Reading along

[muckefuck]

I can't explain why it took me so long to reach the end Faulkner's Mosquitoes. Besides being a glimpse at Faulkner before he was really Faulkner, it's a quite enjoyable novel on its own terms. Sexist and racist (one character is almost invariably referred to as "the Semitic man"), but not outrageously so given the time, and in places quite funny. The dialogue-to-description is on a par with The reivers, so I feel like I should've raced through it rather than stretching it out over a month. I mean, this doesn't bode well for my plans to read the Snopes Trilogy, does it?

I've got more excuses for taking my time with The handmaid's tale because I find it so intense that I need to take occasional breaks. After a particularly disturbing dream, I've banned myself from reading it before bed. Fortunately, it's broken up into short chapters that seem suited for reading on the shuttle (if I can just make sure to get drivers who know how to brake without making everyone motion sick). And then afterwards I can stride through lush landscapes inhaling freedom at every step.

Reflecting on my language goals has made it clear that I'd really like to be able to read French and Spanish as easily as I do German. This means reading more, but less on the literary end of things so I can get used to breezing along. I have that Labro from a couple months back and it looks like it might do if the dated slang doesn't overwhelm me. As if trying to bludgeon me with its Gallicity, the first chapter devotes an entire paragraph to listing out various terms for women (from berthes to varlots), all of them informal and most derogatory.

Comments

[bunj.livejournal.com]

I still have the Alatriste books, if you'd like to borrow some of them. If you want a bit of challenge, you can also read the Alatriste juego del rol.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I think I'm more tempted by the RPG. I found the second Alatriste novel rather less rewarding than the first.

[bunj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wasn't taken with it either, which made me taper off. I do want to get back into them at some point, if only so I can read the pirate one. I want to read a swashbuckling pirate tale from the point of view of the Spanish.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Ha! I was thinking of asking you, "Can I just read the pirate one?" Then I thought of relearning all that maritime vocabulary in yet another language and quailed for a bit. (At least German has all those words we loaned to them.)