Markon (Ardene) dips her toe in the ocean of translation

Setting up a thread to track my reading in translation. Or maybe it's my reading from countries where English isn't the first language spoken. Will add books as I complete them.

This thread contains links to comments. It may contain titles written in English by people who grew up speaking languages other than English. It may also contain genre fiction that was translated into English.

Countries listed alphabeticallly
A-E

Brazil

1. Complete stories by Clarice Lispector (begun in 2021)

Countries listed alphabeticallly
F-K

France

1. Leo Africanus by Amin Malouf (read 2021, comments here); not sure where to put this one: the author was born in Lebanon, has lived in France since the 1970s, and the book is a fictionalized account of a man who was born in Grenada, grew up in North Africa, lived in Egypt, and was an advisor to two popes. Translated from French, so here it goes.


2. Murder on the Brittany Shores by Jean-Luc Bannalec (read 2021)

Ghana

1. Tail of the blue bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes, comments here (read 2021)

Countries listed alphabetically
L-Q

Malaysia

1. The girl and the ghost by Hanna Alkaf, juvenile fiction, (read 2021, comments here)

Mexico

1. Yearning for the sea by Esther Seligson (read 2021, comments here, Penelope's perspective on Ulysses return)

Countries listed alphabetically
R-Z

Sweden

1. And every morning the way home gets longer and longer by Frederick Backman (read 2021)

Uganda

1. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (read 2021, comments here)

Vietnam

1. The mountains sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai (read 2021)

Zimbabwe

1. The theory of flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (read 2021)

Yay, you've started one too! I think it's going to be interesting. Are you planning to go back in time at all? I'm wondering if I should only consider those I've read since joining LT (2008), rather than all time.

Yes, I don't read a lot of translated fiction, but enough I've decided it would be fun to keep track. I'm not going to go back in time because I don't want to go back through my lists :)

Plus, I am really intrigued by Paul Cranswick's 2022 Reading Asia challenge. I have some books I've picked out that look interesting. We'll see how long I can keep up.

I like how you are adding a link to comments. That's a great idea.

I'm interested in the Asia challenge too. I have two books picked out for January, but that's as far as I've gotten. Even that is planning ahead for me!

Ghana: Tail of the blue bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a poetic mystery set in Ghana. It's really a book about the conflict between moderniity and traditional life. Comments are here.

Ack! I can't remember my PIN for ticker counter! I swear I recoreded it in my password manager, but it's not there now. I don't have the energy to recreate tonight.

>11 markon:

What the heck is 'ticket counter'?

>11 markon: Oh no!

#12,
Not sure, but I think it counts the number of visits to a Web Site.

ETA. Grammar

>12 librorumamans: The ticker counters are the two bars in her first post that measure how many books she's read and how many countries she's visited out of her goal number.

>15 labfs39: What she said. 'Fraid I'll have to set up a new set and record the PIN this time. I think I'm at 9 countries and 10 books for 2021.

>15 labfs39:

Ah — 'ticker', not 'ticket'. Thanks!

Indigenous literature: Noting here for future reference that the January 2022 Author Cat challenge is to read indigenous authors, and there is the beginnings of a suggestion list here.

Also noting the Living Nations, Living Words anthology and the online resource created by Joy Harjo and hosted by the Library of Congress in the US that goes with it.

Paul Cranswell's Reading Asia Challenge 2022
Providing links to the main thread and monthly threads so I can refresh my reading list.
January (Turkey)
February (the Holy Land)
March (Arab world)
April (Persia)
May (the 'Stans)
June (Indian subcontinent)
July (China)
August (Japan)
Septemeber ()
October ()
November ()
December ()

It's been a minute since I visited. Here are two translated novels I read recently, plus a third which was written simultaneously in two languages.


A single swallow by Ling Zhang translated from Chinese by Shelly Bryant
Japanese occupation of China/ civil war novel set in China. Comments here.


The readers' room by Antoine Laurain, translated from French by Emily Boyce, Jane Aitkin and Polly Mackintosh
A mystery told from an odd angle. Comments here.


Memory of water by Emmi Itäranta, written simultaneously in Finnish and English
dystopian science fiction, comments here.

The summer book by Tove Jansson was a quick read on a plane ride. It was entertaining and made me laugh out loud in spots, although it's not a funny book overall. Also gave me a small flavor of living on an island off the coast.

>21 markon: I loved that one.