Kafuka on the Shore and Shrek on the Train

This week I finally got around to going to university by train. Also got around to admit that it isn't all that bad. I mean, of course I don't get any important work done on the train, no preparation or anything; but at least I have a lot of time to read. Although maybe Umibe no Kafuka by Haruki Murakami(apparently there is no English translation of it yet, so I don't know how that's going to be called) isn't a good book to read on the train; for once, because it is damn absorbing at times, and it's really difficult to be in Köln-Deutz station physically and in Takamatsu station mentally. Secondly, because people reading over my shoulders (and I know they exist, there's always someone trying to read over your shoulders) would be shocked how such a nice girl can read such bad and dirty stuff. Ehem.

I also learned that on early Tuesday mornings, everyone on the train, or at least in the wagon I was in, reads either fantasy books or the BILD (or its Turkish equivalent). I counted three BILD newspapers, two similar-looking Turkish newspapers; one copy of The Lord of the Rings (one-book German edition, new translation); two copies of The Dragonbone Chair; one copy of Artemis Fowl; one copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and one copy of The War of the Flowers (well, that was mine). Random statistical data.

Also, Umibe no Kafuka was sold to me as an "extraordinary romantic Bildungsroman". There is some romance in it; it sure also is a Bildungsroman; but mainly it is, or at least to my untrained eye, urban fantasy (that supposed to be the "extraordinary" part?). It's really, really good, though. Except when you fear people reading over your shoulder. Also, it makes you want to read the Genji Monogatari, the works of Franz Kafka and at least one book by Natsume Soseki.

In other news, kaneda's soon-to-be cat has got a role in Shrek 2 (which, by the way, is very much worth seeing). No, really. Look.

And: Greece won! Greece won! Yay!

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( Kafka am Strand und Shrek in der Bahn )

I'm probably the only person in all of Arda who cares for this, but.

Apparently, the Chinese have given up transcribing Tolkienish names. Hm. While that was always fun (Éomer = Yīǒumó; literally: Europe-paintbrush-hero *no comment*; Aragorn = Àlāguǒ ("Asia-ragged-country")) to decipher, it usually wasn't exactly... fitting. So now they just use romaji? That's probably a good idea. But of course, it steals a lot of the exotic touch. And it would have been fun to see how they'd have transcribed the Valar. Eheheh.

(They have not even transcribed "Mary Sue". How disappointing.)

(thanks to limyaael for the link, and congrats on having your story translated into Chinese!)

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( Vermutlich interessiert das nur mich, aber. )

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