Shalee lhaih 2015: shiaghtin 17

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

20oo-26oo Averil

Jerrey shiaghtoo shiaghtin jeig ny Shalee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

A Plague of Demons (Keith Laumers)

Çhaglym dy skeealyn far-skeealaght heanse Laumers bentyn rish çheet quaiyl joarreeyn. T'ad goaill stiagh noaskeeal hene, chammah's kuse dy skeealyn liauyrey elley. She çhaglym mie t'ayn er lhiam. Shegin dou goaill rish dy vel blass shenn aght orroo, as foddee oo gra rolaue ny vees taghyrt (faggyssagh) erreish dhty lhaih beggan. Agh cha nel mee coontey shen noi dy jarroo. Ta Laumers çheet erash da ny eieyn cheddin: geddyn ablid aigney erskyn dooghys deiney liorish fer elley cur stiaght ort, as jannoo ymmyd jeu noi yn noid hene; un foill scanshoil t'ec y Chruinney as shegin da un 'er coadey eh noi joarree noidagh; joarree nagh dod oo resooney maroo as aght beaghee gollrish snienganyn oc. Agh t'eh screeu mie dy liooar, as ga dy dooar mee loght ny ghaa, cha nee'm accan er shen.

Y red smoo scanshoil: ta'n daa skeeal toshee boirey orrym. Ta'n chied ny lane noaskeeal ta caghlaa cummey trooid as trooid 'sy vean, veih skeeal peeikearys joarree ta cur er creau dys sorçh dy chontoyrtys caggee lane whaagh, as ren shen brishey cleayney y skeeal er lhiam. Ta'n nah skeeal castreycair, agh t'eh 100% ry-insh rolaue as groamey myrgeddin. Er lhiam dy vel ny skeealyn elley ny share dy jarroo.

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 1 lioar, va 105 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 104 faagit dou nish.

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English version

20th-26th April

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

A Plague of Demons (Keith Laumers)

A decent collection of stories, which bafflingly includes a full-length novel. They all deal with alien contact, and are pretty decent on the whole. Laumers tends to reuse certain themes, including alien hiveminds who can't be negotiated with, an Earth wih one fatal weakness which one brave man must protect, and Our Hero developing amazing mental powers through alien tampering which he then turns against them. It's a bit old-fashioned (which I don't mind) and tends more towards square-jawed talking than either the hippy school of philosophy-fi or the recent turn for woobly quantum metaphysics (which I also don't mind) - although I have to say that while I enjoyed the stories, most were fairly predictable.

I'd actually say the weakest stories are the award-winners that kick off the collection. The first, the novel A plague of demons, begins as a great alien espionage thriller, but switches gear dramatically to a war thriller after some major plot events I won't spoil - I found the shift jarring and the second half frankly less interesting and overlong. The second story is a well-executed one of its type, but is very much a Type and not a cheery one at that. I read a lot of boys' own adventures in my youth, what can I say... The rest of the collection proved fairly easy reading and worth a look.

Afterword

I read 1 book, I had 105 last week, so 104 are left over.

Shalee lhaih 2015: shiaghtin 16

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

13oo-19oo Averil

Jerrey sheyoo shiaghtin jeig ny Shalee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Dirgelwch yr Ogof (T. Llew Jones)

Shoh skeeal anaasoil mychione roie liggar as yn aght t'eh bentyn rish pobblaght y balley; ta cummaght er sleih gollrish jannooyn gang kimmee erbee. S'treih lhiam gra, ga dy row yn aght screeuee mie dy liooar as blass rieaughid er, er lhiam nagh ren y skeeal shoh geddyn greim fondagh er reih chooish. Ta Jones cur coontey giare jeh taghyrtyn ynrican dy schlei, as soilshaghey magh karracteyryn dy tappee hoshiaght, as aght ennagh cha nel shen cochruinnaghey dys karracteraght fondagh beayn. Shimmey karracteyr ta goaill shayll myr loayreyder y skeeal, agh cha nel fer erbee jeu ny ard-charracteyr baghtal y skeeal. Cha nel fer erbee jeu dod mee coennaghtyn marish noadyr. Ta'n dooinney maail jannoo brock jeh, myr shen er lhiam dy bare lesh dy vel shin son ny roiederyn, agh she thuggyn neuoayllaashagh t'ayn gyn ourys erbee, as ad cur aggle er y lane valley. Cha nel y skeeal shickyr cre'n genre t'ayn noadyr: contoyrtys, shennaghys, folliaght, skeeal ta cur er creau, cooish ghraih hene, t'ad ooilley ayn 'sy lioar shoh. Cha nel dean baghtal ec y lioar shen, as ta shen jannoo assee jee er lhiam.

ひだまりスケッチアンソロジーコミック (ymmodee)

Çhaglym dy skeealyn loggyr liorish ymmodee ughtaryn. By ghoillee dou toiggal kuse jeu! Cha nel ad soit dy fondagh er cooishyn ny skeealyn bunneydagh, chamoo t'ad oikoil noadyr, as ta kuse jeu jus aitt hene gyn boirey er jannoo monney keeall. Ghow mee taitnys jeu ny yei shen. Atreih, hoig mee ro-anmagh nagh row eh er y rolley Ry-Lhaih...

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 1 lioar (as 1 elley nagh row er y rolley), va 106 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 105 faagit dou nish.

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English version

13th-19th April

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

Dirgelwch yr Ogof (T. Llew Jones)

This book is fairly well-written, and quite evocative. I found it an interesting depiction of some of the social pressures surrounding smuggling, which had a lot in common with other gang-type activities to be honest. However, it feels very unfocused. Jones paints particular scenes and moments quite well, and gives quick snapshots of characters, but doesn't manage to build this up into long-term characterisation. The story jumps about between multiple viewpoint characters, and doesn't seem to know what genre it wants to be: it flirts with adventure, historical novel, thriller, mystery and romance, but none of these dominates and the result is a bit nondescript. There's no particular protagonist, and none of the characters is very sympathetic either. Because the excisemen are completely ineffectual I sense we're supposed to root for the smugglers, but they're clearly shown to be a bunch of violent thugs who have the rest of the village terrified into silence. This book doesn't really know what it wants to do, and suffers for it.

ひだまりスケッチアンソロジーコミック (ymmodee)

A fun little collection of bonus stories by various authors. The variety (and being non-canonical) made some of them hard to understand, as they didn't necessarily follow events in the stories nor fit the normal tone and themes of the series. But I enjoyed them. Unfortunately, it turned out I'd never put this on my To Read list...

Afterword

I read 1 book (plus one that wasn't listed), I had 106 last week, so 105 are left over.

Shalee lhaih 2015: caghlaa

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

Caghlaaghyn

Ta mee er smooinaghtyn rish tammylt, as er scughey kuse dy lioaryn jeh'n rolley Ry-Lhaih aym. She lioaryn nastee jeh Project Gutenberg v'ayn.

Hoshiaght, va strooys orrym kyndagh rish ooilley ny liooaryn va ry-lhaih aym.

Chammah's shen, hoig mee fy-yerrey nagh row mian lajer orrym dyn lhaih. Cha deeck mee er nyn son, as cha nel ad jummal rheam erbee as ad lectraneagh. Va mee jus feddyn magh ny va ry-gheddyn er Project Gutenberg. Va mian aym dy 'akin obbyr Chambers as Hawthorne as ghow mee lioar ny ghaa lioroosyn; wahll, ta mee er lhaih lioar liorish y derrey fer chammah's y fer elley. As Wodehouse, wahll, honnick mee dy row kuse dy lioaryn ayn nagh vel mee er nyn lhaih foast, shen ooilley. Cha ren mee reih ny lioaryn shoh hene dy lhaih.

T'ad ry-gheddyn gyn boirey tra erbee by vie lhiam ad y lhaih. Cha nel mee son lhiggey daue boirey orrym nish. Ta mee er nyn scughey dys y Rolley Mian ayns caa by vie lhiam fakin ny h-enmyn reesht sy traa ry-heet, agh ta jerrey orroo ec y traa t'ayn.

Cur branglash er my share lhiat; s'cummey lhiams!

Shoh ny lioaryn scugh mee:

• In search of the unknown (Chambers, Robert W.)
• The gorgon's head (Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
• A prefect's uncle (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The gold bat (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The head of Kay's (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The intrusion of Jimmy (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• Indiscretions of Archie (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The pothunters (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The Prince and Betty (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The swoop! And other stories (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• Tales of St Austin's (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The white feather (Wodehouse, P. G.)

Shen 12 lioar goll er scughey; va 118 moghrey jiu, myr shen ta 106 faagit dou nish.

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 1 lioar, va 119 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 118 faagit dou nish.

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English version

Changes

After much thought, I've removed a number of ebooks from my To Read list. All of these are free Project Gutenberg works.

Partly, I admit, the reasoning is just that I'm feeling oppressed by the number of books I own and my slow progress this year.

Partly, I realised that I'm not desperately keen to read any of them any time soon, but I also haven't paid for them and they're not taking up any space. Basically, I dug around to see what was available on PG, and grabbed some stuff. In some cases (Chambers, Hawthorne) I just wanted to sample their work; the Wodehouse is simply an assembly of books I haven't otherwise read. I didn't specifically pick any of these titles to read.

They're readily available any time I want them. I don't want to feel guilted by these books. I've moved them over to my Wishlist for future reference, if I ever do want to read them, but for now I'm counting them out.

Consider it cheating if you want; I don't mind.

The books are:

• In search of the unknown (Chambers, Robert W.)
• The gorgon's head (Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
• A prefect's uncle (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The gold bat (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The head of Kay's (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The intrusion of Jimmy (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• Indiscretions of Archie (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The pothunters (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The Prince and Betty (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The swoop! And other stories (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• Tales of St Austin's (Wodehouse, P. G.)
• The white feather (Wodehouse, P. G.)

Afterword

There are 12 books here being sidelined; I had 118, so this takes the total down to 106.

Shalee lhiah 2015: shiaghtin 15

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

6oo-12h Averil

Jerrey queiggoo shiaghtin jeig ny Shalee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Steampunk Cthulhu (re. Jeffrey Thomas)

Çhaglym mie dy skeealyn quaagh, scoaghagh as contoyrtyssagh bentyn rish far-Victorianaght as Lovecraftaght. Va skeeal ny ghaa ayns shoh nagh row lane vie er lhiam, as va feme er kuse jeu er reaghey reesht. Ny yei shen, hooar mee ymmodee skeealyn anaasoil noa ayns shoh. Ga dy nee cooish er lheh t'ayn, shimmey sorçh dy skeeal ta ry-akin ayns shoh: contoyrtyssyn, skeealaght whaagh, as graih hene.

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 1 lioar, va 119 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 118 faagit dou nish.

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English version

6th-12th April

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

Steampunk Cthulhu (ed. Jeffrey Thomas)

A set of weird and horror tales at the intersection of steampunk and the Cthulhu Mythos. There were a few things here that didn't really do much for me, and sadly a few could have done with more rigorous editing. However, there are a lot of novel, well-written stories that I enjoyed very much. I was particularly pleased by the variety of the collection, given its limited theme. There's everything from adventure to romance to classic weird tale in here.

Afterword

I read 1 book, I had 119 last week, so 118 are left over.

Recortys jeh Cleiy Picadilly

Ren mee recortys jeh Cleiy Picadilly. T'eh ry-chlashtyn ayns shoh: Archive.org

Shalee lhaih 2015: shiaghtin 14

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

30oo Mayrnt-5oo Averil

Jerrey kiarroo shiaghtin jeig ny Shalee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

The Wizard's Dilemma (Diane Duane)

Gollrish ny hym-lioaryn elley, shoh skeeal trome-chooishagh fansee baljagh, bentyn rish druiaghtys lieh-sheanseagh as crampyssyn bea aeglee. Ta Duane soilshaghey magh cooishyn aigney dy mie. Ta'n skeeal soit er arganeyn ta ommidjagh tra ta lane fys ayd orroo, agh so-hoiggal çheusthie. T'ad troggal beggan er veggan er taghyrtyn so-chredjal: focklaght gyn thort, gyn freggyrt da çhaghteraghtyn, as reddyn elley t'ou uss cur dty scansh hene orroo. Chammah's shen, ta'n druiaghtys hene anaasoil; s'baghtal eh dy vel eie fondagh ec Duane er ny ta druiaghtee jannoo car y traa.

Shegin dou gra, voir eh orrym dy vel cooid smoo y skeeal bentyn rish kanghyr. Hoshiaght, t'eh er ny yannoo hannah reesht as reeshtagh; shen cooish chagh tra t'ad son ard-haghyrtys. Cre'n fa nagh vel peiagh erbee loayrt er, oh, aacheoid? Ta stroos as doilleeid dy liooar da cagh ta dellal rish lheid ny çhingyssyn beayn... Agh red elley, cha nel mee shirrey y lheid ayns fansee baljagh. Ta'n genre soit er cormaghey. Ta lught-thie as bea persoonagh gientyn drama persoonagh; studeyrys, reih staartaghyn, arganeyn marish caarjyn as y lught-thie. Ta druiaghtys gientyn contoyrtyssyn as gaue. S'mie lhiam y strughtoor shen. Dy beign shirrey sheer-angst mychione mooinjer çhing, ta shen ry-lhaih boayl erbee dy jarroo.

Chammah's shen, va taghyrt "s'cummey lhiam uss" ny ghaa ayn. Myr sampleyr, hooar karractyer by vie lhiam eh baase er teaym hene, choud's noddym toiggal eh; as ny s'messey, er lhiam nagh vel yn taghyrt jannoo keayll, er nonney beagh cagh marroo. Dy noddagh y Noid Mooar marroo sleih gyn boirey, cra'n fa nagh jinnagh? Va blass crout ghraney er er lhiam, son eiyrtys ennaghtagh ynrican. S'treih lhiam gra nagh mie lhiam y straih shoh wheesh as by vie lhiam eh.

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 1 lioar, va 120 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 119 faagit dou nish. Er lhiam dy vel mee laanaghey beggan er veggan...

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English version

30th March - 5th April

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

The Wizard's Dilemma (Diane Duane)

In a similar vein to the previous books in the series: a fairly serious take on urban fantasy, with rather scientific wizardly problems to deal with, as well as the demands of life as a teenager. Duane did a good job of articulating the psychological side: misunderstandings that seem silly and obvious from the outside, yet are built on understandable and reasonable steps. The wizarding is also interesting, as Duane has obviously thought hard about what it is her wizards actually do.

On the downside, I could have done without the cancer plotline. One, because it's ubiquitous and boring. Two, because it's so dramatic. Why is it never serious diabetes, or crippling arthritis? Chronic diseases provide plenty of stress and difficult decisions for the family, and are underexplored. But three, it's not what I want from my YA fantasy. The whole point of balancing family and magic is that family is a source of personal drama while magic provides the adventure, and I'm fine with that. I'm not really looking for pages of angsting over sick relatives, because I can get that anywhere, frankly.

Oh, I was also unhappy about a couple of what felt like "screw you" moments, like one character I quite liked being wiped out on a whim. It doesn't entirely make sense to me that the metaphysics works that way (everyone would be dead if it's that easy), and it also just felt like a cheap shot for emotional impact. My enjoyment of this series is definitely declining, sadly.

Afterword

I read 1 book, I had 120 last week, so 119 are left over. Just coming out of the cold-exhausted-busy valley now, I hope...

Shalee lhaih 2015: kied cherroo-vleeaney

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

Wahll, shen tree meeghyn. Cre'n eiyrtys derrey nish?

Va 159 lioarym aym hoshiaght, as ta mee er lhaih 39 jeu. Shen obbyr vie, er lhiam. My noddym cummal seose shen, chooilleenym y dean gyn boirey.

Atreih, er lhiam nagh noddym. Erreish da toshiaght vie, shimmey red t'er my lhiettal jeh lhaih. Ta mee cur stiagh dy jeean son staartaghyn, as ta shen soo y bree assym. Ta mee troailt dys co-akinyn, as gaarlaghey er nyn son, as shen jummal traa (cha chossyn mee staartey foast, myr shen, jummal traa). As er y gherrid ta mee er surranse tree feayraghtyn gyn agh beggan scuirr eddyr oc! Ta mollaght orrym, s'baghtal... My ta shen shareaghey, s'treisht dy roshym y dean.

'Sy cherroo shoh, reihym Forward the Mage myr y Reih Lioar.

English version

First Quarter

So, what have I managed over the past three months?

I began with (more or less) 159 books, and I've read 39 of them. That seems like decent progress, and if I can maintain that sort of rate, I'll hit the target all right.

Unfortunately, I probably can't. I started promisingly, but I've had a lot of setbacks recently. I'm spending a lot of time applying for jobs, which is pretty soul-sucking, and a fair bit of time is being squandered on jobsearching, interview prep and actual interview days. I say "squandered" because no joy yet, alas. Oh, and I'm doing some freelance work to tide me over. Plus, recently I'm constantly assailed by hideous colds, leaving me lethargic and apathetic. Some kind of curse, clearly. If I can shake those off, things will improve, I hope!

For this quarter, I'll pick 'Sy cherroo shoh, reihym Forward the Mage as Best Book.