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.