What are you reading now?

I binged most of it near the end, and I really enjoyed it! Looking forward to the sequel!

This was my second Sanderson book, and my favourite so far!

Nice! Did you happen to see this alternate universe version of Way of Kings that he's giving away on his site?
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/the-way-of-kings-prime/

Thanks!

I borrowed this from my gf, that has enjoyed some of his books, at the point that I was curious. Indeed a nice discovery to be added to my infinite backlog, he is a great writer! :D

Waking Up is short and not filled with woo-woo and hokum like one would expect from a spiritual book. If you're like me and cringe at the idea of reading a book about spirituality, then it might just be for you!

Well, it depends. I guess this is a classic case of hearing so many opinions and comments, and reading essays, reviews and countless takes on this matter, without actually ever dealing with the original text. So, I figured it was finally time to see for myself.

May just be me, but I don't think that it is hard to read. It's definitely very verbose and that unquestionably gets tiring pretty quick, but I actually like that it contains so many empirical observations and descriptions (at least Volume I), even if Marx is just quoting other reports.

But economics in general is a topic I was always interested in, and have read stuff about since I was pretty young, so this might explain me not having any issues in that regard, not sure.

Am I getting much out of it? To be honest, probably not. I think that this is a text so widely studied by now, I can't imagine that anyone could make any substantial new discovery here. Whatever you may have heard about the books, it is probably true - at least partially ;-)

On the other hand, there is such a wide range of varying critiques, it is hard to guess what someone else's opinion might be. Well, my short-run analysis, Marx makes some astute observations, and it's hard to deny the effort (and obsession, probably) that got put into it, but for the most part, especially with regard to the predictions made within, it's hilariously wrong.

So, If you want my opinion, I don't think that it is actually worth reading in our era. I guess everything wrong that can be said about this work has already been said, and conversely, everything true has also been said. So, I'm not sure why anyone should bother nowadays.

You are laughing now, but when Cthulhu arrives only we can be destroyed happily.

The new Thrawn trilogy? Not yet :) The only new-canon book what i read was this Lost Stars :) I am planning now to finish the old Thrawn trilogy, then the The Hand of Thrawn Duology and then the new trilogy + I am looking forward for the other Claudia Gray books as well :) I heard they are also good. However I read quite slow lately, so it might take a while :D

I watched series only up to red wedding I think. I dont remember seeing anything else. Though I know a lot of key points from spoilers as well.. So it was a bit of a let down already knowing many of the most dramatic scenes beforehand;. But Martins writing style still keeps everything captivating. I suppose I will watch the series after finishing this book at some point. I want to see that trainwreck thats supposed to be the ending :D And it'll be fun comparing to Martins eventual books

Thanks for suggesting "The wheel of time". I'm seeing a lot of books in the series - https://www.goodreads.com/series/41526-the-wheel-of-time - which ones are the "main story" as it goes.. Or should I just go through them one by one as in the list ?

Kind of forgot about The Dark Tower. I really like Kings books and was introduced to Dark Tower universe in Black House (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10607.Black_House). I should try to remember reading these as well.

Whicher was a treat. Really enjoyed the books.I haven't played the game still, really would love to buy it but as of now I'm strictly in bundle budget (more precisely 1st tier humbles :D:D) so no Witcher at least for now

Thanks for suggesting Mary Stewart. Will definitely take a look :)

Harry Potter completely had fallen out of my mind to be honest. I noticed it several times when checking GoT books out at library and thought I should read Potter as well. I saw the movies not so long ago, so maybe I'll put it off for some time and read something else so it's not so fresh in my memory when eventually reading the books :D

I like the original by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle better myself.

I love the book -- I am re-reading for probably the 7th time.

I love almost all of Crichton's books. Couldn't make heads or tails of Eaters of the Dead and never read the pirate book that I think was finished by someone else...but other than that, I like everything.

I loved the original Jurassic Park movie... but man, I hated all of the other movies! Just terrible.

For whatever reason, Crichton books tended to be pretty bad on film. I loved Congo -- terrible movie. I loved Sphere -- not a great movie. I loved Timeline -- terrible movie.

I'll try to answer, but what is true for my country isn't necessarily true for other countries.

Special education is not required over here; I'm a BA in French and English, but plenty of well known translators are engineers, biologists, geologists etc by education. From my experience with various publishers, nobody even asks for your education. You're given a test assignment to translate something and if you do well, then you can get a job.

As for my enjoyment, well, it depends on a book. :) Some are fun, some are tedious. I wanted to be a writer at first, but realized I don't have enough imagination to write full fledged stories, so I opted for translation as the next closest thing to it. I guess I can say I enjoy it, yes. Not having a strict schedule is a bonus as well. :D
It doesn't pay much though. I'm earning enough for myself, and my gf has her own income, but having children is out of the question at the moment. Most of the translators with families have to take on extra jobs, usually as teachers or bookstore clerks, but I know one who's a part-time security guard, for example. Or a full-time security guard and part-time translator. It depends. :)

As Jinnai said it differs from country to country. In my country we have at least 2 universities that I know that teach languages and translator professions. But the standard is pretty high and getting actual jobs translating professional grade texts is tough. I have a close friend who finished the school and is translator from English. She has been rejected tons of times even with university degree and pretty spotless resume. It takes very specific knowledge of vocabulary in the specific field you want to translate to or from. She has constant flow of work but it fluctuates a lot. There can be a huge texts from companies that pay well and you might get pretty good sums, but there might as well be periods of no work and you might struggle to make the minimum wage (if you are freelancer - but it's not easy getting a job in a company that guarantees good pay and will actually take you)

I can speak and write in English very good, but after trying to translate the texts that are required to be translated I usually fail pretty hard. Being engineer I'm quit good at technical terms but even then I struggle to find the correct meaning in my native tongue even though I fully understand it in English.

But I dont doubt it's easier to translate fiction as it usually contains everyday language. But you still have to understand how to correctly translate a whole sentence so it doesnt sound weird in another language. I've read tons of translated books that have horrendous translation. They are translated professionally and everything is fine but the whole meaning is lost because the "correct" translation isnt always the most appropriate. What I wonder though is how difficult it would be to find someone willing to pay for your translation of a book if you'd make one.

Yeah, completely. I mean, I only started reading more seriously when I joined the university but I did start with young adult novels and read them from time to time. For me, it's like traveling through time to a different era, in which things were simpler (because it also reminds me of my childhood, if I make myself understandable).
I'm gonna check out her books. Thanks for the recommendation!