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. 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.
/Discussion: Madame Bovary
20/01/2011 06:22:50 PM
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Re: /Review: Madame Bovary
20/01/2011 07:20:36 PM
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Emma didn't try to transcend her world. She tried to escape it. And she failed. Miserably.
21/01/2011 06:25:36 AM
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I agree with much of what you say.
20/01/2011 07:57:57 PM
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I'm glad to hear that the read wasn't easy for you, either.
21/01/2011 06:30:00 AM
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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
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I want to read two more "serious" works before skipping over to Druon.
22/01/2011 06:03:09 PM
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Ambitious.
22/01/2011 06:26:59 PM
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Re: Ambitious.
25/01/2011 06:20:12 PM
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I'm halfway through the second part now
20/01/2011 11:58:01 PM
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My thoughts
24/01/2011 06:48:13 AM
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Never beats the reader across the head, eh? So what do you make of the ending?
24/01/2011 10:39:06 PM
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The ending fits with the rest of the book, I believe
24/01/2011 11:04:02 PM
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Hm. I think maybe it's because you've read the book before, as Tom admitted.
25/01/2011 09:40:36 PM
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Your comments are one of the reasons I've sworn off translations.
25/01/2011 05:50:33 PM
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