Thursday, March 17, 2011

Literary Blog Hop March 17-20


  The Literary Blog Hop is hosted at The Blue Bookcase.  This week's question:

What one literary work must you read before you die?

 
  If you could see my bookshelves, I have a lot of books that I want to read before I die (there are so many that my husband jokes that I'll die first).  Whether any of them are "must" reads might be open to interpretation, though; normally if there is I book I am eager to read I do so right away.
 
  What I would like to do, though, is take a novel I've enjoyed - Les Miserables or The Elegance of the Hedgehog, for example - and be able to read, understand, and enjoy it in French.  As I'm refreshing my skills in the language I've started reading small pieces -- magazine articles mostly, as well as some stuff on the Internet -- but I have some work to do before I can be comfortable reading a complete novel.  However, once I do have more confidence in my ability I think that the familiarity I have with these stories will be a great help WHEN I tackle them in their original language.

  And then when that's done I can start accumulating books in a second language!  My husband will be so thrilled........

  What work is on your literary bucket list?

14 comments:

  1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog has been on my wishlist for so long!
    Good luck with French! :)

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  2. Ah, I love this answer. A favorite novel reread in French. I agree: I want to do the same one day. :-)

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  3. I'm too lazy to learn a language well enough so I can read some of the great literary works in the original. But yours sounds like a noble goal.:)

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  4. Hi there,

    Les Miserables is one of my favourites. I would love that ability to read it in French.

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  5. I am going to have to say Lolita by Nabokov.

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  6. What an ambitious goal. Good for you! I had to think about this one for a while but came up with this.

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  7. Sounds like a really good idea! I love the French language, studied it for years at school, but I'm not very good at it now. I could never read a book in French. I hope you'll succeed soon!

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  8. I think the most probable answer to this, is the book I happen to be reading, but I thought that after my post was completed.

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  9. Wow. I learnt Spanish as a young adult. I speak better that I read. I cannot fathom reading a spanish language book though. I wish you the best of luck.

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  10. Reading a book in another language is not something I feel equipped to do. The only language I know at all is Spanish, but talk about rusty and dusty!

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  11. Great answer. I studied French for years and love the language, but I'm definitely not equipped to read anything in French, beyond maybe Le Petit Prince (and even then with great effort). I hear great things about Hedgehog, and Les Mis (English version) is on my "must read" list.

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  12. Stopping by on the hop!

    My mom would love that goal as she loves books and is semi-fluent in French. Maybe I should suggest it to her?

    Me...only English.

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  13. A worthy goal! I read L'étranger by Camus in French a few summers ago, he was fairly easy and a good place to start. :)

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  14. I took French in high school and was good enough to read simple, grade school level stuff. I wish i had stuck with it because i loved Hedgehog and am sure it would be even lovelier in French!

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What do you think? Good or bad, I'd love to hear from you (but be nice - I'm sensitive!)