Over at Biblibio, host of this wonderful Women in Translation month, she's just shared 7 of her favourite WIT reads -- as suggested by another reader, Jacqui at JacquiWine's Journal.
I think this is a great idea! So I'm sharing mine here -- some favourites, not favourites-of-all-time, that is too hard to whittle down. Share yours too if you would like!
Kitchen / Banana Yoshimoto (translated from Japanese by Megan Backus)
Please Look After Mom / Kyung-Sook Shin (translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim)
Wildlives / Monique Proulx (translated from French by David Homel & Fred A. Reed)
Fairy Ring / Martine Desjardins (translated from French by Fred A. Reed & David Homel)
The Artificial Silk Girl /Irmgard Keun (translated from German by Kathie von Ankum)
Broken / Karen Fossum (translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barsland)
Three Bags Full / Leonie Swann (translated from German by Anthea Bell)
What a great reading event. I love to read foreign fiction although I'm a bit behind my personal goals this year - well so far :)
ReplyDeleteBanana Yoshimoto is wonderful. I've read several of her books and have really enjoyed them all.
I've caught up to my own personal goals this month :) Yes, I've really enjoyed all of Banana Yoshimoto as well. I still like Kitchen best, but she is such an interesting writer for me.
DeleteI have read Kitchen, and other books by Banana Yoshimoto as well. (Now that I've been to Japan, I'm even more interested in Japanese literature.) This does sound like a terrific reading event.
ReplyDeleteLucky you - I'd love to go to Japan someday.
DeleteThis has been a terrific reading month - I'm finding so many great reads off of my own shelves :)
Oh, I forgot that Three Bags Full was in translation: I've been looking for an excuse to finally read that one! Banana Yoshimoto is one of my MustReadEverything authors, although I haven't enjoyed the later-translated titles quite as much as the earlier ones (maybe it was simply timing). I've also enjoyed Gioconda Belli and Eva Hoffman. I think I've said this before, but I really must keep an eye on August to participate in this event next year: your posts have been quite inspiring!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is, and a perfect excuse to read a great mystery! Enjoy it.
DeleteI agree about Banana Yoshimoto's books -but could very well be timing, as I was in university when I discovered her and she was just perfectly suited to that moment.
I haven't read Belli or Hoffman...maybe next August ;)
Nice choices. I read The Artificial Silk Girl this month and loved it.
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Glad to hear that - it was pretty striking, wasn't it? Have you tried After Midnight yet?
DeleteI have indeed - it was the first Keun I read and I loved it!
Deletekaggsysbookishramblings
Kitchen is one of my favorites, too. In fact I love every every Japanese writer I've read, but the women's work is truly lovely. Here I'm hi min of Ogawa, too.
ReplyDeleteThere is a certain loveliness in Japanese women's fiction, I find.
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