Andrea's comments
(member since Feb 19, 2008)
Andrea's comments from the Chicks On Lit group.
(showing 1-20 of 74)
I have been to the National Book Festival in DC in years past and it is amazing. The number and quality of the authors is wonderful. I didn't see the location for this year, but it should be on the National Mall toward the east end (near the Capital). It can get rather crowded, DC is a rather bookish town. So if there is a particular author you want to see, make sure you get to that tent a bit early to get a seat.
The Complete Works of Shakespeare has always been my top pick. Drama, comedy, characters and oh the language... Defintely something to be read repeatedly.
Now if I had a power source for my Kindle, I actually could get the complete Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in a portable package. Plus I'd add the complete works of Roberston Davies and a Norton or Oxford Anthology of Poetry.
The selection actually has to be somewhat portable then:
Persuasion by Austen
What's Bred in the Bone by Davies
Nicholas Nickleby or Pickwick Papers by Dickens
Plus the Complete works of Shakespeare and the poetry anthology.
I suspect that a desert island, might actually be the best way to get through the complete work of Charles Dickens.
Cathy wrote: "Andrea,
That's not a problem, I...or someone else with the newest translation...can post the table of contents in the near future. BTW, does the Kindle give you any kind of a page count?
The Kindle has "location" info which, without looking it up in the reference guide, I assume means a sentence or line count of some kind. Because you can change the font size, a page count would be for a progress reference only.
The Kindle does have a graphical representation on the screen (page) to show you how far along in the book you are. And on you list of books there is a similar representation that gives you an idea of how long each book is - so there is a relative comparison you can easily see from book to book.
In the interest of saving my shoulders from lugging this around and packing more into my already overcrowded bookselves, I got the Pevear & Volkhonsky version for my Kindle. Problem is that page counts then have absolutely no correspondance.
Would it be possible to post info on which chapters the page numbers correspond to? Just "middle of Volume 2 Part 1 Chapter 16" would be a big help. That will allow anyone reading a different edition to at least end up in the correct chapter.
There are volumes, parts and chapters. The chapters are quite short, but maybe the parts would be the appropriate level to breakdown the reading if volumes seem to be too long.
I can remember reading this years ago and the fact that the chapters are short kept me going because I could see that I was making progress...
Happy Holidays to all and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year!
teri wrote: "I'm thinking of reading it now, too, and of course the shorter version is very attractive.....but does anyone know why Tolstoy did the rewrites? I mean, when I do rewrites, it's to make improvemen..."
Check out the Wikipedia entry on War and Peace... Tolstoy didn't like the ending of the first draft (originally published) ending so he re-wrote the whole thing. But it sounds like he wasn't happy with that version either...
The second is certainly the more "standard" version and Pevear and Volkonsky have gotten very good reviews for their translattions.
There is a 2005 New Yorker article by David Remnick (who knows a bit about Russian himself) about translation rivalries and how Pevear and Volokhonsky became translators: The Translation Wars
In a 2007 New Yorker issue there was a review of War and Peace, in particular the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation. Here is a brief excerpt and link:
"Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky’s translation gives us new access to the spirit and order of the book. Literary translators tend to divide into what one could call originalists and activists. The former honor the original text’s quiddities, and strive to reproduce them as accurately as possible in the translated language; the latter are less concerned with literal accuracy than with the transposed musical appeal of the new work. Any decent translator must be a bit of both. Though Tolstoy has been well served in English, his translators, like Constance Garnett, Rosemary Edmonds, and Aylmer and Louise Maude, have tended to be somewhat activist, sidestepping difficult words, smoothing the rhythm of the Russian, and eliminating one of Tolstoy’s most distinctive elements, repetition. Pevear and Volokhonsky, who are justly celebrated for their translations of Dostoyevsky, are closer to the originalist camp than to the activist."
Moveable Types: How War and Peace Works
I just love the New Yorker!
I read War and Peace a looong time ago. For those still debating... I do rememver that it was not dark and depressing. I hated Crime and Punishment which I had to read for a high school class. But I managed to read War and Peace on my own.
One thing I found that helped getting through such a long book, was that the chapters are actually pretty short. It makes it easy to pick up, read a couple chapters and see progress happening. If I remember correctly, it moves along at a pretty good pace as well. The hardest thing is getting all the Russian names and nicknames straight.
I have a free copy downloaded on my Kindle. But I'm thinking of buying (also for the Kindle) a copy of the new Pevear and Volkonsky translation since it's been getting such good reviews.
I'm not even going to try to count how many times I got dumped when I was younger. For the most part when that happened, the only explanation I got was along the lines of "I just don't feel that way about you anymore" or "I don't know what I want."
In the long run, what I found was that when a guy gets to that point, no amount of discussion or logic will work. I wasn't very good at it, but my best guess is, leave him alone, to out with your girlfriends, don't answer immediately when he calls or texts. If a man is really still interested, he'll start wondering what you're up to and call...
Men generally aren't all that introspective and whether they are or they aren't, they don't generally share their innermost thoughts and doubts. Particularly if it's about you. Sometimes they've decided that the pairing just doesn't suit them, sometimes it's another woman, but whatever it is with many guys, once one foot is out the door the other is going.
And there is no - "let's work on it" or "let's talk about it." No amount of begging or pleading will get them to talk. They may know what the issue is, but if it's going to hurt your feelings or make them uncomfortable, they clam up. Its annoying and frustrating, but you will not get any sense of closure.
For me, a relationship would be great for about a year, maybe 18 months and then poof...they were out the door. From what I know, most of my ex's who disappeared on me went on to other relationships and for the most part got married and settled down. It's nothing that's "wrong" with you, but they aren't ready or they are looking for something else.
I'm still in touch with a couple of my ex's and it's worked out for the best for me and them. We're each in relationships that turned out to be a better fit, I just didn't see it at the time. When relationships end, the hardest thing is that someone is done first. When you're not done yet, it's very painful. And sometimes a man will change his mind and come back... but you have to let go first.
Sorry if this was a bit stream of consciousness, but I'm not quite up to editing that today. Hang in there. Give him room. Take care of yourself.
My favorites for the year:
History of Love
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain (finally got around to reading this)
Mistress of the Art of Death
The Thirteenth Tale
The Knitting Circle
The Coroner's Lunch, Thirty Three Teeth, Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill (first three of mystery series set in 1970's Laos.)
The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison
And I just picked up Making Money by Terry Pratchett, so that's likely to make the list by the end of the year...
I've always used the recipe on the chocolate chip bag. I used to dump everything in a large bowl and mix the dough up by hand. But since I received a lovely KitchenAid mixer as a wedding present a couple years ago, I started mix creaming the butter and sugar and eggs first, then adding the dry ingredients. That seems to make a real difference in the consistency. I end up with a much softer cookie. Oh, and I always use butter.
I bought a Kindle recently when someone posted in another group that there was a $50 off special after the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appear on Oprah.
I really like it so far, though I'm in the middle of so many regular books, I'm still trying to finish up several of those before I really get going on my Kindle.
I was interested in the Kindle for two reasons -I do some travelling for work and I'd like to lighten my book load. Unless its a one or two day trip, I usually take 3 to 5 books with me. I've got a week long trip coming up in a couple weeks, so I'm looking forward to taking it with me. I'll probably still take one or two regular books with me as I have a ridiculously large TBR pile.
That's the other reason for getting a Kindle. We are out of bookshelf space. We buy bookshelves, we fill bookshelves, we buy more bookshelves. I have started selling off a few of my books, but not fast enough. I'm hoping to buy enough new books on the Kindle that I can keep even. We'll see how that goes.
One site that I found does have free books available for Kindle - things that are out of copyright - Feedbooks.com
I read this book about 6 months ago. I started it once before that and put it down for quite awhile, so I started again from the beginning. Even then I would read a bit and let it sit for a few days. I think the back of my mind need to work on it a bit.
In the end, I loved it. It took a little while for me to warm up to Leo. And it think it's difficult to read the descriptions of his life probably because they are true to life. We don't want to think about being old, lonely and not in good health. But he turns out to be a heroic character in his own way.
Has anyone thought about comparing Leo with Max from The Book Thief and their different experiences as Jews in WWII? I haven't finished The Book Thief yet. (that's taking me awhile too.)
This is one of my favorite reads from this year.
I haven't read it and don't have the book. I'm rather behind on a bunch of book discussions, so am trying to finish up several books that are already in the works.
Luckily I have already read The History of Love, so hopefully I will have something to contribute next month. I loved that book.
Laura,
Regarding message 44...
I live in New Mexico (5 electoral college votes) but we are considered a swing state. Split Senate seats & split Congressional representation (2 Rep. & 1 Dem) with a Democratic governor. We have been DELUGED with ads, canvasing, AND the candidates. Both McCain and Obama have been here numerous times. Obama had a huge rally on the Univerity of NM campus about a week ago and McCain was in southern New Mexico just a couple days ago.
Some of the state you mentioned WY, ND, SD, MT don't get much attention, because tend to vote solidly Republican. I suspect a few of the NE states that vote solidly Democratic also didn't get a lot of attention.
Emily, I haven't not seen the new Persuasion... or rather I saw about 5 or 10 minutes of it, but haven't gotten around to seeing the whole thing. What I did see didn't convince me that I'd like it better than the Amanda Root/ Ciaran Hinds version, but it does look like it's worth watching.
I'll second the Terry Pratchett nomination for some good giggles. When I lived in the DC area, I used to read on the Metro to work or downtown. I was always self-conscious when reading Pratchett on the subway, because there is no way to complete supress the audible giggles his books cause.
My favorite feel good or light-hearted movies:
- Enchanted April
- Cold Comfort Farm
- Sense & Sensibility (w/Emma Thompson)
- Emma (w/Gwenyth Paltrow)
- Persuasion (w/Amanda Root)
And the books of all the above.
Just one book? I can't get on airplane without 3 or 4. I have a pathological fear of being stuck in an airport at 6 pm on a Sunday evening (just after tha last newstand closes) with nothing to read. I bought an extra large travel purse - just for it's book carrying capacity.
I like a good mystery for a plane ride, absorbing, distracting, not too emotionally charged (no tear jerkers), and something that's easy to get back to if you put it down for a couple of days.
I have a muliti-part question:
The story in letters format has obvious limitations. Did that hamper telling the story? Were there things that ended up as back story that that you would have worked in with a different format? Was there pressure from the publisher to either maintain or avoid the strictly epistolary format?
