[Book] 1. Me Before You, 2. Hope Farm, 3. The Little Paris Bookshop - Reviews

[Book] 1. Me Before You, 2. Hope Farm, 3. The Little Paris Bookshop - Reviews

[Book] 1. Me Before You,  2. Hope Farm, 3. The Little Paris Bookshop - Reviews

I was reading. As always. I'd like to post short reviews on the books I recently finished reading. 

By the way, now I'm using Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com) to record my reading.

Screenshot of the list of books I read recently.

1. Me Before You - Jojo Moyes: Still enjoyable another variation of Cinderella

This is pretty well written and I would recommend it to others. It's a romantic story between a quadriplegic guy and a not very special girl. The girl, Louisa, had her boy friend but she dumped him because of Will, the quad guy. The part I mostly enjoyed is the wheelchair dancing on the Will's ex-girlfriend's wedding. 

Taking out all the details and simplify the plot, in fact, it's another variation of Cinderella. A girl met a super-rich guy who happened to be extremely disabled but still very good looking, then be a girl friend for six months, and finally she got all the benefits. It made me a little uncomfortable about the book, but still I have to admit I enjoyed the book overall. 

There is one fun thing I saw as a Korean reader. Here is a quote from the book.

Sitting amongst them was like being with a bunch of Korean speakers. I had no idea what any of it meant, and no great desire to immerse myself.

A bunch of Korean speakers? Haha. 

Definitely, the author didn't think much about her book might be translated into Korean. I wonder how it might be translated into Korean. As a film based on this book came out, there is quite a good chance for it to become popular in Korea. I consider it's a small fun, but still this sentence could be written better if the author stopped for a moment to think about real people alive somewhere on the planet who speak this language everyday. 

Then I wondered if there already exists the Korean edition, so I googled it. And, there it is! 

Korean edition - 미 비포 유 (조조 모예스 지음 / 김선형 옮김). (Image from http://www.aladin.co.kr/)

Now I really wonder how the translator 김선형 translated the sentence into Korean. If you have the book in Korean, please let me know.

- Some of my tweets during the reading

'But there is an opening for a pole dancer.' 'Please tell me you are kidding.' #JobConsulting? #MeBeforeYou pic.twitter.com/FvEe8ASe5y

— 용섭 (@gguro) 2016년 9월 17일

Sitting amongst them was like being with a bunch of Korean speakers. #MeBeforeYou #JojoMoyes #BookQuotes pic.twitter.com/lc77UVbfLP

— 용섭 (@gguro) 2016년 10월 6일

2. Hope Farm - Peggy Frew: Responsibilities of individuals and communities

Ishtar is a woman whose life became pretty miserable after the pregnancy as a teenager. The book shows two views; one from herself and the the other from her daughter. 

I personally think Ishtar is a strong and brave mom, but quite surprisingly most of the local book club members criticised her irresponsibility to her daughter. I would like to defend her based on the inevitable situations with non-supportive adults around her. Well, anyway it's reader's choice how to see her life.

It's written by an Australian author and it's a nice story which leaves some questions about individual and social responsibilities. 

- Some of my tweets during the reading

An Australian fiction. #HopeFarm by #PeggyFrew #Book pic.twitter.com/h4fp4gfn7C

— 용섭 (@gguro) 2016년 9월 27일

3. The Little Paris Bookshop - Nina George: A journey in France along a river

It's originally written in German and I read an English translated version. 

There is a man who runs his bookshop on a barge. He and a famous author and some other people began a journey along a river (I thinks it was Seine). During the journey, they became close friends and talked about their past.

Although I don't really buy the story about an unforgettable lover for over 30 years so that he couldn't meet any other woman, the description of the journey itself is quite enjoyable. I think the book might be more interesting if you are interested in France.

- Some of my tweets during the reading

First day of reading #TheLittleParisBookshop by #NinaGeorge pic.twitter.com/FoXH3pgS2D

— 용섭 (@gguro) 2016년 8월 21일

End of the reviews.

Keep on enjoying reading life!

7 October 2016

gguro

Added on 24 Oct. 2016:

The above sentence of 'Me Before You' has been translated into Korean with this:

"그 사이에 앉아있다보면 외국말로 떠드는 사람들하고 같이 있는 기분이 되었다"

The translator chose "a bunch of foreign language speakers" instead of "a bunch of Korean speakers." Well, it makes sense.

The translation information was provided by 송이, "[Me Before You 미 비포 유] 원작소설에서 인상깊었던 구절들 :)". Thank you.

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