AMA midwestyankee

[midwestyankee]

Interesting. I didn't recall your Scottish heritage. I would have loved to visit Scotland with my Dad. He was born in Ayr and came to Canada at 4.

My mother’s family originated in Scotland but they had lived in Canada for a few generations before moving to the U.S. My mother never got her chance to visit Scotland and I wish she had. By the time my parents felt secure enough for such travel, my father wasn’t interested in going overseas.

 

[wicked woman]

My mother’s family originated in Scotland but they had lived in Canada for a few generations before moving to the U.S. My mother never got her chance to visit Scotland and I wish she had. By the time my parents felt secure enough for such travel, my father wasn’t interested in going overseas.

I knew you had a Canadian connection, just didn't know they originated in Scotland. Might explain your good stock.

 

[midwestyankee]

I knew you had a Canadian connection, just didn't know they originated in Scotland. Might explain your good stock.

My kids blame the Scottish ancestors for my frugality. They’re not wrong.

 

[wicked woman]

My kids blame the Scottish ancestors for my frugality. They’re not wrong.

My experience with Scots in my family has been more value for money...she says with an auditor's hat on.

 

[midwestyankee]

My experience with Scots in my family has been more value for money...she says with an auditor's hat on.

Exactly. Putting out, say, 30% or 40% more upfront to buy something that will last many years more than the cheaper thing is my preferred form of frugality. Well, that and simply keeping my wallet bolted shut most of the time.

 

[wicked woman]

Okay I need to ask another question or someone might think I'm flirting with you.


Are you a purist with your books and how you handle them? Spines not cracked, no dog ears, not underlining or marking anything.

 

[midwestyankee]

Okay I need to ask another question or someone might think I'm flittering with you.


Are you a purist with your books and how you handle them? Spines not cracked, no dog ears, not underlining or marking anything.

Flittering: what happens when Twitter buys match.com.

I am not a purist. Some of my books look like I was takkng notes for a thesis with a pen in hand. Mostly I don't abuse books but I'm not a purist by any means. Cool question.

 

[wicked woman]

Flittering: what happens when Twitter buys match.com.

I am not a purist. Some of my books look like I was taking notes for a thesis with a pen in hand. Mostly I don't abuse books but I'm not a purist by any means. Cool question.

Groan....

I was wondering because my DIL is so much a purist that I refuse to borrow a book from her. I certainly don't abuse my books, but I do use and enjoy them. Like you, I'll underline, or write comments. It can be interesting to re-read a book, including my notations. That said, I also can't resist correcting typos if I find them.

 

[ultramarineblue]

It's complicated.

Given the choice between seeing almost any musical and, say, getting castrated without anesthesia, I would have to think over my options. But I love the music of many musicals that I would never choose to see in person. We had Broadway cast recordings of most of the classic American musicals (think Carousel, Sound of Music, Showboat) and we played them often. But I was a serious student of literature in college and I came to despise musical comedies as a genre. Still do.

As I live in a large metro area, I have had the opportunity to see several more recent musicals. That list includes Evita, Miss Saigon Rent, Les Mis, and Phantom. I enjoyed them as experiences and like some of the music.

But tell me I might just get laid if I would only sit through South Pacific and I would likely vote for celibacy.

Is there anything in particular that makes you not care for them?

What types of literature do you prefer?

 

[midwestyankee]

Is there anything in particular that makes you not care for them?

What types of literature do you prefer?

It's just that most musical comedies have simple stories and predictable plots. They exist to provide musical spectacle and dancing and not much more. When I was a student I most enjoyed Faulkner and Fitzgerald frombthis side of the pond and Woolf and Joyce from the other side. Among more current writers, Thomas Pynchon and Joyce Carol Oates are favorites. When I want to read for fun, Carl Hiassen is unbeatable.

 

[seela]

It's just that most musical comedies have simple stories and predictable plots. They exist to provide musical spectacle and dancing and not much more. When I was a student I most enjoyed Faulkner and Fitzgerald frombthis side of the pond and Woolf and Joyce from the other side. Among more current writers, Thomas Pynchon and Joyce Carol Oates are favorites. When I want to read for fun, Carl Hiassen is unbeatable.

Do you read translated literature? I've noticed that it's less common for English speakers to read literature originally written in a different language.

How do you pick your books?

Do you participate in any reading challenges that you can find online? (Like read 20 books in 2020 and each of the books has to fit a certain category).

Do you pick books/writers you're not 100% sure about or do you like to stick with what you know from the get go will be good?

 

[midwestyankee]

Do you read translated literature? I've noticed that it's less common for English speakers to read literature originally written in a different language.

How do you pick your books?

Do you participate in any reading challenges that you can find online? (Like read 20 books in 2020 and each of the books has to fit a certain category).

Do you pick books/writers you're not 100% sure about or do you like to stick with what you know from the get go will be good?

I have read books in translation but those were largely for college or grad school classes. I doubt if I could read anything serious in French any longer, though there was a time when I could make my way through Proust and Camus without spending half of my time looking at a dictionary. The only other foreign texts I might be able to decipher are tweets from California, but that might be pushing my skills.

I challenged myself to read one book per week a couple of years ago. By mid-February I was four books behind schedule so I quit. It might have helped if I had made smarter choices or gave myself permission to delete books from the list but I was stubborn with myself. I have not done any of the popular book challenges that I have seen suggested on social media.

These days I mostly read non-fiction and usually the choices are driven by current events. A recent pair of choices were The View from Flyover Country and Hiding in Plain Sight, both by Sarah Kendzior, who is an academic specialist in authoritarianism and a journalist. I also read books on woodworking and quite a few are surprisingly well written. In most of these cases, I have seen the books recommended by experts or I might already know the author and trust her wisdom.

Some of my more enjoyable reads have been books that were chosen for me by family members as gifts. I'm blessed with children who love to wander used-book stores (when it's safe, to be sure) and this has led to some wonderful choices.

 

[seela]

I have read books in translation but those were largely for college or grad school classes. I doubt if I could read anything serious in French any longer, though there was a time when I could make my way through Proust and Camus without spending half of my time looking at a dictionary. The only other foreign texts I might be able to decipher are tweets from California, but that might be pushing my skills.

I challenged myself to read one book per week a couple of years ago. By mid-February I was four books behind schedule so I quit. It might have helped if I had made smarter choices or gave myself permission to delete books from the list but I was stubborn with myself. I have not done any of the popular book challenges that I have seen suggested on social media.

These days I mostly read non-fiction and usually the choices are driven by current events. A recent pair of choices were The View from Flyover Country and Hiding in Plain Sight, both by Sarah Kendzior, who is an academic specialist in authoritarianism and a journalist. I also read books on woodworking and quite a few are surprisingly well written. In most of these cases, I have seen the books recommended by experts or I might already know the author and trust her wisdom.

Some of my more enjoyable reads have been books that were chosen for me by family members as gifts. I'm blessed with children who love to wander used-book stores (when it's safe, to be sure) and this has led to some wonderful choices.

To be clear, with my first question I tried to ask if you read books that have been translated into English but were originally written in a different language. You wouldn't have to know much French to be able to read English.

Do you agree with my observation that at least in the UK and the USA it's not that common to read books that have been translated into English from different languages? Why do you think that is?

 

[midwestyankee]

To be clear, with my first question I tried to ask if you read books that have been translated into English but were originally written in a different language. You wouldn't have to know much French to be able to read English.

Do you agree with my observation that at least in the UK and the USA it's not that common to read books that have been translated into English from different languages? Why do you think that is?

I have read some German books in translation (Kierkegaard, Mann, among others) but then I went off on a tangent above. I can't remember the last time I read a translation, to be honest.

I can only speak from my experience so I'll defer to others on whether folks from the UK read much in translation. Here, we are grossly English-centric. Few of our public school students take a foreign language and even fewer are exposed to literature in translation. Add that background to a culture that is rather jingoistic and it's plain why Americans rarely read books in translation. Sad, but true I think.

 

[seela]

I have read some German books in translation (Kierkegaard, Mann, among others) but then I went off on a tangent above. I can't remember the last time I read a translation, to be honest.

I can only speak from my experience so I'll defer to others on whether folks from the UK read much in translation. Here, we are grossly English-centric. Few of our public school students take a foreign language and even fewer are exposed to literature in translation. Add that background to a culture that is rather jingoistic and it's plain why Americans rarely read books in translation. Sad, but true I think.

Fascinating. For me it's a big selling point that the writer is from a different culture and that I get to experience at least a sliver of that through the book I'm reading.

Which skill do you wish you had?

 

[midwestyankee]

Fascinating. For me it's a big selling point that the writer is from a different culture and that I get to experience at least a sliver of that through the book I'm reading.

Which skill do you wish you had?

Flying. I would love to be able to fly a plane. When I was a kid I used to climb a tall tree in my back yard so that I could sit on a branch to watch planes land at the local airport. I still sometimes go out of my way to pass a general aviation airport not far from here when I am in that area. By now I probably couldn't pass the physical to get a pilot's license so it will remain a dream.

 

[wicked woman]

Do you agree with my observation that at least in the UK and the USA it's not that common to read books that have been translated into English from different languages? Why do you think that is?

Seela, if I might add to Yank's answer, I think fewer people in North America speak numerous languages than Europeans, so his comment about being English-centric is correct. I'm not sure that it necessarily means that we aren't interested in other cultures though. I've been fascinated by Turkey since my parents visited it about 30 years ago. I've taken a few trips there myself and for a while most of my reading was about Turkey and I even read a number of fiction books by Turkish authors. But they were all in English and it wouldn't have crossed my mind that they were translated, where clearly some of them, especially the fiction ones, were. Because so much is available in English, whether it's been translated just isn't on my/our radar.

 

[ultramarineblue]

Certainly not now. When I was younger and had lots of stresses from work and a growing family I would occasionally get angry. Almost always, though, it would be over something fairly inconsequential and I would be ready to apologize for getting angry within minutes. When truly bad things happen, I very rarely get angry except sometimes at the world at large, and never at people.

What can make you angry about the world?

It's just that most musical comedies have simple stories and predictable plots. They exist to provide musical spectacle and dancing and not much more. When I was a student I most enjoyed Faulkner and Fitzgerald frombthis side of the pond and Woolf and Joyce from the other side. Among more current writers, Thomas Pynchon and Joyce Carol Oates are favorites. When I want to read for fun, Carl Hiassen is unbeatable.

That makes sense about musicals. They are definitely predictable entertainment. I was the weird kid that read Faulkner for fun instead of because it was assigned. Plus it just amused me so much that he pissed so many people off by including some local drama in his novels. Studying literature was something I absolutely loved but unfortunately I've forgotten a good bit of what I used to enjoy greatly. I just know I always preferred classics to popular mind candy. I know I liked Hemingway but I'm drawing a blank on others and I know there were many more.

To add to the conversation about translations, I've really never considered which books that I've read that are transitions either. I pretty much read whatever I could get my hands on as a kid and teenager. I too loved reading about different places and cultures.

 

[midwestyankee]

What can make you angry about the world?



That makes sense about musicals. They are definitely predictable entertainment. I was the weird kid that read Faulkner for fun instead of because it was assigned. Plus it just amused me so much that he pissed so many people off by including some local drama in his novels. Studying literature was something I absolutely loved but unfortunately I've forgotten a good bit of what I used to enjoy greatly. I just know I always preferred classics to popular mind candy. I know I liked Hemingway but I'm drawing a blank on others and I know there were many more.

To add to the conversation about translations, I've really never considered which books that I've read that are transitions either. I pretty much read whatever I could get my hands on as a kid and teenager. I too loved reading about different places and cultures.

What makes me angry about the world: the consequences of unchecked greed (global climate change being the mother of all such consequences), and the various harms caused by rampant misogyny, racism, and fear of sexual differences and sexual expression.

 

[wicked woman]

What can make you angry about the world?

I just know I always preferred classics to popular mind candy. I know I liked Hemingway but I'm drawing a blank on others and I know there were many more.

For a number of years, I had a list of the top 100 classics and read my way through a fair chunk of it. All sorts of books, some I'd never heard of, but I enjoyed all of them. They weren't classics for nothing.

Edited to add a question:

Yank, any favourite flowers?

 

[ultramarineblue]

What makes me angry about the world: the consequences of unchecked greed (global climate change being the mother of all such consequences), and the various harms caused by rampant misogyny, racism, and fear of sexual differences and sexual expression.

Pretty much nailed the things I get frustrated with too.

 

[midwestyankee]

For a number of years, I had a list of the top 100 classics and read my way through a fair chunk of it. All sorts of books, some I'd never heard of, but I enjoyed all of them. They weren't classics for nothing.

Edited to add a question:

Yank, any favourite flowers?

I really enjoy morning glories.

 

[cookiecat]

Are you worried about the world on November 4?

 

[seela]

Seela, if I might add to Yank's answer, I think fewer people in North America speak numerous languages than Europeans, so his comment about being English-centric is correct. I'm not sure that it necessarily means that we aren't interested in other cultures though. I've been fascinated by Turkey since my parents visited it about 30 years ago. I've taken a few trips there myself and for a while most of my reading was about Turkey and I even read a number of fiction books by Turkish authors. But they were all in English and it wouldn't have crossed my mind that they were translated, where clearly some of them, especially the fiction ones, were. Because so much is available in English, whether it's been translated just isn't on my/our radar.

I really don't see how speaking foreign languages ties into this question. Translators do speak numerous languages so that the readers don't have to. My comment about other cultures being a big selling point to me was prompted by yank's comment about jingoism, although I could have made it clearer. I do know full well there are lots of Americans who are interested in other cultures, it's not a monolith one way or another.

I see that 3% is a common number thrown around for books published in the US that are translations, compared to roughly 50% in Italy. It's natural that the number is much lower, because there's simply so much available in English from the get go. But 3% for all the other languages in the world seems very small.

So maybe the reason why people in the US don't read a lot of books in translation is because there isn't much available. It's a chicken and egg situation. How about Canada, do, for example, local authors who write in French get readily translated?

I don't usually stop and think about if something is a translation either, unless the translation is very good or bad.

As a former translator I just find this an interesting topic, no judgment from me one way or another. Just wanted to put this in clear text here.

https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/why-are-so-few-translated-books-published-in-america/
https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/translated-fiction-has-been-growing-or-has-it.html

 

[midwestyankee]

Are you worried about the world on November 4?

Yes I am. The current administration is not only greedy and corrupt but their tendency toward authoritarianism is truly frightening. I'd feel a little better if I thought that leadership in their party would defend against this tendency but I don't think thats possible.

I am encouraged by polls and by everything I see about the level of voter turnout this year. I love seeing the much increased turnout among people in the 18 to 30 age group. It's time for them to get engaged and they are.