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What Do You Read?


Sasun

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Henry Miller specially Tropic of cancer,

Another book I didn't finish (but would like to finish, just had too much to do at the time)

 

LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov

this one I read the first 50 or so pages and couldn't go forward because of the language and not enough motivation to struggle with the language...

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I mean what is the difference if you read Balzak in Russian or English, while reading Russian costs you a lot less. I highly recommend anyone this option.

i have read several russian translation published during the soviet era: they are bureaucratese -- flat, tasteless, gray...and some of them were even re-translations....

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i have read several russian translation published during the soviet era: they are bureaucratese -- flat, tasteless, gray...

I am not surprised but I haven't had the chance to compare

 

and some of them were even re-translations....

 

I have seen some re-translations in Armenian from Russian - always wondered what's the point of doing that.

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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

 

A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.

"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted

 

I just ordered this book, heard about it a lot, anyone has read it?

Edited by Edward
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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

 

A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.

"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted

 

I just ordered this book, heard about it a lot, anyone has read it?

Yes, Edward. Did you read the earlier posts in this thread? :)

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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Am I the only one who barely understands this book?

 

As for Ara Baliozian, I really like The Horrible Silence and The Greek Poetess and Other Writings. I think they both definitely deserve more attention. I also enjoy and even look forward to reading his essays :)

 

I love his translated works as well, particularly Gostan Zarian's The Traveller and His Road, although like One Hundred Years, I wonder how much I still need to understand. Zabel Yessayan's The Gardens of Silihdar is also a definite must.

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I recently discovered a Russian bookstore in Brooklyn (Brighton Beach) where all books are dirt cheap. I bougth 3 Dostoevsky books for $10, the English ones would cost at least 5 times more - its a very good deal. They of course have non-Russian authors' translations (a lot of them). If someone knows Russian then it is the perfect place to shop for books. I mean what is the difference if you read Balzak in Russian or English, while reading Russian costs you a lot less. I highly recommend anyone this option.

Brighton Beach is a hard core Russian-Jewish immigrant pocket. That's where the Russian Mafia started out its U.S. operations. A good book to read on that subject is Red Mafyia by Friedman.

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Antique :)

 

The last book that impressed me a lot was Patric Zuskind's "Perfumer". Extraordinary stuff.

i read it too and it is a horror story about a pathological midget-murderer.

please correct the name of the author and title of book.

"Perfume" by Patrick Suskind. Is it right? Sorry for the mistake, I have read the Russian translation.

 

"A horror story about pathological midget-murderer". Yes, that's how they would probably summarise this fantastic novel in Hollywood. And maybe that would make a nice plot for a detective thriller.

 

My view is little bit different.

The novel tells about the formation and gradual evolution of a serial killer's mindset as a mirror to the given society's life, needs and human/animal instincts. In fact, it concludes that society's collective mind often transforms into a pathology (or is constantly pathological) and that the result of this beast (i.e. the society) is as ugly as itself.

And Suskind found a perfect way to illustrate that a pathological murderer feals the society/beast better than any of its normal members, by giving his character a sharpened sense of smell.

Although everything happens in the dark middle ages, you can see the parallels with our society.

Besides that, once I started the book Suskinds language and style kept me reading it till the end.

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Brighton Beach is a hard core Russian-Jewish immigrant pocket. That's where the Russian Mafia started out its U.S. operations. A good book to read on that subject is Red Mafyia by Friedman.

Yes, of course, I am aware of the Russian mafia. You can get the feel of it as you walk in the area and see some mafiozi faces. However, you can also enjoy great barbeque and shish-kebab :)

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Am I the only one who barely understands this book?

Really? What do you mean? I never thought it was hard to understand. Of course, it definitely is not a trivial work. If you mean its hard to understand completely and totally what the author wanted to convey I can understand and relate to that.

 

 

As for Ara Baliozian, I really like The Horrible Silence and The Greek Poetess and Other Writings. I think they both definitely deserve more attention. I also enjoy and even look forward to reading his essays :)

 

I haven't read anything other than Ara's essays. I wonder if any of those mentioned are available online.

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Well my favorites I am afraid haven't changed:

 

Novels

"Martin Eden" by Jack London

"Lion Woman's Legacy" by Arlene Avakian

"The Sun also Rises" by Hemingway,

"Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky

"Alliye Parusa" by AC Grin

 

Magazines

"PC Connection" and "The Nation"

 

As far as more of a dense literature I'd have to say "The End of History and Last Man" by Francis Fukuyama.

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Not sure if this has been posted, but an important work for me was Gibran's The Prophet. I've also enjoyed A few of Marquez's works as well - and no, Nairi, it wasn't necessarily 'airport' reading. ;)

 

Heller's Catch 22 is a classic for me - I laugh out loud reading it everytime - eventhough it's so dark in a strange way. The World According to Garp, is another book I find hilarious. Henry Miller - sure, but long and arduous.

 

I just recently picked up Life of Pi by Yann Martel. (One the Booker Prize last year.)

 

Great topic BTW :thumbup: unfortunately I find it hard to set aside the time to really read these days... I envy people like Nairi, who can read really interesting works, as part of their courses... :)

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