Reading Wednesday
Oct. 27th, 2015 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoWell, okay, it's not quite Wednesday yet as I post this, but let's not get technical.
Finished reading: War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Still just as good as I remembered it. One thing that always stuck with me was what was left of the Martians at the end; the machinery and the bodies, especially that Fighting Machine that stayed upright, blaring out that last call until it was all over.
There were a lot of neat little things that I didn't remember from before, like the pamphlet about Martians written by someone who obviously didn't know much about Martians, drawings of Fighting Machines by someone who had never seen them in action, and how these differed from the real thing... It's a nice touch; I liked it.
Currently reading: The Kalevala; Keith Bosley translation. So, after futzing around and being like "I kind of want to re-read this", I finally decided to do it. I don't remember much of it aside from the bare bones, because it's been a while, and the first time I read it, I did so very quickly. So, I'm taking my time now... But I'm enjoying it. This translation isn't in Kalevala metre, but it does have its own rhythm, which scans well enough. I'm looking forward to when Ilmarinen shows up... I remember that I found him really interesting, though right now I can't remember why. (I think it was maybe his relations with Väinämöinen that I liked so much? Probably.)
Though, this translation... every so often I stumble across something that makes me raise an eyebrow. Often when there's a name of a god, it substitutes a euphemism instead. IE, the text refers to Ukko, but the translation calls him Old Man. A brief lookup suggests the euphemism is interchangeable with the name, but... in the context of the way it's used in this translation, it tends to give it a flavour that tastes a bit too Christian, I think. Especially since this switch is done a lot. And then there are other little things - it tends to translate places as (x)-land, rather than keeping original form. IE where the actual text might have the word Väinölän, this translation writes it as Väinö-land, which... looks bloody silly in English, to be honest. Just call it Väinölä and be done with it.
Feels a little ridiculous to be nitpicking when the amount of Finnish I know couldn't even fill my pocket, but... oh, I don't know, it's just mildly annoying. It kind of makes me curious about reading other translations; the Kirby translation from 1907 is up on Project Gutenberg, and it doesn't seem to have those minor annoyances I mentioned above... and apparently it imitates Kalevala metre, which is neat. Maybe I'll give that one a go, eventually.
Reading next: I have no idea. Maybe some poetry - I've been kind of in the mood for poetry. Or maybe some Discworld. Moving Pictures is the next one on my Discworld to-read list; I've only read that one once before. I'm a little more acquainted with early film now than I was at the time, so maybe I'll get something different out of it than I did the first time.
Finished reading: War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Still just as good as I remembered it. One thing that always stuck with me was what was left of the Martians at the end; the machinery and the bodies, especially that Fighting Machine that stayed upright, blaring out that last call until it was all over.
There were a lot of neat little things that I didn't remember from before, like the pamphlet about Martians written by someone who obviously didn't know much about Martians, drawings of Fighting Machines by someone who had never seen them in action, and how these differed from the real thing... It's a nice touch; I liked it.
Currently reading: The Kalevala; Keith Bosley translation. So, after futzing around and being like "I kind of want to re-read this", I finally decided to do it. I don't remember much of it aside from the bare bones, because it's been a while, and the first time I read it, I did so very quickly. So, I'm taking my time now... But I'm enjoying it. This translation isn't in Kalevala metre, but it does have its own rhythm, which scans well enough. I'm looking forward to when Ilmarinen shows up... I remember that I found him really interesting, though right now I can't remember why. (I think it was maybe his relations with Väinämöinen that I liked so much? Probably.)
Though, this translation... every so often I stumble across something that makes me raise an eyebrow. Often when there's a name of a god, it substitutes a euphemism instead. IE, the text refers to Ukko, but the translation calls him Old Man. A brief lookup suggests the euphemism is interchangeable with the name, but... in the context of the way it's used in this translation, it tends to give it a flavour that tastes a bit too Christian, I think. Especially since this switch is done a lot. And then there are other little things - it tends to translate places as (x)-land, rather than keeping original form. IE where the actual text might have the word Väinölän, this translation writes it as Väinö-land, which... looks bloody silly in English, to be honest. Just call it Väinölä and be done with it.
Feels a little ridiculous to be nitpicking when the amount of Finnish I know couldn't even fill my pocket, but... oh, I don't know, it's just mildly annoying. It kind of makes me curious about reading other translations; the Kirby translation from 1907 is up on Project Gutenberg, and it doesn't seem to have those minor annoyances I mentioned above... and apparently it imitates Kalevala metre, which is neat. Maybe I'll give that one a go, eventually.
Reading next: I have no idea. Maybe some poetry - I've been kind of in the mood for poetry. Or maybe some Discworld. Moving Pictures is the next one on my Discworld to-read list; I've only read that one once before. I'm a little more acquainted with early film now than I was at the time, so maybe I'll get something different out of it than I did the first time.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
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Date: 2015-10-29 01:03 pm (UTC)