The Buzz...About Books

A few more of my picks

Atlas of Poetic Zoology by Emmanuelle Pouydebat (originally in French, translated by Erik Butler)

• All formats

A beautifully-illustrated book about majestic, sometimes odd, creatures that at times seem too unreal. You’ll learn a lot from this one: did you know that certain jellyfish can revert to polyps, effectively aging backwards? If French is your first language, not to worry! The book fits into other Challenge categories because it is under 200 pages and it could be considered experimental, too. 

The Dinner by Herman Koch (translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett)

• All formats

What starts out innocently enough, two brothers meeting for dinner with their wives, spirals into an awkward debacle of family tensions. The actual dinner itself disappears into the background of the story, the focus being the unraveling of the four adults discussing their teenage sons. Just when things get too tense, a helpful server stops by the table to ask how the meal is going. I couldn't put this book down!

Staff Recommendations

These books were picked by our staff for "a book written in a language that is not your first language".

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated by Alison Anderson)

t was originally written in French, titled L'Elegance du herisson. Reading it has made quite an impact on my life.

– Lisa, Library Assistant

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami (translated from Japanse by Louise Heal Kawai)

• All formats

This is a lovely coming-of-age story about a young schoolboy that falls in love with a woman who sells sandwiches. By the end, I wanted to scoop him up and give him a big hug! And I'd suggest Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori) as well. It's a quirky story about a woman who works at a convenience store in Tokyo, and her family is desperately trying to get her to grow up and get married and do what is expected of her. Very funny and heartwarming about carving your own path! These two books are so quirky and lovable (they are also short, easy reads that are very accessible).

– Michelle, Communications Officer

Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (translated from Russian by Julia Hersey)

• All formats

Combining metaphysics, dark fantastical elements, and psychological suspense, Vita Nostra is a fresh take on one of the most prolific fantasy genre tropes – the school for magic. Against her will, teenage protagonist Alexandra (Sasha) Samokhina moves to a remote village to enroll in the Institute of Special Technologies. The slightest misstep or failure at school and her loved ones will pay the price. I am in awe of how cleverly the authors constructed a reading experience that mirrored the stages of Sasha’s education. Like Sasha, I followed along blindly at first, trying to adapt to a world of oddities and chilling manipulations. I was quickly absorbed by this philosophical coming-of-age story though and it remains one of the most unique reading experiences I’ve ever had!

– Chelsea, Librarian

The Salvo Montalbano detective series by Andrea Camilleri. Excellent translation from the Italian by Stephen Sartorelli. Read them chronologically.

• All formats

For some Turkish delight, sample Hotel Bosphorus by Esmahan Aykol (translated by Ruth Whitehouse). The first in the Kati Hirschel series. She's a true pip. Brisk and pragmatic! I'd also recommend Maurice Dekobra's Madonna of the Sleeping Cars (translated from French by Neal Wainwright). An interwar 20th century bit of mittel-Europa intrigue.

– Marie, Librarian

Beartown by Fredrik Backman (translated from Swedish by Neil Smith)

• All formats

One of my favourite authors is Fredrik Backman who writes in Swedish. His most well-known book is A Man Called Ove, but I highly recommend Beartown. It is about a fictional forest town in Sweden that has its entire focus on playing hockey. When their best hope for glory is shut down because of the courage of one person, their community's values are placed in the spotlight. This is not a hockey story, it is a story about life. It is the story of right and wrong, good and evil. And if you like Beartown, there's a sequel, Us Against You (which is also great!).

– Nalini, Branch Head

The Iraqi Nights by Dunya Mikhail (translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid)

• All formats

I recently read Dunya Mikhail's lovely poetry book, and am planning on reading Celestial Bodies by Jūkhah Ḥārithī (Arabic, translated by Marilyn Booth) too. There are too many awesome books written in many other languages to list them all, but I am also reading through How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard (French, translated by Jeffrey Mehlman) and might follow it up with Love in Exile by Ayşe Kulin (Turkish, translated by Kenneth Dakan).

– Michael, Librarian

Poetry books from world literature. For example, in the 891 section for works by Rumi, who is quite popular in social media captions. Check out Sufi poetry, Persian–Translations into English.

– Rabia, Librarian

My Brother's Husband, Vol 1 by Gengoroh Tagame (translated from Japanese by Anne Ishii)

• All formats

These are terrific stories about family, loss and love – and are also a great introduction to manga. Anne Ishii translates. I also really like Yoko Ogawa's books. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a lovely, little book about baseball and math and remembering. I'm excited to read her latest, The Memory Police which has an incredibly spooky premise. Stephen Snyder translates. 

• Jennifer, Librarian

Niels Lyhne by Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish by Tiina Nunnally)

It's a melancholic telling of a man being transformed by each romantic relationship through different stages of his life. Written in the course of several years, the writing style and tone changes with the main character. It's beautiful and elegant, with gripping passages that left me so entranced I had to take several pauses to sit with the words. Bonus, Jacobsen was an inspiration for Rilke.

– Christine, Library Assistant

The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia (translated from Spanish by Simon Bruni)

• All formats

My recommended books were all originally written in Spanish. My first two picks are by Mexican authors and for people who like magical realism: The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia (translated by Simon Bruni) and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (translated by Carol and Thomas Christensen). My third pick is a mystery by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind (translated by Lucia Graves).

– Catherine, Services Specialist

There are so many books to choose from. However, one I recently read and enjoyed is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein). It captures the essence of Neapolitan life perfectly.

– Cynthia, Manager

Lala by Jacek Dehnel (translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)

• All formats

Not a known author here but a great one. Available at TPL in both Polish and English. It is a beautiful fictional tribute of Dehnel to his grandmother and a historical novel placed before and during WWII.

– Dorota, Services Specialist

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (translated from German by Simon Pare)

• All formats

Monsieur Jean Purdu takes his literary apothecary on a voyage through the little villages of France, to find out about his lost love. It just makes you want to rent a houseboat and travel these magical waterways!

– Debra, Librarian

Naw Much of a Talker by Pedro Lenz (translated by Donal McLaughlin)

• All formats

I've mentioned this before because I think it's so cool. A brief story: Pedro Lenz is a Swiss writer who was inspired to write this novel by a 6-month residency in Glasgow where he was enchanted by the Glaswegian people and their dialect. He wrote the book in Bernese German (a Swiss/German dialect) and it was translated into Glaswegian. The dialect, also known as Glasgow patter makes reading this novel challenging. It's a little like reading Chaucer – the words on the page seem alien until you read them out loud. It's a delightful read.

– Margaret, Librarian

Please Look After Mom by Kyŏng-suk Sin (translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim)

• All formats

Mom gets lost in Seoul, and the family search for her. It's a reflection on family and regret that will stay with you.

– Joanne, Librarian

Children's

The 2020 Reading Challenge main categories are suitable for readers of all ages, so here are a few recommendations for kids:

• Tintin by Hergé (originally in French)
• Moomin by Lars Jansson (originally in Swedish)
• The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupéry (originally in French)
• The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren (translated from Swedish by Joan Tate)
• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (originally in Swedish)
• Contando con Frida = Counting with Frida by Patty Rodríguez (book is in Spanish and English, translated by Ariana Stein)

Recommendations from the Facebook Group

These are just some of the recommendations from our Facebook TPL Reading Challenge 2020 discussion group.

• The 100 Year Old Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (translated from Swedish by Rod Bradbury)
• The Witcher series by Andrzej Sopowski (originally in Polish)
• The German Lesson by Siegfried Lenz (translated from German by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins)
• Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (translated from from French by Lloyd Alexander)
• Mahabharata by Vyas (originally in Sanskrit)
• The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (translated from Swedish by Ann Long)
• The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida (English edition translated from by Japanese by Ka Yoshida and David Mitchel; there is also a French edition)
• An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten (translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy)
• Blue Is The Warmest Color by Julie Maroh (translated from French by by Ivanka Hahnenberger)
• Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (translated from French by Sandra Smith)
• Casa de los Espíritus (English title: The House of the Spirits) by Isabel Allende (translated from Spanish by Magda Bogin)
• Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (translated from Polish by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated from Korean: in English by Deborah Smith; in French by Jeong Eun-Jin & Jacques Batillio; also available in German; and in Korean)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo (translated from Portuguese into a variety of languages)
• The Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque (translated from the German by Walter Sorell and Denver Lindley)
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez (translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (originally in Russian)
• Blindness by Jose Saramago (translated from Portugeuse by Giovanni Pontiero)
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His years of Pilgrims by Haruki Murakami (translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel) (translated into Korean by Ŏk-kwan Yang) 
• Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel)
• Ruby Red trilogy (translated from German by Anthea Bell)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland)
• A Heart So White by Javier Marías (translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa)
• Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson (translated from Icelandic by translated by Quentin Bates)
• The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (originally in German)
• The Master and Margarita (originally in Russian)
• Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (translated from Japanese by by Edward G. Seidensticker)
• Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous (translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein)
• The Party Wall by Catherine Leroux (translated from the French by Lazer Lederhendler)
• A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk (translated from Turkish by Ekin Oklap)
• The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti (translated from Italian by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre) 
• Songs for the Cold of Heart by Éric Dupont (translated from French by Peter McCambridge)
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu (originally in Chinese)
• The Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō (translated from Japanese by by Cathy Hirano)
• Faceless Killers (first in Wallander series) by Henning Mankell (translated from Swedish by Steven T. Murray)

What did you read for a book originally written in a language that is not your first language? Do you have other recommendations? Share in the comments below!

Want to talk about what you're reading in person or get more recommendations? Come to a Reading Challenge Meetup!