Magic Square - 2018

[Pat]

Oh. That’s good to know. Actually I’ve over ordered at library, if that’s possible.

[Jazzy]

Pat wrote: "Oh. That’s good to know. Actually I’ve over ordered at library, if that’s possible."

This is one of the few books I bought as an e-book, very good for carrying everywhere on my little nook. I read it slowly, savouring it for 9 months. I think it cost a fiver and was well worth it.

Look it's £3.99!
https://www.ebooks.com/735194/war-and...

[Pat]

Thank you. I think I can get it for free somewhere as an ebook but sometimes prefer a book.

[Jazzy]

https://wordery.com/war-and-peace-leo... £7.98

or try your luck with these second-hand copies!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-lis...

[Pat]

Has anyone tried planetebook or Gutenberg press. Both have free ebook for war and peace. Planet ebook has all classics for free as out of copyright. Any views?

[Pat]

Has anyone tried planet ebooks? Has all classics free online as out of copyright

[Pat]

Thanks. Am looking at planet ebook. Free site, although I’ve tried to post to peeps on Goodreads and doesn’t seem to be posting. Should that change I’m afraid you have 3 posts similar! I may go for your second hand idea though. I like second hand books too. Thanks.

[Pat]

There they are!

[Jazzy]

Pat the reason I gave you those links is that the newer edition that was translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky is hands down the best, wonderful notes as well. The free ones are older translations.

[Pat]

Oh. Ok. I’ll try that then. Over to order. Thanks a lot

[Rebecca]

I've used Project Gutenberg a few times. I think they're great.

Don't think I've tried any of their translations though.

[Pat]

Or I may finish other books and order from the library!

[Jazzy]

I recently finished Swann's Way by Marcel Proust and I got that from Planet ebooks. Proust was fond of waffling on, even so I did enjoy it.

Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky are a married couple, he is American and she is Russian, and they spend their life together translating and notating Russian classics. They live in Paris.

"The husband-and-wife team works in a two-step process: Volokhonsky prepares her English version of the original text, trying to follow Russian syntax and stylistic peculiarities as closely as possible, and Pevear turns this version into polished and stylistically appropriate English. Pevear has variously described their working process as follows:

"Larissa goes over it, raising questions. And then we go over it again. I produce another version, which she reads against the original. We go over it one more time, and then we read it twice more in proof."

"We work separately at first. Larissa produces a complete draft, following the original as closely as possible, with many marginal comments and observations. From that, plus the original Russian, I make my own complete draft. Then we work closely together to arrive at a third draft, on which we make our 'final' revisions."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

[Jazzy]

Here is an interesting article from the New Yorker (2005)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Lisa]

Really pleased with how I'm getting on with this challenge so I'm now going for the full number. 13 down already, which is quite remarkable for me, although I'll be replacing a few as the year goes on as a couple are children's books, and I think using the word 'dragon' for 'an animal in the title' could be a bit of a cheat. :)

I've just finished my 'over 500 pages' category with the very good Alias Grace. That one, plus the money one, were going to be the hardest for me.

[Pat]

Thanks for all comments. Choices choices. Interesting article.

[Anetq]

Almost done: 23/15
All I'm missing is a Book Viper Group Read and Food...
Any good suggestions for (classics?) with food in the title? (Not Chocolat please, I hated that movie, also I'd like something older)

[Paul]

My choice was Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah Anetq

[Jason]

If you want a classic with food Anetq then how about the adventures of HuckleBERRY Finn?

[Jazzy]

Jason wrote: "If you want a classic with food Anetq then how about the adventures of HuckleBERRY Finn?"

A huckleberry is a real berry :)

[Jazzy]

How about

Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North
Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life
A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich
Milkshake
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

[Angela]

I'm thinking of reading Cakes and Ale for the food one:
'Cakes and Ale is a satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield's wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist's voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime, but now her memory casts an embarrassing shadow over his career and respectable image. Wise, witty, deeply satisfying, Cakes and Ale is Maugham at his best'

[Angela]

That one could also be a book about books!

[Anetq]

Thanks for the suggestions Jazzy, Ma & Paul!
There is a useful listopia list here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/5...

Maybe it's time to read The Grapes of Wrath og indeed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

If anybody else is looking I can recommend Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

[Pat]

One left. War and Peace. Ordered from library. 5 months to read it! Phew.

[Anetq]

All done! With this month's group read: Celeste Ng Little Fires Everywhere - and then I went north for the last one (food) 'Cooking Bear' by Mikael Niemi (Don't think it's in English yet).
My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

So my final list:
A Classic (2 actually) Russisk romantik - Pushkin: Fontænen i Bakhtjisaraj & Lermontov: Dæmonen by Mikhail Lermontov & A Pushkin
A Book About Money Sæt kursen: Sådan lærer du at investere på 8 uger by Louise Fredbo-Nielsen
A Book Under 100 Pages King Leopold's Soliloquy by Mark Twain
A Book Of Poems Fra samvittighedens republik by Seamus Heaney
Free Choice Yann Andréa Steiner by Marguerite Duras
A Book Set In Another Country Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan
A Translated Book I opstandelsens aske by Nelly Sachs
True Or Fictional Crime Indland by Arne Dahl
A Book With An Animal In The Title The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa
Book Vipers Monthly Read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Non Fiction Book Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences by Stephen P. Anderson
A Debut Book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Book From A Small Publisher Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas by Dario Fo
A Biography (well a twisted one!) King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
A Book You Have Borrowed Last Things: A Graphic Memoir of Loss and Love by Marissa Moss
Free Choice The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares
A Banned Book Sigøjnerballader by Federico García Lorca
A Book with a Food in the Title At koge bjørn by Mikael Niemi
Free Choice A Delicate Truth by John le Carré
A Shortlisted Book Follow the Dead by Lin Anderson
A Book Over 500 Pages Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
An Award Winner Lots hustru og andre kvinder by Wisława Szymborska
Second Book In A Series The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
A Book About Books (and the misogyni they taught for centuries!) Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard
Science Fiction Or Fact The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

[Jason]

Well done Anetq

[Anetq]

Pat wrote: "One left. War and Peace. Ordered from library. 5 months to read it! Phew."
Oooh that's a long one! But once you get going... I started the year with Anna Karenina - very readable!

[Pat]

I found Anna Karenina unputdownable so let’s hope War and Peace is same.

[Pat]

Well done btw.

[Jazzy]

well done, and War and Peace oh my heart! I cannot go under a starlit winter sky without thinking of Boris and Natasha

[Pat]

And we are off. Last book. But.....War and peace ....collected at library. May have to buy it in volumes or read on kindle. Print is minute.

[Jason]

I've finished. woohoo. Managed to do this challenge with time to spare.

Thanks for running the challenge.

[Jazzy]

Congratulations Jason!

[Jason]

Thanks Jazzy

[Jazzy]

My pleasure, treasure!

[Paul]

Excellent Jason. I have two (2!!!) to go.

[Pat]

Well done. I’m ploughing through war and peace. Slowly but surely. On iBooks now as found it quicker. Fab, Jason.

[Pamela]

Finished! Great challenge, wonder what 2019 will bring...

[Paul]

Not sure yet... I am going to do a feedback thread later this week

[Jason]

Well done Pamela

[Pamela]

Thanks Jason

[Pat]

Well done.

[Pat]

I’ve done it! With the help of an audiobook after getting fed up of lugging a large book and/ or keeping losing my place on my kindle by a sleight of hand, I’ve made my way through war and peace and finished the challenge. 2 challenges completed in one year? Unheard of for me. Sorry I missed the monthly books because of this. Maybe next year. Then I can’t do the challenge. Decisions decisions. Thanks Paul these challenges were great.

[Jason]

Well done Pat, quite a challenging book to add to any challenge. did you like it?

[Paul]

Amazing!! Well done, Pat

[Lisa]

Congratulations, Pat! Awesome book to end on. Did you enjoy it, or was it a bit too much of a slog?

I'm hoping to have read 23 or 24 out of 25 by the end of the year – so pleased with myself as I'd originally only thought I'd manage 8!

[Ruth]

Pat wrote: "I’ve done it! With the help of an audiobook after getting fed up of lugging a large book and/ or keeping losing my place on my kindle by a sleight of hand, I’ve made my way through war and peace an..."
Well done ! That's a whopper of a read !

[Paul]

Lisa wrote: "Congratulations, Pat! Awesome book to end on. Did you enjoy it, or was it a bit too much of a slog?

I'm hoping to have read 23 or 24 out of 25 by the end of the year – so pleased with myself as I'..."

Well done, Lisa!!

[Pat]

Jason, re war and peace. There were some beautiful passages. A great story. Some people have suggested it was a good insight into history of the time. I know nothing about that but prob true. However......I’m sure that many will disagree, millions actually. I thought it could have been edited to miss out a few pages here and there. I went from some wonderful parts to some, frankly, boring pieces which I struggled through, to get to the wonderful parts again. I do Virginia Woolf. You do Tolstoy. Although I loved Anna Karenina...