Your Favorite Books in Translation You’ve Read This Year (So Far)
In the Read Harder Halfway Check-In Survey, I asked you what your favorite books are that you’ve read for the challenge so far, and you gave so many great answers that I couldn’t keep them to myself. So, today, I’m sharing the titles that you read and loved for task #8 of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge: Read a book in translation from a country you’ve never visited.
Japanese works in translation were especially popular in your answers — if you’re looking for more, check out our lists of 14 Must-Read Japanese Books Available in English Translation and 20 Must-Read Japanese Books by Women in Translation. This list takes us around the world, though, from Brazil to Egypt to Italy.
Of course, if you’re a world traveller, this task is a little tougher. But if you’ve been to every country on this list, I can’t say I feel too sorry for you!
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The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
The Cat Who Saved Books also checks off task #20: Read a book about books (fiction or nonfiction)! This novel translated from the Japanese follows a teenager who inherited a used bookstore from his grandfather. He plans to close it, but then a talking cat appears and insists he help him to rescue unloved books from around the city. What book lover could resist a premise like that?
Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Zoë Perry
From cat to cattle, this novella is a darker story that packs a punch in its 99 pages. It’s by a Brazilian author and was translated from Portuguese. It follows Edgar Wilson, a stun operator at a slaughterhouse. His job has gotten more difficult lately, though, because the cattle are panicked, running into walls and off cliffs. The foreman thinks a jaguar is lurking in the jungle nearby, and that’s what has them spooked, but Edgar knows something more sinister is happening, and it’s not just the cattle being affected.
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder
When a brilliant mathematics professor sustains a brain injury that shortens his memory to 80 minutes, a housekeeper is hired to help take care of him. Every day, they meet each other anew; she is a stranger to him. Despite this, he still remembers complex equations, and he teaches her the language of mathematics that reveals the magic in everyday numbers.
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed, translated by the author
Originally published in Arabic, this graphic novel was translated into English by the author, including footnotes for context. It was recently nominated for “Best Book” in the 2024 Harvey Awards, one of the most prestigious awards in comics. It follows three characters in Cairo who each purchase a wish from a kiosk that changes their lives forever.
Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, translated by Geoffrey Trousselot
This is the fourth book in the Japanese Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, so be sure to start with book one if you’re interested! It explores different characters’ experiences at the Café Funiculi Funicula, which allows you to travel back in time…but only until the coffee gets cold. This volume looks like it includes a story about a woman traveling back in time to say goodbye to her dog, so be prepared for some tears!
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor
This thriller was translated from the French, and it’s being adapted into an HBO series produced by produced by Nicole Kidman and Maya Erskine. It’s set in Paris, where a mother hires a nanny so that she can return to working as a lawyer. Louise is the perfect nanny, but just when the family can’t imagine life without her, they begin to have suspicions. This also checks off task #23: Read a “howdunit” or “whydunit” mystery.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell, illustrated by Pablo Gerardo Camacho
This Argentinian novel was translated from Spanish, and it made our Best Books of the Year list for 2023, so I’m going to use Leah Rachel von Essen’s description of why it was her favorite read of the year: “This simmering, haunting gothic features a man named Juan trying to hide his son’s burgeoning abilities from the cult that he serves, afraid that they’ll make his son work the same terrifying summoning rituals that he does regularly. As Juan and Gaspar deal with a world in which, like most gothics, the human villains are worse than anything the spirits can conjure, the narrative weaves into a mirror of Argentina’s history of disappearances, suppression, and violence.”
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein
Finally, we have an Italian novel that The New York Times recently named the best book of the century. This series follows a lifetime of friendship between two women in Naples, Italy. In the first volume, we see Lila and Elena meet as 10-year-olds in the 1950s, and then we follow their complex relationship through their school years. It’s hard to overstate how beloved this series is!
What’s your favorite book in translation? Let’s chat in the comments!
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