Sunday 8 March 2015

Shalee lhaih 2015: shiaghtin 10

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

2h-8oo Vayrnt

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

Death on the Cherwell (Mavis Doriel Hay)

Folliaght ghunverys screeuit dy mie. Cha nel Hay soit er cur feaysley meeyerkit dhyt; t'ee lhiggey da'n 'irrinys çheet my vlaa beggan er veggan. T'ee jannoo ymmyd mie jeh ymmodee reayrtyssee dys lhiggey dhyt toiggal ny smoo na peiagh erbee jeu, as ta toigalys er lheh ec dagh karracteyr. Shegin dou gra nagh vel monney mian aym jiu dy hurranse karracteyryn ta keiltyn fys jeh ny meoiryn-shee, as ny smessey tra ta shen dy baghtal cur drogh-ourys strimmey orroo ny share na coadey ad. As son y chooid smoo t'ad scapail gyn kerraghey. Agh, she shenn lioar t'ayn as cha nee cliché v'ayn ec y traa shen - as shen yn aght va sleih berçhagh dellal rish ny meoiryn-shee, foddee. Er y laue elley, by vie lhiam ny meoiryn-shee ghell dy keirdagh as dy schlei marish possan dy chummaltee (wahll, ollooscoillee!) Aah yn Ollee nagh row son cooney ad monney.

金魚屋古書店 y.l. 1 (芳崎 せいむ)

Kuse dy skeealyn kiune bentyn rish skimmee as custymeyryn shapp shenn lioaryn. T'ad cur sooill da cummaght lioaryn, shenn skeealyn, aachooinaghtyn as myr shen er nyn mea. Goym rish dy hug fer jeu orrym keayney, bunnys. Atreih, cha dod mee toiggal y daa skeeal s'jerree. Va'n chied jeu baghtal dy liooar derrey'n daa abbyrt s'jerree, agh cha dod mee feaysley y grammeydys v'ayn as jannoo briwnys baghtal er y jerrey v'ayn! As va'n fer s'jerree croghey er lettyraght Hapaanish as raaghyn dorraghey, as cha s'aym er ooilley shen. She lioar vie v'ayn ny yei shen, as ta ellyn feer jesh echey.

Fockle s'jerree

Lhaih mee 2 lioar, va 127 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 125 faagit dou nish.


English version

2nd8th March

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

Death on the Cherwell (Mavis Doriel Hay)

A well-written murder mystery. It doesn't sabotage itself through determination to preserve a twist ending, but lets the truth bubble slowly to the surface. Hay makes good use of multiple viewpoint characters, allowing the reader to know more than any one character does, and giving different fragments of insight into the characters.

I must say, I have little patience nowadays for characters who deliberately keep evidence from the police, especially when it's obviously making things more suspicious rather than less. But it's an old book. On the plus side, I very much liked the competent, pleasant police officers who dealt professionally with an array of unhelpful Oxfordians.

For me personally, the Oxford trappings aren't much of a plus and are occasionally tiresome (self-indulgently Oxfordish undergraduates bore me). It also has unfortunately outdated depiction of a Yugoslavian character, whose stereotype is upheld by both the other characters, and more importantly by the text. Neither problem is a sticking-point, but they do mean I only rate this as a solid rather than a good book.

金魚屋古書店 v. 1 (芳崎 せいむ)

A set of stories revolving around a second-hand manga shop and its cusomters. They examine the way books, stories and memory influence our lives. I confess that one of them brought me near to tears. Sadly, I couldn't understand the last two stories. In the first case, the bulk of the story was fine, but the last two paragraphs featured intricate grammar that I couldn't puzzle out; since this section seems to explain the resolution of the story, what will happen in the future, and clarifies the relationship between two characters, it's a pretty major problem. The very last story features a murder mystery event at a boo fair, whose solution relies on Japanese literature and the sort of pun-like clues that tend to crop up. Lacking any knowledge of manga history and publication, it didn't mean much to me. Nevertheless, a solid collection with some very pleasant artwork.

Afterword

I read 2 books, I had 127 last week, so 125 are left over.

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