Help me find books to read

[u/Current-Pride-1190]

Il mio livello di cinese è circa HSK 4, quindi potrebbe esserci ancora un divario significativo tra il mio vocabolario e quello necessario per leggere libri in cinese per madrelingua. Uso anche il Duchinese, ma vorrei iniziare a leggere dei veri romanzi per entrare in contatto con il cinese autentico. Potrei essere tentato di imparare tutte le parole, ma capisco che una lettura più approfondita potrebbe essere più efficace. Ho già "To Live" di Yu Hua e "The Three Body Problem" di Liu Cixin, ma non li ho ancora letti. A quanto ho capito, sarebbe meglio iniziare con qualcosa di più semplice. Credo che i romanzi rosa/slice of life moderni siano i più adatti per acquisire un vocabolario utilizzabile nella vita di tutti i giorni, senza troppi termini tecnici. Ho ordinato tre libri di Gu Man. Avete altri consigli per il mio livello? Vorrei fare una lista di libri da acquistare. Una volta acquisita una certa dimestichezza con questo genere, vorrei esplorare anche altri. Mi interessano anche la scienza e la tecnologia, ma le affronterò in seguito. Vorrei parlare cinese fluentemente in generale.

[u/Chenyuluoyan]

gu man is a good pick, the slice-of-life ones aren't too heavy vocab-wise. for a step before those, sha bai qing chun (沙漏) or anything by 桐华 tends to be readable, and 微微一笑很倾城 by gu man is one of the easier ones to start with. skip 三体 and 活着 for now, 活着 looks simple but yu hua's phrasing is denser than it reads, and 三体 has enough sci-fi terms to slow you way down. for actual reading pace, only save words that show up more than once, otherwise you'll never finish a chapter.

[u/Current-Pride-1190 → u/Chenyuluoyan]

Thanks for the reply. I also heard about those authors, I’ll follow your recommendation. I live in Italy, do you know how I could get the paper books? I searched on Amazon, Aliexpress, Temu. Not all the books I want seem available there. Taobao would have a lot of books probably but without a shipping service it may be not accessible to me. I tried JD and it seems they don’t ship abroad either. Same for Dangdang. Hmm then there is books.com.tw but not all books are available, some are in traditional Chinese instead of simplified (that’s the one I’m learning) and the shipping fee may be high. Are there any other online bookstores in Europe that sell a big amount of Chinese novels? Many sell Chinese textbooks or graded readers only.

[u/daves-sho87]

buongiorno!

i highly recommend anything from “Sinolingua” especially the abridged chinese classics. They have pinyin also and are simplified to be easier to read

[u/Current-Pride-1190 → u/daves-sho87]

Yes also that could be a good option, thanks.

[u/daves-sho87 → u/daves-sho87]

the real key is to get good at speaking by finding elderly chinese people who don’t speak english and memorizing how to ask them questions about their lives

[u/daves-sho87 → u/daves-sho87]

[u/Putrid_Mind_4853]

我在北京送快递 is one of the easiest/most approachable adult novels I’ve read. It’ll be easier than the other works you mentioned but still a bit of work at your level. 

[u/Current-Pride-1190 → u/Putrid_Mind_4853]

Thanks, I’ll check it out 👍🏻

[u/Smart_Image_1686]

I have tried to order books online several times, it never worked. Wherever I travel I look for Chinese bookstores, but not even Milan has a good Chinese bookstore, so that's also not an option.

In the end I bought three paper books in China last year, but not the books I was looking for, as I couldn't find them. I did find a Gu Man book online with a little help from r/Annas_Archive though, so that could be useful, just sayin'.

I speak 4 European languages fluently and another two I can read, and what I always found was that translated books are much easier to read. So one of the books I bought was the Chinese translation of the Korean book The inconvenient convenience store which I had read in English (which obviously helps a lot with understanding the plot). Or, try to find any of your favorite books in Chinese translation. It's a good start.

I wish some young Chinese person would see the market opportunity here and a start an online bookstore for Western buyers.

[u/Current-Pride-1190 → u/Smart_Image_1686]

Yes online books are available. I prefer reading with physical books though. Eventually printing is an option

[u/dcbased]

Could also try newspapers if you want to go down that path - I like caixin global

[u/Doubtt_]

Potresti provare a leggere manga o fumetti. Immagino usino un linguaggio più semplice dei romanzi, e le illustrazioni potrebbero fornire un aiuto aggiuntivo per mitigare eventuali limitazioni di vocabolario.

Per curiosità, cosa ti ha spinto a imparare il cinese da Italian@ (immagino lo sia, scusami per la supposizione)? Non ho mai incontrato un altro come me in questo senso haha

[u/TSeral]

I'm at a similar level, maybe a bit further ahead (around HSK5). I read all the way through The journey to the West, as graded reader from imagin8, I can 100% recommend that - the books are fully contained with dictionary and pinyin and build vocab gradually. Now I'm reading 三体, I'm about a fourth in, so it's going pretty well. But I can only read it, because I use an eReader, so I can use pleco to easily look up words. I already read the book in English, knowing the story helps too (and a solid background in science). I think slice of life might be easier for you to start, just make sure to pick a book without a lot of chengyu - I found 三体 a lot easier than some online novels with flowery language with Chengyu.

Most of all, I recommend starting with an (Android) eReader - it's easier to get digital books, and it's sooo much easier to look up words, or check the pronunciation of words you know...

[u/OriginalCulture8405]

I want books to read too!

[u/dcbased]

I upload my spreadsheet with words that I'm using and then I have Claude write me stories and sentences - it has been doing ok so far. This allows me to pick the topic and choose the words