What about English? Einstellungen

[Bilana]

Well I'm a virgin if comes to audio books, but that will change soon. A fellow from my sports group has promised to uhm...give me security copies of the play Tea at Five and a Trek novel (funny how you learn new things about people whom do you know for long time), both read by Kate Mulgrew. So I’ll give it try rather because I have a nag on her voice and what she can do with it than because of the audio book thing itself.
But I think I’m too much visual for audio books. My imagination works better with the old fashioned printed books. (I can’t even stand if people try to read newspaper articles to me.)

Lately I’ve read some Southasian books and plays in English. That’s interesting me a lot, because I just love that cultural region and I’m always entertained to no ends by fine Hinglish. And Southasian authors never fail in that, no matter how much they try to write British English. :teeth:

[Pippilotta]

Good evening Ladies

Well, @Lempicka: pssttt!! Don’t tell but I only have ONE in English, too! :rolleyes: The other audio books that I have are also in German :roetel:
But nevermind – I like to listen to them while driving in my car (mostly); sometimes I take them into the house but quite seldom. I like to listen to almost everything that has a pleasant (in my ears -_- ) voice. I have found out that I can really appreciate an audio book with a nice-sounding narrator’s voice. Thus e.g. I liked Ken Folletts “Der dritte Zwilling”.
The other audio books that I have are quite a mixture of things. I also like to listen to stories from Mary Higgins Clark or Charlotte Link. A friend borrowed me her Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell) ones. But I have found out that it is difficult for me to be ‘hooked up’ on a story if the voice is not pleasant for my ears; I tend to drift away with my thoughts then. :roetel:

As for English books, I also like to read quite a variety of books. I like thrillers as well as romantic stuff. The last English book that I read was (I think) “Love in the Balance”, which was, lets say, easy to read and easy to guess what would happen next. Not really a “big deal” but sometimes I also like “easy” stuff a lot because it is quite relaxing for me :ph34r:

When German books with lesbian contents were not so easy to get (in the far-away-days, when internet was not yet so common :D) I liked to buy English books with ‘lesbian’ stories and I liked to read them (e.g. ‘Curious Vine’ and some others by Katherine V. Forrest, or some books like ‘Early Embraces’, ‘Beginnings’ etc.)

@Bilana: so, let’s know when you tried out the ‘audiobook thing’ I am interested in getting to know how you liked it!
What kind of books were the ones you read last that had this funny Hinglish in them? Can you also notice that in the written text?

[Bilana]

[Pippilotta]

[Bilana]

Oh well I'm no patient novel reader. So a novel really must mean something to me, that I'm going to read it. I like more short stories or non-fictional stuff. Still the most intriguing stories are told by life itself.
But I just love South Asia, so I read such novels now and then. Amitav Gosh’s writing is epic, much history is in there, but really easy to read, quite enchanting. At least Gosh is well-known in the western world I think. Roy is different. I found her difficult to read, because her characters where of Malayalam origin. I have no feelings about Malayalam names. They don’t tell me gender or age, like a European or Hindi names would do. So it was difficult to keep track with her many characters. Also she has a real weird approach to language. Rewriting would be as ridicules to her as re-breathing. And the good thing about not knowing the rules of writing is, you don’t bother to break the rules. After reading her book I’m sure it is not exaggerated at all. And then she has a typical Indian way of story telling. However she managed to win some serious prizes with the novel. It reflected life of women in rural India and the language might be one part of it. Oh yeah and she has written down the story of a very famous Indian feminist, called the Bandit Queen. I’ll read it after I have recovered from her first book.
As for Abi Subedi, he is a Nepalese play writer. He is like Shakespeare in England, except Subedi is still very much alive. Everyone knows him, but outside the country he is not know at all.
So if you want to get the real hindi-feeling without being able to read Hindi, English is the first choice.

However, I don’t distinguish between easy and not easy reads, but between interesting ready and not interesting reads. And sometimes the most profane writings are interesting to me (like the last ST Voyager short story collection) and sometimes it is something else. The main point is an intriguing story, then I’m even willing to wrestle through the most absurd writing styles, but if the story is boring, smooth writing won’t help to make me read it through.

Oh and no, I haven’t the CDs yet. I would have to push an elderly lady, which I would never dare. ;)
I already suspect I'll love these ones for the voice, but will be never become a fan of audio books, but I'll let you know, when I got the chance to listen to them.

Greetings.

[Oncemore]

Hello everyone,

oh, I see its's time for me to join the fun ;-).

I've always loved watching TNG and Voyager (because of the lovely ladies of course ;-)) and I at that time I started trying to get the episodes in English. So in a way learning English was connected to my time as a trekkie. My first English novel was "Imzadi" which I read in grade 10.
For me this is just such a lovely playground and I'm so happy to have found some fellow fans.
It used to be such a nice time when we went to movie fairs, exchanged tapes and met with many people to watch the latest episodes of ST or the X-Files.
Are you also a bit nostalgic about this? For me it was a special time when people came together to watch series while nowadays you can download it so easily and watch it on your own.

I also love going to the movies and whenever it is possible I watch them in English.
During the last years I also fell in love with French cinema. I've also seen 8 women, Dancer in the Dark and so on and I can also recommend the latest Isabelle Huppert film where she's starring opposite Catherine Frot. It has this lovely scene where they watch this old Catherine Deneuve musical where they play twins and sing the song together. What a nice reference.

For those who live near Essen: There`ll be 8 Women on stage soon!

I hope we can go on with this.

Love,

Oncemore

[Bilana]

Welcome, welcome, you're sure a woman after my own heart! :teeth:

The first English novel I’ve ever read was also a TNG novel (Dark Mirror). That’s quite long ago. I also must have been in grade 10 or. Funny. At that time, without amazon, it was quite a challenge to get such an novel in English..

[Masi]

A little off topic, but I have just one question:

Have you ever heard of "GUPPYS" ?
It seems to be a not-so-nice nickname or shortcut for a lesbian or other group.

edit: GUPPY doesn't mean the little coloured fishes in this case :D

Der Beitrag wurde von Masi bearbeitet: 27.Jan.2006 - 22:02

[noname45]

I've never heard of that...

When I read it I immediately thought of the fish... maybe it means

Genius
Unbelievable
Proud
Pretty
Young Lady

But seriously: Do you know where it comes from?

[noname45]

Oh I got it (Thanx to Google):

It's nothing bad: It's like Yuppie just GAY urban professional instead of YOUNG urban professional.


:patsch:

[Masi]

I've read it in a lesbian book, always written in big types (example: you're a GUPPY).
I think it's a dirty word, so your suggestions doesn't fit. :(


edit: to late *g*
Yes, this could be the meaning, thank you :)

Der Beitrag wurde von Masi bearbeitet: 27.Jan.2006 - 22:01

[noname45]

hm that's what google says...


Edit: also too late ;)

Der Beitrag wurde von Pumuckl bearbeitet: 27.Jan.2006 - 22:05

[Masi]

look at my edit ;)

[Muslpu]

Hellooo..
it seems as if this poor thread died a few times..

Even if it might take a few months for somebody to answer, I'm willing to try reanimating this thread again... But what could be interesting enough to keep it alive afterwards? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/gruebel.gif)
Well, I will think about it and after I found something, I will let you know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Liane]

Let's talk about S** :dance:

:ph34r: No Stroeses around? (IMG:http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/haushalt/e035.gif)

If we don't want to let it die, we can perhaps have an English Guten-Morgen-
Küche - which means using the language a lot without worrying about clever themes...

What do you think about that?

Der Beitrag wurde von Liane bearbeitet: 13.Jun.2006 - 11:27

[Muslpu]

Since I'm not good with clever themes, I would say, it's a nice idea and worth trying :zustimm: ;)

But could you maybe first explain what you meant here:

[Liane]

Muslpu, to make it more easy for you :D
Lokk at the smiley - what is it doing?

edit: why do I feel I have to write "more easy" - shouldn't it be "easier"? :gruebel:

Der Beitrag wurde von Liane bearbeitet: 13.Jun.2006 - 11:56

[Muslpu]

The smiley? It is.. dancing? But that is not spelled with an "S" :P whatever..

p.s.: it should be "easier" ;)

[Liane]

The (singing!!!) smiley tells you that "Let's talk about XXX" (one of the letters is right - which one :gruebel: :was: :gruebel: :D ) is a song...

Der Beitrag wurde von Liane bearbeitet: 13.Jun.2006 - 21:12

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