Great recommendations! I enjoyed Tokarczuk quite a lot. I would highly recommend a Swedish book: Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius - she’s a Sami writer. The book is about an indigenous girl having to witness and confront horrible xenophobia against her people and their reindeers. It is unfortunelately based on real events.
I’ve looked it up and it’s out here in paperback in November so shall be preordering it as whilst it sounds a bit horrifying, it also sounds important. Though I’m already mildly worried re the reindeer.
Loved this video and my tip to anyone who wants to read more female books in translation is to pick a few countries that you have not read anything from and have a look what's out there. Shall be reading a few from your list too.
I tried to do this with Portugal and it was tough. I don’t think it’s always easy to find as many women as you might men which I guess it part of the reason for Women in Translation Month.
Hey Simon, hope you're having a fun and fabulous time en vacances ✈️☀️. Cannot beat an 🇮🇸 Icelandic author for ❄️ chillers imho. My pick would be The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili ( trans from Georgian by Charlotte Collins & Ruth Martin ) for when you need An Absolute Chunkster 💪 of a story. A grand, sweeping generational saga that pulled me in and pummelled my 💙. Great stuff. 🌻
Yes! Translators should be on the covers!! Violets and Drive Your Plow Over The Bones… are on my TBR. Purge might have to go on my TBR. 😊 I want to read more Icelandic novels too so maybe I will check out Ashes to Dust. I still have Things We Lost in the Fire waiting on my shelf but I loved her other short story collection. Great list! 😊💙
I would second the recommendation of Magda Szabo. The Door is one of my favorite books. I read The Fawn earlier this year and enjoyed it. I can’t wait to get to the rest of her books, but also want to take my time because there is only so many left.
You're on a roll with your videos atm!! I like your translation ideas. I'm doing The Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes (which I seem to have 2 copies of so you can have one), Vigdis Hjorth , Is Mother Dead, and Will and Testament, Human Acts by Han Kang, and The Copenhagen trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen. Enjoy Europe and good luck with your operation!!
Haha. I was on a roll. Now I’m on a sort of break. Was going to film today but just too chilled post holiday. I have one of Vigdis Hjorths books on the tbr. I think its Will and Testament. I have the first of the Copenhagen trilogy too.
Short stories as condensed milk makes absolute sense to me 😂 They always feel punchier and like a nice concentrated shot of the writer's style. Soooo many recs Ive written down from this vid! I too find myself hovering over a lot of works translated from Spanish, need to work on broadening that horizon. Lovely vid! Enjoy your holiday and good luck with the operation
I’ve got some translated Dutch women recommendations: Margriet de Moor: First gray, then white, then blue and The virtuoso Marieke Lucas Rijneveld: The discomfort of evening Anna Enquist: Counterpoint and The masterpiece
The only one I’ve read is Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead I’d highly recommended it. I’d also recommend The Door by Magda Szagbo The Elegance of the Hedgehog Flights 🍀👋☘️📖📕📚☕️🇮🇪
I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog years ago and didn’t really gel with it. I have had The Door on my TBR for yeeeeeears. Must read that at some point.
I’d recommend Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas, The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada, Violeta by Isabel Allende, and Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. I have All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse which I hope to get to this month.
I think my mother really liked The Mad Women’s Ball. I would like to get to Still Born at some point and have The Queens of Sarmiento Park on my TBR. In fact I have it twice as I’ve the US edition too with a completely different name.
Oooh I’ve always meant to read Lispector. I’ve a stonking brick of a book of her short stories I would like to get to at some point. I’ll look this one up though, thank you!
Purge sounds awesome, and I’ve never seen it mentioned before! One of my favourite books by WIT is Magma by Thora Hjorleifsdottir (that may be misspelt 😬)
I need to read all Sofi’s other works. I’m dreadful at heading back to authors I love. No idea why, but I am. Ha. I read Magma and thought it was very powerful.
Hi Simon! I live in the Basque Country and I can definitely recommend Bernardo Atxaga, a Basque writer who is a brilliant storyteller. I read Obabakoak in English, but I've read some of his other novels in Spanish, translated by his wife. As I'm a translator (I mainly translate scientific research papers and our names never appear in publication) I find it really hard to read translated books because I'm constantly imagining what the original was and how much of what I'm reading is the translator's voice. I can't imagine how difficult literary translation must be, or what the implications of AI might be for all translators. Enjoy your well deserved holiday! 🏖️
Ooooh thank you for the recommendation, though I am focusing on women in translation this month. I’ll see if any are available here as I’m having trouble with quite a few recommendations. Eek. How interesting to be translated by his wife.
A book I read and loved last year was Thirsty Sea by Erica Mou translated from Italian by Clarissa Botsford. This was from a new press publishing books by women called Heloise.
ah.. great list! I'm interested in The Husband now and This is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor sounds good! I want to read Hurricane Season - have you read it? I would also recommend The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen and The Door by Magda Szabó. Drive Your Plow is a favourite.
Can definitely recommend My Husband now I’ve read it. Going to head to This is Not Miami soon. I have The Door and the first in the Copenhagen Trilogy so would like to get to those in due course along with Drive Your Plow.
One suggestion for you, which I just read last week, is How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, which is translated from Hebrew and which has short chapters which I know you like. I have very mixed feelings about Ferrante and have more or less stopped reading her, but I know others really love her. I hope you have an absolutely amazing time on your holiday!
Ooooh thanks Cindy. I’ll look the Hila Blum up. I do love me a vignette/short chaptered book. It always gives a book page, even one’s with less plot. I’m glad I’m not alone with the Ferrante feels.
I've read 14 books so far this month, most WIT. Highlights are Fauna (Christiane Vadnais), Idol, Burning (Rin Usami), We Had to Remove This Post (Hanna Bervoets), Miss Iceland (Audur Ava Olafsdottir) and My Pen is the Wing of a Bird (short stories by Afghan women). Still to be read are The Lost Daughter, Hotel Silence (Olafsdottir), Rebellion (Cristina Carvalho), Space Invaders (Nona Fernandez), Untold Night and Day (Bae Suah) and others... This is my absoluate favorite month of the year and I'm aiming for a book a day. Good luck in your reading!
Greek Lessons is diet existentialism at Han Kang's finest. i have yet to read Human Acts too! i think i will get to that one next in my Kang journey. happy reading to you in auggie!!!
Ooo lots of interesting titles here. Have only read the Tokarczuk, which i really enjoyed. A bit the same as you with Ferrante. Loved Miss Iceland by Audur Olafsdottir which is my 'go to' recommendation for WIT. I like the sound of Purge. Thanks for this list.
I wonder why my wishlist always gets longer when I watch one of your videos... A few suggestions for translations from German: "The Fire" by Daniela Krien (2021), "The Wall" by Marlen Haushofer (1963) and "The Artificial Silk Girl" by Irmgard Keun (1932).
I recommend And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier and translated from French by Rhonda Mullins. It is a Canadian book that speaks to aging and having agency over your own life.
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa is a great collection of eerie short stories that connect to each other in unexpected ways. All of her books are fab. Also Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami is a beautiful book, what I would call a quiet story about human connection - gorgeous! Will look forward to checking out some of your recommendations, thanks Simon
Ohhh, keeping it short is just not in the cards for me on here, ever, lol... I've yet to read these two books tbh but they went straight to my tbr when I heard of them - The End of Days and Go, Went, Gone by Jenni Erpenbeck (German author). The Vegetarian is brill, I agree. I also loved Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Japanese author). I absolutely want to mention Mieko Kawakami (Japanese author) and Clarissa Goenawan (Indonesian-born, Singaporean author) as well. Three books by each author are on my shelves and am currently reading Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin (I'd also love to read I'll Be Right There and The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness by her). Lastly, Simone de Beauvoir (French author) is worth checking out as well. Thanks for the recs in return 🤗 Enjoy your holiday, Simon! And I wish you the best with the operation and recovery
I liked Convenience Store Woman when I read it. Earthlings I thought was batsh!t crazy in both good and bad ways. I have her short story collection to read, thank you for the reminder. Kawakami I’ve had a mixed response with, didn’t love Heaven.
@@SavidgeReads I expect Heaven to be a really tough read for sure. I dnf’ed Life Ceremony (I might return to it later but just wasn’t in the mood for short stories with my enormous tbr, and it was weird but probably not to the level of Earthlings) and won’t be going for Earthlings but CSW was such an interesting and great read imo
Also, just saw someone mention the Copenhagen trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen and I can’t believe I forgot those. So defo think they’re worth looking into as well 😊
I recommend Ágota Kristóf's trilogy The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie (The Notebook is a proper masterpiece). She wrote them in French, even though her native language was Hungarian, and you can just feel the linguistic magic happening there.
Just read The Employees last month and loved it! Also really enjoyed Violets and Drive Your Plow. Planning on reading The Lost Daughter and added Apple and Knife onto my tbr, it sounds great. Osebol is one of my favorites of the year, it's narrative poetry about a tiny town in Sweden, the author interviews all ~40 people who still live there and it's fantastic.
First, happy hols 🍸☺️ 🍹 & hope all goes smoothly with your op 🙏🏻 I especially like the sound of Violets, Purge, My Husband & the Icelandic series 👍 📚 Some time ago I purchased all 3 ‘Neopolitan’ novels & the 1st didn’t hold me 😬 I must return/try again some time. My recommendation, albeit translated from Spanish (by Magda Bogin) is the wonderful The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. I’ve read it twice & would like to read again 👏🏻🥹
I would recommend I who have never known men by Jaqueline Harpman and We had to remove this post by Hanna Bervoets! Two fantastic short, sharp translated books🤗👌🏻
I just accidentely read two post apocolyptic stories in translation back to back, and that's not my go to genre, but I loved them both! One is I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman (Belgian/French) and teh other is The Blue book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros (Welsh). They were both so good and gave me so much to think about!
I'm currently reading The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili. I'm ploughing through in the original German so I can't vouch for the translation but it's amazing and is definitely my book of the year. It's very long but can be read in sections like a series.
Yes I have that on the shelves but it’s such a chunkster. Will definitely get to it at some point though. I may try some of her shorter fiction in the interim.
I’ll be heading to Jenny Erpenbeck’s new book this month! She’s one of Germany’s finest living authors, my favourite of her backlist is ‘Go, Went, Gone’
I would recommend: Crimson by Niviaq Kornelliussen, a short novel about a group of young queer people living in Greenland, translated from Greenlandic Where The Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko, a short story collection of feminist retellings of Japanese ghost stories Seeing Red by Lina Meruane, a Chilean literary fiction novel about a young writer who loses her sight.
Really enjoyed this video. Thumbs up for Olga Ravn’s The Employees and Drive Your Plow by Olga Tokarczuk. I read Mariana Enriquez’s The Dangers of Smoking in Bed as well as Our Share of Night. Her fiction is the definition of bleak! As grim as it gets. This Is Not Miami is on my sprawling TBR. As for women in translation recommendations, here are a few that you might not have gotten to yet: Portuguese (Brazil by way of Ukraine): Clarice Lispector: Água Viva; The Passion According to G.H. Korean: Hye-Young Pyun: The Hole (short and haunting) Rin Usami: Idol, Burning Japanese: Natsuo Kirino: Out (I’ve seen it on your shelves. Have you read it?) Mieko Kawakami: Breasts and Eggs (a masterpiece in my opinion) Emi Yagi: Diary of a Void Sayaka Murata: Convenience Store Woman Yoko Ogawa: Revenge Polish: Wisława Szymborska: any of her poetry collections
Still not sure how I felt about the Ferrante, not a sympathetic character. The Icelandic one sounds interesting, placed it on the list, just finished Summer by Edith Wharton, a fine read.
I just finished reading The Postcard by Anne Betest ...translated from the French by Tina Kover. I just watched (in the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club) a live interview with the translator and it was fascinating to hear her talk about the different approaches translators take when hired to translate a piece of work. Also, Elena Ferrante is a pen name for an author that has not revealed their real name. In fact nobody knows if the author is a male or a female! In fact one journalist and several scholars have drawn the conclusion that the writer is a man! I think they are wrong...for no other reason than i dont really want to know who Elena Ferrante really is! I love that mysterious side of a book and its author! Have a great vacation!!
I’ll look up The Postcard. Thank for the recommendation. I believe that it was thought Domenico Starnone was Elena Ferrante for a while, then his wife. Both deny it. That said those who have met her have said she’s a woman, but no more than that.
Drive Your Plow is one of my favorite books ever!
Looking forward to it.
Great recommendations! I enjoyed Tokarczuk quite a lot.
I would highly recommend a Swedish book: Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius - she’s a Sami writer. The book is about an indigenous girl having to witness and confront horrible xenophobia against her people and their reindeers. It is unfortunelately based on real events.
I’ve looked it up and it’s out here in paperback in November so shall be preordering it as whilst it sounds a bit horrifying, it also sounds important. Though I’m already mildly worried re the reindeer.
Loved this video and my tip to anyone who wants to read more female books in translation is to pick a few countries that you have not read anything from and have a look what's out there. Shall be reading a few from your list too.
I tried to do this with Portugal and it was tough. I don’t think it’s always easy to find as many women as you might men which I guess it part of the reason for Women in Translation Month.
Ahhhhhhh thank you for featuring VIOLETS darling 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
As if I wouldn’t. I’ve still a video reading your recommendations from last year to film parts of and edit!
Ooh looking forward to it!!!@@SavidgeReads
Hey Simon, hope you're having a fun and fabulous time en vacances ✈️☀️. Cannot beat an 🇮🇸 Icelandic author for ❄️ chillers imho. My pick would be The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili ( trans from Georgian by Charlotte Collins & Ruth Martin ) for when you need An Absolute Chunkster 💪 of a story. A grand, sweeping generational saga that pulled me in and pummelled my 💙. Great stuff. 🌻
I have The Eighth Life on my TBR. It’s just soooooo big though. Lol.
Yes! Translators should be on the covers!! Violets and Drive Your Plow Over The Bones… are on my TBR. Purge might have to go on my TBR. 😊 I want to read more Icelandic novels too so maybe I will check out Ashes to Dust. I still have Things We Lost in the Fire waiting on my shelf but I loved her other short story collection. Great list! 😊💙
Thanks, so pleased you found some books you might check out and had some on your tbr already! Definitely give Purge a whirl.
I would second the recommendation of Magda Szabo. The Door is one of my favorite books. I read The Fawn earlier this year and enjoyed it. I can’t wait to get to the rest of her books, but also want to take my time because there is only so many left.
Lots and lots of recommendations for The Door which I have on my shelves so am going to have to get to it. Thanks Christine.
You're on a roll with your videos atm!! I like your translation ideas. I'm doing The Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes (which I seem to have 2 copies of so you can have one), Vigdis Hjorth , Is Mother Dead, and Will and Testament, Human Acts by Han Kang, and The Copenhagen trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen. Enjoy Europe and good luck with your operation!!
Haha. I was on a roll. Now I’m on a sort of break. Was going to film today but just too chilled post holiday. I have one of Vigdis Hjorths books on the tbr. I think its Will and Testament. I have the first of the Copenhagen trilogy too.
Short stories as condensed milk makes absolute sense to me 😂 They always feel punchier and like a nice concentrated shot of the writer's style. Soooo many recs Ive written down from this vid! I too find myself hovering over a lot of works translated from Spanish, need to work on broadening that horizon. Lovely vid! Enjoy your holiday and good luck with the operation
Ha. I’m thrilled the analogy worked for you 😉
I’ve got some translated Dutch women recommendations:
Margriet de Moor: First gray, then white, then blue and The virtuoso
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld: The discomfort of evening
Anna Enquist: Counterpoint and The masterpiece
Oooh I tried The Discomfort of Evening and paused it as I wasn’t in the right mood, it’s still on my shelves waiting for the right time.
The only one I’ve read is
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead
I’d highly recommended it.
I’d also recommend
The Door by Magda Szagbo
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Flights
🍀👋☘️📖📕📚☕️🇮🇪
I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog years ago and didn’t really gel with it. I have had The Door on my TBR for yeeeeeears. Must read that at some point.
I’d recommend Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas, The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada, Violeta by Isabel Allende, and Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. I have All Your Children, Scattered by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse which I hope to get to this month.
I think my mother really liked The Mad Women’s Ball. I would like to get to Still Born at some point and have The Queens of Sarmiento Park on my TBR. In fact I have it twice as I’ve the US edition too with a completely different name.
A suggestion for you is An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector
Hands down, one of my favourite reads of the year
Oooh I’ve always meant to read Lispector. I’ve a stonking brick of a book of her short stories I would like to get to at some point. I’ll look this one up though, thank you!
Purge sounds awesome, and I’ve never seen it mentioned before!
One of my favourite books by WIT is Magma by Thora Hjorleifsdottir (that may be misspelt 😬)
I need to read all Sofi’s other works. I’m dreadful at heading back to authors I love. No idea why, but I am. Ha. I read Magma and thought it was very powerful.
Hi Simon! I live in the Basque Country and I can definitely recommend Bernardo Atxaga, a Basque writer who is a brilliant storyteller. I read Obabakoak in English, but I've read some of his other novels in Spanish, translated by his wife. As I'm a translator (I mainly translate scientific research papers and our names never appear in publication) I find it really hard to read translated books because I'm constantly imagining what the original was and how much of what I'm reading is the translator's voice. I can't imagine how difficult literary translation must be, or what the implications of AI might be for all translators.
Enjoy your well deserved holiday! 🏖️
Ooooh thank you for the recommendation, though I am focusing on women in translation this month. I’ll see if any are available here as I’m having trouble with quite a few recommendations. Eek. How interesting to be translated by his wife.
Hi Simon, hope you're enjoy your holiday!
Have you ever tried anything from Tilted Axis Press? all works of translation and stunning cover designs
I have. I actually read one at the start of the month but I didn’t get on with it as well as I have some of theirs in the past so didn’t mention it 🤣
A book I read and loved last year was Thirsty Sea by Erica Mou translated from Italian by Clarissa Botsford. This was from a new press publishing books by women called Heloise.
Oooh I’ve not heard of that book. I’ll look it up. Thank you.
Have a wonderful vacation can’t wait to see what books you pick up. Hope all goes smoothly for you after the vacation ❤
Thank you. Had a fabulous break in Porto. What a stunning place.
Hi Simon some great recommendations that will sure to read. Have wonderful vacation. Bye MaryAnn. PS I look forward to the books you buy.
Thank you MaryAnn. Was a lovely break.
ah.. great list! I'm interested in The Husband now and This is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor sounds good! I want to read Hurricane Season - have you read it? I would also recommend The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen and The Door by Magda Szabó. Drive Your Plow is a favourite.
Can definitely recommend My Husband now I’ve read it. Going to head to This is Not Miami soon. I have The Door and the first in the Copenhagen Trilogy so would like to get to those in due course along with Drive Your Plow.
One suggestion for you, which I just read last week, is How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, which is translated from Hebrew and which has short chapters which I know you like. I have very mixed feelings about Ferrante and have more or less stopped reading her, but I know others really love her. I hope you have an absolutely amazing time on your holiday!
Ooooh thanks Cindy. I’ll look the Hila Blum up. I do love me a vignette/short chaptered book. It always gives a book page, even one’s with less plot. I’m glad I’m not alone with the Ferrante feels.
I've read 14 books so far this month, most WIT. Highlights are Fauna (Christiane Vadnais), Idol, Burning (Rin Usami), We Had to Remove This Post (Hanna Bervoets), Miss Iceland (Audur Ava Olafsdottir) and My Pen is the Wing of a Bird (short stories by Afghan women). Still to be read are The Lost Daughter, Hotel Silence (Olafsdottir), Rebellion (Cristina Carvalho), Space Invaders (Nona Fernandez), Untold Night and Day (Bae Suah) and others... This is my absoluate favorite month of the year and I'm aiming for a book a day. Good luck in your reading!
Wowsers. A reading machine!
Greek Lessons is diet existentialism at Han Kang's finest. i have yet to read Human Acts too! i think i will get to that one next in my Kang journey.
happy reading to you in auggie!!!
I would like to get to Human Acts or Greek Lessons soon. Will have to see which one pulls me to it the hardest first.
Ooo lots of interesting titles here. Have only read the Tokarczuk, which i really enjoyed. A bit the same as you with Ferrante. Loved Miss Iceland by Audur Olafsdottir which is my 'go to' recommendation for WIT. I like the sound of Purge. Thanks for this list.
Really love Audur Olafsdottir too
Ooooh I’ll look up Miss Iceland. I do have another of hers on my shelves. I loved Iceland when I visited. Would really like to go back.
I wonder why my wishlist always gets longer when I watch one of your videos... A few suggestions for translations from German: "The Fire" by Daniela Krien (2021), "The Wall" by Marlen Haushofer (1963) and "The Artificial Silk Girl" by Irmgard Keun (1932).
Hahaha. Oops on the wishlist. Thanks for the suggestions. I have The Wall on the TBR so need to get it higher up.
I recommend And the Birds Rained Down by Jocelyne Saucier and translated from French by Rhonda Mullins. It is a Canadian book that speaks to aging and having agency over your own life.
Oooh I’ll look it up. Thank you. Update… it’s sadly not available in the uk!
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa is a great collection of eerie short stories that connect to each other in unexpected ways. All of her books are fab. Also Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami is a beautiful book, what I would call a quiet story about human connection - gorgeous! Will look forward to checking out some of your recommendations, thanks Simon
Oooh I loved Revenge. I’ve enjoyed all the Ogawa books I’ve read, only three I think but all brilliant.
Ohhh, keeping it short is just not in the cards for me on here, ever, lol... I've yet to read these two books tbh but they went straight to my tbr when I heard of them - The End of Days and Go, Went, Gone by Jenni Erpenbeck (German author). The Vegetarian is brill, I agree. I also loved Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Japanese author). I absolutely want to mention Mieko Kawakami (Japanese author) and Clarissa Goenawan (Indonesian-born, Singaporean author) as well. Three books by each author are on my shelves and am currently reading Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin (I'd also love to read I'll Be Right There and The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness by her). Lastly, Simone de Beauvoir (French author) is worth checking out as well. Thanks for the recs in return 🤗 Enjoy your holiday, Simon! And I wish you the best with the operation and recovery
I liked Convenience Store Woman when I read it. Earthlings I thought was batsh!t crazy in both good and bad ways. I have her short story collection to read, thank you for the reminder. Kawakami I’ve had a mixed response with, didn’t love Heaven.
@@SavidgeReads I expect Heaven to be a really tough read for sure. I dnf’ed Life Ceremony (I might return to it later but just wasn’t in the mood for short stories with my enormous tbr, and it was weird but probably not to the level of Earthlings) and won’t be going for Earthlings but CSW was such an interesting and great read imo
Also, just saw someone mention the Copenhagen trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen and I can’t believe I forgot those. So defo think they’re worth looking into as well 😊
I recommend Ágota Kristóf's trilogy The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie (The Notebook is a proper masterpiece). She wrote them in French, even though her native language was Hungarian, and you can just feel the linguistic magic happening there.
Oooh thank you I’ve never heard of her so shall look these up.
Just read The Employees last month and loved it! Also really enjoyed Violets and Drive Your Plow. Planning on reading The Lost Daughter and added Apple and Knife onto my tbr, it sounds great. Osebol is one of my favorites of the year, it's narrative poetry about a tiny town in Sweden, the author interviews all ~40 people who still live there and it's fantastic.
Ooh I’ll have to look up Osebol, thank you.
The Antarctica of Love is on my TBR.
Ooh I’ve not heard of that one.
First, happy hols 🍸☺️ 🍹 & hope all goes smoothly with your op 🙏🏻
I especially like the sound of Violets, Purge, My Husband & the Icelandic series 👍 📚
Some time ago I purchased all 3 ‘Neopolitan’ novels & the 1st didn’t hold me 😬 I must return/try again some time.
My recommendation, albeit translated from Spanish (by Magda Bogin) is the wonderful The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. I’ve read it twice & would like to read again 👏🏻🥹
I need to try Allende again. I read her in my late twenties and didn’t really gel with her. My mother loves her!
Do try again with The House of the Spirits 🤞😌
I would recommend I who have never known men by Jaqueline Harpman and We had to remove this post by Hanna Bervoets! Two fantastic short, sharp translated books🤗👌🏻
Oh yes! I Who Have Never Known Men is brilliant! 😊
I’m definitely intrigued for We Had To Remove This Post. Mum bought it when we went bookshopping in London and I know Jen Campbell liked it a lot.
Simon, I just finished My Husband - it’s in an upcoming video. Oh boy. I cannot wait to get your thoughts on this one. 😮
Hahahaha. There will be some. When I’m back 😉
@@SavidgeReads , Yay!
I just accidentely read two post apocolyptic stories in translation back to back, and that's not my go to genre, but I loved them both! One is I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman (Belgian/French) and teh other is The Blue book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros (Welsh). They were both so good and gave me so much to think about!
Ooooh. Thank you Marcella. I’ll have to look both of those up!
Human Acts is really good and powerful.
I’m looking forward to it, when I get to it.
I’ll recommend Vigdis Hjorth….did you read Is Mother Dead? She’s a Norwegian author. I just finished another book of hers…stunning direct writing.
I’ve not read her work. I have Will and Testament though so will hopefully get to that soon.
I'm currently reading The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili. I'm ploughing through in the original German so I can't vouch for the translation but it's amazing and is definitely my book of the year. It's very long but can be read in sections like a series.
Yes I have that on the shelves but it’s such a chunkster. Will definitely get to it at some point though. I may try some of her shorter fiction in the interim.
Oh best of luck with your surgery, Simon. 😊
Thanks. Still not sure when it’s happening but fingers crossed soon.
I’ll be heading to Jenny Erpenbeck’s new book this month! She’s one of Germany’s finest living authors, my favourite of her backlist is ‘Go, Went, Gone’
I tried an Erpenbeck at one point and didn’t get on with it. I think I DNF’d it. Maybe I need to try again.
I would recommend:
Crimson by Niviaq Kornelliussen, a short novel about a group of young queer people living in Greenland, translated from Greenlandic
Where The Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko, a short story collection of feminist retellings of Japanese ghost stories
Seeing Red by Lina Meruane, a Chilean literary fiction novel about a young writer who loses her sight.
Oooh I have two of these on my shelves. I don’t have Seeing Red which I’m going up look into. Thank you!
I’d recommend anything by Natalia Ginzburg! I’ll be very sad the day I run out of books by her.
I’m always a bit worried she’s a bit to big brain for me, I may end up feeling even more stupid than normal. Ha.
I read Purge a couple of months ago. It was so good! I don't think any of her other books have been translated to English.
Oooh they have. I have Norma, Dog Park and When The Doves Disappear. I should actually read one of them this month!
Dog Park by Sofi Oksanen is excellent! Very relevant with the current war in Ukraine.
When the dowes disappeared is also a fantastic novel, also by Sofi Oksanen
Oooh I think that could be my next Oksanen, thank you.
Rumena Bužarovska's, My Husband is a short collection of stories by a Macedonian author.
Ooooh another My Husband. So many husbands lol.
Really enjoyed this video. Thumbs up for Olga Ravn’s The Employees and Drive Your Plow by Olga Tokarczuk. I read Mariana Enriquez’s The Dangers of Smoking in Bed as well as Our Share of Night. Her fiction is the definition of bleak! As grim as it gets. This Is Not Miami is on my sprawling TBR. As for women in translation recommendations, here are a few that you might not have gotten to yet:
Portuguese (Brazil by way of Ukraine):
Clarice Lispector: Água Viva; The Passion According to G.H.
Korean:
Hye-Young Pyun: The Hole (short and haunting)
Rin Usami: Idol, Burning
Japanese:
Natsuo Kirino: Out (I’ve seen it on your shelves. Have you read it?)
Mieko Kawakami: Breasts and Eggs (a masterpiece in my opinion)
Emi Yagi: Diary of a Void
Sayaka Murata: Convenience Store Woman
Yoko Ogawa: Revenge
Polish:
Wisława Szymborska: any of her poetry collections
Oooh thank you for the recommendations. Shall look up the ones I haven’t read or got on my shelves. Out is still on my shelves but hidden. Hahaha.
Still not sure how I felt about the Ferrante, not a sympathetic character. The Icelandic one sounds interesting, placed it on the list, just finished Summer by Edith Wharton, a fine read.
That’s what I liked about the Ferrante. I quite like a flinty character. I like the complexity mixed with a bit of grit.
Sofi Oksanen is Great. The Purge is not her first novel. It's called Stslin's cows.
Stalin's cows
Oooh I don’t think that one is out in English yet. I’ve Norma, Dog Park and one with doves in the title.
"The doves" is brilliant. Read it now when you have the Purge fresh in your mind.
I just finished reading The Postcard by Anne Betest ...translated from the French by Tina Kover. I just watched (in the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club) a live interview with the translator and it was fascinating to hear her talk about the different approaches translators take when hired to translate a piece of work. Also, Elena Ferrante is a pen name for an author that has not revealed their real name. In fact nobody knows if the author is a male or a female! In fact one journalist and several scholars have drawn the conclusion that the writer is a man! I think they are wrong...for no other reason than i dont really want to know who Elena Ferrante really is! I love that mysterious side of a book and its author! Have a great vacation!!
I’ll look up The Postcard. Thank for the recommendation. I believe that it was thought Domenico Starnone was Elena Ferrante for a while, then his wife. Both deny it. That said those who have met her have said she’s a woman, but no more than that.
Heard good things about things we lost in the fire I think I will like it also My husband. Haven’t heard of This is not Miami added to the list 📚📚📚📚 😂
Hope you enjoy them if you get to them Kirsty!
I really struggled with Elena Ferrante My Best Friend. It took me ages to read and I will struggle to finish the series
I would say if it’s feeling like a struggle… head to something that isn’t. Lol. Life’s too short.
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Try Québec authors.
Any in particular you’d recommend?
@@SavidgeReads For the contemporary women you can try Kim Thuy, Marie-Renée Lavoie, Sophie Bienvenu or Nelly Arcand.