Been Reading

[ziasudra]

Just finished re-reading Louis Cha's The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, a 1,570-page monstrosity (1,623 pages if you count the appendixes on Genghis Khan's genealogy and the history of a particular school of Taoism that I skimmed at the end of the book). Some of you might know this book better as Jin Yong's Shèdiāo Yīngxióng Zhuàn.

This is your typical martial arts novel, very clear-cut black/white characterization in terms of who's on the good side and who's on the bad. But reading this again as a non-preteen also shed new light on more complex human nature issues. The "worst" Bad Guy in the story loves his son with all his heart; the Bad Son has a very loving relationship with his foster father; Genghis Khan is both a cruel hero and a genius invader... the list goes on. This time around, the novel has many more shades of gray.

I don't think I can do the novel justice by attempting to explain its plot. To get an idea of the background and main characters of the story, check out Wikipedia's article here. (I love Wiki, it has everything ^_^ ) You can also go here to test out a few translated chapters. A warning though: the beginning's the most tedious part of the novel, full of poetry and historical overviews, so you might think I'm crazy for loving the story so much. It really is good, the goodness is just astronomically difficult to be transferred into an outside language.

While you're on that second page link, I will point out that "The Demi Gods and Semi Devils" is the title that I've always put at the top of those Favorite Book memes that I fill out. And "The Smiling Proud Wanderer" is a second favorite, a clever social commentary of contemporary 1960s Chinese politics cloaked in the guise of a martial arts novel ;) Wiki article on the second novel here.

I'm sooooo thinking about reading The Demi Gods and Semi Devils next, for what will probably be at least the 25th (?) time. But how can I not take advantage of the fact that I'm home and has all these books sitting in my bookshelf, waiting for me to read? Of course, nowadays I can access all of Louis Cha's novels online...

*heads off to read*
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Comments

[lynkemma.livejournal.com]

OK, this sounds like something I should definitely read. I'll save the Wiki article for work, when I'm always keen to read things on the net in between idiotic voters :-)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

Maybe that'll allievate your boredom during lull hours at the election booths. Or maybe not, I'm afraid it might add to your boredom as even I find the English version hard to understand without sufficient background in Chinese rhetoric. Ah, but the fight scenes are so much fun!

And hopefully I'll have your fic request done soon so you'll have something to read, written just for you :)

[nenyaentwhistle.livejournal.com]

are these in chinese? wow :)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

That's about as far as my Chinese level goes. When I moved to America (4th grade), my parents didn't want me to forget Chinese so they got me hooked on Chinese martial arts novels. (parents giving their child an addiction... *g*)

Hey, maybe you can read that Wiki page with a whole bunch of translated stories (http://www.spcnet.tv/jinyong/jyreadingroom.shtml), even though only Sword of the Yueh Maiden is completed (Book and the Sword is now down to one chapter at Louis Cha's request). Maybe that'll give you added inspiration for your Chinese fantasy novel. Sometimes a little inspiration can go a long way :)

Gah... I'm SO TIRED from Sea World! I'll have ch. 8 done soon though, since I'm going on yet another trip for three days tomorrow.

[sunnydlita.livejournal.com]

Forgot to ask if you'd be interested in joining an LJ book club that one of my college buddies in NY started up. It's mostly Dukies and our assorted affiliates -- Mel's a part of it, too.

bibliopathic

Right now we're reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, although I'll probably be done with only the first book by the flexible August 20 deadline. I think it'll be up your alley -- if you haven't heard of the series, it's YA fantasy, like your good ol' HP.

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'll probably have to pass on the August books, since I'm traveling so much and by the time I get back to NYC it'll be the beginning of the semester rush. But some of the other books look very interesting. I've wanted to read Lolita for quite a while ;)

Can you ask the comm maintainer for me to see if it's ok for me to keep an eye on the group and not join yet? I'd feel bad for joining and then ending up with no time to discuss the books.

[sunnydlita.livejournal.com]

It's a really casual group, so I think it'd be no problem if you joined and lurked until you were ready. But I'll give Ali a heads-up anyway, if you would like. =^)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

That sounds great. I'll be a lurker and keep stalking the group then :)