For those who might want to read "The Story of Stone", Penguin Classics and translated by David Hawkes, by Cao Xueqin, I am reading it now.

Other titles it has been called are:

"The Passionate Monk's Tale"
"A Mirror for the Romantic"
"A Dream of Red Mansions" [The common name]
"Twelve Young Ladies of Jinling"

In the beginning there is a discussion of "spelling," which is really a discussion of pronunciation. I found it interesting that the only initial consonants likely to give an English speaker much trouble are: j q x and zh ch sh. Of course it's hard to know what they mean when you can't hear the pronunciations.

The history behind the book is quite interesting.

I've asked my Chinese friend to sign up and participate in this, but she's a busy lady with a small son so I doubt she will.

And for a refreshing read you might enjoy Ernest Bramah (if you haven't met him already) - starting with The Wallet if Kai Lung. Eighty years old by now, old enough to be in the public domain and therefore available online, and guaranteed to make you smile if you'll let yourself...

It looks good, Hab.

How do people here read? Do you read one book at a time, or do you read several at once? I often find myself in several books, and somehow I don't think that's the way to do it.