We depend on translators to bring us the world's literature. We also depend on them to make the right decisions on how to bring a novel to life, wrestling with fidelity to the original versus comprehension for the reader. This book is not only a list, but a guide to those who do this marvelous work.
Category: Books in Translation
Top three novels on 2018 year-end lists
These novels appear the most times on 2018 fiction lists that announce the year's favorites, notables, and bests.
It all starts with something simple.
Victor del Arbol's new novel "A Million Drops" is an intoxicating page-turner that knits together the crimes of darkly motivated characters. Spanning 1933 to 2002, it follows the lives of Soviet Gulag survivor Elias Gil and his children.
Living the Russian language
Laura Esther Wolfson's collected essays tell the story of her life as a translator and interpreter. They are as creative and memorable as the book's title, "For Single Mothers Working as Train Conductors."
My most given books
A comment during an interview with author Mark Helprin turned my thinking to the books I’ve given most as gifts. Here they are.
Pick a country. Read the books.
The 2018 International Dublin Literary Award longlist includes 150 novels nominated by worldwide librarians. Here are reading suggestions.
Longing for the unreachable past
"Katalin Street" by Magda Szabó offers a compulsive reading experience about three families who live side by side in 1934 Budapest.
The holy grail of contentment
"A Whole Life" by Robert Seethaler tells a memorable story about a mountain man with simple needs.
48 people, 48 agents of uncertainty
"Constellation" is a brief, fictionalized true story about the Air France F-BAZN Lockheed Constellation airplane that crashed into a mountain in the Azores archipelago on October 28, 1949. This captivating novel is more than a retelling of an aviation event. Here's why.
Blockbuster sales for this crime novel
"Six Four" is being hailed by critics for its complexity and insight into Japanese media, police and government culture and corruption. Readers have shot sales figures into the stratosphere. It's a unique novel for ambitious, patient and demanding readers.
2016 International Award Winners
Award-winning novels don't often equate to page-turners, but they do point us in the direction of fine literature. These winners of recent international fiction awards tell stories about family tragedy, a South Korean woman's obsession with vegetarianism and crime in Ireland's post-crash society. Here are the book titles and more of what each is about.
Charlotte Salomon: “It is my whole life”
David Foenkinos has written a novel that's as compelling for its style as it is for the story. The new novel is a multiple award-winner and massive bestseller in France, recounting the life and work of German artist Charlotte Salomon during World War II. Foenkinos' obsession with the subject and the way he writes the story make it a stand-out.
What would you say?
French author Jean-Philippe Blondel creates an engaging fictional story out of an ordinary incident that takes place on a train from Troyes, in northeastern France, to Paris. A best-seller in France and Germany, here's what it's all about.
Best fiction 2015: where the critics agree
Everyone's making their lists of 2015 best books from a year of reading. I wanted to see if there's agreement on one book of fiction, so I cross-referenced the fiction lists from five publications. Turns out, there are two.
“The Mysteries of Paris”
Ernest Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" is flying out of Paris bookstores. A bit here about that, and also about a new-old book set in the City of Light that first appeared in serial installments in a 19th century Paris newspaper. It captivated readers and saved the failing newspaper from bankruptcy. Here's the scoop.
