Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

This thread is for dropping ideas, questions, resources, comments, and discussion about Task 19: A Book That Was Originally Published in Another Language.

Get ideas from our "in translation" tag on Book Riot:

http://bookriot.com/search/in+transla...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Planning on The Count of Monte Cristo.

I'm going with Doctor Zhivago. It's been on my TBR shelf for a while.

Jenny wrote: "Planning on Count of Monte Cristo"

Me too!! This has been sitting on my shelf for so long!

I may read Chretien de Troyes 12th century French Romances (CLiges; Yvain,the knight of the lion; Lancelot, the knight of the cart; and Perceval, the story of the grail).

I'm planning on reding Norwegian Wood seeing as its been on my tbr forever.

I loved Count of Monte Cristo. It is a longggg book but it's a whole lotta fun!

I might do Three Musketeers or an Italo Calvino or Love in the Time of Cholera. So many translations sitting on my tbr shelf.

I have my heart set on a Toltsoy or a Victor Hugo. I need to go back to admiring massive books! :)

Kenny wrote: "I'm going with Doctor Zhivago. It's been on my TBR shelf for a while."

This is one I've been meaning to read forever.

Manno: Read Les Miserables. I am currently reading it. :)

I've had In Praise Of Hatred on my TBR longer than anything at this point, maybe I will kick off the challenge with it for this category.

Started reading the Second Sex today.

I have Let the Right One In on my shelf - intrigued by this Swedish vampire tale. Will probably scare the pants off me.

I loved the count of Monte Cristo. I am going to read
Don Quixote by Miguel Miguel de Cervantes or The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning by Hallgrímur Helgason or The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I think I'll try Butterflies in November, I enjoyed the quirky Swedish novels like The hundred year old man who climbed out of a window and disappeared, this seems like a similar idea but Icelandic.

One of the Jo Nesbos. I've had several on my kindle for awhile now.

Best book I've read...translated from French- The Truth about the Harry Quebert
Affair
I'm going to read Jo Nesbo's The Son for this category.

The Alchemist-Paulo Coelho

I will probably read Where the Air Is Clear or Life: A User's Manual.

On the other hand, since many of the books I have on my list already fall into this category, I thought this challenge might provide an opportunity to "read harder" by reading a book in the original language instead of in a translation. In that case, I'll probably pick something relatively short, such as the play Corona de Sombra, which I've wanted to read for years and haven't found available in English anywhere. My copy is a student edition with extensive annotations and a Spanish-English glossary in the back to help me out when I get stuck.

Madame Bovary Very excited to get this off my TBR pile.

Malvina wrote: "I loved Count of Monte Cristo. It is a longggg book but it's a whole lotta fun!

I might do Three Musketeers or an Italo Calvino or Love in the Time of Cholera. So many translations sitting on my t..."

I don't know if you've already read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, but I just loved it!

I'm going with A Dictionary of Maqiao

I plan to read The Three-Body Problem for this challenge. Science fiction by a Chinese author? Yes, please!

Ultra wrote: "I think I'll try Butterflies in November, I enjoyed the quirky Swedish novels like The hundred year old man who climbed out of a window and disappeared, this seems like a similar idea but Icelandic."

Oooh, thanks!! I've had that Swedish one on my Kindle for a while and haven't started it, this will be incentive!

If you love mysteries or books about bibliophiles Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind is the book for you.

PS. I guess now this can count as a book someone recommended. :-)

I know it's a children's book, but I've decided on "The Little Prince" because I've never read it.

I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this one-- but I'm planning on One Hundred Years of Solitude

Lauren wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Planning on Count of Monte Cristo"

Me too!! This has been sitting on my shelf for so long!"

Me three. Also before 1850 AND a romance (original def).

Just finished reading Franz Kafka's - The Trail, originally published in German I think. So that's 1/24.

Jeimy wrote: "If you love mysteries or books about bibliophiles Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind is the book for you.

PS. I guess now this can count as a book someone recommended. :-)"

That was a fantastic trilogy - highly recommend!

I recommend "The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson ~ a book that really made me laugh last year.

About to polish off There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories - amazing collection of short stories written during the mid/late Soviet era in Russia.

I loved "The One-Hundred-Year-Old Man..." In fact, my translated book is going to be The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden!


Teresa wrote: "I recommend "The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson ~ a book that really made me laugh last year."

Read Haruku Murakamis newest...interesting...

I just finished

by
and I loved it . Can't wait for the second book to come out

I'm reading to my daughter and realized it works for this task!

I still haven't read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I was planning to read it after they made the second book into a movie (English speaking - I tried the subtitles I swear). But that never happened.

I'm going to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read Love in the Time of Cholera two years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm hoping this one is just as good.

I have read Paul Verlaine by Stephan Zweig.

Reading "The Reader" by Bernard Schlink. Enjoying it so far :-)

Melissa wrote: "I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this one-- but I'm planning on One Hundred Years of Solitude"

Thats been on my TBR list for a long time now -- I'm definitely doing that book!

I got The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest for free on Kindle recently but can't quite bring myself to read it - it's not my sort of thing at all. Is it worth the time?

My alternative is a Carlos Ruiz Zafón, I've got a couple on my TBR pile and they're guaranteed to be enjoyed, but I'm mainly doing this to broaden horizons and I'd read those anyway, so.

If anyone is looking for something short, surreal and extremely French, there's Pascal Garnier- I think the translation and publication of his books in English is still ongoing? There are at least a few done though.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is actually the third in the trilogy. It wouldn't make any sense without the first two. Try The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first one. It will stand alone so if you don't love it you won't feel you missed anything.

Thanks :)

I've been reading Italo Calvino's "if on a winter's night a traveler," translated from the Italian. It's not a conventional novel by any stretch of the imagination; the author starts 10 different stories, breaking each off after the first chapter, interspersed with the accounts of a "Reader," an elderly novelist, book fanatic "terrorist" groups, etc. It's more a book about books, reading, and ideas than a narrative.

Davina wrote: "Reading "The Reader" by Bernard Schlink. Enjoying it so far :-)"

Loved that when I read it.

just finished Norwegian Wood translated from the Japanese to complete this for my first task.

I highly recommend The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It is probably the most beautifully written book I have ever read.

Currently reading for this challenge

One of my all time favorite books. If you enjoyed Shadow of the Wind you should also read books 2 and 3 The Angels Game and The Prisoner of Heaven. I understand Zafon is working on book 4.