Click here helixsleep.com/emmie for up to $200 off your Helix Sleep mattress plus two free pillows! So happy that I’m finally getting a good sleep again :’)
~books mentioned~ 3:47 Devil on the cross (KENYA) 5:33 Untold night and day (SOUTH KOREA) 7:18 The ice palace (NORWAY) 8:57 The book of disquiet (PORTUGUESE) 10:42 Things fall apart (NIGERIA) 12:34 Frankenstein in Baghdad 16:02 Confessions of a mask (JAPAN) 17:15 If on a winters night a traveler (ITALY) 18:33 Hurricane season (MEXICO) 20:40 One of us is sleeping (DENMARK) 22:23 Of love and other stories (COLOMBIA) 23:48 Season of migration to the north (SUDAN) 25:33 Kallocain (SWEDEN) 27:34 The break (CANADA) 29:02 Ball lightning (CHINA)
Another great Portuguese writer, José Saramago, his book 'Blindness' about a blindness pandemic that hits a city except for one person, one of the best I've ever read.
Some Vietnamese Literature recommendations (translated): 1. The Song of Kieu - Nguyen Du. 2. Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong. 3. Ca Dao Viet Nam - Vietnamese Folk Poetry. These are classics, but not contemporary.
I'm from Poland and there is this one book I always recommend to everyone - Madame by Antoni Libera. its a greatly loved modern classic and one of the most beautiful books you'll ever read I promise. Has been translated into english of course. One of those books that just straight up transports you into a whole different world.
OMG OMG!!!! My favorite booktuber reading Frankenstein In Baghdad!!!! Im way tooo happy to see you reading and loving our literature!!! I'd recommend to you The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon, it's so iraqi and SO WELL-WRITTEN! Also i hope you dive more into the arabic literature because we have really good poetry/novels! So much love to you from Baghdad, Iraq! 🇮🇶
I’m so glad you decided to pick up Pessoa! I think you’ll love the book of disquiet and I really recommend his poetry too. He was a man of multiple personalities and to see how he changes his poetry depending on which personality he uses is amazing. The only book he ever published in life was a collection of poems for a national contest named message (I didn’t like it that much, too nationalist for me, which makes sense because it was written in the beginnings of a military dictatorship). The thing with Pessoa is that sometimes he used to write more than 50 poems a night, so if there’s something you’re feeling, Fernando Pessoa or one of his other names has a poem for it.
@@CanalPanendithas he wrote in a letter to his closest friend that he had a condition that made him be those pseudonyms, he didn’t just create them, they were like real people, they had names, back stories and even birth charts. It is rumoured and investigators say that he most likely had multiple personality disorder, but it’s understandable that he wasn’t officially diagnosed with it because it was the beginning of the 20th century.
Hi! Did you ever read Machado de Assis? He’s the biggest Brazilian author that existed and everything he did was incredible, gonna blow your mind! Xo from Brazil
Here's my recommendation for a Finnish author to read: Tove Jansson. She was a queer author that created the Moomins. My favourite Moomin book is Moominpappa at Sea. They are children's stories yet they have a deeper philosophical message in them.
I agree, Tove Jansson is one of the Finland's finest. I'd also recommend Sculptor's Daughter and The Summer Book by her. Some other Finnish masterpieces I think you might enjoy: 1. The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna (1954) : This is a classic that every Finn reads in high school. It follows Finnish soldiers during the Second World War in a war against the Soviet Union (known as the Continuation War). Väinö Linna - a veteran of the said war - really shows the raw emotions: fear, friendship and misery. It's a classic that keeps raising conversation about the absurdity of the concept of war. 2. Under the North Star, also by Väinö Linna (1960) : Another massive classic. This is a trilogy that follows the family of Koskela from 1890's all the way to the 1950's. It covers everything from the tragedy of the Civil War (1918) to the Second World War. It describes the polarisation between the nationalists and socialists as well as the shift from an agrarian society to an industrialised one. The themes of political terror and radicalisation really resonate with the time we are living. This trilogy changed me. 3. Crossing, Pajtim Statovci (2016): The second book of an internationally acclaimed Finnish writer, Pajtim Statovci. This is a capturing story about identity, exile and search of home. 4. Purge by Sofi Oksanen (2007): The Purge is an overwhelming story about two women. It takes place in Estonia, then occupied by the Soviet Union. The heavy story includes themes such as sexual violence, resistance, love and betrayal. 5. Emmi Itäranta has written all her three novels both in English and in Finnish. Fascinating, dystopian storylines describe our world after the crisis called the climate change.
Definitely, I agree, Moomin books are so deep yet conforting yet depressing yet cozy. My personally favorite has to be Moominland Midwinter and Moominvalley in November.
Some modern greek classics recommendations: The Murderess by Alexandros papadiamantis,Cavafy's poetry,Zorba the Greek and Christ Recrucified by Kazantzakis
I would love to see books from Finland!! My favorite was the Moomin series. It's a children's series that my brother and I grew up with, and still reread a few of them at least once a year. It's such a wholesome series.
Some of my favourite books from my country, Spain: - Abel Sánchez, by Miguel de Unamuno - Nada, by Carmen Laforet - La voz dormida, by Dulce Chacón - Los Girasoles Ciegos, by Alberto Méndez Sorry for not translating the titles, I really don't know what their translation would be. I don't think i should tell you what these books are about, since what made me love them so much was that uncertainty of what they were going to tell me, so I'll just say that the first one is kind of a re-telling of the Cain and Abel story and the other three cover the topic or are set during the Spanish post-war period.
I would recommend that you have a look at the Serbian classic literature. I know that there are translations od Ivo Andrić's books, since he won a literature Nobel prize in 1961. Also, you may find some of our satirical comedies which are amazing. Danilo Kiš is one more writer that I know had been translated and I would wholeheartedly recommend his works, too.
Hi! I'm from Hungary and I highly recommend the Fatelessness by Imre Kertész or Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. These are classics. Love your videos❤
I just wanted to recommend Journey by Moonlight, I am also from Hungary, and it is one of my favourite books of all time! It is so magical, and beautiful and poetic. I am quite convinced that you would love it Emma :)
I love it when you read the first line of books! please keep doing that 🙇 Usually it's what convinces me to pick up a book or not. Either way, loved the video 😪❣️ and the mattress looks so comfy hahaha
My heart skipped a beat when you said One Hundred Years of Solitude is your favorite book🥺 As a Colombian, it feels so good when others know and appreciate Gabriel García Márquez because he put us on the map for something positive instead of negative 🤎
Reading a book from every country is such a cool idea! I haven't really seen other booktubers give international books this much focus. Also your little yellow octopus is adorable :)
I'm from Argentina🇦🇷. Cortázar is a very popular author here, i only have read "cronopios and famas", which is a weird but interesting book. There's another called "Rayuela" wich is his most famous book. I loved the video💙
In case you are interested in Austrian literature, I can highly recommend Stefan Zweig's short stories. His most famous is "Chess Story/ The Royal Gam" but my personal favourite is "Letter from an unknown woman". I can also recommend Ödon von Horváth's "The Age of the Fish". (I'm not sure whether that is the actual English title, there were several options online but to be on the safe side the german title is "Jugend ohne Gott".
It's great to see a BookTuber talk about international fiction, even if we have different tastes. I find the further I get away from my English Lit degree, the less patience I have for lofty literature.
My grandpa recently gave me a copy of "The world of Sophie". Its a Norwegian book about philosophy and about how Sophie is trying to live in a world through the eyes of a philospher. Have a nice day! :)
I wish there is more north African novels, if you ever decide to pick one, I recommend "what the day owes the night" by Yasmina Khadra (from Algeria) ❤
Love this! You should read Jorge Amado 🇧🇷 I specially love "Sea of Death" by him, but "Captains of the Sands" and "Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon" are also incredible ❤
A book from the Philippines: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not in English). It was written by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, while he was in prison. I remember seeing it on your bookshelf tour. Please do read it soon. 😊
For Portuguese literature I would recommend you to read: "The Crime of Father Amaro" by Eça de Queirós "Short Stories" by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen "Poems" by Florbela Espanca or Natália Correia Any book by José Luís Peixoto "Racismo no país do brancos costumes" (I don't know if some of them are translated😢)
here is some Belgian books that I think u might enjoy - The sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus - It melts by Lize Spit - Thirty days by Annelies Verbeke - Monte Carlo by Peter Terrin - War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans - Thankfully we're helpless by Ivo Victoria - I, Hollywood by Jan Van Loy - Une très petite surface by Nicolas Ancion - Speechless by Tom Lanoye - Le boulevard Périphérique by Henry Bauchau - Tokyo fiancée by Amélie Nothomb
@@annaberg7328 personally, i could highly recommend -,,the doll" by Bolesław Prus -,,quo vadis'' and ,,trilogy" by Henryk Sienkiewicz -,,solaris" by Lem, if you like sci fi -and if you're interested in history and WWII you should read ,, A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising" by Bialoszewski ,,This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Borowski and ,,Medallions" by Nałkowska
@@suivezlesquais I read them last year and they are such a good recommendation. The two novels are very different but somehow they leave a similar feeling when you finish them.
I read "Of Love And Other Demons" last year. Marquez's writing is stunning- there's a very lazy elegance about it which really paints a portrait of a slow-moving, laid-back lifestyle in Latin America. The story is quite disturbing though, which ends up creating an interesting juxtaposition between the writing and the actual story. Definitely a very interesting read! Recommendation- For German literature, you could read books by Hans Fallada. He was writing at that pivotal moment in German history when the Nazi Party was gradually gaining power in the 30s, and his stories are about the everyday life of the common people at the time, and how the political and economic changes affected them. His book "Little Man, What Now?" is a great place to start!
@@emmiereads That book means so much to me, it's the portuguese soul and literature in a book. Fernando Pessoa was a fenomenal writer, as he was a marvelous thinker. He had enomerous heteronimes, different characters that he created and personlified himself as. If you are interested you should read somenthing about him!! He was also a poet, an incredible poet.
Vietnamese does not have many books that were translated into English (except for Vietnamese American that write in English), but there are a few: The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh), Ticket to Childhood, I see green flowers in green grasses (Nguyen Nhat Anh), Dumb Luck (Vu Trong Phung), The Song of Kieu (Nguyen Du), When the Light is Out (Ngo Tat To),...
If anyone is interested in Turkish literature I want to mention some of my favorite ones. -The museum of innocence by Orhan Pamuk. The museum that is mentioned in the book is located in istanbul, so you can visit it with the ticket inside of the book. -The Evil Inside Us by Sabahattin Ali -Serenade for Nadia by Livaneli -Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali (this one is a must read) -Snow by Orhan Pamuk These are great books to understand the current political issues and to get to know the culture of the turks. Let me know if you have read one of those! ❣️
some Persian/ Iranian literature recommendation for you -The Shahnameh by Abolqasem Ferdowsi -The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat(1936) -My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad (1973) -The little black fish by Samad Behrangi (1968) -Savushun by Simin Daneshvar (1969)
Hurricane Season is such an incredible book! Fernanda Melchor has become one of my favorite contemporary mexican writers! The book feels very real and crude as it reflects the life on some mexican towns and cities. You'll definitely like the book!
I'm not 100 % sure how easily available these translations are but here are some of my recommendations for Croatian literature! Some books I absolutely adore are The Cyclops by Ranko Marinković and the short story collection Croatian God Mars by Miroslav Krleža. Krleža also has more existential novels like The Return of Philip Latinovicz but that didn't really click with me. Another book I personally am not a fan of, but can see why a lot of people love is The Goldsmith's Treasure by August Šenoa. I'm not really sure, but I also think there is some translated poetry from the poetess Vesna Parun, who I simply adore!
I loooove your videos, especially your reading vlogs. I'm from Peru and recommend Mario Vargas Llosa and Jose Maria Arguedas. I love when you read anything from Latinamerica :). You are definitely motivating me to read more from other countries.
I got sooooo exited when you read 100 years. I had to read it for school and I don't think I've ever seen another book tuber read that book. Def one of my favorites as well. Im obsessed with all the classics you read. I can never really get into other book tubers because of all the ya or contemporary they read. I really looove your channel
you don't understand how excited i got when i saw that you picked a book from my country, italy ! i've only recently started to watch your videos but i already love them so much because of your voice and overall aura, which are really calming to me 🥺 hope you enjoy calvino
For Wales I would recommend The Assembly of the Severed Head by Hugh Lupton - it's a re-telling/fictional account of how the Welsh epic The Mabinogion was first written down, rather than passed on orally, so you learn a lot about Welsh mythology and history but it also has amazing descriptions of the coast and mountains of North Wales :)
This is great, I really want to read more from different countries, and finding recommendations for that on youtube is really hard! Can't wait for another episode! I love that you're reading The Ice Palace, I can also recommend Sophie's world by Jostein Gaarder another Norwegian author.
For Romanian literature I highly recommend Forest of the Hanged by Liviu Rebreanu, which is a psychological novel based on the war experiences of the author's brother, as well as Mihai Eminescu's Poetry, as he is coined the last great Romantic writer in Europe! Loved the video!
So glad you picked Pessoa's book of disquiet! He is a super complex and interesting author, who wrote with many different personalities and publishing names, and I hope that this book is going to make you want to know more about him :) (Also, i really recommend the Maias as well, its a XIXth century satire / romance about the higher classes in Lisbon)
I’ve only just found your booktube! And can I saw you’re now my favourite!! We have very similar tastes! Must be due to the fact that we both have degrees in English Literature. I was taught not only theory, but the classics, like Shakespeare (Henry V is my all time favourite play), troubadours, Italian Renaissance lit, the romantic poets, pre-raphaelites, old English texts, modernism/ post modernism (ngl Virginia Woolf is my Queen) pastoral poetry etc. Then on the other side I learnt about postcolonial literature, especially in relation to First Nations people, and the struggles they face to tell their stories and overcome systematic colonial racist rhetoric. And it wasn’t just novels. It was poetry, but poetry that had to be performed orally, as in many First Nations countries (mine included - I’m Māori) we don’t write our stories down. We speak. We perform. As to write First Nations voices history and stories it can potentially bring about the death of traditional storytelling and cultural practises. Sorry for the rambling, but I love your channel so much!! Not to mention I’m a massive Murakami fan! Kafka on the Shore is one of my old time favourites. 1Q84 is a close second. That book is phenomenal!! I know you get tonnes of recommendations, but if you ever want to branch out at read more First Nations literature read ‘The Whale Rider’ by Witi Ihimaera, and ‘The Bone People’ by Keri Hulme (she actually won the man booker prize for this). And last, but certainly not least ‘Once were Warriors’ by Alan Duff. I know I’m being biased as this concerns Māori living in postcolonial NZ, and I just so happen to be Māori. It’s confronting, haunting, but it’s beautiful. I think you’d like it. And another personal favourite, which I’m sure you’ve heard of, is Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird’s poetry anthology ‘Reinventing the Enemies Language.’ The poetry in that anthology is so raw, homely, but most importantly powerful. The poetry created by a plethora of Native Indigenous Women is just so beautiful. And one last thing. Anything by Herman Hesse! Sorry for the long post. But if you do manage to read any of my suggestions, please let me know whether you liked them or now. And once again thank you for your booktube content. It’s so refreshing! Honestly, you’re doing an amazing job. And I can’t wait to watch more of your videos. Happy reading! 🥰🥰
Ooooh! And I forgot The Illuminaries by Eleanor Catton. It’s set in NZ and it’s huge! It’s taken me several attempts to engross myself in this book, so it’s not for everyone. After all, she won a man booker prize for it ahaha. But the writing is beautiful. I could go on and on, if I’m being honest with you. I also have a lot of Indigenous Australian poetry that I think you’d might write interested in too. So if you’d like more New Zealand and Australian First Nations recommendations hit me up! 🥰🥰
Another one of the most popular italian books is "The Late Mattia Pascal" by Luigi Pirandello, which is about a man who dies twice. One of the best book of the entire Italian culture. Greate channel🇮🇹
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak (Turkey), This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Indonesia), Americanah by by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) and Woman at Point Zerol by Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt). Love them!
I'm so happy to see my country on your list. I hope you read more of Colombian authors. I read Things Fall Apart last year and it was an amazing book and I did not see that ending coming!
Thanks for another lovely video. Chinua Achebe's work is fantastic. His long essay about Conrad's Heart of Darkness is worth a read too. If you've not read it. A couple of suggestions from me - Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, which you might have already read. And Chingiz Aitmatov's Jamilia (which is a Kyrgyz book.)
I loved Three body problem! This is amazing idea to read books from every country in the world and i will definitely join. Your choices are so close to my taste so thank you!
Really love the way you express your love for reading and books😍. Also I love watching your videos and I found it very interesting how the books you love are on my reading list ..very similar taste . I'm Happy your channel exists.
For Australia there is The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (not set in Australia but a good book) The Secret River - Kate Grenville Tell Me Why - Archie Roach (it’s a memoir of an indigenous Australian but very powerful and it made me cry) Carpentaria - Alexis Wright. There are some books from my country that I believe are difficult to grasp for people who are neither Australian or indigenous. Carpentaria is one of them but it is a stunning novel so I’ll recommend it :)
The Book of Disquiet is one of my favorites books. That is a beautiful edition you have there! It is really not reflections on Lisbon or on celebrating life there as you mentioned. If you go into it thinking that, you will be disappointed. It is a book of reflection and introspection and is very philosophical and quiet depressing at times. When i first read it years ago I read it beginning to end but now I just keep it on my nightstand and read a vignette or two randomly. There are a lot of underlinable passages . I hope you enjoy it. Another author I recommend for Portugal is Jose Saramago. If you have not yet read any of his works, I recommend Blindness to start off .
Things Fall Apart and If on a Winter’s Night are just incredible. Frankenstein in Baghdad sounds conceptually really interesting - it’s is being added to my to read pile right.
From the netherlands you should read: The darkroom of Damocles - Willem Frederik Hermans The dinner - Herman Koch Dear mr. M - Herman Koch Falling is like flying - Manon Uphoff The diary of a young girl - Anne Frank
This is the first time I see a booktuber talk about a Colombian book other than 100 years of solitude and that makes me so happy !! I love your channel sm !! Chronicle of a death foretold by García Marquez is amazing too. Another really good Colombian book is El olvido que seremos by Hector Abad Faciolince, I think it's called Oblivion, a memoir in English. The author also did an interview with the BBC Book Club in English, is very insightful about his life and how it connects directly with the book.
Some suggestions from Brazil: Quarto de Despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus. It's the diary of a woman living in one of the biggest brazilian slums at the time and her reflections about poverty, hunger and motherhood. She writes with such strenght and vulnerability at the same time that it made me tear up more than once. Suicidas by Raphael Montes. It's a thriller about a group of friends who decided to play russian rollette and the investigation that follows. We see the effect of this on their mothers and get a first hand account through the notes left by one of them, a aspiring writer. The ending is mind blowing, I swear.
i would suggest 'The White Shroud' by Antanas Škėma, a Lithuanian author. It's inspired by Joyce's 'Ulysses' and has beautiful streams of consciousness. It is about a Lithuanian poet who flees the country to get away from the war and goes to America and works as a lift operator there. If you would like, I could translate my essay on the 'The White Shroud' and 'Ulysses' I wrote for my national exam a few years ago (still proud of it) :)
I don't know if you have read any of Fredrik Backman's books, but he is one of my favourite authors from Sweden! The book "And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer" is my favourite of his (:
Really enjoying your 'reading around the world' focus. Getting so many new ideas for books I'd like to read! I live in DR Congo (but am from the UK) and, while it's easy to find famous writing about the country from outsiders' perspectives (e.g. Heart of Darkness and the Poisonwood Bible), I've found it a real challenge to find books written by Congolese authors, especially translated to English. I read Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofani which was suuuuper hard-hitting but brilliant. The challenge to find books from here has definitely made me realise how many countries actually don't have much literature written by their citizens available to read elsewhere in the world. Seeking them out matters. I love that you're doing this and encouraging others to, too :)
Confessions of a Mask is the first Mishima I’ve read, and it’s a good starter, I guess? It’s a weird mix of dull prose and unnecessary conflict with weird sexual fantasies. The sailor who fell from grace is a more traditional novel, but Confessions is accessible enough to start with. Don’t get scared tho.
Boye is the perfect pick for Swedish literature. If you’d like to read more I’d recommend Vilhelm Moberg (The Emigrants specifically), Elin Wägner, Selma Lagerlöf, Astrid Lindgren and of course Fredrick Backman for contemporary!
I would like you to read Kuwaiti literature! Here are some recs : 1-mama hessa’s mice by saud alsanousi 2-the bamboo stalk by saud alsanousi 3-all that I want to forget by bothayna alessa 4-the mariner by taleb alrefai 5-the old woman and the river by ismail Fahd ismail
I read Things Fall Apart back in January and really enjoyed it and hope to read the rest of the trilogy 😊 and I also read Frankenstein in Baghdad in March , I read it in Arabic and it was amazing 📚 Italo Calvino’s writing is whimsical and weird and I think it is not for everybody and Oh Marquez is one of my favorite authors ; I read 6 books by him and they are all 5 stars. I have the Season of Immigration to the north in Arabic and it is on my TBR for the spring maybe I’ll pick it up next ( I remember we learnt about this book in school- they included excerpts from it in our Arabic language curriculum in 7th grade - and since then I was excited to read it but for some reason I still hadn’t picked it up🤷♀️). Have you read any books by Nagib Mahfouz? He’s from Egypt. And I would recommend “the rock of Tanios by Ameen Maalouf” this is a brilliant book 🥰
Click here helixsleep.com/emmie for up to $200 off your Helix Sleep mattress plus two free pillows! So happy that I’m finally getting a good sleep again :’)
~books mentioned~
3:47 Devil on the cross (KENYA)
5:33 Untold night and day (SOUTH KOREA)
7:18 The ice palace (NORWAY)
8:57 The book of disquiet (PORTUGUESE)
10:42 Things fall apart (NIGERIA)
12:34 Frankenstein in Baghdad
16:02 Confessions of a mask (JAPAN)
17:15 If on a winters night a traveler (ITALY)
18:33 Hurricane season (MEXICO)
20:40 One of us is sleeping (DENMARK)
22:23 Of love and other stories (COLOMBIA)
23:48 Season of migration to the north (SUDAN)
25:33 Kallocain (SWEDEN)
27:34 The break (CANADA)
29:02 Ball lightning (CHINA)
thank you!
thank youuu
Franckshtain in Baghdad (Iraq)
Thank you
Another great Portuguese writer, José Saramago, his book 'Blindness' about a blindness pandemic that hits a city except for one person, one of the best I've ever read.
let's face it, her god tier deadpan sense of humor just hits different
yes 🙌🏽
"So finally my mattress size matches my occupation" YASS QUEEEENN!!!👑
i died
Some Vietnamese Literature recommendations (translated):
1. The Song of Kieu - Nguyen Du.
2. Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong.
3. Ca Dao Viet Nam - Vietnamese Folk Poetry.
These are classics, but not contemporary.
Could you recommend some modern prose??
I'm from Poland and there is this one book I always recommend to everyone - Madame by Antoni Libera. its a greatly loved modern classic and one of the most beautiful books you'll ever read I promise. Has been translated into english of course. One of those books that just straight up transports you into a whole different world.
Thank you for sharing! I really want to read some Polish literature this year
Super haha, pierwszy raz widzę kogoś z Polski na tym kanale
@@OpheliaVert you can try Olga Tokarczuk's books! She recently won a Nobel Prize in Literature
Don't forget Cyberiad!
OMG OMG!!!! My favorite booktuber reading Frankenstein In Baghdad!!!! Im way tooo happy to see you reading and loving our literature!!! I'd recommend to you The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon, it's so iraqi and SO WELL-WRITTEN!
Also i hope you dive more into the arabic literature because we have really good poetry/novels!
So much love to you from Baghdad, Iraq! 🇮🇶
This is a fantastic book haul! Love the different countries featured
I’m so glad you decided to pick up Pessoa! I think you’ll love the book of disquiet and I really recommend his poetry too. He was a man of multiple personalities and to see how he changes his poetry depending on which personality he uses is amazing. The only book he ever published in life was a collection of poems for a national contest named message (I didn’t like it that much, too nationalist for me, which makes sense because it was written in the beginnings of a military dictatorship). The thing with Pessoa is that sometimes he used to write more than 50 poems a night, so if there’s something you’re feeling, Fernando Pessoa or one of his other names has a poem for it.
He didn't have multiple personalities though, he just wrote under many different pseudonyms
@@CanalPanendithas he wrote in a letter to his closest friend that he had a condition that made him be those pseudonyms, he didn’t just create them, they were like real people, they had names, back stories and even birth charts. It is rumoured and investigators say that he most likely had multiple personality disorder, but it’s understandable that he wasn’t officially diagnosed with it because it was the beginning of the 20th century.
Thank you sooo much Emma and everyon commenting their country's classics I was craving foreign literature!
Hi! Did you ever read Machado de Assis? He’s the biggest Brazilian author that existed and everything he did was incredible, gonna blow your mind! Xo from Brazil
yessss, I wanna know her opinion about this book too 🇧🇷
Especially "epitaph of a small Winner" is the best of their books to me 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
in her video about classic books she talked about "the alienalist"
ela tem os livros do machado sim 💖
Ela tem "Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas" e "O Alienista e outros contos". Tô morrendo de vontade de ver o que ela vai achar do Machadão! hahahah
Here's my recommendation for a Finnish author to read: Tove Jansson. She was a queer author that created the Moomins. My favourite Moomin book is Moominpappa at Sea. They are children's stories yet they have a deeper philosophical message in them.
Yes! The Moomin Books are some of the best children books I know tbh
I agree, Tove Jansson is one of the Finland's finest. I'd also recommend Sculptor's Daughter and The Summer Book by her.
Some other Finnish masterpieces I think you might enjoy:
1. The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna (1954) : This is a classic that every Finn reads in high school. It follows Finnish soldiers during the Second World War in a war against the Soviet Union (known as the Continuation War). Väinö Linna - a veteran of the said war - really shows the raw emotions: fear, friendship and misery. It's a classic that keeps raising conversation about the absurdity of the concept of war.
2. Under the North Star, also by Väinö Linna (1960) : Another massive classic. This is a trilogy that follows the family of Koskela from 1890's all the way to the 1950's. It covers everything from the tragedy of the Civil War (1918) to the Second World War. It describes the polarisation between the nationalists and socialists as well as the shift from an agrarian society to an industrialised one. The themes of political terror and radicalisation really resonate with the time we are living. This trilogy changed me.
3. Crossing, Pajtim Statovci (2016): The second book of an internationally acclaimed Finnish writer, Pajtim Statovci. This is a capturing story about identity, exile and search of home.
4. Purge by Sofi Oksanen (2007): The Purge is an overwhelming story about two women. It takes place in Estonia, then occupied by the Soviet Union. The heavy story includes themes such as sexual violence, resistance, love and betrayal.
5. Emmi Itäranta has written all her three novels both in English and in Finnish. Fascinating, dystopian storylines describe our world after the crisis called the climate change.
Definitely, I agree, Moomin books are so deep yet conforting yet depressing yet cozy. My personally favorite has to be Moominland Midwinter and Moominvalley in November.
thank you for this suggestion I'm actually going to buy it!! :)
Some modern greek classics recommendations: The Murderess by Alexandros papadiamantis,Cavafy's poetry,Zorba the Greek and Christ Recrucified by Kazantzakis
I would love to see books from Finland!! My favorite was the Moomin series. It's a children's series that my brother and I grew up with, and still reread a few of them at least once a year. It's such a wholesome series.
you have no idea of how happy I am to see The Book of Disquiet here 🥺💚
Some of my favourite books from my country, Spain:
- Abel Sánchez, by Miguel de Unamuno
- Nada, by Carmen Laforet
- La voz dormida, by Dulce Chacón
- Los Girasoles Ciegos, by Alberto Méndez
Sorry for not translating the titles, I really don't know what their translation would be. I don't think i should tell you what these books are about, since what made me love them so much was that uncertainty of what they were going to tell me, so I'll just say that the first one is kind of a re-telling of the Cain and Abel story and the other three cover the topic or are set during the Spanish post-war period.
OMG i just loooove Abel Sánchez so much
I would recommend that you have a look at the Serbian classic literature. I know that there are translations od Ivo Andrić's books, since he won a literature Nobel prize in 1961. Also, you may find some of our satirical comedies which are amazing. Danilo Kiš is one more writer that I know had been translated and I would wholeheartedly recommend his works, too.
Hi! I'm from Hungary and I highly recommend the Fatelessness by Imre Kertész or Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb. These are classics. Love your videos❤
thank you so much for the recommendations!!!
Thank you for sharing Lidia!! I will definitely pick them up.
Journey by moonlight is magical, I adore it so much!
@@milom5030 I have ordered it!! Thank you for the recommendation:)
I just wanted to recommend Journey by Moonlight, I am also from Hungary, and it is one of my favourite books of all time! It is so magical, and beautiful and poetic. I am quite convinced that you would love it Emma :)
I love it when you read the first line of books! please keep doing that 🙇 Usually it's what convinces me to pick up a book or not.
Either way, loved the video 😪❣️ and the mattress looks so comfy hahaha
i'm so happy you talked about saramago and fernando pessoa - portuguese writers are so underrated. you're going to loveeeee them emmie.
“ Of love and other demons” is a slow but beautiful disturbing story. Such a light but obscure book . I really liked it.
My heart skipped a beat when you said One Hundred Years of Solitude is your favorite book🥺 As a Colombian, it feels so good when others know and appreciate Gabriel García Márquez because he put us on the map for something positive instead of negative 🤎
Reading a book from every country is such a cool idea! I haven't really seen other booktubers give international books this much focus. Also your little yellow octopus is adorable :)
I'm from Argentina🇦🇷. Cortázar is a very popular author here, i only have read "cronopios and famas", which is a weird but interesting book. There's another called "Rayuela" wich is his most famous book. I loved the video💙
Rayuela is the best book ive ever read
In case you are interested in Austrian literature, I can highly recommend Stefan Zweig's short stories. His most famous is "Chess Story/ The Royal Gam" but my personal favourite is "Letter from an unknown woman". I can also recommend Ödon von Horváth's "The Age of the Fish". (I'm not sure whether that is the actual English title, there were several options online but to be on the safe side the german title is "Jugend ohne Gott".
It's great to see a BookTuber talk about international fiction, even if we have different tastes. I find the further I get away from my English Lit degree, the less patience I have for lofty literature.
My grandpa recently gave me a copy of "The world of Sophie". Its a Norwegian book about philosophy and about how Sophie is trying to live in a world through the eyes of a philospher. Have a nice day! :)
I wish there is more north African novels, if you ever decide to pick one, I recommend "what the day owes the night" by Yasmina Khadra (from Algeria) ❤
This is an old comment but I would definitely be checking this book out. The title itself has caught my attention and I am intrigued. Thank you.
I would love to here ur review after you read it, enjoy ^^!
Love this! You should read Jorge Amado 🇧🇷 I specially love "Sea of Death" by him, but "Captains of the Sands" and "Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon" are also incredible ❤
A book from the Philippines: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not in English).
It was written by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, while he was in prison. I remember seeing it on your bookshelf tour. Please do read it soon. 😊
For Portuguese literature I would recommend you to read:
"The Crime of Father Amaro" by Eça de Queirós
"Short Stories" by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
"Poems" by Florbela Espanca or Natália Correia
Any book by José Luís Peixoto
"Racismo no país do brancos costumes"
(I don't know if some of them are translated😢)
Sophia de Mello's poems are also 😍😍😍
The crime of father amado is EVERYTHING
Wow, this selection is actually *chef's kiss*
here is some Belgian books that I think u might enjoy
- The sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus
- It melts by Lize Spit
- Thirty days by Annelies Verbeke
- Monte Carlo by Peter Terrin
- War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans
- Thankfully we're helpless by Ivo Victoria
- I, Hollywood by Jan Van Loy
- Une très petite surface by Nicolas Ancion
- Speechless by Tom Lanoye
- Le boulevard Périphérique by Henry Bauchau
- Tokyo fiancée by Amélie Nothomb
dang i live in belgium and i’ve never read these, i need to get my shit together 💀
The breath of fresh air of diverse literature is here again to keep me going
I really want to see someone on booktube reading polish literature. This is my dream.
Can you recommend any?
@@annaberg7328 personally, i could highly recommend
-,,the doll" by Bolesław Prus
-,,quo vadis'' and ,,trilogy" by Henryk Sienkiewicz
-,,solaris" by Lem, if you like sci fi
-and if you're interested in history and WWII you should read ,, A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising" by Bialoszewski ,,This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Borowski and ,,Medallions" by Nałkowska
Olga Tokarczuk. Definitely😊 You could start from 'Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead', and 'Flights'. Recommend it with all my heart
I'll be checking out those recs.
@@suivezlesquais I read them last year and they are such a good recommendation. The two novels are very different but somehow they leave a similar feeling when you finish them.
I read "Of Love And Other Demons" last year. Marquez's writing is stunning- there's a very lazy elegance about it which really paints a portrait of a slow-moving, laid-back lifestyle in Latin America. The story is quite disturbing though, which ends up creating an interesting juxtaposition between the writing and the actual story. Definitely a very interesting read!
Recommendation- For German literature, you could read books by Hans Fallada. He was writing at that pivotal moment in German history when the Nazi Party was gradually gaining power in the 30s, and his stories are about the everyday life of the common people at the time, and how the political and economic changes affected them. His book "Little Man, What Now?" is a great place to start!
Fernando Pessoa. 🙏🏻♥️🇵🇹🇵🇹😘
SO EXCITED for the Book of Disquiet ah!!
@@emmiereads my favorite. 🥰
@@emmiereads That book means so much to me, it's the portuguese soul and literature in a book. Fernando Pessoa was a fenomenal writer, as he was a marvelous thinker. He had enomerous heteronimes, different characters that he created and personlified himself as. If you are interested you should read somenthing about him!! He was also a poet, an incredible poet.
@@emmiereads ah, another traditional portuguese author is José Saramago, search for it!
Vietnamese does not have many books that were translated into English (except for Vietnamese American that write in English), but there are a few: The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh), Ticket to Childhood, I see green flowers in green grasses (Nguyen Nhat Anh), Dumb Luck (Vu Trong Phung), The Song of Kieu (Nguyen Du), When the Light is Out (Ngo Tat To),...
If anyone is interested in Turkish literature I want to mention some of my favorite ones.
-The museum of innocence by Orhan Pamuk. The museum that is mentioned in the book is located in istanbul, so you can visit it with the ticket inside of the book.
-The Evil Inside Us by Sabahattin Ali
-Serenade for Nadia by Livaneli
-Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali (this one is a must read)
-Snow by Orhan Pamuk
These are great books to understand the current political issues and to get to know the culture of the turks. Let me know if you have read one of those! ❣️
Snow is one my fave books of the year so far, definitely see Pamuk becoming a new favourite author! Thank you so much for this list
You are the master of authors names! I have the hardest time sounding out and pronouncing names
some Persian/ Iranian literature recommendation for you
-The Shahnameh by Abolqasem Ferdowsi
-The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat(1936)
-My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad (1973)
-The little black fish by Samad Behrangi (1968)
-Savushun by Simin Daneshvar (1969)
I loved this! so refreshing to watch a video about books that aren't just popular and western. Thank you for sharing!
You will love Calvino 🇮🇹 I highly recommend to read his most famous work “The Path to the Nest of Spiders” which is also my favourite one 🥰
Hurricane Season is such an incredible book! Fernanda Melchor has become one of my favorite contemporary mexican writers! The book feels very real and crude as it reflects the life on some mexican towns and cities. You'll definitely like the book!
❤️❤️❤️
I'm not 100 % sure how easily available these translations are but here are some of my recommendations for Croatian literature!
Some books I absolutely adore are The Cyclops by Ranko Marinković and the short story collection Croatian God Mars by Miroslav Krleža. Krleža also has more existential novels like The Return of Philip Latinovicz but that didn't really click with me. Another book I personally am not a fan of, but can see why a lot of people love is The Goldsmith's Treasure by August Šenoa. I'm not really sure, but I also think there is some translated poetry from the poetess Vesna Parun, who I simply adore!
I strongly recommend the book “Captains of the sands” by Jorge Amado, it’s my favorite Brazilian classic ❤️
Wow great recommendation!! A true classic
i love it when ppl read the first sentence of a book in their vids!
CONGRATULATIONS ON 70K, EMMA!!! I FEEL LIKE A PROUD MOM. Been here before you got to 5K. You deserve it all. 💖💖💖
I loooove your videos, especially your reading vlogs. I'm from Peru and recommend Mario Vargas Llosa and Jose Maria Arguedas. I love when you read anything from Latinamerica :). You are definitely motivating me to read more from other countries.
I got sooooo exited when you read 100 years. I had to read it for school and I don't think I've ever seen another book tuber read that book. Def one of my favorites as well. Im obsessed with all the classics you read. I can never really get into other book tubers because of all the ya or contemporary they read. I really looove your channel
you don't understand how excited i got when i saw that you picked a book from my country, italy ! i've only recently started to watch your videos but i already love them so much because of your voice and overall aura, which are really calming to me 🥺 hope you enjoy calvino
Your voice is very soothing. It feels good to hear you speak especially about books during these depressing times.
For Wales I would recommend The Assembly of the Severed Head by Hugh Lupton - it's a re-telling/fictional account of how the Welsh epic The Mabinogion was first written down, rather than passed on orally, so you learn a lot about Welsh mythology and history but it also has amazing descriptions of the coast and mountains of North Wales :)
This is great, I really want to read more from different countries, and finding recommendations for that on youtube is really hard! Can't wait for another episode! I love that you're reading The Ice Palace, I can also recommend Sophie's world by Jostein Gaarder another Norwegian author.
For Romanian literature I highly recommend Forest of the Hanged by Liviu Rebreanu, which is a psychological novel based on the war experiences of the author's brother, as well as Mihai Eminescu's Poetry, as he is coined the last great Romantic writer in Europe! Loved the video!
Great recommendations!
I have read Forest of the Hanged last year and it was one of the most interesting books i read that year
So glad you picked Pessoa's book of disquiet! He is a super complex and interesting author, who wrote with many different personalities and publishing names, and I hope that this book is going to make you want to know more about him :)
(Also, i really recommend the Maias as well, its a XIXth century satire / romance about the higher classes in Lisbon)
I’ve only just found your booktube! And can I saw you’re now my favourite!! We have very similar tastes! Must be due to the fact that we both have degrees in English Literature. I was taught not only theory, but the classics, like Shakespeare (Henry V is my all time favourite play), troubadours, Italian Renaissance lit, the romantic poets, pre-raphaelites, old English texts, modernism/ post modernism (ngl Virginia Woolf is my Queen) pastoral poetry etc. Then on the other side I learnt about postcolonial literature, especially in relation to First Nations people, and the struggles they face to tell their stories and overcome systematic colonial racist rhetoric. And it wasn’t just novels. It was poetry, but poetry that had to be performed orally, as in many First Nations countries (mine included - I’m Māori) we don’t write our stories down. We speak. We perform. As to write First Nations voices history and stories it can potentially bring about the death of traditional storytelling and cultural practises.
Sorry for the rambling, but I love your channel so much!! Not to mention I’m a massive Murakami fan! Kafka on the Shore is one of my old time favourites. 1Q84 is a close second. That book is phenomenal!!
I know you get tonnes of recommendations, but if you ever want to branch out at read more First Nations literature read ‘The Whale Rider’ by Witi Ihimaera, and ‘The Bone People’ by Keri Hulme (she actually won the man booker prize for this). And last, but certainly not least ‘Once were Warriors’ by Alan Duff. I know I’m being biased as this concerns Māori living in postcolonial NZ, and I just so happen to be Māori. It’s confronting, haunting, but it’s beautiful. I think you’d like it.
And another personal favourite, which I’m sure you’ve heard of, is Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird’s poetry anthology ‘Reinventing the Enemies Language.’ The poetry in that anthology is so raw, homely, but most importantly powerful. The poetry created by a plethora of Native Indigenous Women is just so beautiful.
And one last thing. Anything by Herman Hesse!
Sorry for the long post. But if you do manage to read any of my suggestions, please let me know whether you liked them or now. And once again thank you for your booktube content. It’s so refreshing! Honestly, you’re doing an amazing job. And I can’t wait to watch more of your videos. Happy reading! 🥰🥰
Ooooh! And I forgot The Illuminaries by Eleanor Catton. It’s set in NZ and it’s huge! It’s taken me several attempts to engross myself in this book, so it’s not for everyone. After all, she won a man booker prize for it ahaha. But the writing is beautiful. I could go on and on, if I’m being honest with you. I also have a lot of Indigenous Australian poetry that I think you’d might write interested in too. So if you’d like more New Zealand and Australian First Nations recommendations hit me up! 🥰🥰
Me alegra mucho que leas a García Márquez. Es mi escritor favorito después de Sakespeare.
I really like you chanel.
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller is on my tbr!! It's so interesting, the concept. So excited to read it
One of my favorite books of all time! So worth it. Calvino feels so modern.
@@EmiZViolet omgggg i'm now adding this on top of my tbr!
Another one of the most popular italian books is "The Late Mattia Pascal" by Luigi Pirandello, which is about a man who dies twice. One of the best book of the entire Italian culture. Greate channel🇮🇹
the shadow of the wind it's an AMAZING book from Spain !!
One of my all time faves! :)
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak (Turkey), This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Indonesia), Americanah by by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) and Woman at Point Zerol by Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt). Love them!
Elif Şafak-yessss! 🙂
The Bastard of Istanbul - exceptional!
@@suivezlesquais Got that in my TBR for so long but haven't read it yet.Gonna read that soon!
@@jessicahuwae5772 I think you wouldn't be disapponted:)
dude she has the most chill voice
If you’re ever looking for more Swedish books, I recommend the author Maria Gripe. She’s my favorite! I especially recommend Agnes Cecilia!
The book of disquiet is one of my favourite books of all time 🥺❤️
Omg the cover of The Ice Palace is STUNNING 😍
your voice is so soothing. I watch your videos when I have a headache. such a calm yet playful channel to come to when ur feeling down
I'm so happy to see my country on your list. I hope you read more of Colombian authors.
I read Things Fall Apart last year and it was an amazing book and I did not see that ending coming!
The ice palace's cover is stunning, gotta appreciate nice cover when there are books with shirtless men on the cover that exist
Thanks for another lovely video. Chinua Achebe's work is fantastic. His long essay about Conrad's Heart of Darkness is worth a read too. If you've not read it. A couple of suggestions from me - Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, which you might have already read. And Chingiz Aitmatov's Jamilia (which is a Kyrgyz book.)
I loved Three body problem! This is amazing idea to read books from every country in the world and i will definitely join. Your choices are so close to my taste so thank you!
lol brb gotta go spam my goodreads now
Really love the way you express your love for reading and books😍.
Also I love watching your videos and I found it very interesting how the books you love are on my reading list ..very similar taste . I'm Happy your channel exists.
For Australia there is
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (not set in Australia but a good book)
The Secret River - Kate Grenville
Tell Me Why - Archie Roach (it’s a memoir of an indigenous Australian but very powerful and it made me cry)
Carpentaria - Alexis Wright. There are some books from my country that I believe are difficult to grasp for people who are neither Australian or indigenous. Carpentaria is one of them but it is a stunning novel so I’ll recommend it :)
i could listen to emma read all day
The Book of Disquiet is one of my favorites books. That is a beautiful edition you have there! It is really not reflections on Lisbon or on celebrating life there as you mentioned. If you go into it thinking that, you will be disappointed. It is a book of reflection and introspection and is very philosophical and quiet depressing at times. When i first read it years ago I read it beginning to end but now I just keep it on my nightstand and read a vignette or two randomly. There are a lot of underlinable passages . I hope you enjoy it.
Another author I recommend for Portugal is Jose Saramago. If you have not yet read any of his works, I recommend Blindness to start off .
Yeeeees! Someone is giving Kallocain some well deserved attention. I love it so much! One of my favourites! :)
The Free Besieged. Epic poem by Dionysios Solomos (Greece).
I loved how your nails matched the colour of the cover of Devil on the Cross
I’m so happy you loved Frankenstein in Baghdad! I’ve added the audiobook to my list 🥰
I’m so shuffed to see Karin Boye on here! 😀 The cover to Kallocain is a painting by the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint
For argentinian literature you should definitely read: Silvina Ocampo, Leila Guerriero and Samantha Schweblin
I LOVE the diversity of literature you read. I think I've never seen someone whose reading list is as diverse as yours.
Things Fall Apart and If on a Winter’s Night are just incredible. Frankenstein in Baghdad sounds conceptually really interesting - it’s is being added to my to read pile right.
learning English with the best RUclips videos.❤
From the netherlands you should read:
The darkroom of Damocles - Willem Frederik Hermans
The dinner - Herman Koch
Dear mr. M - Herman Koch
Falling is like flying - Manon Uphoff
The diary of a young girl - Anne Frank
ooh i've recently been super interested in If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. i can't wait to hear your thoughts on it✨🌻
same here, it's on my tbr and i've heard great things about it
This is the first time I see a booktuber talk about a Colombian book other than 100 years of solitude and that makes me so happy !! I love your channel sm !! Chronicle of a death foretold by García Marquez is amazing too. Another really good Colombian book is El olvido que seremos by Hector Abad Faciolince, I think it's called Oblivion, a memoir in English. The author also did an interview with the BBC Book Club in English, is very insightful about his life and how it connects directly with the book.
Yes! 💛 Pessoa 💛 I hope you'll love it - it's one of my favorite books and he is my favourite writer/poet for sure.
The book of disquiet is such an amazing book ever... So stunning! You must read this one as soon as possible hun 🤩
Some suggestions from Brazil:
Quarto de Despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus. It's the diary of a woman living in one of the biggest brazilian slums at the time and her reflections about poverty, hunger and motherhood. She writes with such strenght and vulnerability at the same time that it made me tear up more than once.
Suicidas by Raphael Montes. It's a thriller about a group of friends who decided to play russian rollette and the investigation that follows. We see the effect of this on their mothers and get a first hand account through the notes left by one of them, a aspiring writer. The ending is mind blowing, I swear.
i would suggest 'The White Shroud' by Antanas Škėma, a Lithuanian author. It's inspired by Joyce's 'Ulysses' and has beautiful streams of consciousness. It is about a Lithuanian poet who flees the country to get away from the war and goes to America and works as a lift operator there. If you would like, I could translate my essay on the 'The White Shroud' and 'Ulysses' I wrote for my national exam a few years ago (still proud of it) :)
It‘s on my tbr and I am so so excited to read it!
I don't know if you have read any of Fredrik Backman's books, but he is one of my favourite authors from Sweden! The book "And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer" is my favourite of his (:
Really enjoying your 'reading around the world' focus. Getting so many new ideas for books I'd like to read! I live in DR Congo (but am from the UK) and, while it's easy to find famous writing about the country from outsiders' perspectives (e.g. Heart of Darkness and the Poisonwood Bible), I've found it a real challenge to find books written by Congolese authors, especially translated to English. I read Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofani which was suuuuper hard-hitting but brilliant. The challenge to find books from here has definitely made me realise how many countries actually don't have much literature written by their citizens available to read elsewhere in the world. Seeking them out matters. I love that you're doing this and encouraging others to, too :)
You can try Alain Mabanckou's works which are translated into English
@@grayspet1161 Thank you!
Confessions of a Mask is the first Mishima I’ve read, and it’s a good starter, I guess? It’s a weird mix of dull prose and unnecessary conflict with weird sexual fantasies.
The sailor who fell from grace is a more traditional novel, but Confessions is accessible enough to start with. Don’t get scared tho.
Another great book from Mexico is The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia and translated to English by Simon Bruni, made me cry like crazy
Boye is the perfect pick for Swedish literature. If you’d like to read more I’d recommend Vilhelm Moberg (The Emigrants specifically), Elin Wägner, Selma Lagerlöf, Astrid Lindgren and of course Fredrick Backman for contemporary!
I would like you to read Kuwaiti literature!
Here are some recs :
1-mama hessa’s mice by saud alsanousi
2-the bamboo stalk by saud alsanousi
3-all that I want to forget by bothayna alessa
4-the mariner by taleb alrefai
5-the old woman and the river by ismail Fahd ismail
thank you so much!!
You’re welcome💕💕
Great idea! I'm from Croatia and I recommend Frida's bed by Slavenka Drakulic.
I read Things Fall Apart back in January and really enjoyed it and hope to read the rest of the trilogy 😊 and I also read Frankenstein in Baghdad in March , I read it in Arabic and it was amazing 📚 Italo Calvino’s writing is whimsical and weird and I think it is not for everybody and Oh Marquez is one of my favorite authors ; I read 6 books by him and they are all 5 stars. I have the Season of Immigration to the north in Arabic and it is on my TBR for the spring maybe I’ll pick it up next ( I remember we learnt about this book in school- they included excerpts from it in our Arabic language curriculum in 7th grade - and since then I was excited to read it but for some reason I still hadn’t picked it up🤷♀️). Have you read any books by Nagib Mahfouz? He’s from Egypt. And I would recommend “the rock of Tanios by Ameen Maalouf” this is a brilliant book 🥰