Writer's Block: The long and short of it

[camwyn]

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Hell if I know, as I didn't check the page numbers on most of 'em, but here's a few contenders:

- In college I read The Tale of Genji. It was an abridged version that cut out the umpty squintillion detailed descriptions of people's clothing, but it was still pretty long.
- I've read a four-volume edition of Journey To The West translated by Anthony Yu.
- I read Atlas Shrugged in high school. Still got the copy my parents gave me for my eighteenth birthday. Rather liked it. Still fond of it even though I recognize the flaws and issues and problems it has. Just because I like it doesn't mean I have to believe in it.
- Haven't finished the Shah-Namah of Firdawsi yet. I should get back to that.
- I can't really claim Romance of the Three Kingdoms because even the three-volume edition I have is still abridged.
- Outlaws of the Marsh. Four volumes. Black Whirlwind's favorite epithet is rendered as 'frigging' in my translation. A lot.
- On the James Michener side of things: The Source, Alaska, and Poland. Don't remember which one was longest.
- I can't really claim the Divine Comedy as a single book, as I bought it as three separate volumes by three separate translators. For the record, yes, I read the whole thing. I liked the Purgatorio and the Paradiso.
- I'd say the Bible, New American Bible or Jerusalem Bible translation, but compared to other translations the NAB isn't really all that big. Still, I've read the whole thing, so that's probably a contender too.

On the shortest front, the only one I can peg with any real accuracy is Slugs, by David Greenberg. I still have the copy my parents gave me for my eighteenth birthday. Yes, in the same package as Atlas Shrugged. Yes, I was just as thrilled about this book as I was about Atlas Shrugged. This should tell you something about me.

Comments

[milkshake-b.livejournal.com]

Would you recommend the translation you've got? I've been meaning to properly read it for a while now, seeing how much I love modern interpretation and take-offs of it (and if by some chance you haven't seen the international version of Red Cliff, you really should fix that), but I'm not really sure what to go with.

[camwyn]

I've seen the four-hour version of Red Cliff, and it is pretty incredible. As for the edition I have, it's the Moss Roberts translation. It was pretty good from what I recall. To some degree I read it with Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe open to the same section the whole time- it helped to keep track of the main plot when people were going off on side tangents about women or whatever. It's the only translation I've read to date. Should do, I think.

[milkshake-b.livejournal.com]

That would be the international version. The 'theatrical release' (ie: the American version) is only 148 minutes, and I love that movie so much I get all "!!!! NO!" at the very thought. (I know some of the things they've cut out, but getting it down to that length makes me think it's just the battles without any of the character bits at all, and that's sad.)




With luck all those other things I've seen/played that reference it should help me out there. :) Thanks.

[writerspleasure.livejournal.com]

http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/

:)

[camwyn]

Oh, I've heard about that. I haven't bothered watching the trailer because I know there's no way any screen version of the book could make me happy. Mostly because when I read the book I can compensate for a lot of the flaws in my mind- and patch in the actors I prefer as the various characters, beginning with Bruce Boxleitner as Hank Rearden. (Then again, I watched Minority Report and spent 2/3 of the movie patching Jet Li in as the Tom Cruise character, which made the movie surprisingly awesome.) It'd be nice if the Atlas Shrugged movie turned out cool, but... well, I'm not touchin' it until the whole thing hits the market and people I trust confirm it as awesome. Same as the Call of Cthulhu movie by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, which I waited to see until lots of Lovecraft fans confirmed the awesome.

Thanks for the link, though.