h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good Omens is such a funny book

It certainly is!

I am currently reading Cloud Atlas and assuming it will get better.

B

... which is by ?..

It's by David Mitchell. Cloud Atlas is in the pile of unread books under the bed waiting for me to get around to it. So I'll be interested to know if it does get better or should I leave it in the pile unread..
I read his Number9Dream a while ago, and found it good in parts, bad in others and strangely disturbing in some. Interesting read though which is one of the reasons I thought I'd give Cloud Atlas a go.

King_B; you absolutely can NOT blame me for you reading a Sharpe.

Have you been sucked into buying the whole lot? I'm now, fyi, re-reading them - this time in Sharpe's Chronological order. I'm going to read the 2nd one right after....

.... I finish the rather brilliant and fantastic and wonderful Baudolino. I took it on an 8 hour train journey at the beginning of the week and read well over half of it. It really benefitted from me being able to give it a good long run up, but I was hooked by the end of about page 5.

I'm going to hit The Island of the Day Before by the end of the year, and possibly re-read Focault's Pendulum in the (possibly vain) hope that I will understand it this time.

I've also finished The Secret of Happy Children (none the wiser) and am now 3/4 of the way through Children: The Challenge (which is very very dated)

Sho - I'm really pleased you enjoyed Baudolino You can see why I said bear with it - some people put a book down after just a couple of pages

If anyone hears of any other book by the author, Umberto Eco, pleeeeease post it here

I haven't read any of the Sharpe books, having watched the series on TV (I prefer reading a book first, then seeing the TV version ), but have read almost all of the other Bernard Cornwell books (another on the shelf waiting, but with a co-author) & have thoroughly enjoyed them.

Apart from the two Eco's I mentioned in my last post, I also have The Name of the Rose, which is totally fabulous. Much much better than the film (which I also loved)

The only other one of his I know is called something like Travels With A Salmon - and if I remember correctly it is a collection of short stories.

Thank you Sho - will put them on my "to get" list I didn't realise the two books you mentioned were by UE.

King_B; you absolutely can NOT blame me for you reading a Sharpe.

Can if I want! (and it's not "a Sharpe", that sounds like a junky looking for a needle!)

I can see we're going to have to continue this in the Sharpe convo on your page (it was yours, wasn't it?)

Shirps, if you start reading 'The Name Of The Rose' - bear with it, it takes a few pages before it gets good. And don't look up all the latin stuff - that's what I did when I read it, and it really nearly put me off, until a friend told me to read on and ignore the latin. But maybe that's no problem in the English version anyway ?

the Latin is in the English version too - but you're right, B'Elana, you just have to ignore it and push on.

Hi Sho - have you read any good German book recently, and if so, are we allowed to mention them here ?

Hi Bel & Sho - it sounds as if UE likes "difficult/strange" beginnings to his books! You know, I've always wished I'd had the chance to learn Latin ... but I don't think I'll go down that path just yet Thanks again - all comments welcomed & duly noted

B'Elana - I very rarely read books in German. Partly because most of the stuff I want to read was written in English (so many books I haven't even begun to think of reading yet) and I don't see the point of a translation. (and yes, I read Eco in translation, so in theory I could read that in German - but I don't think I could manage it)

Currently I'm reading Die Kleine Hexe (to the mods: that is The Little Witch) to the Gruesomes and I do have Die Blechtrommel on my reading list for this year.

But since we're right off topic and going off at a tangent, I think it's time I popped by your PS...

Shirps: I did Latin at school. Not very successfully.

I've been intending for a while to improve my German by reading a German book and its English transalation (or vice versa) in parallel. Die Blechtrommel would be an excellent idea - it's a great book and I love Grass.

Alternately - might there be something that would give me a better handles on contemporary, slangy German? Unfortunately few German authors make it into English translation - Suesskind, Schlink, Grass - but are there maybe some British/American novels which use 'funky' language which have been successful in German? (I can't imagine anyone translating something like 'Trainspotting' though.)

Umberto Eco:

The Name Of The Rose
Foucault's Pendulum
The Island Of The Day Before
Baudolino

He's also published a load of linguistic/critical works, and other non-fiction, including, but not limited to:

How To Travel With A Salmon, And Other Essays
Serendipities: Language And Lunacy
Mouse Or Rat: Translation As Negotiation
On Beauty: A History Of A Western Idea
The Story Of Time
On Literature
Kant And The Platypus
Five Moral Pieces
Faith In Fakes: Travels In Hyperreality
The Open Work

I gave up on TIOTB, and haven't even looked at Baudolino. I tried one of his non-fictions (can't remember which one ) and found it very dry. Unless you're specifically interested in the subject, you may find it heavy going.

Currently nearing the end of Platform, by Michel Houellebecq.

RF

Here's more by UE:

http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_works.html

RF

>>but are there maybe some British/American novels which use 'funky' language which have been successful in German?<<

Choose an English book you like, and you'll probably be able to find a German translation of it. I ususally prefer reading the English version to the German translation, so I can't give you advice on a good translation, sorry. But I think in general, the translations are ok, some things just are *intranslatable*, so you'll have to put up with a circumscription of a few things.