Maryokutai Posted February 24, 2024 Share Posted February 24, 2024 Funke's most prominent work is Tintenherz (Inkheart) and its two sequels, a YA fantasy series which also got a relatively mediocre film adaption. After you mentioned it I bought the book as a Christmas gift for a friend who's a big Del Toro fan but I don't he think he's read it yet (I also bought him the German version which, oddly enough, is a translation). I think I might just buy it for myself at some point, but I'll watch the movie again beforehand for sure (not looking forward to the bottle scene though). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted April 4, 2024 Share Posted April 4, 2024 The Undying Monster Quote 'And the evil a man does may haunt those who come after him to the end of time, while he rests in peace himself.' Of all things, 2024 has so far been the year I've been getting back into reading. Not too long ago I took out a subscription with the British Library (support your local library, kids! Failing that, the Main one). Tales of the Weird, as on the cover above. This book is actually book 3 or 4 in my subscription (I know, a backlog from me ..shocking) and it was overall a really interesting read. The titular Monster refers to a family curse. Written in 1922 (with a movie adaptation in 1942, which I haven't checked out yet). It's quite a compelling story. A fair chunk of the prose is very "turn of the century" with hard to follow references/slang, today. As well as being very melodramatic in places. Although I don't normally read them, I really thought this book needed annotations or appendixes at the very least. Ironically enough, six pages from the end. It had a single annotation for one word alone. That made me chuckle for some reason. While the "science/logic" to this story gets really hocky at times. Also the surprisingly progressive introduction of two strong female leads, takes a nosedive by the end. The resolution itself is somewhat clever within that framework. If this sounds good to you, go for it. 6/10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted May 8, 2024 Share Posted May 8, 2024 Went shopping for trousers today and came home without new clothes but three books. Cat book is for my mum who recently told me she'd like to read some English stuff. The left one I only bought because of the funny format. Middle one sounds super interesting, I hope I'm smart enough to understand big water talk. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikman Posted May 9, 2024 Share Posted May 9, 2024 I'm jealous, my German isn't good enough to read that. I can just about read our son's Drachenmeister books, but that's as far as I can go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted May 9, 2024 Share Posted May 9, 2024 I think that's cool, you have to start somewhere. That's why I'm challenging myself a bit with these more scientific English books. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted May 29, 2024 Share Posted May 29, 2024 I read Sátántangó, which is about a Hungarian town experiencing the economic ravages of the fall of Communism. It's got a notorious film adaptation that's 7 and a half hours long, so I'm not going to watch that unless something horrible happens to me and I have no choice, like a Ludovico treatment situation, so picked the book instead which is a brisk 280 pages. It's basically a sort of story about people who've let life pass them by and are caught in a state of arrested development, enabling each other. Each chapter tends to be from a different character's perspective but sometimes they drift between perspectives. It's kind of a waiting for Godot type of story, the industry of their estate is ruined and waiting for the return of a 'saviour' figure who'll sort it all out for them. Decay is sort of the theme of the story, there's some comedy in there too but of the pitch black sort I think the name of the book literally means a dance with the devil. Interesting and occasionally its prose is really immersive as there are no paragraphs in the book whatsoever, so it kinda forces your attention to read through an entire chapter without breaks. Also as a translation of a Hungarian text it still reads rather well in English, I often find that translated works just read sort of clunky (reason why I stopped reading Crime and Punishment). But even with the given subject matter there's moments of lyricism in there. But the last section of the book had me losing interest a bit, so I kinda wish it was even shorter than its short enough length. Onto New York Trilogy next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted August 9, 2024 Share Posted August 9, 2024 I did not buy these books because of their covers. It's bullshit. It's not true. I did not. Oh, hi Marc. (I'm positive I'm going to like the first one, The Wager on the other hand was a complete shot in the dark.) Edit: oh and that ocean book I mentioned earlier on this page, Blue Machine, is really good. I've only managed to read 70 pages or so because it's quite in-depth (haha...) for something to read in bed, but it's an accomplished mix of facts, anecdotes and, occasionally, humour to bring this enormously vast and complex topic to a layman audience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regemond Posted September 17, 2024 Share Posted September 17, 2024 On 29/05/2024 at 11:32, one-armed dwarf said: I read Sátántangó, which is about a Hungarian town experiencing the economic ravages of the fall of Communism. It's got a notorious film adaptation that's 7 and a half hours long, so I'm not going to watch that unless something horrible happens to me and I have no choice, like a Ludovico treatment situation, so picked the book instead which is a brisk 280 pages. It's basically a sort of story about people who've let life pass them by and are caught in a state of arrested development, enabling each other. Each chapter tends to be from a different character's perspective but sometimes they drift between perspectives. It's kind of a waiting for Godot type of story, the industry of their estate is ruined and waiting for the return of a 'saviour' figure who'll sort it all out for them. Decay is sort of the theme of the story, there's some comedy in there too but of the pitch black sort I think the name of the book literally means a dance with the devil. Interesting and occasionally its prose is really immersive as there are no paragraphs in the book whatsoever, so it kinda forces your attention to read through an entire chapter without breaks. Also as a translation of a Hungarian text it still reads rather well in English, I often find that translated works just read sort of clunky (reason why I stopped reading Crime and Punishment). But even with the given subject matter there's moments of lyricism in there. But the last section of the book had me losing interest a bit, so I kinda wish it was even shorter than its short enough length. Onto New York Trilogy next. Haven't looked in this thread for a long while, so apologies for the late response, but The Paul Street Boys is another good book that's been translated from Hungarian. It's very much a coming of age story, set in Budapest, and follows two groups of boys who are at war with one another. It's set either during or just after WWII (haven't read it in a couple of years now) and is really interesting as a story. Word of warning: Because it's a coming of age story, don't go in expecting a full book aimed at adults. I've been slowly learning Hungarian over the last couple of years, so have an eventual goal to get to the point where I can read it in the original form. On 09/08/2024 at 22:11, Maryokutai said: I did not buy these books because of their covers. It's bullshit. It's not true. I did not. Oh, hi Marc. While I normally follow the old adage "don't judge a book by its cover", I think, ESPECIALLY for the first one, we can completely ignore that idea. They're both gorgeous looking books! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted September 17, 2024 Share Posted September 17, 2024 I'd like to learn a second language to have a bit more options when reading. I was trying to improve my French years back and was using L'Etranger by Albert Camus as it is apparently written at a fairly 'easy' reading level, tho not for kids, more like secondary school level. Didn't get far tho, the guy's mother was dead or something and he was a bit of a weirdo. I should probably try again cause maybe then I can watch movies without subtitles eventually. I've not been good at finishing books recently. I read the second novella in the NY Trilogy but sort of stopped then cause its repetitions on a theme. I got 80 percent of the way through Light in August, a Willian Faulkner book set in the South sometime after the Civil War and it follows a person with a mixed race background and his difficulty in finding a place for himself when he's basically rejected by everyone, but I sort of ended up being buried by its prose. I think I just don't enjoy Faulker Now I'm reading The Master and Margarita, which I started reading on my holiday and it's really funny. There's this sort of Satan character who's going around Moscow during the Stalin era (i think) with a talking cat telling stories about Jesus and Pontious Pilate and controlling events to do something that's not clear yet but involves black magic, it reminds me of Vonnegut for some reason. I can't get much more into it than that as I've only read 100 pages, apparently it's Daniel Radcliffe's favorite book, if that recommendation means anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted September 17, 2024 Share Posted September 17, 2024 I think over here we read L'étranger in the first year of secondary school, so around age 13/14. I remember not understanding a single thing about it but it wasn't due to the language used. Camus' other classic, La peste, is on the reading list for the very last school year which makes a lot more sense. It's a good idea to switch languages around, even at beginner level. I usually alternate between German and English and every once in a blue moon pick up a French book. I've had so many bad experiences with teachers and professors around that language that I never really embraced it as part of my media consumption hobbies. Being an adult, I know it's a bit dumb, but it shows just how impactful these early years in life are. Reading French doesn't fully prepare you for all your movies though. Reading it is like playing Death Stranding, whereas listening to it is like speedrunning through a bullet hell shmup. Anyway, I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop as a bit of side project. It's a coming of age story about a girl who starts working at her uncle's bookstore after a breakup. It's very standard fare, a quick and easy read of not even 200 pages, and I find translations from Japanese always a bit 'blocky', for lack of a better term. But I enjoyed it, especially the glimpses it gives you into Jimbocho, a real life district in Tokyo that's filled with old-school second-hand bookstores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted November 15, 2024 Share Posted November 15, 2024 On 09/08/2024 at 23:11, Maryokutai said: The Wager on the other hand was a complete shot in the dark. But a lucky one, as I just finished it yesterday and really enjoyed it. A bit of context, it's written by David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon) and retraces the steps of a small British naval fleet in 18th century that received orders to seize and plunder a Spanish galleon transporting treasure. I suppose you Brits might have heard of George Anson before, for me this was all new, but the book mostly focuses on the titular Wager, which didn't manage to complete the mission but instead got stranded on a tiny island after battling severe weather conditions and its party had to figure out whether to 'die trying' or refocus on surviving and having to deal with the legal aftermath in front of the Royal Navy. I really enjoyed the glimpse at seafare from that era, which is a topic I knew basically nothing about. By the time the accident happens it shifts tone and almost turns into some kind of sociopolitical thriller, with different factions coming together due to different ideologies of handling the situation and not everyone being on the same wavelength (pun almost intended) as their captain. There are some grueling reports and descriptions about their physical states, their mental health, and what they had to go through to survive and it's borderline unbelievable some of them made it back to Britain, five years later. I also rarely say this after reading a book but I think this would make for an excellent TV show/movie, with all the intrigue that's going on there, but also potential for beautiful seafaring scenes, which is a genre that has kind of died off again. Though it would also run the risk of being rather sensationalist because, as said, they did some absolutely horrible stuff that would put the Game of Thrones cast to shame. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nag Posted December 30, 2024 Share Posted December 30, 2024 The Alien threat continues to grow... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted December 30, 2024 Share Posted December 30, 2024 If the quality of the books is reflected by their cover art you're in for one pretty decent and one absolutely abysmal read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted December 30, 2024 Share Posted December 30, 2024 I've finally gotten way back into reading over the break with Wuthering Heights. I fear I'm going to lose all that momentum when going back to work though. It's such a great habit to have but I can't make myself read a book late into the evening after work, and I lose track and forget what the book was about when I leave it too long. Reading just does a thing to your brain where it feels like all the wavelengths sort of settle and become less chaotic, maybe I got ADHD or something but it just works. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nag Posted December 31, 2024 Share Posted December 31, 2024 Yeah that Uncivil War artwork isn't the best... as long as there's some good gore in there it's all good though. 😀 @Maryokutai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Finished Wuthering Heights, I know it's a story lots of ppl know but I've never seen any adaptations so it was new to me. It's about a guy called Heathcliff who through sheer bloody mindedness sets out to disinherit two families of their inheritance and love for each other, due to mistreatment he himself suffered when taken in by one of them (the Earnshaws). He takes over their estates and endeavors to stunt the emotional and intellectual development of some of their heirs by being a really cruel shit to them. It's dark, ambiguous, characters are psychologically a bit depraved and keep starving themselves to death for some reason, but then it ends up being about the redemptive power of true love for your first cousin. Typical Victorians, fucking their cousins. My next read is The Last Samurai, which has nothing to do with the Tom Cruise movie (predates it by a few years, was published in 2000). Apparently it's about a genius kid who gets obsessed and watches Seven Samurai on a loop cause his single mother wanted to make up for the lack of male role models in his life and give him 7 of them. Then he goes off to London to look for his father. Sounds super weird, feel I might bounce off it though and should read something a bit pulpier next but I did just rewatch the film so will see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinymcshine Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 I think it's Wuthering Heights where one of the elderly housekeeping staff has all their dialogue written in Yorkshire phonetics ? Enjoyable book still Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Yes that was fucking infuriating, I had no idea what the shit they were saying. Some shit about the bible and a blackcurrant patch or something. I was reading that apparently nearly every film adaptation only adapts the first half of the book, which is crazy to me. Surely they must all miss the point of the story then, and how vindictive Heathcliff becomes. Was gonna watch the Lawrence Olivier one but not bothered by it now. The director of Saltburn is making a film of it next I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCH Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 58 minutes ago, shinymcshine said: I think it's Wuthering Heights where one of the elderly housekeeping staff has all their dialogue written in Yorkshire phonetics ? That reminds me of the Whitby chapter in Dracula. I skimmed through it in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 So here's what it looks like, I can't remember Dracula well enough. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/768/pg768-images.html Quote “I mun hev’ my wage, and I mun goa! I hed aimed to dee wheare I’d sarved fur sixty year; and I thowt I’d lug my books up into t’ garret, and all my bits o’ stuff, and they sud hev’ t’ kitchen to theirseln; for t’ sake o’ quietness. It wur hard to gie up my awn hearthstun, but I thowt I could do that! But nah, shoo’s taan my garden fro’ me, and by th’ heart, maister, I cannot stand it! Yah may bend to th’ yoak an ye will—I noan used to ’t, and an old man doesn’t sooin get used to new barthens. I’d rayther arn my bite an’ my sup wi’ a hammer in th’ road!” “Now, now, idiot!” interrupted Heathcliff, “cut it short! What’s your grievance? I’ll interfere in no quarrels between you and Nelly. She may thrust you into the coal-hole for anything I care.” “It’s noan Nelly!” answered Joseph. “I sudn’t shift for Nelly—nasty ill nowt as shoo is. Thank God! shoo cannot stale t’ sowl o’ nob’dy! Shoo wer niver soa handsome, but what a body mud look at her ’bout winking. It’s yon flaysome, graceless quean, that’s witched our lad, wi’ her bold een and her forrard ways—till—Nay! it fair brusts my heart! He’s forgotten all I’ve done for him, and made on him, and goan and riven up a whole row o’ t’ grandest currant-trees i’ t’ garden!” and here he lamented outright; unmanned by a sense of his bitter injuries, and Earnshaw’s ingratitude and dangerous condition. If you enunciate the words out loud, it starts to make sense. I mean, theoretically anyway 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now