[July] What are you reading?

[TarionzCousin]

I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It was pretty good, which is refreshing since it sold billions of copies worldwide.

 

[Brandigan]

Still Reading Three Kingdoms, it may be 400 years old, but it is incredible!

I'm assuming you already read Journey to the West, which might be the best book I ever read. Hard to find a book that entertained me as much as that one. I'm still chipping away at Outlaws of the Marsh though!

 

[Mark CMG]

I must admit to having been completely ignorant of "The Four Great Novels of Chinese Literature" but will pursue this and undoubtedly enjoy what I discover. Thank you. This is exactly when these monthly threads are at their best, IMO (no offense to other contributions, and I am sure you will agree).

 

[Brandigan]

I must admit to having been completely ignorant of "The Four Great Novels of Chinese Literature" but will pursue this and undoubtedly enjoy what I discover. Thank you. This is exactly when these monthly threads are at their best, IMO (no offense to other contributions, and I am sure you will agree).

That's cool, you won't regret it. I would recommend the book called 'Monkey' by Wu Ch'eng-en translated by Arthur Waley. The original Journey to the West is usually presented in 4 books. It's more accessible, in my opinion, than other versions but it is a lot shorter. It is still over 300 pages. The bulk of the epic revolves around the group's adventures on their journey to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. I see them almost as little stories that can stand on their own. There were a few that I felt really should have been in there but 3/4th of the original content was pretty much cut out. But I really like this translation of it. I hooked a lot of people on it, most of which knew very little about China.

I've always been fascinated with Chinese culture and visited there a number of times but some of the English translated stories read like textbooks and bore me to death! This one really captures the heart, humor and mischief of the original.

 

[Hjorimir]

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan...and it's full of awesome and win.

 

[Zaukrie]

Just flew to Peru and back. Read In Conquest Born (old book by CS Friedman - didn't love the ending), and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (another old book). That book I liked quite a bit. Now to go back to the latest book by Guy Kay....

 

[Boregar]

I just picked up 'Yellow Blue Tibia' by Adam Roberts and 'The Night Watch' by Sergei Lukyanenko at lunchtime. Any suggestions which I should read first?