Non-English Nonfiction

[vijayjohn]

I've been reading a bunch of works in Medieval Latin that I think are mostly nonfiction.

[Linguaphile]

I've been reading a bunch of works in Medieval Latin that I think are mostly nonfiction.

Any good titles to share? Or if you don't want to post the titles of what you're reading now, any good nonfiction titles you recommend in general?

A bunch of non-English nonfiction recently added to my collection, hopefully to start reading sometime in 2022:

In Spanish
Todo bajo control y nada resuelto Armando Carvallo Llanos (currently reading finished)
La isla de los ingenios Fernando García del Río
La memoria del Ararat Xavier Moret
Los reyes también lloran Jaime Peñafiel (postponed?)
Cuando los chinos hablan Ana Fuentes
Viaje al Mekong Javier Nart y Gorka Nart

In Estonian
Minu Ukraina Jaanika Merilo
Minu Poola Anna Tiido
Võta isiklikult Ene Hion
Meie taluelu Epp Petrone ja Väike Myy

Just thought I'd give an update. I've finished Todo bajo control y nada resuelto. I started on Los reyes también lloran and read the first 45 pages or so. The beginning was interesting because I know very little about Spanish royalty in general or Juan Carlos I specifically and learned some things from the first chapter and from googling for more background knowledge as I read it. But, it turns out that after that, a huge chunk of the book (an 82-page chapter in a 207-page book) is about his love life - love letters he wrote, romantic relationships, and so on. Seeing that I know little about him, that doesn't seem like such a great place to start so I'm going to hold off on that one. Maybe I'll still read it sometime, but it's not really what I was expecting (or wanted) of the book right now. I feel like the book description was a bit misleading in that regard, although in retrospect I think I also didn't take the title quite literally enough. (Or maybe, since I haven't actually read that full 82-page chapter yet, it's my description that's inaccurate, but based on the first part of that chapter and browsing through other parts, it seems that way.)
So I've just started Cuando los chinos hablan. I'm not very far into it, but it's interesting so far; a series of 10 chapters each about a different person's life in China.
The only thing I don't like about my reading situation is that I had intended to read a book (any book) in Spanish about a Spanish-speaking country (any Spanish-speaking country), and at the moment I'm not. I'm reading in Spanish about China. So maybe I'll go back to Una ventana a la historia as well.

[vijayjohn]

I've been reading a bunch of works in Medieval Latin that I think are mostly nonfiction.

Any good titles to share? Or if you don't want to post the titles of what you're reading now, any good nonfiction titles you recommend in general?

Oh, sorry, I just saw this part of your post!

Well, you see, I'm just reading samples of a bunch of them in a book called Medieval Latin. I think probably the most promising one I've read parts of so far is The Histories (Historiae) by Gregory of Tours.

The book begins with an introduction to the differences between Medieval Latin and Classical Latin. After that, it's divided into five parts, each with an introduction and roughly in chronological order. Each author's works are also preceded by an introduction to the author. Part One is the part I found most tiresome because most of the works there are essentially Christian religious literature, but what was even worse than the works themselves IMO was the introductory remarks regarding each author gushing about how using Latin for the novel purpose of writing Christian literature "liberated" the language etc.

[Linguaphile]

So because I've basically been all over the place with my reading lately, I've ended up starting a book that is not even on the list I posted two weeks ago: Mitme näo ja nimega by Einar Sanden, about Juhan Tuldava (the author of one of the best Estonian textbooks out there for English- or Swedish-speakers, but also a Soviet spy). It's interesting so far, but what is disappointing is that in the first 25 pages I've already found several typos (kuskööd for keskööd, arakordselt for erakordselt, nõrvatute for mõrvatute), which is really a pet peeve of mine when reading books in languages that aren't my native language, since I don't want to learn anything incorrectly. Plus, with each of those, I had to look them to make sure they really were typos rather than just some words I haven't learned (kuskööd wouldn't really make sense and arakordselt just looks weird to me, but nõrvatute seemed believable as some word I hadn't learned). There are quite a few other words in the book that I genuinely didn't know and had to look up, so mixing these typos in with them is frustrating. I'm hoping that doesn't continue too much throughout the book.

I've also been continuing to read Una ventana a la historia: relatos de la ciudad de México. It has short chapters that are all a bit different (one I read recently was told as if narrated by a building, along the lines of "Few buildings can brag on their resumes about having been an Imperial Palace, but I can.... And I'm the only one who has provided a roof over a royal birth, in one of my rooms!"), another narrated by a tree, another told by a ghost, etc., which keeps it interesting (a bit corny at times, but interesting) as each chapter is really different from the last.

[vijayjohn]

I'm reading this old Croatia Airlines in-flight magazine, specifically an article in it about the Neanderthal Museum that had just recently opened in Zagreb around the time I went there. God, I think I might hate the article even more than I hated the actual museum! It's supposed to be built on or near the site where some Neanderthal remains were found, but they never actually explain any of this at the museum itself. Instead, they waste time and resources on some stupid presentation about dinosaurs.

[Linguaphile]

I'm reading this old Croatia Airlines in-flight magazine, specifically an article in it about the Neanderthal Museum that had just recently opened in Zagreb around the time I went there. God, I think I might hate the article even more than I hated the actual museum! It's supposed to be built on or near the site where some Neanderthal remains were found, but they never actually explain any of this at the museum itself. Instead, they waste time and resources on some stupid presentation about dinosaurs.

But, think of all the kids who are so excited to see the presentation about dinosaurs!

[vijayjohn]

I'm reading this old Croatia Airlines in-flight magazine, specifically an article in it about the Neanderthal Museum that had just recently opened in Zagreb around the time I went there. God, I think I might hate the article even more than I hated the actual museum! It's supposed to be built on or near the site where some Neanderthal remains were found, but they never actually explain any of this at the museum itself. Instead, they waste time and resources on some stupid presentation about dinosaurs.

But, think of all the kids who are so excited to see the presentation about dinosaurs!

See, for kids, it makes at least some sense. Now explain to me why this is pushed so aggressively on foreign adults visiting Croatia.

[Linguaphile]

I'm reading this old Croatia Airlines in-flight magazine, specifically an article in it about the Neanderthal Museum that had just recently opened in Zagreb around the time I went there. God, I think I might hate the article even more than I hated the actual museum! It's supposed to be built on or near the site where some Neanderthal remains were found, but they never actually explain any of this at the museum itself. Instead, they waste time and resources on some stupid presentation about dinosaurs.

But, think of all the kids who are so excited to see the presentation about dinosaurs!

See, for kids, it makes at least some sense. Now explain to me why this is pushed so aggressively on foreign adults visiting Croatia.

Maybe the foreign adults have their kids with them when they visit?

[vijayjohn]

Foreigners in general seem to visit the coast and/or islands far more often than they visit Zagreb itself. I get the impression that this museum is part of the post-Yugoslav struggle to define national identity. What is the difference between these three countries that were the same country just decades ago and where most people speak roughly the same language? The answers people seem to be coming up with are that Bosniaks are Not Serbs and Not Croats because they supposedly have their ancient pyramids, and Croats are Not Bosniaks and Not Serbs because they have this Neanderthal museum.

Honestly, it all seems so silly when they have perfectly valid reasons for distinguishing themselves as different ethnicities without trying to prove that They Are The Oldest or whatever it is they're trying to prove.

[Linguaphile]

Recently finished:
Una ventana a la historia: relatos de la ciudad de México by Patricia Guerra Frese
Mitme näo ja nimega by Einar Sanden

Next up:
Cuandos los chinos hablan by Ana Fuentes
Minu Ukraina: lubaduste maa by Jaanika Merilo

Una ventana a la historia: relatos de la ciudad de México was, as I mentioned before, a series of very short chapters covering different aspects of the history of Mexico City told from various points of view. It was quite interesting, I've studied Mexican history quite a bit but not the history of Mexico City itself specifically (although a whole lot of Mexican history does center around Mexico City). The different points of view kept it interesting; some were pretty unique (not just stories told from the points of view of those who lived through the events or the events' protagonists, but also the points of view of buildings, trees, etc. that "saw" the events happen).

Mitme näo ja nimega was probably 70% or so taken from various newspaper articles, letters, reports, etc. (direct quotes, often three-four pages at a time). I felt like this made the book a bit disjointed, so like the other book that I just finished, this means it is told from different perspectives, but in this case the effect was kind of weird. Like there would be four pages written by Artur Haman aka Juhan Tuldava where he starts to seem like a fairly likable guy, and then next an article where someone else is accusing him of being responsible for someone's death. So it made the book a sort of slow-motion roller coaster that by the end I just wanted to get through.
But, having used a textbook that he wrote (and therefore trying to reconcile the "it's one of the best textbooks I've used" aspect with the accusations towards its author in this book throughout the whole thing), for me it had this rather funny moment: he's trying to get an English-language version of his textbook published (it wasn't even translated yet but he's looking for a publisher) and describes his conversation with someone at Nordic Press like this: "He spoke about the fact that he'd had bad experiences with linguists. Paul Saagpakk had compiled the first part of an English-Estonian dictionary and then left the work half finished, leaving the buyers disappointed." I guess that's not actually funny, but the thing is... I've used the textbook in question (it was eventually published in English, but not until many years later and not by Nordic Press) and Saagpakk's excellent Estonian-English dictionary (but there's no English-Estonian version, that was never published) and also ordered stuff from Nordic Press (but it's true that for the most part they don't publish language materials or even many books of any kind - mostly just periodicals as far as I know). So anyway I know a bit about all of the books and publishers he mentioned, and this "bad experiences with linguists" thing from behind the scenes just kind of made me giggle.

"Minu Ukraina" on ilmunud!
https://www.facebook.com/1194812675/pos ... 715747234/

Aaakknu, I am finally about to start reading this! I'll start it tomorrow.
How are things going for you, with the situation in Ukraine, and your health? Hope things are okay....

[vijayjohn]

I, on the other hand, have not finished anything I mentioned on this thread (except the Malayalam grammar book in Malayalam and The Diary of Anne Frank, which I mentioned as having already read). As I said elsewhere, the Croatian article turned out not to be so bad as it did explain some things about the museum that I find to be crucial information but was not revealed to me when I actually visited it, and the book in Portuguese on Brazilian political history has been a slog.

I often try to fake a Brazilian accent while reading it out loud. Sometimes, I try to read parts in a Portuguese accent, or once in each accent. I'm not sure I actually do a good job imitating either accent although at least the few Brazilians I've met in person are obliging enough to claim my pronunciation is good.

[Linguaphile]

Next up:
Minu Ukraina: lubaduste maa by Jaanika Merilo

Ughff, I had planned since the beginning of the year to start this book next, but reading it this week has been hard, although in a sort of I-can't-put-it-down way. I'm already on page 65, which is probably a record for me.
The author's mother is Estonian and her father is Ukrainian, so she was brought up in both places (usually living in Estonia and spending summers in Ukraine), and tells about Ukraine's history as it relates to her own life, starting from the 70's when her parents met.
I'm going to put some quotes that seem interesting and timely (timely now, although the quotes were written in reference to the Orange Revolution in 2004 and Maidan in 2013) :

Ukrainlastel on üks omadus, mida tihti alahinnatakse: uskumatu visadus protestida, kui nende kannatlikkuse mõõt ükskord täis saab. Oodatakse, vaadatakse, antakse veel paar võimalust ja viimaks öeldakse - aitab. Ühe tuntud analüüstiku teooria järgi on Ukraina vähemalt Euroopas ainuke maa, kus võidab alati opositsioon. Okei, ei õnnestunud, reboot. Proovime uuesti teistmoodi. Ei õnnestunud teistmoodi, proovime kolmandat moodi, ja seda kõike uskumatu visaduse ja järjekindlusega ning alla andmata.

► Show Spoiler

Ukrainians have one trait that is often underestimated: an unbelievable perseverance for protesting, when their patience has reached its limit. They wait, they watch, they give a couple more chances and then finally they say "enough". According to a well-known analyst's theory, Ukraine is at least in Europe the only country where opposition always wins. Okay, that didn't work out, reboot. Let's try again a different way. The different way didn't work out, let's try a third way, and all of that with unbelievable perseverance and consistency and without giving up.

Ukrainlased suudavat taluda paljut - elada korruptsiooniga, vaadates, kuidas rikastub niigi rikas eliit, taluda ebaõiglust ja ebavõrdsust. Aga vägivalda ei taluta. See oli punane joon, mille ületamine tähendus muutumise hetke kõigile. Tagasi minna polnud enam võimalik.

► Show Spoiler

Ukrainians are able to tolerate a lot - to live with corruption, watching how the already-rich elite gets richer, to tolerate injustice and inequality. But they do not tolerate violence. This was the red line, the crossing of which meant a moment of change for everyone. There was no going back.

[vijayjohn]

I have no idea what's going on in A Ditatudra Envergonhada, and it's a very long book, but it's at least an interesting read, especially because I have no clue about Brazilian history. It's also not that hard because it's in a Romance language, I've been studying Romance languages in depth for most of my life, and even English has been heavily influenced by Romance languages. By contrast, I've also been reading some seemingly very random short literary works in Mandarin Chinese intended for people learning the language but with no translations of anything, only transliterations for unfamiliar words. Some of these works are fictional; some are not. The last work I read was an essay about laughing. What they all have in common is that they're (for the most part) even more baffling to me and I have no idea why anyone would want to read (almost) any of them. Honestly, the entire Practical Chinese Reader series is rather odd, not to mention dated. I don't understand why my Chinese classes insisted on using them.

[Linguaphile]

Wow, it has been two months since I posted here! Time for an update:

A bunch of non-English nonfiction recently added to my collection, hopefully to start reading sometime in 2022:

In Spanish
Todo bajo control y nada resuelto Armando Carvallo Llanos finished
La isla de los ingenios Fernando García del Río
La memoria del Ararat Xavier Moret next up!
Los reyes también lloran Jaime Peñafiel postponed
Cuando los chinos hablan Ana Fuentes finished
Viaje al Mekong Javier Nart y Gorka Nart

In Estonian
Minu Ukraina Jaanika Merilo finished
Minu Poola Anna Tiido
Võta isiklikult Ene Hion currently reading
Meie taluelu Epp Petrone ja Väike Myy
Mitme näo ja nimega Einar Sanden finished

Recently finished:
Minu Ukraina Jaanika Merilo
Cuando los chinos hablan Ana Fuentes

Currently reading:
Võta isiklikult Ene Hion

I'm not currently reading anything in Spanish right now; in fact I came back to this thread to see the list I'd posted of books I'd intended to read, to remind myself of what I'd planned and let that help me find my next one. (And I guess, that's also why I'm posting this here rather than in the "What are you currently reading" thread, but anyway they're all non-English nonfiction, so this thread is as good a place as any.) So after looking over that list just now, I think maybe I'll read La memoria del Ararat by Xavier Moret next. I had actually forgotten about that one, and if I read it now I will have a bit of a theme: Võta isiklikult is primarily about Georgia, La memoria del Ararat is primary about Armenia, I might as well stick to a Caucasus theme in both languages. Actually, the part I read most recently in Võta isiklikult was talking about the Armenians in Georgia and that's what made La memoria del Ararat jump out at me just now as a good one to read next.

Maybe if the TAC thread gets broadened to include any type of blog/log, I'll move my book "log" over there, since most of my language study recently has come from my reading these books. I guess I could say it is sort of a TAC anyway, my goal being to finish the books on the list (but I keep changing the list though , or at least I've added one book that wasn't originally on the list, mentally added a few more, and I've crossed off one that I probably won't read). And naturally, when I get close to finishing these, I'll add a bunch more.