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Ambitious. Legolas Send a noteboard - 22/01/2011 06:26:59 PM
I decided to plunge in and start Les Misérables. I have never actually read the book and am familiar with the themes solely as the result of having been dragged to the Broadway musical. After 50 pages that breezed by (I only had to look up one word) with a simple, unobstructed prose that reminds me of Tolstoy's Russian, I am enjoying the book so far. Of course, it's 1500 pages so it's going to take a while.

I've never read that one, either. Somehow it's never really appealed to me much - the length, the depressing content - but I suppose at some point I should read it.
After that I'm thinking of reading something by Molière or Sartre (probably Tartuffe or La Nausée). By that time I'm hoping that my German will be refreshed enough to read Kafka or Schnitzler and so that will be my "challenge" reading, whereas Druon will be for fun. I think that a solid year of French reading is needed to make sure my vocabulary doesn't slip again (and I'm going to do the same with German).

Tartuffe, or Molière's work in general really, is something else I've not read but don't seem to have too much interest in reading. No doubt I'm doing it an injustice, but I'd rather read more Racine.

Reading Kafka in German is not a bad idea, though... I do want to read more in German, it's just most German classics seem so tiresome. But I might read Kafka.
Then, at that point, I'm probably going to hit my Latin, Greek and Hebrew next year (but with French and German interspersed throughout) and after that mix it up, adding in a few things in Aramaic, Egyptian and Akkadian from time to time. The idea is to keep up my proficiency in the key languages of Western culture.

Nice. I'll be happy if I can get my Arabic reading to some level of proficiency, myself, one classical language (plus what I remember of Greek and Latin, but that isn't enough to read books) is plenty for me. :P Though I certainly should read some of those works, even if isn't in the original language, or at least not entirely - I might take a look at, for instance, Song of Songs in the Hebrew version alongside the translation, and same with Greek and Latin poetry, but not entire Bible books or classical history (currently reading Suetonius' Twelve Caesars, but in translation).

But yeah, it's true of course that if you want to maintain your proficiency in any given language, it takes some effort.
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/Discussion: Madame Bovary - 20/01/2011 06:22:50 PM 8877 Views
Re: /Review: Madame Bovary - 20/01/2011 07:20:36 PM 2260 Views
I agree with much of what you say. - 20/01/2011 07:57:57 PM 2566 Views
I'm glad to hear that the read wasn't easy for you, either. - 21/01/2011 06:30:00 AM 1684 Views
Yeah, I think it's safe to say some of those words would give even native speakers pause. - 21/01/2011 06:37:02 PM 2272 Views
I'm certain it was intentional. - 21/01/2011 07:21:45 PM 1653 Views
I want to read two more "serious" works before skipping over to Druon. - 22/01/2011 06:03:09 PM 2035 Views
Ambitious. - 22/01/2011 06:26:59 PM 1859 Views
Re: Ambitious. - 25/01/2011 06:20:12 PM 2731 Views
I don't think I've even heard of Benjamin. - 25/01/2011 09:41:55 PM 1636 Views
Walter Benjamin - 25/01/2011 10:00:13 PM 2755 Views
I think he was the youngest son of Jacob. *NM* - 26/01/2011 05:16:26 AM 874 Views
I'm halfway through the second part now - 20/01/2011 11:58:01 PM 1877 Views
I'm interested to see what you think when you finish. - 21/01/2011 06:31:58 AM 1659 Views
I hope to be done with it this evening - 22/01/2011 05:09:23 PM 2115 Views
My thoughts - 24/01/2011 06:48:13 AM 2456 Views
Your comments are one of the reasons I've sworn off translations. - 25/01/2011 05:50:33 PM 1651 Views
?OT: reading French literature - 19/02/2011 04:09:36 PM 1672 Views
You're new here, aren't you? - 19/02/2011 04:50:50 PM 2244 Views

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