【Question】English Novels

[MikiRei 10]

I often read English novels.But I have never read a book about 500 pages.

For CRYING out loud. 500 pages or 100 pages makes no difference. It's the LANGUAGE that counts. Harry Potter goes up to 500 pages but the language is hardly formidable (not to mention the abundance of made up words). Animal Farm, at a mere 100 pages, is 20x more challenging than the entire Harry Potter series put together.

Maybe it's just me but I find this thread pointless. Everyone's having some sort of "who reads faster" competition which I see no virtue in discussing. Instead of timing how fast you read (which is just silly in my opinion since that means you're hardly absorbing any of the material you're reading), how about DISCUSSING about the books you've read? Definitely more worth your while than comparing reading speed which proves nothing except that you're missing the point when it comes to reading novels (which is to enjoy it in your own time!)

[Krislih 10]

For CRYING out loud. 500 pages or 100 pages makes no difference. It's the LANGUAGE that counts. Harry Potter goes up to 500 pages but the language is hardly formidable (not to mention the abundance of made up words). Animal Farm, at a mere 100 pages, is 20x more challenging than the entire Harry Potter series put together.

Maybe it's just me but I find this thread pointless. Everyone's having some sort of "who reads faster" competition which I see no virtue in discussing. Instead of timing how fast you read (which is just silly in my opinion since that means you're hardly absorbing any of the material you're reading), how about DISCUSSING about the books you've read? Definitely more worth your while than comparing reading speed which proves nothing except that you're missing the point when it comes to reading novels (which is to enjoy it in your own time!)

Agree, why cant we just talk about those books? Why we have to talk about your reading speed? this is gay; we should talk about books we like, and suggest people to read them as well.

500 pages and 100 pages are no difference just like Miki said.

You cant just say" Oh! too many pages, fxck, i dont wanna read this."

I do not believe because we are studying abroad so it is easier for us to read in English, it is the ideas you learn from the book( we should talk about this), the writting style, what kind of background are we in( the book)...etc.

This ridiculous, talk about reading speed? I do not care about reading speed, it is WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM THE BOOK matters! Do we get prizes if we read faster? I do not think so!

I like how at first this discussion went, we were talking about the books, not how fast or how many pages you can read in certain time period. I hope we can continue that.

[abtvctkto61 10]

Agree, why cant we just talk about those books? Why we have to talk about your reading speed? this is gay; we should talk about books we like, and suggest people to read them as well.

500 pages and 100 pages are no difference just like Miki said.

You cant just say" Oh! too many pages, fxck, i dont wanna read this."

I do not believe because we are studying abroad so it is easier for us to read in English, it is the ideas you learn from the book( we should talk about this), the writting style, what kind of background are we in( the book)...etc.

This ridiculous, talk about reading speed? I do not care about reading speed, it is WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM THE BOOK matters! Do we get prizes if we read faster? I do not think so!

I like how at first this discussion went, we were talking about the books, not how fast or how many pages you can read in certain time period. I hope we can continue that.

Lol.

People just LOVE to have a reading-speed competition. From 3rd graders to high school students, quite interesting.

Sure, how about let's discuss LotR? I've been into them for several years, learning their history and stuff. Is there anyone here who has read the Lost Tales or Unfinished Storie? I can't find 'em anywhere in TW.

[MikiRei 10]

People just LOVE to have a reading-speed competition. From 3rd graders to high school students, quite interesting.

errr......really? I don't remember ever doing it in my lifetime o.0. Even if people do do so, they would stop by the time they're in high school since, well, you should be mature enough to know these competition are kind of pointless.

Discuss LOTR? *faints* It's been a while since I've read it. Practically forgotten most of the contents = =

Why don't you start the discussion? :p

[Krislih 10]

Lol.

People just LOVE to have a reading-speed competition. From 3rd graders to high school students, quite interesting.

"Self improvment is masturbation, self destruction..., that might be the answer"

I haven't read LOTR for ages, i have been reading other books that i cant recall the names of the books at all...:P

you should start the discussion since you started this topic, eh?

[MikiRei 10]

Self improvment is masturbation

That is VERY true. :D

*sigh* Ok - let's start the discussion. Which book of the trilogy do you like best? Also, who has read "The Hobbits"? Do you think the movie did the book justice? What do you think of Tolkien's writing style?

To me, Tolkien goes into VAST details of the world and setting so the action of the story sort of draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags. I remember I nearly fell asleep since he used nearly 3 pages to describe the Valley of the Dead (or whatever it's called. The place where Aragorn and company had to venture to find the traitors of the past as a chance to release them from their curse) in "Return of the Kings".

[abtvctkto61 10]

(All my typing went poof along with IE...... D**m Microsoft)

O well.

Return of the King appeals me the most, because there we many nice lines in that one. The words Theoden used to encourage his men before charging into the Gladden Fields. Very moving.

The Hobbits is quite a different style from LotR. It's more of a children's fairytale, while LotR deals with more solemn subjects. Nevertheless it's a joyful book, and there are meny merry scenes in it.

The movies...... Well, cutting out Tom Bombadil wasn't a wise choice. If the trilogy is already so d**m long, it would be no trouble adding mere 20 minutes XD. But really, they help people get a clear image of the Middle Earth is like. Not a bad job they did.

Tolkien's writing style fits my type. Actually, MY writing style was influenced by him(if anyone notices).

Tolkien sees himself as a historian, translating from Common Speech to English stories collected and sorted by Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam. Remember what Bilbo did? He left a few pages for Frodo in his book, The Red Book of West March, also called There and back Again, in which Bilbo and Frodo's adventures were recorded. The legends such as ones in The Silmarillion was translated by Bilbo(from Elvish to Common Speech) and also put in the book. These books by the hobbits were published in several books by J.R.R. Tolkien, but some atories were collected, edited, and published by his son.

Those were from my memory. Could be completely off, though= =.