100BestWIT discussion

hi everyone,
WITmonth is getting increasingly near... Anyone else preparing for the most fun reading month of the year? Last year, I went on a dedicated buying spree, but this year, I was extremely lucky with my birthday gifts and I'm already all set for August. I've sorted my WITmonth shelf here on Goodreads so I know what unread books I have on my shelves and available in the library.

What are you planning to read? Any interesting new buys that you'll be getting to in August?

I'm determined to finally get The Time in Between by María Dueñas off my shelves. Beyond that, I'd like to prioritize other languishing WIT TBRs, but it's really going to depend on my mood at any given point in time. It would be nice to revisit certain authors such as Maryse Condé and Wang Anyi, or finally check out those I've accumulated multiple works by such as Anna Politkovskaya.

oh, I've been meaning to read Wang Anyi! Haven't got anything by her on my shelves, though. Which one of hers do you recommend?

I hope I'm finally getting to Cristina Rivera Garza's The Taiga Syndrome and work by Maïssa Bey. I've also got a collection of Tibetan stories edited by Tenzin Dickie, but I'm not sure I can contain mysel until August with that one. It's very tempting to start now! I also got some from the 100-WITlist waiting to be read, like Out and The Wall.

Sanne wrote: "oh, I've been meaning to read Wang Anyi! Haven't got anything by her on my shelves, though. Which one of hers do you recommend?

I hope I'm finally getting to Cristina Rivera Garza..."

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai was my first and only read of hers, but it got a five star from me, so I don't see you going wrong with that. The one I'm personally eyeing is Lapse of Time.

It's been a while since I read Out, but I remember really liking it. I've a few 100BestWITs on my own shelves, and both Jenny Erpenbeck and Svetlana Alexievich would be worth a revisit.

It's very tempting to just sink into an anthology, but while I have ones that are fully by women or fully in translation, I don't think I have any for both. Women Writing in India would probably come closest, but the volume II that I have is devoted to the 20th c. and will likely be very Anglo.

I just took a look on my goodreads shelves and am pleased to see I own 15 unread WiT books, so I'm going to try to limit my reading to what I own. If I am terribly tempted I'll buy one (no more!) book from my indie bookstore. Whose kidding I'll be tempted.

Jen wrote: "I just took a look on my goodreads shelves and am pleased to see I own 15 unread WiT books, so I'm going to try to limit my reading to what I own. If I am terribly tempted I'll buy one (no more!) b..."

No such thing as too many WIT purchases from used bookstores :) I recently acquired Monsieur Vénus: A Materialist Novel by Marguerite Vallette-Eymery from one myself.

Aubrey wrote: "No such thing as too many WIT purchases from used bookstores :) I recently acquired Monsieur Vénus: A Materialist Novel by Marguerite Vallette-Eymery from one myself...."

True enough!

That sounds like my kind of book. Great find, enjoy.

The creator of WITMonth is currently coordinating an international WIT book exchange between interested readers, which I'm hoping to participate in. You can check out the details and sign up for it here: https://twitter.com/Read_WIT/status/1...

Wow, I was aware of there being a disparity in translation but hadn’t realized the magnitude until putting together a list for ListChallenges of books that have been translated to English. I had not realized that most of the books on my to-read authored by women from Africa or the Middle East were published in English in the first place. And then there are authors whose work I would like to check out, but there are no English translations. But to end on a positive note, I am grateful that more works continue to be translated to English, including better tranlsations being made of older works, and there is a great deal of literature from around the world that is accessible to me, more than every before! =)

I'm also going through my own shelves and planning to read as many of my own titles as I can. I have one book from the library but after that I have at least 30 that I rounded up on my shelves, so I think I'm fine to have lots of choices!

I am trying to have a mix of titles from different parts of the world if I can, and so far have quite a few European, Russian, and South American titles to choose from.

Melanie wrote: "I'm also going through my own shelves and planning to read as many of my own titles as I can. I have one book from the library but after that I have at least 30 that I rounded up on my shelves, so ..."

I ended up having around 30 books as well, Melanie, with around thirteen represented between them. Seems like a good spread.

If you're still looking for inspiration, or you want to see how many recent releases you've read, check out the lists that Meytal compiles each year of the books being published! I've converted the one from 2018 to a ListChallenge (2019 and 2020 are on their way): https://www.listchallenges.com/women-...
How many did you read? Or is the conclusion that you read more backlist books?

Sanne wrote: "If you're still looking for inspiration, or you want to see how many recent releases you've read, check out the lists that Meytal compiles each year of the books being published! I've converted the..."

This is great! I really enjoyed looking at it in this format. Although I've only read a handful. I seem to read a lot of older titles.

Aubrey wrote: "Melanie wrote: "I'm also going through my own shelves and planning to read as many of my own titles as I can..."

Isn't it amazing how many you can find on your own shelves? And there are always more to add!

Melanie wrote: "Isn't it amazing how many you can find on your own shelves? And ther..."

Yep! I'll also admit to having an almost automatic grabby grabby reaction to the sight of a cover that's in any way non-Anglo looking, and if it's a woman author whom I've never heard of and the price is right (which is usually is considering my usual shopping venues), I'm more likely than not to buy it outright. Then I'll stash it away amidst the hundreds of other books I already have and basically forget out about it until events like these, so the results can be quite surprising.

witmonth is almost over... did you read any books you loved? any which you would vote for the 100 best WIT list?

This year, I got through eight WIT works within the month itself, and I have three more whose reading will carry me a fair way into September. No favorites, but no hated ones either. No Place on Earth by Christa Wolf would have to be the number one of them, but considering that was my fourth of hers, I'm quite biased.

Stats (numbers in parentheses incorporate unfinished reads):

# of books: 8 (11)
# of original languages: 7 (8)
Star allotments: 5 four stars, 3 three stars (???)
# of revisited authors: 5 (6)
# of pages: 2,101 (3,443)
Pub year range: 1975-2015
# of ratings range: 15-28,670

Read WITM 2020
Currently Read WITM 2020

I read four WIT works, but three were graphic novels. ^^; I will finish three more WIT books in September (not counting additional graphic novels if my local library gets their catalog working again). I enjoyed all four books, especially The Barefoot Woman and the The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 1 and look forward to continuing the series.

My favorite WIT read this year has been Human Acts by Han Kang.

wow @Aubrey, you read a lot! I read 5 books for WITmonth and I'm making my way through a few more. Interesting to see we both read books by two different female journalists about Chechnya.

Highlights for me were No Place to Lay One's Head and discovering Maïssa Bey, ميساء باي as an author (the book I read hasn't been translated into English, only Dutch).

@Erin: fun to be reading some graphic novels too! I'm always on the lookout for new graphic artists to check out, so I'm glad you mentioned The Ancient Magus' Bride series. My manga-reading year is already great thanks to discovering Witch Hat Atelier, but I'm sure there're loads of other mangaka to discover!

I read a bunch this year; I added some audiobook choices in which helped me discover more titles :) I really loved Three Apples Fell from the Sky -- think it was my favourite of the month because it was uplifting instead of completely depressing like a few others I read! I also found that after a slow start, Desire for Chocolate really caught me, and I enjoyed the historical aspects of it a lot.

I read a couple of fun genre titles like An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good and The Godmother which added a crime fiction vibe to my reading in addition to the more serious reading. Nice to mix it up!

I have a couple more started that I am planning on finishing this month, and of course have added just as many as I managed to read to my TBR list thanks to everyone else's reviews -- as always!

I managed to read 10 WIT, although 2 of them have a few chapters to go, so reviews will roll over into September. Of those, A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi will definitely get a 5 rating.

My other favourite was Stories of the Sahara (1976/2020) by Sanmao, a travelogue/memoir by a Taiwanese writer with a large Chinese following, but this is her first work translated into English.

I'm lucky enough to be able to read in my heritage language of Estonian in addition to my native English, so I got to read 2 books not yet translated into English from Japanese & Finnish. These were Yoko Tawada's Kahtlased kujud öises rongis (Suspicious Characters on a Night Train) (2002/2020) and Tuula-Liina Varis' Tahan tunda, et elan (I Want to Feel That I'm Alive) (2013/2020).