One book for one month; any suggestions?

[HoVis]

Hello all,

I have a bit of a book dilemma. This July I am going on a month-long 'World Challenge' expedition to China. The month will involve various activities such as project work, a bit of sightseeing, and trekking (climbing higher than Mt Blanc, hurrah! :) ). The one problem is that, due to the fact that we have to carry all of our kit in one large rucksack and a daysack, there are certain limitations on kit. The three-pairs-of-underwear-limit (don't ask) I can deal with, but it is the final stipulation on the kit-list which harrows me: "One paperback book (optional)".

!!! :eek2:

My problem is that I am a fairly fast reader; over the past couple of days (though admittedly I've had a lot of reading time due to the holidays) I've read a book a day. Therefore I feel I'm going to want something fairly... weighty... to last me for a month. At the moment I'm toying with;

1) Jane Eyre (I might be able to put this in someone else's bag if they don't want to take a book but will take bribes :p )
2) The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
3) Don Quixote
4) A Chinese dictionary....

I have read both of the first two and, whilst it would be good to read something fresh, I would also hate to take a book all the way to China and then find I can't get into it! So, what would people suggest? Bit of a desert island scenario here! Is Don Quixote a fairly easy book to 'get into' or is it a struggle on a par with Les Miserables? I don't mind tough books, but not when I'm sleeping in a tent! ;)

Any ideas/comments on the above books? Would love to hear your thoughts!

HoVis (Post Number One!!!)

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China in... 3 months 17 days

[kelby_lake]

How about a book where you can learn another language? :idea: Pick a language you'd like to learn and get a book on it, then that will be a mental test.
If not, try something light-hearted;)

[kiki1982]

I can say something about Jane Eyre, but you've read that, so it wouldn't be of any help...

Don Quixote is in verse form, so I don't think it's easy to get into, unless you have experience in that department...

Is there not a 'Chinese for dumies'-book? It would be of a certain use...

[ClickForth]

okokok

[mortalterror]

The two most rewarding books I own are Dante's The Divine Comedy and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Nothing else really comes close. I'd say take the Shakespeare because it's longer and there's more variety. That should last you a month.

Somebody above said Don Quixote was in verse. I'd never heard that before. Every time I've ever talked or read about it it was always prose. The version I read was in prose. All the translations I've seen have been prose. I wouldn't say that Don Quixote was any harder to read than Les Miserables. In fact, Les Miserables was the book I read to unwind after I finished Don Quixote. They are both rather long if that bothers you. Here's my dilemma. While I recommend everyone read Don Quixote at least once in their life to know what all the fuss is about, I did not enjoy the book myself. It is very well written, but I just didn't find it funny. Perhaps you will.

[Whifflingpin]

The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler

Long enough to take more than a day to read

weighty enough to require reading more than once

Factual/scientific but reads like an epic/dynasty series/whodunit/romance

Probably banned in China

[HoVis]

The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler

Long enough to take more than a day to read

weighty enough to require reading more than once

Factual/scientific but reads like an epic/dynasty series/whodunit/romance

Probably banned in China

LOL... don't want to get arrested on my first day!!! Looks like an interesting suggestion, ta very much.


Is there not a 'Chinese for dumies'-book? It would be of a certain use...

Hopefully by the time I go to China I'll have taken (and passed, fingers crossed) my Chinese GCSE... scarily enough I am the team's only Chinese-speaker for at least half of the expedition (we get a translator for the trek, thank goodness, I'm not that great at navigation even in English!). This frightens me almost as much as the book situation!

kiki1982, is your opinion of Jane Eyre good or bad? I couldn't really tell from what you said lol. I've already read it three times, which says a lot about how much I enjoy it!

I'm hoping to choose a book that sort of reflects what I'll experience on the expedition, if that makes sense. It'll be a journey of discovery to an extent so books which have a lot of development in them are good (bildungsromans - what a beautiful word :yawnb: )

I'm less worried about the length of the book (the longer the better if I can get away with it!) than the accessibility of it. Would most people recommend the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote?

Thanks for all your suggestions and reflections, please keep them coming!

:)

[believin]

你好！Very cool that you are coming to China — I am presently spending a semester here (Shanghai) studying, and have been making my home here part-time over the past 5 years (splitting time between here and Singapore).

I travel a lot, and usually spend more time thinking about what books to bring on a trip than what clothes and things. One thing I have found helpful is to read a book about the place that you are visiting, or by an author from that place, or (as you said) something that you think might mirror your own experiences on your trip. I've compiled a list of books that I've enjoyed reading in connection with my time in Shanghai, and it can be found here (http://web.mac.com/shellybryant/Site/Blog/Entries/2007/9/25_Recommended_Reading%3A__Shanghai.html). I didn't include Wild Swans on the list, because it is not set specifically in Shanghai, but that might be interesting for a trip to China too, as of course would be a copy of Marco Polo's travels (I loved reading that).

I recently picked up a copy of The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin, but have not read it yet. If I finish it before you get ready to leave, I will let you know what I think. Same with The Soong Dynasty, but my copy of it is in Singapore, so I doubt I'll get to read it before you leave.

If you decide not to go with a book on/from/about China, I would agree that something like a complete edition of Shakespeare's works would be good, for the variety. If Shakespeare isn't your thing, some similar anthology (complete works of a certain author, several authors from one period of time, etc.) might be good.

[believin]

Oh, and I left out one other thing — a collection of essays or stories by Lin Yu Tang or by Lu Xun would be another very good option.

[Etienne]

Don Quixote is in verse form, so I don't think it's easy to get into, unless you have experience in that department...

What? Don Quixote is not in verse form...

[capek]

Let me suggest Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. A very long book postmodern style book that is filled to the bring with entertaining characters and situations, and best of all very funny. I think it might be a good choice if you like that kind of writing.

[believin]

Let me suggest Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. A very long book postmodern style book that is filled to the bring with entertaining characters and situations, and best of all very funny. I think it might be a good choice if you like that kind of writing.

I am not the one who asked for recommendations here, but thanks for mentioning this one. I have just ordered a copy.

[HoVis]

谢谢 for your suggestions, believin! Wild Swans is a brilliant book but someone pointed out in their post that certain books might be banned in China, and I don't know if Jung Chang would have the approval of the government due to having written and warts-and-all biography of Mao. How strict are the rules about books in China or aren't there any at all? I like the look of the collections of stories you mentioned, though; you can buy them from Amazon in bilingual edition, which is perfect!


If you want a very long book, you could always take War and Peace, Anna Karenina, or Dickens' Bleak House.

Ah, Bleak House... read that a while ago, wish I'd never seen the BBC adaptation because I find that seeing a filmed version of a book tends to ruin the reading experience because the pace (especially with Dickens!) is always noticeably slower. Isn't War and Peace a little bit depressing? My Grandad keeps saying he wants to read it again but that he needs to make a list to keep track of all the characters!

I think I'll definitely get the Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote, even if I don't take it to China, so thanks for that advice Antiquarian. I've had a look at it in the bookshops and I find that the fact that the footnotes are at the bottom of the page rather than at the end of the book is also quite useful... I can't stand flicking around the book all the time but I don't like thinking I'm missing out on any information! :p


you might want to take The Quincunx by Charles Palliser

Let me suggest Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace

The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler

you might want to consider Aztec

I have a minor problem now... I want to take all of them!!! :p Methinks I'll probably end up reading all of them anyway....!

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, any more thoughts? :)

HoVis

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China in... 3 months 15 days

[SleepyWitch]

hey this trip sounds really cool! will you post pics of it here on LitNet?
What's 'World Challenge'?

try Middlemarch by George Elliot. it's long and has lots of footnotes about the intellectual ideas she refers to, so it will keep you pretty busy. but on the other hand the story is not totally uninteresting. (I must admit that I've only read the first 100+ pages of it so far :( )

Lord of the Rings?

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. it's around 300-400 pages and I'm afraid it's a quick read, but it's so riveting that you want re-read it straight away after you've finished it. so I guess you could read it a couple of times in a month :)

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, 1500 pages, it's about life in post-independence India, fairly easy to read but you can learn a lot about India and the characters are interesting, too.

[byquist]

Two, probably horrible, choices that might ruin your fun days in China would be: Sarte's Being and Nothingness and
Solzenitzen's Gulag Archipelago

But if you are a fast reader, these might slow you down.

I agree with the comment about Shakespeare if not fully familiar -- you'd encounter so many characters. Or, War and Peace, has plenty of pages.

[believin]

谢谢 for your suggestions, believin! Wild Swans is a brilliant book but someone pointed out in their post that certain books might be banned in China, and I don't know if Jung Chang would have the approval of the government due to having written and warts-and-all biography of Mao. How strict are the rules about books in China or aren't there any at all? I like the look of the collections of stories you mentioned, though; you can buy them from Amazon in bilingual edition, which is perfect!

Restrictions and bans are in place, to be sure. But, that doesn't mean that there are guards waiting to check your bag at the airport. Also, in many cases, foreigners are not subject to quite the same restrictions as locals. You can pretty much read what you want, and there is a high level of "tolerance" here — an assumption that each culture comes from a different perspective, so of course people from those cultures will read those books. That sort of attitude is the norm here, seems to me.

On the list of books that I linked in an earlier comment, there are a few that would not be on the approved lists here. I've brought some of them here and read them while in China. I don't carry those around to, say, sit in the park or tea house and read. I read them at home, and read less controversial works in public. Also, while I might give the books away after finishing (I often do that when I travel, whatever the book is), it's not like I put my name and address in the front before passing it along. ;) All that is to say that the rules are not necessarily as strict as all that, especially if you are not foolish about it all.

I'm glad you raised the question you did here. It's fun to read through everyone's suggestions.

By the way, what is the level of your Chinese? I am considering taking the HSK toward the end of the year. I've not ever taken any formal testing to figure out my level (and I've barely done any formal language study, mostly learning on my own). I'm taking a short language course right now, and my teacher is hoping to give me some previous year exams to get a feel for my level. Reading and writing is really a killer for me. It's fun to be here working on it now, though.

[Trillian]

Would the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe be out of line here? This would give you a combination of stories and poems, so would be a bit like having two books in one. You can get it in paperback, and it is huge.:)

[HoVis]

hey this trip sounds really cool! will you post pics of it here on LitNet?
What's 'World Challenge'?

Sure, I'll post pictures - are you allowed to do that?! Technological idiot here :p "World Challenge" is a twenty-month scheme available to students in Years 11-13 (aged 16-18), at schools which run it. Luckily mine does! :p World Challenge send teams to various places across the world, India, China, Bolivia etc. The general idea is to give students an experience of a developing country and also of leading their own team (we take about 3 days leadership each). There are twelve of us in the team and we've each had to raise £3,195 for the month, as well as doing team-building excercises, raising group funds, and doing weekly fitness training together (groan...). Then this summer we get to spend a month in China doing, um, practically as much as we could cram into the month. I can't wait!!!


try Middlemarch by George Elliot.

Ah, good old George Elliot... we're doing "Mill on the Floss" in Drama AS - I'm playing 'young Maggie'... reading the book and seeing how different the play is from it is kind of interesting!


I agree with the comment about Shakespeare if not fully familiar -- you'd encounter so many characters. Or, War and Peace, has plenty of pages.

I'm fond of Shakespeare but I think I'd prefer prose... it's somehow easier to get lost in, if that makes sense! I'll probably end up taking a book that I know I wouldn't usually read, since in China I'd have no choice in reading it :p


By the way, what is the level of your Chinese? I am considering taking the HSK toward the end of the year. I've not ever taken any formal testing to figure out my level (and I've barely done any formal language study, mostly learning on my own). I'm taking a short language course right now, and my teacher is hoping to give me some previous year exams to get a feel for my level. Reading and writing is really a killer for me. It's fun to be here working on it now, though.

I'm doing the Chinese GCSE in May/June, so I guess I've got somewhere between 500-1000 characters (one of these days I guess I ought to count them!). I've got the reverse of the problem you have, I think - since I'm doing most of the GCSE self-study I've made quite good progress with the written language (touch wood!) but have more difficulties with the spoken since I have few opportunities to hold conversations in Chinese. Wish I had some classmates!!

Edgar Allen Poe... detective stories, right? Or am I barking up the wrong tree completely?

You guys (and girls!) have come up with some great ideas, thanks :D

One final question;


I'm glad you raised the question you did here. It's fun to read through everyone's suggestions.


A lot of what people have said here is based (obviously) on their own opinions. At the moment I'm fairly set on taking Don Quixote but will definitely try and get ahold of copies of most of the other books mentioned to keep my options open. But I was just wondering... what would people, based entirely on their own personal preference, take? Sort of like 'Desert Island Discs' only about books and harder 'cos you can only choose one. :p Thought it'd be interesting to ask... :)

Thanks again!!!

[livelaughlove]

I'd say DQ is a good choice, but I would hesitate to say its anything profound or intensely moving. It's great and will probably get some laughs out of you - well, it depends on what kind of stuff you find funny. It's also a classic and once you've read it, I don't think you'll find a need to go back and read it again.

And it is definitely not in verse form.

Edited to add- if I were you... I would probably take one of my favorites, either Jane Eyre or Time Travelers Wife. Which reminds me, it's time to re-read those two. I'm off! :)

[mortalterror]

I don't think anyone could go wrong with Don Quixote. :)

It is entirely possible to go wrong with Don Quixote. If you don't enjoy that type of humor, there isn't a lot else going on. There's no philosophy, or very little of it. There aren't a lot of characters, so if you don't find the two principle protagonists compelling, you are often out of luck. The story is episodic, so there isn't an overarching narrative to follow and chart the progress with interest. A lot of the gags are repeated throughout the book so if you didn't find them funny the first time, you will find them increasingly annoying with each iteration.

Don Quixote is not without it's flaws, and anybody who says it's the perfect novel is either deluded or selling you something. That said, you need to read it to judge for yourself.

Desert island disks, I'd definitely go with The Complete Works of Shakespeare, not because it's my favorite book, but just because there's so much variety there. You have comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, romance, pastoral, poetry, prose, nobles, and commoners. Ooh, another book that does this is Boccaccio's Decameron. If I didn't already have The Complete Shakespeare, I'd take The Decameron: one hundred stories, told by ten italian nobles on retreat in the time of the plague. When you read this book you'll find the basis for a number of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and several of Shakespeare's plays.

[HoVis]

Ooh, another book that does this is Boccaccio's Decameron. If I didn't already have The Complete Shakespeare, I'd take The Decameron: one hundred stories, told by ten italian nobles on retreat in the time of the plague.

Hmm. That looks quite good. *Bangs head against wall*. I am so bad at making decisions! Maybe I need to bribe the rest of the team to take books for me... then that would be a mini-library :p

HoVis

[HoVis]

Oops, I went away for a weekend on Duke of Edinburgh and totally forgot about this thread...

I hope discussions r.e DQ haven't got too heated! :( Once again I'm indecisive (what else is new?!). After everything I've heard about it, I definitely intend to read Don Quixote at some point, but its sheer size might not work considering I have to carry it around China (this reflection came upon me whilst walking 50miles in the Brecon Beacons with 18kg on my back!:p ).

Has anyone got any opinions on Vikram Seth? I thought that if I read "A Suitable Boy" or "An Equal Music" now and liked it that I might take "Two Lives" to China with me; it seems to have fairly dense print but isn't too big in actual size.

Also, as an aside, has anyone ever read any books by Aidan Chambers? He writes for a teenage audience and the book of his I've read ("The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn") I found really interesting in its style and layout.

Anywhoo, hope everyone had a good Easter. :)

HoVis

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China in...91 Days!

[believin]

Has anyone got any opinions on Vikram Seth? I thought that if I read "A Suitable Boy" or "An Equal Music" now and liked it that I might take "Two Lives" to China with me; it seems to have fairly dense print but isn't too big in actual size.

China in...91 Days!


I've only read A Suitable Boy, and I liked it. It has enough layers to stay interesting for the whole of the book.

[kasie]

Hmm. That looks quite good. *Bangs head against wall*. I am so bad at making decisions! Maybe I need to bribe the rest of the team to take books for me... then that would be a mini-library :p

HoVis

Lucky, lucky you, HoVis - enjoy your trip, I'm sure you will! I went to China for a month last year and saw and did so much that I'll have much to think about for years.

BUT from my own experience, I'll tell you - one book will not do it! Don't even think about Shakespeare or War and Peace, they will get heavier and heavier as the trip goes on and you'll rue the day you chose them! There were about twenty of us in the group I went with and not all were readers but those of us who were exchanged books, with the result that I read a dozen books or more, some of which I would not have thought of reading at any other time. Also I took three books but unaccountably came home with none - goodness knows in what part of the world they have found themselves! But I didn't mind as long as whoever had them enjoyed them - and passed them on. You'll be tired - China is huge and you have some long, long journeys ahead of you not to mention the constant impact of absorbing new, amazing and diverse experiences, so don't take anything too demanding - you may well have no mental energy left to do it justice. An old favourite may be just the thing. Or how about a book of verse, an anthology of old favourites can be very consoling at times.

I wouldn't recommend 'Wild Swans' - it's a moving story but I found the middle section distressing so ask yourself if you can cope with that sort of thing when you are under assault from the constantly new all and every day. You could also find it frustrating that you won't be able to discuss it with any of your new Chinese friends - on the whole we found very, very few Chinese people had even the remotest idea of what went on in China in the Culteral Revolution and those who knew anything had a totally different take on it to our Western perceptions. And would you wish to offend your Chinese hosts by reading and discussing a book that is still not widely (or even officially?)available in China. (And before the person in Shanghai protests at this, let me just say we found attitudes and knowledge outside Shanghai and Beijing somewhat different.) Read it before you go - indeed, read anything you can lay your hands on before you go - you'll appreciate what you are seeing so much more. In fact, a chunky guide book such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guide may be worth its (considerable) weight in gold.

And of course, you will be writing -WON'T YOU? Do remember to keep a journal, jottings will do until you have time to write it up in more detail. Note down anything that take your eye AT THE TIME - you'll forget it else, you really will, because so much will happen and crowd into your thoughts. Don't do as I did, and put it off, or you will lose it, maybe for ever.

Bon Voyage!

[HoVis]

kasie - All of the points you raised were very good ones and I honestly hadn't thought of it from that point of view before. An old favourite... I'm going to have to have a good think about that one. I probably wouldn't take poetry since I prefer narratives to get a bit lost in, but I might cut and paste some of my favourite poems into the cover of my notepad :) And speaking of which, yes, I will absolutely be writing as much down as possible... I'm the team's 'media manager' (lol - translation: writer of articles for the school and local newsletters!) whilst in this country, as well as supposedly being translator whilst in China (eh...). I just need to find a notepad which is thick enough and hardy enough to last the entire month :D

By the way I now know about some of the books being taken by other team members - so far the 'library' consists of "Tom's Midnight Garden", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Jane Eyre" (one of my books being taken by someone else!). Things are looking up!

I know what you mean about not returning with the same books you came with... the team-member carrying Jane Eyre for me has made me promise to get rid of it once I've finished reading it :(

Anyway, thanks again kasie, it's really good to hear from someone who's been to China and had a similar experience to what I will hopefully have :)

HoVis

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China in... 90 days!!!

[kasie]

Antiquarian - don't put HoVis off by mentioning the bathrooms!! (HoVis - don't ask!) I don't know which bit of the Great Wall you went to but there were toilets at the bit I climbed (Badeling, one of the 'touristy' bits) - well, toilets of a sort....

(Can I do my boasting bit here? - I have had both hip joints replaced and I Climbed The Wall! Well, a bit of it, anyway!)

I loved the Wall - it was wet when we arrived but the rain cleared and the clouds hung in the valleys. It looked like a painting - my photographs just didn't do it justice.

In Beijing, I enjoyed the visit to the Forbidden City but it was jampacked with people - it was China's National Holiday Week and everywhere was full of tourists, mainly Chinese, some of them quite old because, we were told, when they were young, travel was not permitted, so many of them had never had the chance to see anything of their own country beyond the immediate surroundings and now were on official tours arranged by the Government to show them around. I liked the Temple of Heaven - all wood, no nails used in its construction - less crowded but the park around it was full of people enjoying themselves, playing music on traditional instruments, an ad hoc choir, Peking Opera (China's Got Talent!), chess games.

And the Yangste River. And the Li River. And Dali. And Hangshou. And Suzchou - the gardens.

Oh, this is a Literature Forum not a travel forum, isn't it? Sorry! But you see what I mean, HoVis - it will live in your memory.

[HoVis]

Antiquarian - don't put HoVis off by mentioning the bathrooms!!

That made me laugh. Don't worry, I'm not put off - anyway, our expedition is a bit down and rough so I know for sure that the toilet facilities will be limited (I don't think they have public toilets to speak of at 5025m...!).

Off-topic, I know, but sadly we won't be visiting the Great Wall since the Olympics have made it too expensive for us to go into Beijing. :( But we will be seeing the Terracotta Warriors and climbing a humungous mountain, so I don't mind too much. And I can always catch up on a later trip to China! :p

HoVis

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China in 80+ Days!