Home of Translated fiction and #translationthurs
My last cover for this series of post is an example of a writer being rediscovered and this is one in recent years has seem a revivial and that is the Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg.THis is a collection of short essays by the late Italian writer that has seen a number of her books reissued in the last few years. I reviewed this book here.
I think most readers now stat with Murakami as there first Japanese writer but for me, in the early nineties, it was the novel Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto a book about a woman overcoming her grandmother’s death. I read a number of her books over the years. But when I come to do this list I have seen it has been more than a decade since I read a book by her and I need to add her to my blog. It is sad I haven’t cover her before now as her voice is one I have alway enjoyed.
I wanted to cover as much of the world as I could in these 30 covers so today we have A autobiography by a great writer from El Salvador it follows the life of a Nicaraguan female guerilla during the war in that area. It followed her life from a good home to the events that lead to her becoming a guerilla fighter. I am a compulsive book buyer I buy books all the time more than I will ever read I do clear a lot out every couple of years but this leads to gems like this I reviewed this last Spanish lit month after having it a couple of years.
I now near the end of the covers for #WITMONTH and here is a book I felt should have made the man booker list It is hard there have been a number of great Polish novels recent year this tale of generations set in Lviv the Ukraine town that in the past has been part of Poland and is frequent city in Polish and Mittel European fiction from Joesph Roth in Radetzky march. It is the birthplace of Sci-fi writer Lem and the poet Herbert and is called the Paris of Ukraine now but is known for its rich literary history.
I have already featured a book from Nordisk books but here is there latest and I will be reviewing it tomorrow so not going say much other than the writer passed away not long after this her third novel came out.
I now move to Dalkey Archive they bring out a lot of books in translation. This is from the Afrikaans writer Ingrid WInterbach , she has also published books under the pseudonym Lettie Viljoen. This book follows a lexicographer who has moved to Durban to do a book on lost Afrikaan words. On her arrival, her home is broken into and collection shells she has spent a lifetime putting together are gone the police don’t seem bothered so she sets out to investigate her self the book deals with love, loss, and obsession it says. Have you read it
There have been three collections in the Peter Owen world series this is from the Balkan collection. Jela Krečič is the wife of the well known Slovenian thinker Slavoj Zizek. She is a philosopher and journalist best known for an in-depth interview with Julian Assange. I really liked the way she chooses a male character as the lead in this novel as I said in my review that Matzaj the main character was a Slovenian Finz a charismatic character as we follow his ins and out with various women. Her is my review
Another day another favourite from the publishing world I love small publishers especially when they like QC keep bringing out such great books Prague is a short Novella. Here we see a woman’s real and imagine life blurred as her open marriage goes wrong and she dreams of going to Prague. I reviewed this earlier in the year
I have reviewed a number of books from the new publisher Nordisk that in the last couple of years has brought us some exciting Nordic fiction. This was their second book written by Ebba Witt-Brattstorm the founder of the Feminist party in Sweden. This book is a story of a marriage breaking up as the husband and wife see the marriage roles they were used to a classic mid- 20thcentury marriage as past there best as the woman wants more a gripping book from a great little publisher. My review is here
I enter the last part of this year women in translation month. I have chosen a different cover than I had this dropped through my door the other day is the second novel from Linda Boström Knausgård, she is the former wife of Karl Ove. I had picked the first novel by her for today a my cover as I have enjoyed a number of books from world edition over the last few years they are the English arm of the Dutch publisher De Geus. This book follows a family in America told from the child’s point of view as the family falls apart.
I have already featured one book by Seagull books this month but I have been buying up a number of the german list books ready for German lit months to come. Here we have a prize-winning book by the German writer Svenja Leiber. That is set in a sleep german village just before world war one. The novel is a Bildungsroman a classic book from German literature. Have you read any of Seagulls German list?
I will be getting to this before the year is out it is the second part of the Vernon subtext a trilogy by the French writer Virginie Despentes a writer best known for her controversial book that was made into a film Baise-moi. Vernon subtext follows Vernon a famous record shop owner after his life and store is closed as he tries to get by it has been made into a TV series in France which I hope we get see in the UK.
Titled Axis is the book publisher set up by Deborah Smith who did the translation of the Han Kang books she has been brought some great female writing from around Asia. Here is a novel set in the underbelly of Seoul around a slum electronics market that is due to be demolished told from the point of view of two repair shop assistants as they see the spirits of those who have lived around the market over the years. Have you read any books from tilted Axis
I brought this when it came out but all the Hype around it made me leave reading it for now. But Macro the french president has said that Leila Slimani the job of “promoting the french language and its culture. The book is a tale of a nanny gone bad inspired by a real-life tale of a nanny killing her two charges in New york. Did you read it at the time or like me left it for the dust to settle around it !!!
