Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*

Comments

[geraineon]

I read no c-novels! But I finished ORV and I'm still drunk on it. It's so good! It's the best thing I've read this year and the emotions linger and I think about it every morning when I wake up, every night when I go to sleep. I will be doing this all over again once I am a little less drunk on the ending (I am watching all the music videos).

On the c-novels front, very excited to start reading Chu Liuxiang soon, with katzenfabrik~ when we start, it's probably gonna be at the rate of ten chapters a week. Reading with a friend is fun!

[halfcactus]

Music videos???? Fanmade or official? :O

[geraineon]

Fanmade animatics! There's also a fanmusical... ahaha. Where did you stop reading? A lot of them are very, very spoilerific.

Some videos:

This spoils up to chapter 188 of the novel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3B8jS74PIo

This is spoilers for the whole novel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0pIaZw2Cp8

I also immediately went to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfex3Gw050A

It spoils everything but makes absolutely no sense unless you have read the part it's spoiling XD (orv is wild)

[halfcactus]

I think I stopped when they reached Paradise? IDK what chapter that is haha but omg animatics.... so tempting...

[geraineon]

there are so many good animatics (that will destroy your heart all over again once you are done with the story). Hm, can you describe that part a bit more? I can try to look for animatics that doesn't spoil the rest!

[lessonsinescapology]

The music videos for ORV are like a stab into the heart XD

[geraineon]

T_T Pain, such good pain.

[douqi]

very excited to start reading Chu Liuxiang soon
I'm also excited for you! And to hear your thoughts! Especially about the last book in the sequence, which to this day remains an incoherent mess to me.

[geraineon]

It'll be a while, but yes, I will have thoughts about this series soon!

I wish there's more Gu Long adaptations =(

[douqi]

Especially since he was so inspired by TV/film himself! Like Chu Liuxiang is basically wuxia James Bond, and Meteor, Butterfly, Sword is basically wuxia Godfather. Though there is a movie adaptation of the latter, I think, with Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh.

[geraineon]

Oh! Didn't know about the movie adaptation. Will check that out. I watched a Meteor, Butterfly, Sword adaptation (well I started it but didn't finish) but something about that adaptation didn't really do it for me.

Wuxia James Bond. I'm gonna use that to promo my readalong xD

[anne]

Almost done with vol 1 of Peerless/Wushuang. Meng Xi Shi is so good!

[geraineon]

That novel is so much fun!

[anne]

I'm about to get past where I hit the wall on the MTL version, so I'm excited to see what happens next! ...just in time to wait for vol 2.

[geraineon]

Ohh, you have not finished the novel before. Gonna enjoy your journey through the book!

[forestofglory]

I'm still reading To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth. The stories are fun. Also there are so many footnotes -- some pages have more footnotes than story! It still feels more like reading an academic text rather than a book of stories, but its interesting and I think some of it will be useful for my work on the TPGJ

[geraineon]

XDD Long footnotes are great!

[forestofglory]

they really are!

[aurumcalendula]

More Record of the Missing Sect Master and Dragon Subjugation Incantation!

[geraineon]

Nice!

[shipperslist]

I'm reading 2ha book 3 and it's going waaaay faster than book 2 which is nice indeed.

[geraineon]

More fun things happening in book 3?

[shipperslist]

Fun yes. Fun aka PAIN and ANGST and...well. Shit happens.

[geraineon]

pain is delicious <3

[ehyde]

I'm reading The Smiling, Proud Wanderer which is the first Jin Yong novel I've read, after some of the genre discussions (here and on fedi) from this week and last week, and realizing that I haven't actually read any wuxia.

It's great so far! I'm only a few chapters in (although they're longer chapters, compared to what I'm used to in webnovels) but I'm hooked, and the main character hasn't even technically showed up on screen yet--the first chapter was a very tense and suspenseful sect massacre, and right now the story is being told through multiple layers of exposition with one character eavesdropping on another character recounting something that happened--which works surprisingly well. So I'm like "I've only had Linghu Chong for one day ..." but I have not even met him at all, actually.

It's interesting to note the different translation norms between this and danmei translations--more localization than I'm used to, there's no pinyin at all, we've got "apprentice brother" and "apprentice sister" instead of (I assume) shixiong and shimei, but at least the actual names don't seem to be translated like I hear they were in the official Condor Heroes translation. If you're ok with localization then aside from perhaps an overuse of commas the translation seems pretty good.

Also, I finished Master and Commander earlier this week, which is of course not a cnovel, but it did make me wonder if anyone can recommend any cnovels that take place at sea

[halfcactus]

Tysm for the translation comments! I also want to try reading a (translated) wuxia novel at one point, and this one seems less likely to throw me off than the LoCH ones. XD

Re: seanovels (hehehehe) - the only one I've heard of (because a celebrity I follow talked about it) is Deep Sea Embers, which appears to be transmigration (Chinese guy who becomes a ghost captain named... Duncan Abnomar) + infinite flow (?) + ocean setting with ocean civilizations... I never read it myself so I don't know if it's any good, but I remember there being a fantranslation.

[geraineon]

ocean civilizations + infinite flow, sounds interesting!

[halfcactus]

Honestly I'm not sure if it's infinite flow, that was just the vibe that I got from the way that actor described it LOL. That, and Lovecraft-inspired vibes or something? Unclear. XD

[geraineon]

Lovecraft inspired /even more interested eyes emoji spam/

[geraineon]

someday I will get to this so I know how much adaptation drift the versions I've watched has XD

apprentice brother and apprentice sister look like what drama subs might use tbh.

[ehyde]

I'd be interested in recs for/comparisons of adaptations, if you know of any with english subs!

[geraineon]

I tried looking but it doesn't seem like there's any with consistent subtitles. I have not watched this version, but it says it has eng subtitles (the subtitles sorta appears and disappears when I tested it though): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRk0vi696b8&list=PLyhGMcezxlMIR6zhbCBbLqGuIqreRB0s8

[douqi]

That is such a good novel, and the trope establisher for loads of things genre c-novels now take for granted. Content note *There's unfortunately some homophobia and transphobia in relation to a particular character, which is particularly virulent in Chapter 31.*

[geraineon]

ahhh for DFBB?

[douqi]

Yes! Highlight for spoilers!*Like on the one hand it's amazing that Jin Yong wrote such a compelling trans character in the 1960s, on the other hand the treatment of the character is... well, not great.*

[geraineon]

Unfortunate, and unsurprising. =(

Agreed it's amazing enough to have happened in 1960s considering him being such a dudebro

[douqi]

Weirdly (and I appreciate that this doesn't necessarily come across in the adaptations) Jin Yong is pretty decent at writing, specifically, female desire Highlight for spoilers!*Like in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, where he has Princess Yinchuan host this whole competition for her hand in marriage so that she can find Xuzhu again, presumably because he was real good at sex*. Male desire, on the other hand... Highlight for spoilers!*Looks over at Qiao Feng, telling Madam Ma politely, 'You're a very beautiful woman, probably.'*

[geraineon]

😂 I should read the books

[halfcactus]

Crossed a bunch of things off my currently-reading queue!

Halo-Halo Manila by Jimmeh Aitch (comic)
Non-fiction; Manila and the Tagalog language in the eyes of a Taiwanese comic artist who lived there for a while. I ended up really enjoying this, especially since the artist had a pretty "standard" local experience (ie. not in the bubble of privilege), with his wife (Filipino) being an environmental advocate and his in-laws having experienced first-hand the terror of dictatorship (which he compared to Taiwan's own history of dictatorship)... And he read local comics and watched local music acts (even featured and translated a band's song for the last story), which I thought was great.

I found out at the end that there was an English translation that I wish I'd been able to find, though all things considering, me coming from the opposite direction (already familiar with Tagalog and being fascinated with the explanations in Chinese) made the untranslated experience more interesting without an intermediary language to detract from it.



陰間沒有珍奶嗎？ Is There Boba in the Underworld? by 接骨木花
A free-to-read 10k-word m/m story about mutual pining after death... Though I wouldn't recommend this as ~quality romance~ (the tropes annoyed me LOL), I think it's sweet like full sugar boba and great reading practice for people with entry-level literacy and don't mind the gentle learning curve for Taiwan-specific terms. I learned that 機車 is scooter and that 手搖 is the catch-all term for hand-shaken beverages like boba/fruit tea/etc. XD

Google Books link: https://www.google.com.ph/books/edition/%E9%99%B0%E9%96%93%E6%B2%92%E6%9C%89%E7%8F%8D%E5%A5%B6%E5%97%8E/k-KmEAAAQBAJ

Also available on Readmoo but I don't have the link.


Pearl Law, "Karma's A Peach"
Not a cnovel, but feels kinda... cnovel-adjacent? This is a 50-page urban fantasy comic about an asura that has to farm karma under a bodhisattva's prodding. The gamified approach is appropriately cynical and thoughtful about the concept of having to do good to achieve a purpose. Enjoyed this a lot! And the manga-like format was perfect for my ereader. :')

Available for purchase at Shortbox Comics Fair:
https://www.shortboxcomicsfair.com/shop-sq4wj/p/karmas-a-peach-by-pearl-law

[geraineon]

I meant to continue browsing through shortbox comics... shall do that this weekend!

Halo-Halo Manila sounds like it has an incredibly unique perspective. Hopefully someday I can get a copy!

[llonkrebboj]

Didn't do much cnovel reading again. I did notice that the writer of 大王万万不可! (a historical AU timetravel story with a fake sickly character, but good enough writing and characters to keep me hooked) has started updating a new interstellar scifi novel. Keeping an eye on it to swoop down once it's fattened up a bit more. I don't think I'll encounter anything quite like the zerg novel again for some time though (with irl soaring popularity parallel to the character in the story xD).

I've finished manifest in words \o/ It's been quite the ride... Deepened and widened - like whoa, I had so many questions and it blew them all to pieces - the hole that is my trust issues toward the authenticity* of ancient poetry available today, and soothed it at the same time. It's also left me with a list of further reading 7 books/articles long xD and many questions about the same topic in Song Dynasty and how the printing tech and commercial culture would have affected attitudes towards poetry and poetry collections.

*In the sense of what has come directly from the person who wrote the work.

Anyway, time for a reread with note taking this time!

[geraineon]

you finished it! ... i haven't even started haha (dear world, more time in a day please!)

I should do an interstellar cnovel week XD

[duckprintspress]

I'm about 70% through AWM PUBG and still enjoying it. My week is chaos and my energy is nil so that's about all I can muster to say on this topic, sigh.

[geraineon]

/hugs/ hope things will slow down a lil so you can rest!

[douqi]

I am keeping up with To Embers We Return, which is DELIVERING. IN SPADES. The last three days' worth of chapters had me screaming silently at my phone as I read.

I've also finished the (quite short) crime thriller baihe An Endless Story, which was... fine, I guess? I'll try to get a review up over the weekend.

[geraineon]

it's always an amazing experience when a novel delivers!

[douqi]

For real, this is so good that I may be about to do something rash (commit the next six years of my life to translating a novel whose ending I haven't even seen yet).

[geraineon]

I can only cheer you on! XD