~ Kommentary by Kritter ~

well, "lee" refers to the side of a ship protected from the wind. and "afterdeck" is a part of the ship towards the stern (or rear, i believe) of the ship. so it's basically a deck towards the back of the ship that is protected from the wind.

i think.

according to dictionary.com

lee is: The side away from the direction from which the wind blows

afterdeck is: The part of a ship's deck past amidships toward the stern.

(stern is the rear)

I hesitate to say I haven't gotten into the book yet. I'm hoping to get into it this weekend. I'm as up on nautical language as you though, but perhaps if there's a lot of skimming I'll get through it faster.

internet search info:
lee - the side sheltered from the wind
aft - behind or near the stern of the ship
afterdeck - a dect at or near or toward the stern of a ship

I wouldn't really enjoy reading a book that had many terms I didn't understand - I wouldn't want to take the time to look them up either. Anyway, good luck, I hope the book gets better.

As the above said. I read TI back in high school, I recall being completely lost, but not as much so as reading Last of the Mohicans.

Really? What was confusing about TLOTM? I haven't read it, but I wonder what the confusing lingo was.

the problem with TLOTM is that it's an 18th century text (unless i'm totally recalling wrong, in which case you'll have to forgive me). Books from that era are just hard. TI is comparable b/c it's early 19th century, I believe...even DICKENS is easier! :)

of course, you should try reading Moby Dick. It's VERY good...if you can get past all the whale blubber.

oops. open mouth, insert foot. TI is 1881. still 19th century, but not 'early' as i said. still, it's archaic. :)

Mohicans was published in 1826. I agree 19th century text can be challenging to read with or without confusing argot. And I have read a healthy amount of it. But it's easier than Shakespeare or Chaucer.

I must be strange in that I don't have a hard time reading Shakespeare. Don't think I have read Chaucer though.

chaucer and shakespeare i have no problems with. i guess it was my stupid 19th-century poetry capstone that ruined that literature for me. :)

Is a "main boom" the thing that Will was hanging on while Jack Sparrow was saying "I can let you drown"? It seems like it would be able to swing inboard... anyway that would be my guess.

I don't let the nautical terms bother me that much, I just translate it in my head as "The ship was under some stress," and that's all I really need to know.

LOL- exactly Kristi. And the main boom was about the only part I DID understand.

Wow, was I right about the main boom? Awesome. I am a nautical terms genius. Or... not. Hee hee.

Middle English is fairly easy to muddle through if you read enough of it and/or know some French/Latin/etc.

Shakespeare wrote in modern English and so I don't find the language as difficult as the archaic references.

I prefer annotated texts for both.

I've never gotten through an entire Dickens novel. I have read Moby Dick.

The writer I find difficult? That Faulkner dude. His novels, anyway. I enjoyed "A Rose for Miss Emily."

Christy - I agree with you. And Faulkner is difficult, but lots of fun. :) My personal favorite is "As I Lay Dying". I've read it twice. Then again, it's the only Faulkner I've read.

was Faulkner the one that wrote about that lady sleeping next to a dead corpse for years?

Jenny, yes...that's the story of "Rose/Miss Emily."

Oy! You read and liked that Christy? Sounds creapy. Will have to read some Faulkner sometime I suppose.

Kristen,

"As I lay Dying" is also about a dead woman...but it's about a family that's taking their dead wife/mother's body to where she wanted to be buried. Along the way, very strange things happen. The book has one of the coolest subplots that you'll never catch if you don't pay attention...and it's also got the coolest freakin' chapter:

"My mother is a fish."

A Rose for Emily is the only good thing Faulkner wrote IMHO.

You can pretty much pick a sentence at random from his novels and use it as a final exam for a class in diagramming sentences.

I've read, and enjoyed Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Tale of Two Cities.

Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener is quite good. I was unable to finish Moby Dick.

Victor Hugo's Les Miserables comes highly recommended. (From a historical perspective, his novel Ninety-Three is also fascinating. I'm having difficulty reading Toilers of the Sea, but it could be the translation.)

I'll try reading As I Lay Dying again; I never heard it described quite like that.

i finished TI!!!!!

Tell me the ending makes it all worth while. Nah- don't tell me anything. I am almost done as well.