Monday 18 November 2013

Shalee lhaih 2013: Shiaghtin 46

Jerrey heyoo hiaghtin as daeed ny Shallee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Wirral Vikings: The Wider Context (Hrolf Douglasson)

Coontey giare jeh shennaghys ny Wigganee 'sy Wirral. Cha nel eh fo Douglasson soilshaghey mynphoyntyn; t'eh loayrt er sampleyryn as cleaynyn fo hoilshey taghyrtyn mooarey: reeghyn, reeriaghtyn, as cummaltee ny h-ardjyn. T'eh cur tastey da imraaghyn Sostynagh, Bretnagh, Yernagh as Wigganagh (as t'eh çheet er Mannin keayrtyn ny ghaa). Shoh toshiaght vie da sleih as beggan anaase oc er shennaghys y Wirral; cha nel eh ard-scoillaragh ny lane dy har-termeeaght, agh t'eh er bun scoillaragh, er lhiam.

Spies (Michael Frayn)

Nah lioar 'Rayn ren mee eab urree. S'cosoylagh dy row meehreisht aym urree kyndagh rish y chied lioar. Cha dod mee feddyn anaase aynjee, ga dy dooyrt carrey ny ghaa dy vel ee mie. Er lhiam dy row yn aght screeuee ro-liauyr (as shoh mish dy ghra!) as ro-aggyrtagh; agh er y laue elley, cha row yn aght "purple" shen aalin dy liooar dy jannoo ah anaasoil. Va'n ughtar er hene 'sy roie-skeeal bentyn rish ennym lus ennagh, shirrey dy ghoostey anaase er lhiah, agh cha daink lesh eh. Rish lhaih toshiaght y skeeal, ren mee briwnys nagh row eh cooie dooys. Ta'n ard-charracteyr cur coontey trooid cooinaghtyn jeh'n traa paitçhey echey, as nagh dree eh! Gilley boght fo gurneil carrey s'berçhey, lughtyn-thie nagh mie lesh ny lhiams eu... cha row cowrey erbee dy beagh taghyrtyn aitt ny anaasoil erbee ry-lhaih, ga dy row coontey cooyl ny lioar lhiggey er dy nee skeeal contoyrtyssagh v'ayn. Er lhiam shen jus meechormid jerkallys - s'cosoylagh dy row eh baghtal ass towse da'n lught screeuee dy nee "noaskeeal lettyragh" t'ayn, as screeu ad rere shen, gyn smooinaghtyn dy dod peiagh erbee meehoiggal. Agh mish smooinaghtyn er gillyn as spionyn, shen skeeal contoyrtyssyn, nagh nee? Aghterbee... cha mie lhiam lioaryn lettyragh, as cha neeu eh dou.


The end of week forty-six of the Reading Project. Here's what I've read this week:

Wirral Vikings: The Wider Context (Hrolf Douglasson)

A brief overview of Viking history in the Wirral. This doesn't make any attempt to detail specifics, but looks at the broad patterns in the context of historical events (kings, kingdoms and settlement patterns) and discusses the evidence from English, Welsh, Irish and Viking sources. A decent taster for someone with a mild interest in Merseyside history, which doesn't delve into technicalities or use academic prose, but still offers a scholarly perspective.

Spies (Michael Frayn)

The second Frayn book I've tried and failed to read. It's likely the first one prejudiced me against this, despite assurances from my family that it's good. I really couldn't get into it. The style seemed unnecessarily wordy and somewhat pretentious, but wasn't satisfying enough in itself to make it interesting. There was an early irritating touch in the protagonist finding out the name of a plant and refusing to divulge it to the reader, presumably an attempt to seem either interesting or mysterious, and achieving neither. After a prologue that was seemed as pointless as prologues usually seem, Frayn moved on to depicting the slightly unsatisfactory childhood of the protagonist through his own recollections. Deducing from the first few pages that the protagonist was likely to be miserable, his affluent older friend domineering, that nothing particularly fun seemed likely to happen, that the style grated on me, and - in short - that it read like a literary novel rather than a story of childhood adventure, I decided it wasn't worth my time.

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