Reading

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author: yue xia die ying

Two by Yue Xia Die Ying

I posted quick takes on two more novels by Yue Xia Die Ying over in my journal, if anyone's interested. TL,DR: two thumbs up, one enthusiastically

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C-Novel/C-drama Character rambles/Quote translations - Lin Xi (Nirvana in Fire 2)

Made a long, rambling post on one of my most favorite characters in c-novel/c-dramas to date: Lin Xi from Nirvana in Fire 2 | The Wind Arises in Changlin, if anyone is interested in reading. (She's also icon girly although she seems a bit blurry noooooo...) It's been over seven and a half years since, and you might think that wow, that's a long time to be remembering a character for, and well...you'd be right :). But also, genuinely, I think she's one of those characters I've now connected so deeply with it's like she's become 0.1% of my soul as well.

I also wanted to share here 10 quotes I love from her, so this is a little bit of a messy quote translation compilation from the novel/drama (also at the end of the ramble post).

1. 世人对医家最大的误解，莫过于我们是神仙。如果有救不回来的病人，那一定是因为没有尽力。

The biggest misconception the people of the world have about doctors is that we are gods. If there are patients we cannot save, it must be because we didn't try hard enough.

2. 我是医家，自小读的是医学宝典，想的是济世救人。至于世上为什么会有这样的事，我从来都想不明白。

I am a doctor; I've studied only the medical texts since I was little, and only thought about saving all the people I could. I've never understood why such things happen in the world.

3. 既然做不到安守内宅，以夫为天，又何必去负累他人呢。

Since I cannot reconcile with a future of only staying within the household and look up to my husband as the sky, why should I burden others as well?

4. 我是大夫啊，面对这种情况我不可以走！

I am a doctor; when faced with such a plight I cannot leave!

5. 人但凡有心，又岂能不伤呢。(drama only)

As long as humans have hearts, how could they not break.

6. 一个人能够承受的悲伤是有限的。

There is a limit to how much suffering an individual can take.

7. 我医家之心，只愿济世救人，不图身后虚名。

True doctors only wish to save as many patients as they can, and disregard fortune or fame after death.

8. 这世间最令人心折之处，不就在于人人不同而各有所长吗。

The most enchanting aspect of the mortal world is the fact that all people are different, yet they can excel in their various passions.

9. 我理解你的立场和做法，也从未想过改变你的念头。但我也没办法为了你彻底改变我自己。

I understand your perspective and your actions, and have never thought about changing your mind. But I also cannot completely change myself for you.

10. 我的心会永远等着你，可是我的脚步不能因为等你而停留。

My heart will forever await you, but my footsteps cannot pause in wait of you.

Love Letter from the Afterlife - Andrea Gibson

My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. So close you look past me when wondering where I am. It’s Ok. I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive? Ask me the altitude of heaven, and I will answer, “How tall are you?” In my back pocket is a love note with every word you wish you’d said. At night I sit ecstatic at the loom weaving forgiveness into our worldly regrets. All day I listen to the radio of your memories. Yes, I know every secret you thought too dark to tell me, and love you more for everything you feared might make me love you less. When you cry I guide your tears toward the garden of kisses I once planted on your cheek, so you know they are all perennials. Forgive me, for not being able to weep with you. One day you will understand. One day you will know why I read the poetry of your grief to those waiting to be born, and they are all the more excited. There is nothing I want for now that we are so close I open the curtain of your eyelids with my own smile every morning. I wish you could see the beauty your spirit is right now making of your pain, your deep seated fears playing musical chairs, laughing about how real they are not. My love, I want to sing it through the rafters of your bones, Dying is the opposite of leaving. I want to echo it through the corridor of your temples, I am more with you than I ever was before. Do you understand? It was me who beckoned the stranger who caught you in her arms when you forgot not to order for two at the coffee shop. It was me who was up all night gathering sunflowers into your chest the last day you feared you would never again wake up feeling lighthearted. I know it’s hard to believe, but I promise it’s the truth. I promise one day you will say it too– I can’t believe I ever thought I could lose you.

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"Royal Heart," by Andrea Gibson, of blessed memory

Andrea Gibson died yesterday of ovarian cancer. They were a great guiding light of spoken word, and their poem "Ashes" was a touchstone for me as a teenager. In their honor:

Watch on YouTube

( Transcript )

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Seven Seas gauging interest in baihe novels!

Seven Sea's July survey is gauging interest in The Beauty's Blade and asking what other baihe novels they should license!

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Seven Seas gauging interest in baihe novels

I just saw that the first question on Seven Seas' July survey is gauging interest in The Beauty's Blade and the second questions asks what other baihe novels they should license!

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Book review: "The Tyrant Baru Cormorant"

Today I finished the latest book in the Baru Cormorant series (fourth book remains to-be-released), The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. Y'all, Baru is so back.

! Spoilers for books 1 & 2 below !

If you've looked at other reviews for the series, you may have seen book 2, The Monster Baru Cormorant, referred to as the series' "sophomore slump." I disagree, but I understand where the feeling comes from. The Monster feels like a prelude, a setting of the board, for The Tyrant. The Monster puts all the pieces in place for the cascade of schemes and plays that come in The Tyrant. They almost feel like one book split into two (which is fair—taken together, they represent about a thousand pages and would make for one mammoth novel).

If you felt like Baru was too passive in The Monster and that there wasn't enough scheming going on, I can happily report those things are wholly rectified in The Tyrant. Having located the infamous and quasi-mythological Cancrioth at the end of The Monster, Baru wastes no time in whipping into full savant plotting mode.

( Read more... )

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post type: weekly: read-in-progress

Reas-in-Progress Wednesday

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>*

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Post-deadline pinch hit for Summer of Horror

Summer of Horror could use your help! We have one pinch hit left, due July 11 at 11:59 PM EDT or negotiable. Minimums are 500 words or a piece of original art (no manips), either digital or on unlined paper. For claiming and more details, go here.

PH 3 - FIC, ART - Psychonauts (Video Games), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry, Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry, Mortal Kombat (Video Games 1992-2020)

Thank you!

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Miss Forensics 我亲爱的法医小姐 Read Along: Chapters 21 to 30

The link to the novel on JJWXC can be found here.

You can also follow the novel through the audiobook on Himalaya, though there may be slight changes and ommissions from the original.

Discussion for Chapters 1-10 here.

Discussion for Chapters 11-20 here.

Rosmei orders and novel impressions

Some interest was expressed in a writeup of the Rosmei titles I've acquired over the last year, so I wrote up some of my impressions of their books, as well as my experience ordering from each of the two main North American distributors. On my personal site: https://durandal.blog/blog/rosmei/

I don't have comments set up on my blog so feel free to ask questions or discuss under this post. Feel free to suggest any relevant tags, as well.

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Subbed: 哑舍 Ya She (Silent House) full-cast audiobook ep 1

Watch on YouTube

(If subtitles don't automatically appear, please tap the CC button.)

You can read the translation transcript here and my translation notes here.

ABOUT:
哑舍 Ya She (Silent House) is modern-day fantasy novel by 玄色 Xuanse. It is about a magical antique shop and has a customer-of-the-week format.

A donghua adaptation came out last year, and a radio adaptation is currently airing on Missevan where chapters are broken into 10-minute segments. The audio adaptation has a full-cast format, so it's kind of like an audio drama with narration.

I haven't read the novel, but based on the audiobook version of this chapter, the donghua adaptation seems to diverge from the novel in terms of how it handles the cases. In the donghua, the bronze mirror case is the second case.

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This was a one-off translation project (mostly to show some donghua-novel differences) and I currently have no plans of continuing, but I'm open to feedback on translation / writing / grammar / subtitle timing etc! I have a tendency of trying to match the onscreen subtitles with what I'm hearing and I'm not sure it's readable that way.

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post type: weekly: discussion

Discussion Friday

Let's talk about comfort reads!

Do you have different preferences when you're not feeling well? Or perhaps when you're anxious/sad/angry/other negative emotions?

What sort of tropes/story beats/other things do you look for in your reading material during these times?