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.
What’s your favorite book in translation? Let’s chat in the comments!
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