Reading Challenge 2020

[Scaly Freak]

3 hours ago, oromendur said:

Funny story: After I finished the games and went looking for the books that inspired them, I found the English translation of The Last Wish to be SO VERY BAD that I actually bought the book in German and slogged through it. I think my German might be marginally better than your Polish, but only just. It was still better than the English  

 

Huh. I wonder if that is why that book annoyed me so much...?

[Akura]

6 hours ago, oromendur said:

Funny story: After I finished the games and went looking for the books that inspired them, I found the English translation of The Last Wish to be SO VERY BAD that I actually bought the book in German and slogged through it. I think my German might be marginally better than your Polish, but only just. It was still better than the English  

 

A colleague just said the other day that he really didn't like The Blood of the Elves and I think he got the English translation, too... 🤔

[Mad Hatter]

I've heard from a friend that the first translation is absolute garbage as it's a very direct translation that just doesn't work in English. But that there's a newer version that's much, much better where the translator has taken more creative license and managed to translate more of the gist and tone and humour. I can't tell you the names though.

[oromendur]

9 hours ago, Scalyfreak said:

Huh. I wonder if that is why that book annoyed me so much...?

 

I literally could not get through it, and that was after completely falling in love with the character and the world through the games.

 

7 hours ago, Akura said:

A colleague just said the other day that he really didn't like The Blood of the Elves and I think he got the English translation, too... 🤔

 

5 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I've heard from a friend that the first translation is absolute garbage as it's a very direct translation that just doesn't work in English. But that there's a newer version that's much, much better where the translator has taken more creative license and managed to translate more of the gist and tone and humour

 

At least for the versions available in the US, it's only The Last Wish and Blood of Elves where the translation is absolutely awful. They switched translators after that and the rest of the series is much better.

[Scaly Freak]

1 minute ago, oromendur said:

At least for the versions available in the US, it's only The Last Wish and Blood of Elves where the translation is absolutely awful. They switched translators after that and the rest of the series is much better.

 

Of course that's the two I have. You get one guess why I did not continue buying the remaining books in the series... 😛 

 

Reminds me of the situation with the Lord of the Rings in Sweden.. the original translator did a horrible job, apparently on account of not liking the books at all. So instead of translating, he rewrote them in Swedish. Poorly.  I have not read the new translation that came out a few years ago, so can't speak to that one.

[Mad Hatter]

41 minutes ago, oromendur said:

At least for the versions available in the US, it's only The Last Wish and Blood of Elves where the translation is absolutely awful. They switched translators after that and the rest of the series is much better.

Oh maybe that's it!

 

38 minutes ago, Scalyfreak said:

Reminds me of the situation with the Lord of the Rings in Sweden.. the original translator did a horrible job, apparently on account of not liking the books at all. So instead of translating, he rewrote them in Swedish. Poorly. 

LOL sounds like the person also needs a career change if he doesn't even have any professional pride to get through it!

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

LOL sounds like the person also needs a career change if he doesn't even have any professional pride to get through it!

 

The majority of Swedish LotR fans completely agree with you.

[Mad Hatter]

Just now, Scalyfreak said:

The majority of Swedish LotR fans completely agree with you.

Now I’m really glad I skipped the Swedish version.

[Scaly Freak]

2 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Now I’m really glad I skipped the Swedish version.

 

I keep meaning to give the new one a try, since it's supposed to be better. Maybe I'll make it a challenge goal one of these days...

[Mad Hatter]

9 minutes ago, Scalyfreak said:

I keep meaning to give the new one a try, since it's supposed to be better. Maybe I'll make it a challenge goal one of these days...

I'm going to skip it, don't really enjoy reading in Swedish. But curious to hear if you like it better! (Or if it will end up in your pile of treasure, caressed but never read )

[Scaly Freak]

2 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I'm going to skip it, don't really enjoy reading in Swedish. But curious to hear if you like it better! (Or if it will end up in your pile of treasure, caressed but never read )

 

PRESCIOUSSSSSS!

[oromendur]

3 hours ago, Scalyfreak said:

Reminds me of the situation with the Lord of the Rings in Sweden.. the original translator did a horrible job, apparently on account of not liking the books at all. So instead of translating, he rewrote them in Swedish. Poorly.

 

HA! I remember that. Tolkien himself positively *detested* that translation. Where was that...hm, I'm sure I have it here somewhere...

 

<rummages through huge pile of Tolkien primary source PDFs because weak-willed and happy for a procrastination opportunity>

 

...ah, here it is. From The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by his biographer Humphrey Carpenter), letter #204, written to his publisher Rayner Unwin on 7 Dec 57:

 

Quote

The enclosure that you brought from Almqvist &c. was both puzzling and irritating. A letter in Swedish from fil. dr. Åke Ohlmarks, and a huge list (9 pages foolscap) of names in the L.R. which he had altered. I hope that my inadequate knowledge of Swedish — no better than my kn. of Dutch, but I possess a v. much better Dutch dictionary! — tends to exaggerate the impression I received. The impression remains, nonetheless, that Dr Ohlmarks is a conceited person, less competent than charming Max Schuchart, though he thinks much better of himself. In the course of his letter he lectures me on the character of the Swedish language and its antipathy to borrowing foreign words (a matter which seems beside the point), a procedure made all the more ridiculous by the language of his letter, more than 1/3 of which consists of 'loan-words' from German, French and Latin: thriller-genre being a good specimen of good old pure Swedish.

 

I find this procedure puzzling, because the letter and the list seem totally pointless unless my opinion and criticism is invited. But if this is its object, then surely the timing is both unpractical and impolite, presented together with a pistol: 'we are going to start the composition now'. Neither is my convenience consulted: the communication comes out of the blue in the second most busy academic week of the year. I have had to sit up far into the night even to survey the list. Conceding the legitimacy or necessity of translation (which I do not, except in a limited degree), the translation does not seem to me to exhibit much skill, and contains a fair number of positive errors.* Even if excusable, in view of the difficulty of the material, I think this regrettable, & they could have been avoided by earlier consultation. It seems to me fairly evident that Dr.O. has stumbled along dealing with things as he came to them, without much care for the future or co-ordination, and that he has not read the Appendices† at all, in which he would have found many answers.

 

* For example: Ford of Bruinen = Björnavad! Archet = Gamleby (a mere guess, I suppose, from 'archaic'?) Mountains of Lune (Ered Luin) = Månbergen; Gladden Fields (in spite of descr. in I. 62) = Ljusa slättema, & so on.

† Or (I surmise) the nomenclature of later volumes.

 

(The footnotes are Tolkien's. Don't blame me. Yes I have a problem with footnotes but in this case they are NOT MY FAULT.)

 

It's so funny to read through Tolkien's letters with a twenty-first century outlook; he's such a grumpy old coot, but he's not wrong 

 

36 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

it will end up in your pile of treasure, caressed but never read

 

I feel personally attacked by this relatable content.

[Mad Hatter]

7 minutes ago, oromendur said:

It's so funny to read through Tolkien's letters with a twenty-first century outlook; he's such a grumpy old coot, but he's not wrong

Haha brilliant letter, thanks for sharing!

 

8 minutes ago, oromendur said:

I feel personally attacked by this relatable content.

I don’t see anything wrong with petting your books.

 

[fitnessgurl]

Currently reading Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins & Forgotten History of the Western People by Mike Gascoigne. Both are good so far!

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, oromendur said:

HA! I remember that. Tolkien himself positively *detested* that translation. Where was that...hm, I'm sure I have it here somewhere...

 

And for good reason! Björnavad, indeed... Pfft.

[Harriet]

Goodness me, Lovecraft was really, very racist. Huh.

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

Goodness me, Lovecraft was really, very racist. Huh.

 

There's a large number of South Park jokes about how racist he was.

 

To be fair, practically every white person in Europe and in the US was very racist in the 1920s and 1930s, so Lovecraft is hardly unique in his views. He's just one of the few who wrote them down without truing to hide them.

 

And I apologize, I'd forgotten you were new to his works, or I would have warned you. My bad.

[Harriet]

17 minutes ago, Scalyfreak said:

To be fair, practically every white person in Europe and in the US was very racist in the 1920s and 1930s, so Lovecraft is hardly unique in his views. He's just one of the few who wrote them down without truing to hide them.

 

Sounds plausible, actually.
 

17 minutes ago, Scalyfreak said:

And I apologize, I'd forgotten you were new to his works, or I would have warned you. My bad.

Lol, don't worry about it. I appreciate a warning when there's brutal, ultra-realistic violence with intimately detailed, lingering close-ups of the victim's suffering... but that's about it. 

[Rookie]

I am currently reading the Harry Potters again ❤️ I am on Order of the Pheonix currently. 

 

My recommendations are 

- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Titles include: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy). 

My explanation: Basically its about a security unit android? who hacked its chip so it no longer has to follow commands but it pretends to. It refers to itself as "murderbot" and it just wants to be left alone to watch its shows its downloaded though. You follow it through a journey where you see it trying to figure out who it is. <- probably a horrible definition but I find the books so good lol I love seeing the situations murderbot goes through and its inner monologue and how sarcastic and over 'life' it is.

 

I believe they are only available in e-book format and I would say they are more novellas... Each book is pretty short.

https://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm

 

-Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (Titles include: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit, Record of a Spaceborn Few)

I really like the books because although its a series the books are really kind of standalone. Each one has its own new story, new characters, new adventure or theme. Sometimes there will be a cross over character or relation to a character from one of the previous books but really its just in the same "universe". Very much based in space and on spaceships or alien planets. Kind of has a Firefly (tv show) feel in some cases. One of the reviews referred to it as a space opera.  https://www.otherscribbles.com/

[Jupiter]

11 hours ago, Rookie said:

- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Titles include: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy). 

My explanation: Basically its about a security unit android? who hacked its chip so it no longer has to follow commands but it pretends to. It refers to itself as "murderbot" and it just wants to be left alone to watch its shows its downloaded though. You follow it through a journey where you see it trying to figure out who it is. <- probably a horrible definition but I find the books so good lol I love seeing the situations murderbot goes through and its inner monologue and how sarcastic and over 'life' it is.

 

I believe they are only available in e-book format and I would say they are more novellas... Each book is pretty short.

 

LOL this series sounds fun. I'll have to check it out, thanks for the recommendation!

[Scaly Freak]

12 hours ago, Rookie said:

- The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (Titles include: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy). 

 

 

This sounds interesting and fascinating! I hope my library has them!

[Rookie]

1 minute ago, Scalyfreak said:

 

This sounds interesting and fascinating! I hope my library has them!

I am pretty sure it's only e-book format. Does your library rent out ebooks? I think mine does

[Scaly Freak]

3 minutes ago, Rookie said:

I am pretty sure it's only e-book format. Does your library rent out ebooks? I think mine does

 

They do, I send them to my Kindle and read them there.

 

The Murderbot Diaries showed up when I did a search for "format:Books", which limits it to printed on paper, so I'm hopeful I will be able to check them out and read them in the evenings.  

[Mad Hatter]

I can confirm both that Murderbot is adorable and that the series exists in paperback.

 

I finished Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera a few days ago, and I still can't decide whether I like it or not. On one hand it's a cute, queer coming of age story which brings up a whole bunch of excellent, important topics on gender, feminism and sexuality. On the other hand, those topics are often treated with an obnoxiously heavy hand and the protagonist is extremely naive and ignorant considering her age. The beginning was verging on too boring to read, but then there were some truly lovely bits towards the end... 

 

[Jupiter]

How is everyone doing on their reading challenges so far? I'm at 16/40 right now, though I'm thinking of bumping it up to 50.