Outlaws of the Marsh | 
so-soAlright, lots of great stories but I can't get past the rotten morality.
The book kills nameless low ranked soldiers, massacre victims, family members of antagonists, etc., in the 100's of thousands.
War is gruesome, not something for mighty heroes to treat like a game. Ordinary people are not cannon fodder for the designated 'heroes' to kill while the text to slides past their deaths as if they don't matter.
‘This Chinese equivalent of the English classic ‘Robin Hood and His Merry Men‘ is an epic tale of rebellion against tyranny, developed from folktales about the real life rebel Song Jiang who led a peasant uprising in the early twelfth century.‘
#LetsTravelJuly #water
pickI finished my #reading1001 annual read! The Water Margin is one of the 4 traditional classics of China. It is repetitive, but the story reflects the Confucian idea of The Mandate of Heaven for government. According to the intro, which I am glad I read both before and after the book itself. The outlaws/bandits/heroes are honest men cheated or set up by those with more power, and they flee to Liangshan Marsh to continue their honest ways. ⬇️
I didn't read much of this book for months, but recently I've been trying to make progress. I'm to chapter 42 of 100 or 40% through the novel, and this weekend I read volumes 9 & 10 of the graphic novelization. I'm getting tired of people trying to kill Jiang Song and then becoming fast friends as soon as they learn his name. It's mostly an endless cycle of violence and drinking, but I'm pretty committed to finishing at this point.
#1001books
Lovely outdoor afternoon reading with Eleanor! I‘m catching up a bit on my long read of Outlaws of the Marsh with Volumes 5 & 6 of the graphic novelization to stay close to my progress in the novel to chapter 22. This story is getting more violent all the time.
#1001books #Reading1001
I'm not quite where I hoped to be by this time in the year, but I have finished 15 chapters of this classic Chinese novel and 3 volumes of the graphic novel version. The graphic novel was a good review since it had been a while since I picked it up and all those characters get a bit confusing.
#1001books #Reading1001
I'm really enjoying reading a few chapters of this classic Chinese novel and then pairing it with the graphic novel version. It's fun to have visuals to go with all of the names, and I especially like the addition of the maps. I've read through chapter 11 of the novel and finished Volume 2 of the graphic novels.
#1001books #Hoopla
It‘s the end of January and I am finally starting a group yearlong read. And there are 44 pages of front matter, aye yi yi, I‘m on page 11 of that! #1001books #reading1001
This year I‘m participating in a long read of the classic Chinese novel that has been translated as Outlaws of the Marsh and The Water Margin. I‘m using these 3 versions. The top right is my main read on kindle, but I can also get the ebook version below from the library for comparison. I also plan to read the graphic novel retellings. Last night I read Volume 1, which matches chapters 1-5 of the kindle version.
#1001books #Reading1001 #Hoopla
Picked up my yearlong group read (tagged), and 3 freebies from the giveaway carts. The German one is for my husband, I can‘t even tell if it‘s fiction or nonfiction 🤣 and it might be way over his reading level. I jeep@picking books up, I really need to finish something!! #1001books #libraryhaul
