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While I was looking at my stats/meme page, I noticed I primarily read books written by men, originally written in English, and by people from the USA/UK. I want to change this by reading more translated books by women from other countries.
I was keeping track of this in the book talk group, where I have a lengthy to-read list, but this seems a better place for it.
September 2013-
The USA, the UK, Japan, England, Canada, France, and Germany appear on my nationality pie chart, in that order.
I have read 191 female authors to 334 male authors. (0.572 ratio)
I have read 992 books originally written in English out of my library of 1,206 books. (0.823 ratio)
January 2014-
The USA, the UK, Japan, England, Ireland, Canada, France, and Germany.
198 female authors to 348 male authors (0.569 ratio)
1021 English books out of 1257 (0.812 ratio)
May 2014-
The USA, the UK, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Canada, England, France.
204 female authors to 357 male authors (0.571 ratio)
1037 English books out of 1285 (0.807 ratio)
September 2015-
The USA, the UK, Japan, France, Canada, Germany, Ireland
305 female authors to 377 male authors (0.809 ratio)
1135 English books out of 1428 (0.795 ratio)
I was keeping track of this in the book talk group, where I have a lengthy to-read list, but this seems a better place for it.
September 2013-
The USA, the UK, Japan, England, Canada, France, and Germany appear on my nationality pie chart, in that order.
I have read 191 female authors to 334 male authors. (0.572 ratio)
I have read 992 books originally written in English out of my library of 1,206 books. (0.823 ratio)
January 2014-
The USA, the UK, Japan, England, Ireland, Canada, France, and Germany.
198 female authors to 348 male authors (0.569 ratio)
1021 English books out of 1257 (0.812 ratio)
May 2014-
The USA, the UK, Japan, Germany, Ireland, Canada, England, France.
204 female authors to 357 male authors (0.571 ratio)
1037 English books out of 1285 (0.807 ratio)
September 2015-
The USA, the UK, Japan, France, Canada, Germany, Ireland
305 female authors to 377 male authors (0.809 ratio)
1135 English books out of 1428 (0.795 ratio)
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Books I've read for this challenge:
2013-
The Lake, Surrealist Women, Women's Writing in Latin America, The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, Sudden Fiction Latino, Constance Ring, Gunnar's Daughter, Copenhagen, Aquarium of Women, Egalia's Daughters, To Hell with Cronje, New Islands: And Other Stories, The Emperor Tea Garden, Death as a Side Effect, Scandinavian Women Writers: An Anthology from the 1880s to the 1980s, Beyond the Border: A New Age in Latin American Women's Fiction, Violations: Stories of Love by Latin American Women, The Water Door, Gosta Berling's Saga, Mean Women, The Hour of the Star, The Fish Child
2014-
Soulstorm, All Night Movie, Panic Signs, Trafalgar, The True Deceiver, The Axe, With My Dog Eyes, The Murder of Halland, Reckless, A Woman's Story, The Gingerbread House, The House of Ulloa, Marta Oulie, Paula, Heidi, In Red, Cleopatra Dismounts, The Notebook, The Passion According to G.H., Lucie, The Piano Teacher, Bonjour Tristesse, House of Day, House of Night, Nada
The bold ones are the fantastic ones.
2013-
The Lake, Surrealist Women, Women's Writing in Latin America, The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, Sudden Fiction Latino, Constance Ring, Gunnar's Daughter, Copenhagen, Aquarium of Women, Egalia's Daughters, To Hell with Cronje, New Islands: And Other Stories, The Emperor Tea Garden, Death as a Side Effect, Scandinavian Women Writers: An Anthology from the 1880s to the 1980s, Beyond the Border: A New Age in Latin American Women's Fiction, Violations: Stories of Love by Latin American Women, The Water Door, Gosta Berling's Saga, Mean Women, The Hour of the Star, The Fish Child
2014-
Soulstorm, All Night Movie, Panic Signs, Trafalgar, The True Deceiver, The Axe, With My Dog Eyes, The Murder of Halland, Reckless, A Woman's Story, The Gingerbread House, The House of Ulloa, Marta Oulie, Paula, Heidi, In Red, Cleopatra Dismounts, The Notebook, The Passion According to G.H., Lucie, The Piano Teacher, Bonjour Tristesse, House of Day, House of Night, Nada
The bold ones are the fantastic ones.
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I'm currently reading Gösta Berlings Saga by Selma Lagerlof. I'm actually having a hard time time getting through it. I expected it to be focused around Gosta Berling, but seemingly random characters and chapters keep appearing, likely for thematic reasons, but since I'm not following them it seems jumpy to me. I also keep trying to draw parallels to The Mayor of Casterbridge I'm not sure work. I'd also categorize it as magical realism, which really surprised me. I suspect things won't go well for Gosta, but I have no idea how it will play out, and perhaps the ending will bring the novel to a whole.
Queued for next is The Axe by Sigrid Undset.
To check out from the library (not all at once)-
Musicians & watchmakers, Silver candelabra & other stories : a century of Jewish Argentine literature, Hand in hand alongside the tracks and other stories, Taking root: narratives of Jewish women in Latin America, Prospero's Mirror, Cruel fictions, cruel realities: short stories by Latin American women writers, Patient, Iguana, Italian tales: An anthology of contemporary Italian fiction
Queued for next is The Axe by Sigrid Undset.
To check out from the library (not all at once)-
Musicians & watchmakers, Silver candelabra & other stories : a century of Jewish Argentine literature, Hand in hand alongside the tracks and other stories, Taking root: narratives of Jewish women in Latin America, Prospero's Mirror, Cruel fictions, cruel realities: short stories by Latin American women writers, Patient, Iguana, Italian tales: An anthology of contemporary Italian fiction
5GlebtheDancer
Hi Rhea.
I am really glad someone has taken on this challenge. I became aware a little while ago of how make biased my reading was, especially from countries that are a little off the usual literary map. I have taken on a challenge to read a book by an author from every country (158 so far). Of those 158, there are 93 from which I have only read a male author, 22 female only and 43 with at least one of each. I have been tempted to start a female only challenge similar to yours now my main one is winding down, but I don't want to get stuck into anything big at the moment. I will follow your journey with interest
Andy (formerly on LT as Depressaholic)
I am really glad someone has taken on this challenge. I became aware a little while ago of how make biased my reading was, especially from countries that are a little off the usual literary map. I have taken on a challenge to read a book by an author from every country (158 so far). Of those 158, there are 93 from which I have only read a male author, 22 female only and 43 with at least one of each. I have been tempted to start a female only challenge similar to yours now my main one is winding down, but I don't want to get stuck into anything big at the moment. I will follow your journey with interest
Andy (formerly on LT as Depressaholic)
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>5 GlebtheDancer:
Wow, you're almost finished! I looked through your Reading Globally shelf, and you've read a lot of books I've never heard of but sound interesting. So far in my challenge, I've been stuck at how excellent the books are, and I think the barriers to getting translated are just so high for women that anything that makes it is really special. I really hope you decide to join me, the more the merrier!
The Saga of Gosta Berling had a couple of really excellent chapters, but the rest of it was just decent. It needs a second reading to catch everything. If the ending was different I might have liked it better.
Next is The Axe by the Norwegian author Sigrid Undset and Half of a Yellow Sun by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (which does not count, but I've been wanting to read it for a while).
Wow, you're almost finished! I looked through your Reading Globally shelf, and you've read a lot of books I've never heard of but sound interesting. So far in my challenge, I've been stuck at how excellent the books are, and I think the barriers to getting translated are just so high for women that anything that makes it is really special. I really hope you decide to join me, the more the merrier!
The Saga of Gosta Berling had a couple of really excellent chapters, but the rest of it was just decent. It needs a second reading to catch everything. If the ending was different I might have liked it better.
Next is The Axe by the Norwegian author Sigrid Undset and Half of a Yellow Sun by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (which does not count, but I've been wanting to read it for a while).
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Okay, still working on The Axe, and gave up on Half of a Yellow Sun when it got recalled to the library.
I finished The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Brazil), The Fish Child by Lucia Puenzo (Argentina), and Mean Woman by Alicia Borinsky (Argentina), and A Tale of the Dispossessed by Laura Restrepo (Colombia).
I finished The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Brazil), The Fish Child by Lucia Puenzo (Argentina), and Mean Woman by Alicia Borinsky (Argentina), and A Tale of the Dispossessed by Laura Restrepo (Colombia).
8banjo123
This is a great challenge. I notice in global reading that some countries have lots of women writers and for some others it's really hard to find women writers.
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Yes, the disparity is really noticeable.
The library I use is arranged Library of Congress, so books are grouped by the author's country. I picked out a couple of the books I've read by walking around randomly and pulling female authors off shelves.
It's really easy to find female authors in the Nordic section, lots of authors and lots of translations too. Selma Lagerlöf and Sigrid Undset were early winners of the Nobel prize, plus Nordic countries are pretty advanced in their feminism, plus publishers have run series translating works by Nordic women.
The Latin American section, respectively, is a dead zone. Despite how easy it is to pick out Spanish female names, the two times I tried finding female authors by random in this section it took me a long time to find anyone.
The library I use is arranged Library of Congress, so books are grouped by the author's country. I picked out a couple of the books I've read by walking around randomly and pulling female authors off shelves.
It's really easy to find female authors in the Nordic section, lots of authors and lots of translations too. Selma Lagerlöf and Sigrid Undset were early winners of the Nobel prize, plus Nordic countries are pretty advanced in their feminism, plus publishers have run series translating works by Nordic women.
The Latin American section, respectively, is a dead zone. Despite how easy it is to pick out Spanish female names, the two times I tried finding female authors by random in this section it took me a long time to find anyone.
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And I forgot I was trying to pay attention to the translators and the publishers.
A Tale of the Dispossessed was translated by Dolores M. Koch. Sadly, Koch's obituary is her first Google hit. She was a translator and scholar who passed away in 2009. She also translated works by Reinaldo Arenas and Enrique Joven. The book was published by Harper Collins as a bilingual edition, with the Spanish following the English.
The Hour of the Star was translated by Giovanni Pontiero, who has translated many works by Clarice Lispector and has also translated Jose Saramago. The publisher was New Directions, who now have a new edition out translated by Benjamin Moser.
The Fish Child was translated by David William Foster, who I believe is the same person as the Arizona State University Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies. His website has a powerpoint on Borges I'm still trying to load. The publisher was Texas Tech University Press.
Mean Woman was translated by Cora Franzen, who has also translated a lot of other books by Alicia Borinsky, and books by Marjorie Agosín. The publisher was the University of Nebraska Press as part of their "Latin American Woman Writers Series."
A Tale of the Dispossessed was translated by Dolores M. Koch. Sadly, Koch's obituary is her first Google hit. She was a translator and scholar who passed away in 2009. She also translated works by Reinaldo Arenas and Enrique Joven. The book was published by Harper Collins as a bilingual edition, with the Spanish following the English.
The Hour of the Star was translated by Giovanni Pontiero, who has translated many works by Clarice Lispector and has also translated Jose Saramago. The publisher was New Directions, who now have a new edition out translated by Benjamin Moser.
The Fish Child was translated by David William Foster, who I believe is the same person as the Arizona State University Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies. His website has a powerpoint on Borges I'm still trying to load. The publisher was Texas Tech University Press.
Mean Woman was translated by Cora Franzen, who has also translated a lot of other books by Alicia Borinsky, and books by Marjorie Agosín. The publisher was the University of Nebraska Press as part of their "Latin American Woman Writers Series."
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The next book I'm going to read, All Night Movie, was also translated by Cora Franzen. It was published by Hydra Books / Northwestern University Press. I'm not exactly sure who Hydra Books are, or if they are the same as the Bristol Bookstore. Northwestern University has some interesting series, such as "Latino Voices", "European Classics", and Northwestern World Classics."
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I finished Soulstorm by Clarice Lispector (Brazil), which contains two collections of short pieces; "The Stations of the Body" and "Where You Were at Night." "The Stations of the Body" is short stories, while the second collection is hard to describe. The piece the collection takes its name from is a chaotic dream sequence full of biblical references, and many of the other pieces evoke feelings but aren't really stories. I gave this one 5 stars for some of the really excellent short stories in the first collection, but I wasn't in the contemplative mood you need to be to appreciate works without plots when I read the second collection and didn't appreciate it as much.
Here's the first couple sentences from "Soulstorm," the eponymous piece.
"Ah, had I but known, I wouldn't have come into this world, ah, had I but known, I wouldn't have come into this world. Madness is neighbor to the cruelest prudence. I swallow madness because it calmly leads me to hallucinations. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down, Jill kissed his crown, and they lived happy-unhappy ever after. The chair is an object to me..."
Soulstorm was translated by Alexis Levitin, whose website is here. He's translated over 30 books from the Portuguese, mostly poetry. The publisher is New Directions, who have brought us 8 books by Clarice Lispector.
Here's the first couple sentences from "Soulstorm," the eponymous piece.
"Ah, had I but known, I wouldn't have come into this world, ah, had I but known, I wouldn't have come into this world. Madness is neighbor to the cruelest prudence. I swallow madness because it calmly leads me to hallucinations. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down, Jill kissed his crown, and they lived happy-unhappy ever after. The chair is an object to me..."
Soulstorm was translated by Alexis Levitin, whose website is here. He's translated over 30 books from the Portuguese, mostly poetry. The publisher is New Directions, who have brought us 8 books by Clarice Lispector.
13rebeccanyc
Just discovered this thread -- thanks for the links, both to authors and books and to translators and translation series. And for the interesting reviews.
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Rebecca, thank you for the kind words.
I finished All Night Movie by Alicia Borinsky. It was interesting enough, but I'm not sure what happened and it is among one of the strangest books I've ever read. Here an example of the writing.
pg. 112 "follow you wherever you go"
pg. 113 " that woman is running along a street that leads to five corners reflected in her eyes the lights of a café where a man is waiting for her she can see him in the distance knows his breath feels the weight of his arm on her shoulder manages to feel sheltered by his proximity he always sits eyes fixed on the window at times he's distracted as he puts a sugar cube in his coffee cold by now because he's been there for hours a waiter comes and smiles at him but he pays no attention because he's elsewhere he's really waiting for me she tells herself and then tries to run faster but the street is made of synthetic foam and now a rain of huge black cottony drops starts to fall"
I finished All Night Movie by Alicia Borinsky. It was interesting enough, but I'm not sure what happened and it is among one of the strangest books I've ever read. Here an example of the writing.
pg. 112 "follow you wherever you go"
pg. 113 " that woman is running along a street that leads to five corners reflected in her eyes the lights of a café where a man is waiting for her she can see him in the distance knows his breath feels the weight of his arm on her shoulder manages to feel sheltered by his proximity he always sits eyes fixed on the window at times he's distracted as he puts a sugar cube in his coffee cold by now because he's been there for hours a waiter comes and smiles at him but he pays no attention because he's elsewhere he's really waiting for me she tells herself and then tries to run faster but the street is made of synthetic foam and now a rain of huge black cottony drops starts to fall"
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I finished Panic Signs by Cristina Peri Rossi, translated by Mercedes Rowinsky-Geurts and Angelo A. Borras, published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
The publisher has published four fiction novels in translation, including My Husband by Dacia Maraini, and The Green Sofa by Natascha Würzbach.
The translators are both Spanish professors at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Several of the passages were very moving, but Panic Signs would have made a lot more sense to me if I knew anything about Uruguayan history. It was magical realism, and I often couldn't tell if what was describe was an accurate description of government suppression or outlandish for effect. Governments have done some fairly bizarre things to stay in power.
pg. 16:
"10
She hands me the scarf and smiles at me lovingly: she hopes that when I reach the corner a gust of wind will hang me in my scarf, or that I will decide to commit suicide with the needle with which she has sewn my shirt. I take the scarf and leave the smile: maybe it's true that it's cold outside."
The publisher has published four fiction novels in translation, including My Husband by Dacia Maraini, and The Green Sofa by Natascha Würzbach.
The translators are both Spanish professors at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Several of the passages were very moving, but Panic Signs would have made a lot more sense to me if I knew anything about Uruguayan history. It was magical realism, and I often couldn't tell if what was describe was an accurate description of government suppression or outlandish for effect. Governments have done some fairly bizarre things to stay in power.
pg. 16:
"10
She hands me the scarf and smiles at me lovingly: she hopes that when I reach the corner a gust of wind will hang me in my scarf, or that I will decide to commit suicide with the needle with which she has sewn my shirt. I take the scarf and leave the smile: maybe it's true that it's cold outside."
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I finished Trafalgar by Angélica Gorodischer, which was published by Small Beer Press and translated by Amalia Gladhart. Some of the stories were better than others, but all of them were impossible to stop reading once I started.
Small Beer Press is indeed a very small publishing company. They don't publish a lot of translations, Trafalgar and Gorodischer's other translated work, Kalpa Imperial, are exepctions, but they do publish some authors I recognize. Amalia Gladhart has also translated works by Alicia Yánez Cossío, is a Spanish professor at the university of Oregon, and writes short stories and poetry.
I also finished The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, which is published by NYRB Classics and translated by Thomas Teal. Teal won the Best Translated Book Award for it. He has translated several of Jansson's other works, and doesn't seem to have a webpage so I don't know anything about him. His acceptance speech for the translation award is up on Three Percent.
Small Beer Press is indeed a very small publishing company. They don't publish a lot of translations, Trafalgar and Gorodischer's other translated work, Kalpa Imperial, are exepctions, but they do publish some authors I recognize. Amalia Gladhart has also translated works by Alicia Yánez Cossío, is a Spanish professor at the university of Oregon, and writes short stories and poetry.
I also finished The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, which is published by NYRB Classics and translated by Thomas Teal. Teal won the Best Translated Book Award for it. He has translated several of Jansson's other works, and doesn't seem to have a webpage so I don't know anything about him. His acceptance speech for the translation award is up on Three Percent.
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I finished The Axe by Sigrid Undset, which was published way back by Alfred A. Knopf and translated by Arthur G. Chater. It is the 1st volume of the four volume work The Master of Hestviken.
The Axe took me forever to finish. It is one of those books where you are perfectly happy reading it, but then don't pick it up again. The few reviews I glanced at before reading it compared it (negatively) to Kristin Lavransdatter, Undset's more famous work, and so I was determined not to compare the two and to judge The Axe by itself. This was impossible. The works are just too similar. It is as if Undset accomplished with Kristin Lavransdatter what she failed to in The Axe.
There is a deep gulf between my understanding of what Undset is trying to say and what I am getting out of her novels. Undset was a Catholic convert. Her characters are deeply Catholic and judging by the reviews by Catholic readers, her works are a moving expression of Catholicism. I see unachievable religious standards putting characters through as much self torment as a talented author can write.
The Axe took me forever to finish. It is one of those books where you are perfectly happy reading it, but then don't pick it up again. The few reviews I glanced at before reading it compared it (negatively) to Kristin Lavransdatter, Undset's more famous work, and so I was determined not to compare the two and to judge The Axe by itself. This was impossible. The works are just too similar. It is as if Undset accomplished with Kristin Lavransdatter what she failed to in The Axe.
There is a deep gulf between my understanding of what Undset is trying to say and what I am getting out of her novels. Undset was a Catholic convert. Her characters are deeply Catholic and judging by the reviews by Catholic readers, her works are a moving expression of Catholicism. I see unachievable religious standards putting characters through as much self torment as a talented author can write.
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I finished With My Dog-Eyes by Hilda Hilst, translate by Adam Morris and published by Melville House. Morris is a Stanford University PhD candidate and won the Susan Sontag Foundation Prize for the translation.
I'm not exactly sure what I just read. It definitely has a character named Amós Kere.
I'm not exactly sure what I just read. It definitely has a character named Amós Kere.
19rebeccanyc
Interesting about the Undset. I loved Kristin Lavransdatter but I'm not sure I'm up for any more of her. I did find the religious aspects of KL a little hard to wrap my modern mind around.
20Settings
One of the reasons I liked Kristin Lavransdatter so much was because of the religious aspects. They don't seem sugar-coated or modernized, and it contributes to making the characters seem like actual medieval people, not modern people in a medieval setting. You might like Gunnar's Daughter by Undset. I don't think it has as many religious themes as the other two, or at least I didn't notice them. It's a revenge tragedy based on the Sagas.
In my quest for something light and fun to read, I read The Murder of Halland, which I thought was one of those Scandinavian crime thillers that got so popular lately. I was mistaken. The book is about its main character and her detached grief. The publisher is Peirene Press ("Contemporary European Literature. Thought provoking, well designed, short."), which is a London publisher that exclusively publishes European fiction in English translation. They publish roughly 3 a year, each with a theme. The translator was Martin Aitken, who recently quit his University teach job to translate books from Danish. His translations have won a bunch of awards and he also translates Jussi Alder-Olsen's works.
In another quest for something light and fun to read, I read Reckless by Cornelia Funke. I'm not really a fan of Funke, her blatant ripoff ("homage") of Something Wicked This Way Comes in The Thief Lord made me mad, but I should be less uptight. Reckless is a perfectly enjoyable YA quest fantasy. It's the first book of the Mirrorworld series, which is set in a Grimm's fairytale world behind a mirror. The publisher is Little, Brown and Company (owned by Hachette), and the translator is Oliver Latsch, who is also Funke's literary agent.
In my quest for something light and fun to read, I read The Murder of Halland, which I thought was one of those Scandinavian crime thillers that got so popular lately. I was mistaken. The book is about its main character and her detached grief. The publisher is Peirene Press ("Contemporary European Literature. Thought provoking, well designed, short."), which is a London publisher that exclusively publishes European fiction in English translation. They publish roughly 3 a year, each with a theme. The translator was Martin Aitken, who recently quit his University teach job to translate books from Danish. His translations have won a bunch of awards and he also translates Jussi Alder-Olsen's works.
In another quest for something light and fun to read, I read Reckless by Cornelia Funke. I'm not really a fan of Funke, her blatant ripoff ("homage") of Something Wicked This Way Comes in The Thief Lord made me mad, but I should be less uptight. Reckless is a perfectly enjoyable YA quest fantasy. It's the first book of the Mirrorworld series, which is set in a Grimm's fairytale world behind a mirror. The publisher is Little, Brown and Company (owned by Hachette), and the translator is Oliver Latsch, who is also Funke's literary agent.
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I haven't posted for a while, but I've been keeping up with my reading. Over the last month I finished A Woman's Story, The Gingerbread House, The House of Ulloa, and Marta Oulie. I'm currently reading Cleopatra Dismounts and I got through my library's ebook waiting list for Kalpa Imperial.
I was planning to write down the publishers and translators for all of those, but I've been staying in a hotel for a while and the Internet is too slow to research things. So just one for now.
A Woman's Story by Annie Ernaux is one of Ernaux's several memoirs, this one focusing on her mother's life and her suffering from Alzheimers. The translator, Tanya Leslie, is a mystery. The publisher was Seven Stories Press. They seem to publish a variety of books including translated fiction, but their website isn't very organized (no categories), and it's too slow to click around. The blog on the homepage proudly announces that one of their books (Mundo Cruel) just won a Lambda award.
I was planning to write down the publishers and translators for all of those, but I've been staying in a hotel for a while and the Internet is too slow to research things. So just one for now.
A Woman's Story by Annie Ernaux is one of Ernaux's several memoirs, this one focusing on her mother's life and her suffering from Alzheimers. The translator, Tanya Leslie, is a mystery. The publisher was Seven Stories Press. They seem to publish a variety of books including translated fiction, but their website isn't very organized (no categories), and it's too slow to click around. The blog on the homepage proudly announces that one of their books (Mundo Cruel) just won a Lambda award.
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I finished a couple more. I will research the publishers when I get back.
I finished Cleopatra Dismounts by Carmen Boullosa, which currently has a 3.33 rating here and a 3.31 rating on Goodreads, despite being an excellent book. Reviewers were expecting run of the mill historical fiction and got metafiction. The frame is a historian trying to preserve Cleopatra's memory by writing in her voice. Diomedes writes three voices, with Cleopatra speaking at three different stages in her life. I also see that one of Boullosa's other books, Leaving Tabasco, has a 0.5 rating (only 15 members though) and is shelved under "books I hate." Interesting.
I also finished Paula by Isabel Allende, which is a memoir/letter Allende wrote to her seriously ill daughter. Allende's writing is phenomenal. I imagine if I had children and could more easily empathize the book would have had me in tears.
I didn't really enjoy In Red by Magdalena Tulli because I didn't understand it. It seemed to be trying to capture a zeitgeist of a Polish factory town that degrades as war causes economic collapse. It lacked a cohesive narrative and characters came and went. It was either extremely depressing or black comedy.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri surprised me because I was actually charmed. It is extremely saccharine but I liked it anyway.
And finally, I read The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf, which is a diary of two twin boys living in poverty at their grandmother's house during the war. I read this in Chinese, so I am quite proud of myself, but I am sure I missed out on many things and the majority of the tone. It seems to be fairly popular in China for some reason.
I finished Cleopatra Dismounts by Carmen Boullosa, which currently has a 3.33 rating here and a 3.31 rating on Goodreads, despite being an excellent book. Reviewers were expecting run of the mill historical fiction and got metafiction. The frame is a historian trying to preserve Cleopatra's memory by writing in her voice. Diomedes writes three voices, with Cleopatra speaking at three different stages in her life. I also see that one of Boullosa's other books, Leaving Tabasco, has a 0.5 rating (only 15 members though) and is shelved under "books I hate." Interesting.
I also finished Paula by Isabel Allende, which is a memoir/letter Allende wrote to her seriously ill daughter. Allende's writing is phenomenal. I imagine if I had children and could more easily empathize the book would have had me in tears.
I didn't really enjoy In Red by Magdalena Tulli because I didn't understand it. It seemed to be trying to capture a zeitgeist of a Polish factory town that degrades as war causes economic collapse. It lacked a cohesive narrative and characters came and went. It was either extremely depressing or black comedy.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri surprised me because I was actually charmed. It is extremely saccharine but I liked it anyway.
And finally, I read The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf, which is a diary of two twin boys living in poverty at their grandmother's house during the war. I read this in Chinese, so I am quite proud of myself, but I am sure I missed out on many things and the majority of the tone. It seems to be fairly popular in China for some reason.
23rebeccanyc
Too bad you didn't enjoy In Red. I was so caught up in it I nearly missed my subway stop two days in a row!
25GlebtheDancer
I had never heard of Carmen Boullosa, but she looks very interesting. Thanks.
26Settings
Alright, publishers and translators.
The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen is published by Stockholm Text, which has a horrible website with broken links that doesn’t even list all their works. The translator is Paul Norlén, who also translates a bunch of other books that look like crime fiction and the Penguin edition of The Saga of Gösta Berling.
The House of Ulloa by Emilia Pardo Bazán was published by Penguin and translated by Lucia Graves and Paul O'Prey, both of whom are famous enough to have Wikipedia pages. O’Prey is the vice-chancellor at the University of Roehampton, and seems to publish more scholarly works than translations. Lucia Graves also translates works by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and has writes her own works (Memory House).
Marta Oulie by Sigrid Undset was translated by Tiina Nunnally, who has published so many relatively high-profile works by Scandinavian authors I’m starting to consider her the Constance Garnett of Scandinavia. The publisher was University of Minnesota Press, who also publishes Sigurd and His Brave Companions and Happy Times in Norway by Undset. There is an interview with Nunnally on her translation of Marta Oulie.
Cleopatra Dismounts was translated by Geoff Hargreaves and published by Grove/Atlantic. Grove/Atlantic is famous enough I don’t think I have to write about them, and Hargreaves is a mystery.
The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen is published by Stockholm Text, which has a horrible website with broken links that doesn’t even list all their works. The translator is Paul Norlén, who also translates a bunch of other books that look like crime fiction and the Penguin edition of The Saga of Gösta Berling.
The House of Ulloa by Emilia Pardo Bazán was published by Penguin and translated by Lucia Graves and Paul O'Prey, both of whom are famous enough to have Wikipedia pages. O’Prey is the vice-chancellor at the University of Roehampton, and seems to publish more scholarly works than translations. Lucia Graves also translates works by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and has writes her own works (Memory House).
Marta Oulie by Sigrid Undset was translated by Tiina Nunnally, who has published so many relatively high-profile works by Scandinavian authors I’m starting to consider her the Constance Garnett of Scandinavia. The publisher was University of Minnesota Press, who also publishes Sigurd and His Brave Companions and Happy Times in Norway by Undset. There is an interview with Nunnally on her translation of Marta Oulie.
Cleopatra Dismounts was translated by Geoff Hargreaves and published by Grove/Atlantic. Grove/Atlantic is famous enough I don’t think I have to write about them, and Hargreaves is a mystery.
27Settings
In Red by Magdalena Tulli was translated by Bill Johnston and published by Archipelago Books, “a nonprofit press devoted to contemporary and classic international literature.” They also publish Flaw, Moving Parts, and Dreams and Stones by Magdalena Tulli, as well as numerous other translated books by women. I found an interview with Bill Johnston (who also translated those other books by Tulli).
I read the Project Gutenberg version of Heidi by Johanna Spyri, which was translated by Elisabeth P. Stork and illustrated by Maria Louise Kirk. It was originally published by J.B. Lippincott Company, which underwent a bunch of mergers and is now an imprint of Wolters Kluwer Health, a publisher of health care nonfiction.
The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf was published by 上海人民出版社 (Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe) and translated by 简伊玲.
I read the Project Gutenberg version of Heidi by Johanna Spyri, which was translated by Elisabeth P. Stork and illustrated by Maria Louise Kirk. It was originally published by J.B. Lippincott Company, which underwent a bunch of mergers and is now an imprint of Wolters Kluwer Health, a publisher of health care nonfiction.
The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf was published by 上海人民出版社 (Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe) and translated by 简伊玲.
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Paula by Isabel Allende was published by Flamingo (HarperCollins imprint) and translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. This one is the last of the ones I've already listed because I had to go check my copy to see who the translator was. Peden is unlisted on Amazon and Goodreads, and by then it was easier to check the physical copy. Despite the anonymity, Peden has translated novels and poetry by numerous Spanish speaking authors, including Carlos Fuentes, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Pablo Neruda, and Fernando de Rojas. She has also translated many books by Allende. She has won numerous translation prizes. There is an interview with her about her translations.
From the interview- “But once when translating a novel by Carlos Fuentes, his colossal Terra Nostra, I had to ask him about a phrase dating from the modern era in France. “Sorry,” he told me. “That Parisian slang changes so quickly that I’ve forgotten what these wordssay. Just make something up.””
From the interview- “But once when translating a novel by Carlos Fuentes, his colossal Terra Nostra, I had to ask him about a phrase dating from the modern era in France. “Sorry,” he told me. “That Parisian slang changes so quickly that I’ve forgotten what these wordssay. Just make something up.””
29rebeccanyc
>26 Settings: >27 Settings: Exciting news about the new Undset and the others published by the University of Minnesota. I enjoyed her translation of Kristin Lavransdatter which I read last year. And I'm a big fan of Magdalena Tulli. I still have to read Flaw, but I've read all the others that have been translated into English. Thanks for the updates and the links.
30bonzoi
Aquest missatge ha estat marcat com abús per més d'un usuari i ja no es pot veure (mostra)
Some people really have nothing else to do but type never ending posts.....wonder what they do in the real world!
31Settings
I'll definitely give Magdalena Tulli another chance someday. Every year I feel like I get better at understanding what I read, so I'll look forward to appreciating her someday.
I've been neglecting this thread, but I've since finished The Passion According to G.H., Lucie, The Piano Teacher, Bonjour Tristesse, The Weight of Temptation, House of Day, House of Night, and Nada.
I've been neglecting this thread, but I've since finished The Passion According to G.H., Lucie, The Piano Teacher, Bonjour Tristesse, The Weight of Temptation, House of Day, House of Night, and Nada.
32rebeccanyc
>31 Settings: Hope you enjoy Tulli when you try her again. Seeing your comment reminded me that I want to read Flaw, the only book by her I haven't read, sooner rather than later.