Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I think I will try for 6 in 2020

I was going to go big, but I decided to keep my challenge modest.

1. Czech: The Attempt by Magdaléna Platzová (translated by Alex Zucker)

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal (translated by Michael Henry Heim)

Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal (translated by Edith Pargeter)

2. Italian A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio, translated by Ann Goldstein (same translator for Elena Ferrante)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein, read 09/11/2020

3. Persian: The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat (translated by Naveed Noori)

4. French The Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon (translated by Linda Coverdale)

Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre (translated by Lloyd Alexander), read 01/22/2020

Monsieur de Chauvelin's Will by Alexandre Dumas (translated by Alfred Allisnson). read 03/01/2020

Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac, (translated by Ellen Marriage), read 03/14/2020

The Lily Of The Valley by Honoré de Balzac (translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley), read 03/31/2020

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee from Charles Wilbur's translation), read 04/21/2020.

The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Marguerite Duras (translated by Richard Seever)

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui, (ttanslated by Lara Vergnaud), read 12/04/2020

5. Russian: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky ( I also read parts of this in another translation by Constance Garnett)

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky,( I also read portions of David McDuff's version.

Completed Language Learner level

6. Hungarian Abigail by Magda Szabó, translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix

7. Hebrew: My Michael, by Amos Oz translated by Nicholas de Lange.

8. Polish: Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft.

9. Romanian: For Two Thousand Years by Mihail Sebastian, Translated by Philip O Ceallaigh

Adding to message 5. Monsieur de Chauvelin's Will by Alexandre Dumas, (Translated by Alfred Allinson)

Adding to message 5. Père Goriot, by Honoré de Balzac (translated by Ellen Marriage)

10. Estonian: The Ropewalker: Between Three Plagues Volume I by Jaan Kross (translated by Merike Lepasaar Beecher)

Finished the Translator level

11. Korean: Human Acts by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)

12. German: A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (translated by Charlotte Collins)

Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas (translated by Trina Layland), 3.5 stars. Set in Hamburg Germany

Rosshalde by Hermann Hesse (translated by Ralph Manheim) 3.5 stars

Adding to message 5. The Lily Of The Valley by Honoré de Balzac

It looks like this is my year for reading French classics.

Just Balzac alone would keep you busy all year, Karen.

Adding to message 5. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee from Charles Wilbur's translation)

Rosemarie wrote: "Just Balzac alone would keep you busy all year, Karen."

After reading Victor Hugo, I think I will go back to Balzac.

13. Greek On Pascha: With the Fragments of Melito and Other Material Related to the Quartodecimans by Melito of Sardis (translated by Alistair C. Stewart)

14: Afrikaans: Hard Rain by Irma Venter (translated by Elsa Silke)

15. Turkish: The Girl in the Tree by Şebnem İşigüzel (translated by Mark David Wyers), 3.5 stars. Adult language throughout, but the information definitely worth reading.

I finished the Interpreter level

Adding to message 15: German
Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas (translated by Trina Layland), 3.5 stars. Set in Hamburg Germany

16. Japanese: The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa (translated by Stephen Snyder), 4 stars

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen) 4 stars for the story Kino, which was by far the best story in this collection, the other stories were between 2.5 and 3.

17. Icelandic Seven Icelandic Short Stories by various authors including Haldor Laxness, who won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. Various translators. 4 stars, I really enjoyed this collection.

Adding to message 3, Italian. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (translated by William Weaver). 3.5 stars.

may i give you a suggestion?

Sure.

Adding to message 2. Czech: Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal (translated by Michael Henry Heim) 4 stars

I'd like to give you recommendation from indonesian: This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
Laut Bercerita by Leila S. Chudori (the international edition released a few weeks ago by penguin books but it's not added yet)
Hope you like it!

Aditya wrote: "I'd like to give you recommendation from indonesian: This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan

Thank you Aditya! I have the Toer book, but not the other two. I just downloaded the other two.

What classic Indonesian books do students read (either High school or college)? Or a book that the majority of Indonesians have read, an almost national book, so to speak.

Here some classics:
Never The Twain
Sitti Nurbaya: A Love Unrealized
The Weaverbirds
The Atheist
Letters of a Javanese Princess
Twilight In Djakarta
Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company
Shackles
The Fall and the Heart
And the War Is Over: A Novel

Honestly, I don't read classics that much (shame on me) but those are well-known classics I know.

Some contemporary many Indonesians read:
The Rainbow Troops
Saman
The Question of Red
Supernova: The Knight, the Princess and the Falling Star
Bound
The Land of Five Towers
The Dancer
Earth

Great list! Missy J may have some ideas on Indonesian literature, too.

I’m not Indonesian, but I really enjoyed The Rainbow Troops from the list above. Another Indonesian book I loved was This Earth of Mankind, the first in a quartet (with diminishing returns on subsequent books). Still have Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company on my reading list, but I see I’m going to have to add more from Aditya’s list.

Thank you Aditya and Mome_Rath.

Adding to message 5: French The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Marguerite Duras (translated by Richard Seever)

Adding to message 2. Czech Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal

18. Arabic: The Sea Cloak and other stories by Nayrouz Qarmout (translated by Perween Richards)

Adding to message 24. (Japanese) Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami(translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen)

19. Indonesian: Home by Leila S. Chudori (translated by John H. McGlynn)

The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata (translated by Angie Kilbane), read 09/04/2020

Saman by Ayu Utami(translated by Pamela Allen), 09/05/2020

Adding to message 3: Italian.
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

Adding to message 15. (German)

Rosshalde by Hermann Hesse (translated by Ralph Manheim)

20. Spanish: Forgotten Journey by Silvina Ocampo, translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Katie Lateef-Jan

I finished the Linguist level.

Adding to message 5. French

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui, translated by Lara Vergnaud

Adding to message 6. Russian: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky. I also read portions, translated by David McDuff.

21. Swedish Island i forntiden: En översikt över den fornisländska fristatens historia by Njörður P. Njarðvík, read 12/31/2020, translated from the Swedish by

A Short history of the Commonwealth era in Iceland about 700 - 1300 A.D.