October 2018 Open Pick Nominations

[Lia]

Hugh wrote: "Austerlitz has won the poll. Lia, are you happy to lead the discussion?"

Yes, but I’ve never led a group discussion before, and I haven’t participated in enough discussions here to figure out how things are done. I wouldn’t mind getting some pointers, or helps, or instructions.

[Hugh]

Thanks Lia . Don't worry, the moderators will give you all the help you need.

[Meike]

Yay, finally I'll actually read this book! :-)

[Lia]

Can’t wait to find out what you think, Meike. It’s (shockingly?) easy to read in English, so not like James Joyce or Heidegger etc. But I’ve heard the language is far more complex and subtle in German!

[Meike]

Oh, now I am even more curious, Lia!

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I don't know if I'll read this this month--a few years ago, I listened to a fantastic rendition by Richard Matthews. In that guise, it became one of my favorite books of the century so far.

[[deleted user]]

I ordered a copy today. Looking forward to it. It’s one that I’ve been wanting to read for years.

[Bretnie]

I just looked the book up on Audible and the English version is 7 hours and the German version is 11 hours! Funny!

[Whitney]

Caveat to audiobook listeners that Sebald has photos sprinkled throughout his text. I don't think you absolutely have to have them, but would at least look for links to the photos so you know what he's referring to.

[Bretnie]

Thanks for that heads up Whitney!

[Meike]

Bretnie wrote: "I just looked the book up on Audible and the English version is 7 hours and the German version is 11 hours! Funny!"

Bretnie, that's pretty normal - books translated into German are always longer than the English original, as our language/grammar takes up more space! :-) For instance, Auster's "4 3 2 1" has 880 pages in English and 1264 pages in German.

[David]

Meike wrote: "Bretnie, that's pretty normal - books translated into German are..."

As a Canadian, I have a lifetime of experience looking at French and English versions of the same text side by side. We see it daily on packages in the stores, in statements by politicians and the text of laws, and we see it in books. The French text is always longer. Simple phrases like "Tom's car" become "the car of Tom" in French, doubling the length.

My limited experience with Spanish and Italian indicates that they, too, are always longer than English. It seems common among western European languages that this is the case.

[Lia]

I suspect this is because English is a mix of Germanic and Romantic languages — if a concept lacks a simple word or expression in one root, we can (almost) always find something from the other root.

Though, some poets experimented with writing poems with only German roots, and those poems always sound so curt, abrupt, and short! (It’s probably because of the low syllables count.)

[Ami]

I just ordered my book! See you all at this much anticipated moment, watching Sebald finally walk down that isle :P

[Lia]

I heard either a dingbat or raccoon is delivering the ring :p