Chimera

Wonder what that might be ?? I'm a middle aged woman who's just escaped her master after years of slavery in the UK (United Kingdom of Great Ambossa) and is trying to return home, in England.

Oh, how is it then?

*cracks up* I had a "What the hell??" moment there... until I glanced upwards and noticed which thread I was in

Ah, of course. That makes much more sense.

Inver, maybe you should spoiler tag that first sentence too, for those who haven't seen the last episode yet? And no, she wasn't there. It was all set up so there's no way of knowing

no, we didn't.

I think so too... All in all, I was very disapointed by this season. But the finale was great! Edit: sorry for the messed up spoiler tags!

Yeah, that pretty much sums me up as well. I sometimes get the feeling I'm smelling the food that's cooking, but other than that nothing. I think I'll give it another go if I can unearth it from wherever it's hiding. If only to see how it describes scents.

I read Perfume for school years ago... can't remember it much except that I was completely bored with it. With all the great comments here I'm wondering if I was too young/ should try again? Do you think it has a lot to do with the theme of smells though? I mean, I know it's a major theme in the book, but was one of the appeals for you the way the world of smells is described? Cause I have practically no sense of smell so that might explain my not "getting it".

I'm a psychiatrist who was a crook stygmatic in her youth. Atm I'm in London, on the run from two missing 'Lord Lucan' pretenders. Crazy life! EDIT: by the way, I think we're all off topic. Or maybe this thread should be renamed "Who are you?". Fun idea for a thread though!

Never were truer words said! It was past midnight when I stumbled across this thread again, wondered why I'd never tried it out and thought "hey, I've got a microwave in here, why not do it now?". 30 mn later I'm happily digesting the choc cake I just treated myself with It took barely longer than preparing a mug of hot chocolate It was rather dry though, but I think I put too much dry ingredients... Are the tablespoons of flour, sugar and cocoa meant to be strict tablespoons, nothing overflowing? Or generously laden tablespoons? Also, 3 full tablespoons of oil on top of the sugar sounds... Well, it's not the lightest recipe in the world is it? *laughs* Anyway, great recipe Kell, thanks! And I'm sure we could develop lots of variants. After all tests and trials won't take long, will they? In an hour we could try up to 10 alternative recipes! *widest grin ever* chocolate chips without cocoa, dried raisins instead of the choc chips, plain with some jam in the middle...

I have to agree. From what I heard Edie's development was due to the actress wanting to quit the series... so she won't stick around to narrate. Shame, it could have been a nice twist, giving the series another voice.

Very interesting Maggie! I've got to admit book design isn't something I've ever paid much attention to... unless to complain about a too small font... But I'll look more closely from now on. Actually, now I think of it I did experience this recently... I was reading a book which had a very unusual design: the page n

mmm isn't firefox the same as mozilla? I'm on a mac and it's what I use... Definitely the best browser! Congrats on converting to mac! *laughs*

Blurb from Amazon: The story opens as a jarring phone wakes lifelong Brooklynite and widowed father Teddy Mentor well after midnight. It’s the Montana wilderness program saying that his 16-year-old adopted son has run away – and they haven’t a clue where he’s gone. Only two weeks ago, Jesse had been taken to the program by escorts to deal with substance abuse problems. Jeopardizing his flagging PR job in New York, Mentor rushes across the country to find Jesse, who is off on his own quest: to find Theresa, the sister he’s never known. When Teddy finally discovers Jesse at a bus stop in Illinois, he is torn between sending him back or joining his son on a journey to find this girl in Kentucky. But he decides to go and they become embroiled in a grisly crime when Theresa’s abusive husband Beau attacks her – Jesse stabs the big beast of a man, leaving him for dead. My review: Jesse’s Girl is a very dark, fast paced thriller which despite some weaknesses kept me hooked from start to finish. It portrays middle aged Teddy who is struggling to keep his son, and himself, afloat after the death of his wife: teenage Jesse has gone wild as he sinks deeper and deeper into drugs and searches for his biological family, and his father is overwhelmed by his position as a single parent. I was slightly worried as I started this that it would be too much of a sentimental drama on the issues of addiction and adoption… Both difficult themes to write about. But it is in fact a captivating novel which shows us the characters’ struggles rather than over analysing them. Teddy and Jesse’s conflictual relationship in particular, is shown rather than discussed. The reasons behind Jesse’s family search, Teddy’s complicated feelings over his dead wife, Theresa’s motivations… are all implied rather than forced upon the reader. This means that all is not resolved by the end of the book, some developments remain partly unexplained, some characters are still somewhat a mystery… But it is up to each reader, as in real life, to interpret the facts in his own way. All the characters are nicely shaded and often intriguing. Theresa in particular, at first sight a bit of a Mary-Sue, evolves in a wonderful character. Even Beau, a truly despicable villain, is portrayed with just the right sliver of feelings which, whilst far from enough to redeem him, make him more human in the reader’s eyes. Unfortunately the style is sometimes inconsistent, lapsing in cheesy comments which don’t really fit in with the general atmosphere of the book. And the reading is slightly impaired by some typos and a lot of swearing. I’m sure that this last point would depend on each reader’s sensibility and a limited amount of it does serve the atmosphere and fit the characters, but at some points I just felt it was too much. Overall though, Jesse’s Girl remains a gripping novel which kept me on the edge of my seat over the few days it took me to finish it… More so than any other book I read recently!

Thanks for the link Chesilbeach, there are some great ones in there! I love Piniwini and Crash *grin*

It makes perfect sense... In the case of poetry though, I don't think the translator can really do a perfectly loyal work. I mean, it's like jokes which play on words, which are impossible to translate. (forgive the silly comparison ). In most cases it's probably impossible to get the same poetic effect with the same meaning. So the translator would have to adapt more than for a novel. But of course if his aim IS to reinterpret "groundbreakingly" the poet's work, that's another thing altogether.

So your main criteria is for it to be seemless? But what if the translator has made an excellent, seemless (ie: written as if it wasn't translated) job, but changed the style, atmosphere in the process? What if he's made it more his own work than the translation of the author? How can we know whether he's being loyal to the original? They did the same with the french version, which is sooo annoying! Honestly, changing Slytherin into Serpentard, Muggles to Moldu, Hogwarts to Poudlard ??? Don't know what they were thinking

Thanks, it definitely is! And I'm enjoying every minute of it Though I'm struggling a bit with The Bookseller of Kabul. I don't know why, it just seems to be fascinating one minute, and drag the next... Anyone had any similar experience with it?

Congrats Roxi! And thanks for organising this Inver I'll now have to buy it somehow *laughs*

He definitely should! That's what makes translating tricky... It's not only about transcribing the original work in a readable way but the translator should convey the style of the author, find just the right turn of phrase. I haven't ever paid much attention to translators/ tried to compare them (though I'm sure I've read lots of translated books over the years) but I think there definitely are good translators and bad ones... An interesting thing would be to see whether that 'musical quality' is there in the original work or whether it's the translator's touch. I mean in both cases it'd be his doing as he'd have had to find the right turns of phrase, but did he add it or just tried to copy Murakami's style?

Finished Les Tribulations d'une Caissi