example, the footnotes explain that Molina is gay because he over-identifies with his mother), but this doesn't detract from the overall narrative. Definitely recommended.

book: Fernando Aramburu. Patria. 2016. A woman from the Basque Country, Bittori, returns to her village after separatist groups declare a cease fire. Her husband, Txato, was murdered by the ETA, while her former neighbors were sympathizers. It was a best-seller in Spain, and gets great reviews on Spanish book sites. It's taken me a couple chapters to get used to Aramburu's writing style. I also just found out that it will be HBO's first series out of Spain.



courses: FSI Spanish Basic Course. I struggled with Chapter 48, which focused on the past subjunctive. Chapter 49, which looks at future and conditional tenses, has been much easier for me. I'm also been reviewing Pimsleur IV, and trying to take five tests on Kwiziq each night. I only have three more weeks until I head to Playa ... I need to get ready!


French
book: Still working my way through Les mages.

courses: I'm trying to do at least one set of exercises from either Une dictée par jour, Kwiziq, or CLE International. I've been intensively focusing on Spanish, and find that suddenly French is a challenge. I make so many basic mistakes on the dictée you'd think I just started studying French yesterday.


Italian
book: Dante Alighiere. Paradiso. I started this last January, but only made it through two canti. I'm going to give it another shot. I'll probably only have time to work on Dante a few times a week.

course: My goal is five words a day on Speakly. It's not much; this is mostly maintenance for me.


Arabic
course: It seems like every time I open Memrise I have fifty or more words to review. I will never make progress at this rate. It's insanely frustrating.


Others
I had the ridiculous temptation to ask for the codes to German and Russian on Speakly, since I have the life-time membership. And I still might, even though I know that I don't have the time, and that it will just distract me from work I really need to do on my active languages.

[Carmody]

Un barrage contre le pacifique was good, but like all her work, it was pretty grim. However, she is absolutely one of my favorites.

[Carmody]

You want pain and suffering? Check out her La Douleur by M. Duras.