What Are Your Favorite Books To Copy?

[ReacherCreature]

This is a nice idea, thanks. With your agreement I copy it ;-)

My goal is to one day copy out a foreign language book with the original language on the left side of the page and English on the right. Having said that, so far I've only managed it with Le Petit Prince, which is a book for children! If anyone knows some great Italian language children's / young adult books I can try next let me know! (I purchased an Andrea Camilleri for this purpose but my Italian is nowhere near good enough yet to translate the Sicilian dialect!)

 

Great idea! You improve your handwriting and learn cool stuff at the same time.

When I was in High School (30 years ago) and wanted to improve my handwriting, I would write out sections of the World Book Encyclopedia. These days I write out poems by Robert Frost, passages from the Bible and funny quotes. I also like quotes by artists.

 

I really enjoy this. I find it relaxing and a good way to improve my handwriting.

 

Songs are a cool idea, too! Thanks for sharing.

I tend to write song lyrics: quite often of song I know by heart. That way, I do not even have to look at source text but can focus on just writing the letter forms without much thought as to the content.

[tinta]

To test inks with my collection of nibs, I've taken to copying the Gospel of John from the King James version of the Bible.

For a little more challenge, now I'm copying the same Gospel from the 1590 translation into Magyar (Hungarian) by Karoly Gaspar.

Edited September 19, 2015 by tinta

[tinta]

I don't understand the concept here. Why do you copy another writer's work? Do you admire his style and wish to make yours more like his? (I 'm not being pejorative here; this is a perfectly legitimate thing to do.)

What you asked was not pejorative.

Copying another writer's work begs the question. Why?

 

My answer would be that copying what someone has already written completely frees you from having to think of anything original to write. You just write. It's like a form of meditation.

In my case, I just concentrate on the formation of my letters, the spelling, the punctuation, the accented vowels (if I write in Magyar), the construction of the language etc., ...

Edited September 19, 2015 by tinta

[dcwaites]

To test inks with my collection of nibs, I've taken to copying the Gospel of John from the King James version of the Bible.

For a little more challenge, now I'm copying the same Gospel from the 1590 translation into Magyar (Hungarian) by Karoly Gaspar.

 

What an interesting idea. For me, the equivalent would be the Prologue to the Canterbury tales --

 

 

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote

 

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote

 

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

 

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

 

Edited September 19, 2015 by dcwaites

[tinta]

 

What an interesting idea. For me, the equivalent would be the Prologue to the Canterbury tales --

 

 

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote

 

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote

 

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

 

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

 

This would sure keep you on your toes,...or more like on your nib.

[sharonspens]

In honor of Banned Books Week, starting next week (sept 27th, I think), perhaps copying a favorite section of one of those books would be meaningful.

 

Sharon in Indiana

[dcwaites]

This is a list of some of the books banned in the US, I think mostly at a local level.

 

This list, however, is some of the books banned in Australia by the Government.

 

William S Burroughs gets three entries, and Sir Richard Burton (the first one, not Mr Elizabeth Taylor) only gets two, and Thousand and One Nights is not included. Go figure...

Jackie Collins (RIP) also gets two nods.

 

Don't forget that Noddy has been banned.

 

 

PS,

Looking at this list I can see that some of the books already mentioned as favourites for copying, by me and others, like Canterbury Tales, Origin of Species and the Bible, are on the list.

Edited September 21, 2015 by dcwaites

[e-beth]

In honor of Banned Books Week, starting next week (sept 27th, I think), perhaps copying a favorite section of one of those books would be meaningful.

 

Sharon in Indiana

 

What a great idea!

[sharonspens]

This is a list of some of the books banned in the US, I think mostly at a local level.

 

This list, however, is some of the books banned in Australia by the Government.

 

William S Burroughs gets three entries, and Sir Richard Burton (the first one, not Mr Elizabeth Taylor) only gets two, and Thousand and One Nights is not included. Go figure...

Jackie Collins (RIP) also gets two nods.

 

Don't forget that Noddy has been banned.

 

 

PS,

Looking at this list I can see that some of the books already mentioned as favourites for copying, by me and others, like Canterbury Tales, Origin of Species and the Bible, are on the list.

Thank you for sharing this. There are some titles on the Australian list that give me pause to wonder.

[Alma]

German: Goethe, Brecht, Heine

Latin: Ovid, Seneca, Vulgata, Catullus

Greek: NT, Homer, Hesiod, Kallimachos

Englisch: Leo Babauta and his blog zen habits

[dcwaites]

Thank you for sharing this. There are some titles on the Australian list that give me pause to wonder.

Yes, one of the areas on the Aussie site says that "Twentieth-century Australia had the strictest censorship of any democratic nation." Not exactly something to be proud of.

[sharonspens]

Does it count if I copy recipes out of a cookbook?

[dcwaites]

Does it count if I copy recipes out of a cookbook?

 

Yes, but you then have to make the recipes and report on the results. We may then come around for dinner...

 

A family heirloom is a recipe book done by my mother, where she copied recipes out of various women's magazines, especially the Australian Women's Weekly. In fact, so many Australian women did the same that the Women's Weekly company published the most popular ones in a series of iconic cookbooks.

[sharonspens]

i have not copied my favorite recipes by hand, but i do have them organized into a document. I have made every one of them, and we have deemed them the best of the best, which is how they got into the book in the first place.

 

i love the idea of iconic Women's Weekly cookbooks being printed!

[Zookie]

While writing up a sermon, I copy a lot of Bible passages, but when copying something just for fun, I almost always go to the Martian series by E.R. Burroughs.

I like the way he used words.

[dcwaites]

While writing up a sermon, I copy a lot of Bible passages, but when copying something just for fun, I almost always go to the Martian series by E.R. Burroughs.

I like the way he used words.

 

That's why I like the last paragraph of Darwin's Origin of Species so much. After writing utter turgidity for a couple of years, he finally gets to the end where he can be a little fanciful and there is this little explosion of expressive prose. By this time he had mostly recovered from the death of his daughter and had reconciled himself to his faith.

[Venemo]

When I just want to practice handwriting, I usually just write down lyrics from one of my favourite songs. Usually I choose a song that I'm in the mood for. One that inspires me.

[CheriP]

Right now I'm copying Samuel R Delany's Dhalgren; I want to study how he crafted it, and it's a fun way to slow down and really think about language and structure.

 

Not sure if I'll actually finish it; it's a big book.

 

You know, painters often copy the greats when they're learning their craft!

[JoanOfSnark]

I don't know if I'd say I choose one book more often than others (my B.A. in English / Writing got me, if nothing else, an extensive supply of quotation material). I often make my own cards, and I therefore have amassed a collection of "card-appropriate" quotes in the process of practicing my handwriting.

[Studio97]

In the journals of Andre Gide, early 1900s, he noted the challenges and problems he experienced in trying to faithfully write in his journals, what he says still holds true today. I copied a few of his entries into my journal. 100+ years later the challenged have not changed.