Stuff we're reading / watching / listening to

[Defy V]

I recently watched Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. I was surprised by how dark it was. I saw it when I was 8 or 9 once and I didn't think it was that dark back then, but I guess I've changed.

These days I've been opening up The Accidental Tourist and read a chapter or two. I think I like it better than I used to.

My husband's been reading Harry Potter 7, which has caused me to think a lot about deus ex machina in novels and movies. (As a side note, last night I dreamed about Tangled and when I woke up I thought, "The tear is kind of a deus ex machina." Then I saw this thread and laughed.)

[Whistler]

I read Anna Karenina a while back and really enjoyed it, although I don't remember it all that well. (I was annoyed that the translation I read decided to call her "Anna Karenin" instead of "Karenina," because they didn't want to give the male / female forms of all of the surnames in the book. I understand their reasoning, but I feel like you probably shouldn't mess with the name of the main character of an eponymous book.)

You can blame Nabokov for that. He was quite staunch in his opinion that Russian names should follow English conventions when translated rather than maintaining their Russian endings. Like many of his views, it is quite idiosyncratic, but he is viewed as an authority by many people so the tradition has remained. Much like his preference to call Levin "Lyovin" on the basis that Lev Tolstoy was called Lyov by most of his close friends, and Nabokov wanted to separate the name Levin from any Jewish connotations the American reader might have with it. Thankfully, I think Karenina and Levin are winning out over Karenin and Lyovin, but only time will tell.

Oh Nabokov... you both delight and exasperate.

[Katya]

(As a side note, last night I dreamed about Tangled and when I woke up I thought, "The tear is kind of a deus ex machina." Then I saw this thread and laughed.)

[Katya]

I read Anna Karenina a while back and really enjoyed it, although I don't remember it all that well. (I was annoyed that the translation I read decided to call her "Anna Karenin" instead of "Karenina," because they didn't want to give the male / female forms of all of the surnames in the book. I understand their reasoning, but I feel like you probably shouldn't mess with the name of the main character of an eponymous book.)

You can blame Nabokov for that. He was quite staunch in his opinion that Russian names should follow English conventions when translated rather than maintaining their Russian endings. Like many of his views, it is quite idiosyncratic, but he is viewed as an authority by many people so the tradition has remained. Much like his preference to call Levin "Lyovin" on the basis that Lev Tolstoy was called Lyov by most of his close friends, and Nabokov wanted to separate the name Levin from any Jewish connotations the American reader might have with it. Thankfully, I think Karenina and Levin are winning out over Karenin and Lyovin, but only time will tell.

Nabokov was also the one who thought that translated poetry shouldn't rhyme, right? Douglas Hofstadter wrote an entire book to refute his ideas. It's called Le Ton Beau de Marot and it's very good. (Don't let the title fool you—it's in English.)

[Tao]

Nabokov was also the one who thought that translated poetry shouldn't rhyme, right? Douglas Hofstadter wrote an entire book to refute his ideas. It's called Le Ton Beau de Marot and it's very good. (Don't let the title fool you—it's in English.)

Mmmmm, I might be with him on that one. Epic poetry at least, for sure. Comparing the myriad of Divine Comedy translations that try to force rhyme into the English to those which give a more literal account, I much prefer the latter. To be fully honest, the abhorrence of those forced rhymes put Italian much higher on my 'languages to learn' list, so I can tackle it in the original.

[Whistler]

speaking of forced rhymes, please everyone enjoy this song, which rhymes Louvre with maneuver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60p7Lx7R3VE

[Katya]

Nabokov was also the one who thought that translated poetry shouldn't rhyme, right? Douglas Hofstadter wrote an entire book to refute his ideas. It's called Le Ton Beau de Marot and it's very good. (Don't let the title fool you—it's in English.)

Mmmmm, I might be with him on that one. Epic poetry at least, for sure. Comparing the myriad of Divine Comedy translations that try to force rhyme into the English to those which give a more literal account, I much prefer the latter. To be fully honest, the abhorrence of those forced rhymes put Italian much higher on my 'languages to learn' list, so I can tackle it in the original.

Read the book! Read the book! (He discusses The Divine Comedy and agrees that its very tight structure makes it unusually difficult to translate without resorting to free verse. Hofstadter isn't dogmatically pro-rhyme; he just thinks that rhyme and meter are integral to poetry and shouldn't be thrown out the window for no reason.)

[Dragon Lady]

Doesn't anyone else read, well, normal books? Or am I the only one that is severely, um… uncultured?

[mic0]

Guess it depends on how you define normal and/or uncultured. When I was in high school one girl told me that it was impossible that I could read "classics" "for fun." People just have different tastes. It's okay.

Um, I read "The Help" this summer and "Bossypants." Those are normal, right? I thought they were fantastic.

[Dead Cat]

Doesn't anyone else read, well, normal books? Or am I the only one that is severely, um… uncultured?

Does sci-fi, fantasy, and YA count as normal? Because those are the ones I usually stick with.

Edit: I just want to say I responded before Mico, but I forgot to press submit. That is all.

[C is for]

Doesn't anyone else read, well, normal books? Or am I the only one that is severely, um… uncultured?

I neglected to mention that I only listed the books I read last month that I thought people would be impressed with. I just finished Order of the Phoenix yesterday, and I can promise you that I've also indulged in many the YA fantasy romance lately (wishes, Fates, fairies, etc). I'm currently reading the third Red Blazer Girls book, which is totally normal and totally fun! I love them.

[Digit]

I read an interesting book called The Ax by Donald Westlake. It's about a 50-ish guy who's been a middle manager in the paper mill industry for over 30 years and gets laid off. Every time he applies for a job, there's always someone better who edges him out for the job. So he hatches a scheme to put ads in the paper himself for positions of the type he wants so he can kill the competition.

[Dragon Lady]

Ok, good. I was starting to think that everyone here thrived on reading Russian poetry or something. And I was feeling really out of my element.

Mico, I'm not saying that the classics aren't normal—I enjoy reading some classics myself—but when the thread was started I understood it to be media you've experienced recently. And I was the only person putting on things like Psych. Everyone else was going way over my head. That is all.

[C is for]

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I loved. It's the story of an author in 1946 who learns about a group of people living on Guernsey (an island in the Channel) which was occupied during the war. They've had no news for five years and are desperate for books and outside contact. It's told through nothing but letters back and forth between the author, her publisher, her best friend, her love interest, and the islanders.

PS This is one of my favorite books. Anyone who hasn't read it absolutely should.

[Rifka]

DL: I was relieved to see your comment. I was feeling very out of my element, too. I'm currently reading Team of Rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln. I'm not very far into it yet, but it's interesting. I'm also listening to Hot Water (a PG Wodehouse book) and I have the first Leven Thumps book checked out (audio version) as well. Other books I have read recently:
Several recently published Robin McKinley books which all turned out to be lame.
One hundred and one Dalmations
The Help
First Mothers (a book about the mothers of Presidents FDR through Clinton-- very interesting)
Rilla of Ingleside
Belles on their Toes (delightful!)
The Muirwood series (The Wretched of Muirwood, The Blight of Muirwood, The Scourge of Muirwood).
YA fantasy is my favorite genre, but I read a little bit of everything (as long as it's clean). I consider it out of the ordinary if I don't have at least 4 books on my currently reading list on Goodreads.

[Whistler]

I read the new book in the Vladimir Tod companion series about a vampire slayer. It was totally for a freelance assignment. But in seriousness, it was fairly well thought-out; I was pleasantly surprised that it had meaningful and logical twists.

I was watching Bones pretty much all summer, but halfway through the last season I just kind of stopped watching. I realized that I didn't care about the mysteries anymore and just liked the drama. There's an anime called Mushishi that is excellent (unfortunately Netflix has only dubbed) that has the same kind of mystery-solving feel, only it's completely supernatural so there's no "wait... that's completely illogical" that I get sometimes after watching a science drama.

[Katya]

Doesn't anyone else read, well, normal books? Or am I the only one that is severely, um… uncultured?

What part of "YA paranormal romance" were you interpreting as "highbrow"?

[Katya]

Several recently published Robin McKinley books which all turned out to be lame.

I've heard her more recent stuff isn't nearly as good as her older stuff.

Belles on their Toes (delightful!)

I should read this again. I think I've only ready it once.

[Katya]

My roommate brought home Mao's Last Dancer from Redbox last night, so we watched it. It's not something I would have chosen to watch on my own, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Dragon Lady]

Doesn't anyone else read, well, normal books? Or am I the only one that is severely, um… uncultured?

What part of "YA paranormal romance" were you interpreting as "highbrow"?

Sorry, I guess it got drowned out by translating russian poetry into rhyme or not.