Reading... Thursday?
Nov. 19th, 2015 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoIN WHICH I am slightly less exhausted than I was yesterday and this is the post I would have made if I hadn't been collapsing.
Finished reading: The Kalevala, Keith Bosley translation. I've already done some grumping about nitpicky things relating to the translation, so I won't get into that here. But as a work in and of itself, I really, really like the Kalevala (well, I wouldn't have re-read it if I didn't), and I had a lot of fun reading it again, because there was so much that I'd forgotten. It was nice looking for little things that Minna Sundberg had pulled out and referenced in A Redtail's Dream, too. I have a lot of thoughts about that, and I want to write a big long post about it, but it'll have to wait for another time.
As a work of translated poetry - I like that Bosley decided not to imitate the original rhythm. Sometimes people prefer it if there's some attempt to go with the original flow, but in examples I've seen - not from the Kalevala, but from other works - what tends to happen is that it tends to come out a little awkward, because you're trying to fit things in where they might not necessarily fit. Bosley's work has a rhythm of its own, and it's very readable, and I like what he does with it (even if I have nitpicks over some of the actual translation chices etc, especially re: what to do with names and so on).
From what I remember, last time my favourite character was Ilmarinen, but this time around I became really attached to Lemminkäinen's mother (even if I feel like she probably should have left him in Tuonela, to be honest). I wish she had a name of her own.
Currently reading: Tea From an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan. I've been reading this one off and on for a while; it came in an ebook bundle with Mindplayers and Fools. I loved Mindplayers, and Fools was okay, though a bit of a mindfuck, but I've had a lot of trouble getting into Tea. Hard to put a finger on the reason why, but I think it has something to do with not feeling particularly drawn to any of the characters. Part of the reason I loved Mindplayers so much is because I became really attached to Deadpan Allie; with Tea I don't feel that same interest. It definitely isn't enough to turn me off, though, so I'll finish this book, and probably read more Cadigan at some point.
Reading next: Someone on fail_fandomanon is writing a crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage trilogy and Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor. I really liked the snippet of WIP that I saw. So... looks like it's The Goblin Emperor for me next. I'm already pretty familiar with Lackey's work, and her Vanyel novels push the same buttons for me that Weiss Kreuz does - total fantasy junk food; they're like the novel equivalent of those deliciously horrible cookies with brightly-coloured frosting on them, you know the ones - and so... if someone's thinking of smashing those two canons together, maybe it's an indication that Addison's novel will push the same buttons for me that Lackey does. We shall see.
Finished reading: The Kalevala, Keith Bosley translation. I've already done some grumping about nitpicky things relating to the translation, so I won't get into that here. But as a work in and of itself, I really, really like the Kalevala (well, I wouldn't have re-read it if I didn't), and I had a lot of fun reading it again, because there was so much that I'd forgotten. It was nice looking for little things that Minna Sundberg had pulled out and referenced in A Redtail's Dream, too. I have a lot of thoughts about that, and I want to write a big long post about it, but it'll have to wait for another time.
As a work of translated poetry - I like that Bosley decided not to imitate the original rhythm. Sometimes people prefer it if there's some attempt to go with the original flow, but in examples I've seen - not from the Kalevala, but from other works - what tends to happen is that it tends to come out a little awkward, because you're trying to fit things in where they might not necessarily fit. Bosley's work has a rhythm of its own, and it's very readable, and I like what he does with it (even if I have nitpicks over some of the actual translation chices etc, especially re: what to do with names and so on).
From what I remember, last time my favourite character was Ilmarinen, but this time around I became really attached to Lemminkäinen's mother (even if I feel like she probably should have left him in Tuonela, to be honest). I wish she had a name of her own.
Currently reading: Tea From an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan. I've been reading this one off and on for a while; it came in an ebook bundle with Mindplayers and Fools. I loved Mindplayers, and Fools was okay, though a bit of a mindfuck, but I've had a lot of trouble getting into Tea. Hard to put a finger on the reason why, but I think it has something to do with not feeling particularly drawn to any of the characters. Part of the reason I loved Mindplayers so much is because I became really attached to Deadpan Allie; with Tea I don't feel that same interest. It definitely isn't enough to turn me off, though, so I'll finish this book, and probably read more Cadigan at some point.
Reading next: Someone on fail_fandomanon is writing a crossover with Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage trilogy and Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor. I really liked the snippet of WIP that I saw. So... looks like it's The Goblin Emperor for me next. I'm already pretty familiar with Lackey's work, and her Vanyel novels push the same buttons for me that Weiss Kreuz does - total fantasy junk food; they're like the novel equivalent of those deliciously horrible cookies with brightly-coloured frosting on them, you know the ones - and so... if someone's thinking of smashing those two canons together, maybe it's an indication that Addison's novel will push the same buttons for me that Lackey does. We shall see.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 03:59 am (UTC)I read part of the Kirby translation on Project Gutenberg last night. It's a little old-fashioned, which is no surprise since it was translated such a long time ago, but if you can get past that, it isn't so bad, from what I saw in that brief look. Plus, hey, it's free.
The Crawford translation is also up on Project Gutenberg. A lot of the names are spelled differently from what I'm used to, and I don't like that, but at a glance, it looks okay, though it has the same issue as Kirby (namely, that it's old).
As far as like, easy leisure reading, I think I still prefer Bosley, even with my grumpings, though I haven't actually read the other two translations in full yet.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 04:09 am (UTC)i'll probably flip through both gutenberg ones and pick one that way. (i mean, not... immediately. i am not going to double-marathon this thing) free is a good motivator! - i can't imagine minding old-fashioned for something like the kalevala, tbh; it seems fitting, since the thing itself is old(er) anyway :p so those seem like the best bets.
yeah, while i do like the prose, there's definitely parts where it grates. a lot of the more repetitive sections seem like they might be more evocative or whatever in poetic form as opposed to .. they're very like, OKAY, I GET IT, I KNOW sometimes? it does feel worth doing both to me, though! the prose translation hews a little more closely to the original but the poetic ones are probably more, uh, enjoyable?
no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 04:17 am (UTC)To be honest, the repetitions occasionally get a bit too repetitive even for me; usually I enjoy them but sometimes I'm like OKAY YES I GET IT LET'S MOVE ON. Even then, though, there's a certain... loveliness about it. It's kind of been seeping into my writing, and I appreciate that, because I like it.