Around the World in 80 Books discussion

I have realized this year that I have read very few translated books or honestly, books that were set somewhere other than the US or UK. I am trying to remedy that!

How many of these books have you read?
I have only read two on the list so far, but I have several others on my TBR. ⭐ indicates that I already own it.

How many do you plan to read?
I don't know, but I might just make my way through the list.

What books would you add to the list?
Again, I don't know exactly, but I am going to use this thread to keep track of all the WiT books that I read. I really want to expand my reading by regularly including WiT books in my reading lists.

⭐My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
✅The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
✅Human Acts by Han Kang
✅The Door by Magda Szabó
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
✅Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
✅The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
✅The Years by Annie Ernaux
✅Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez
Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Sphinx by Anne Garréta
Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz
✅Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
✅Disoriental by Négar Djavadi
The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke
The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels by Ágota Kristóf
✅Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street by Heda Margolius Kovály
✅The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura
The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II by Svetlana Alexievich
Eve out of Her Ruins by Ananda Devi
Trieste by Daša Drndić
Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Love by Hanne Ørstavik
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
✅The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Tentacle by Rita Indiana
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
✅Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich
Territory of Light by Yūko Tsushima
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin
La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono
Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes
Revenge by Yōko Ogawa
✅Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada
Nada by Carmen Laforet
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
✅Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
✅Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck
Seeing Red by Lina Meruane
Fish Soup by Margarita García Robayo
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg
People in the Room by Norah Lange
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin
Poems of Sappho by Sappho
The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg
Thus Were Their Faces by Silvina Ocampo
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska
The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
Fox by Dubravka Ugrešić
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
History by Elsa Morante
Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante
Confessions by Kanae Minato
The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût
My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg
Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū
The Little Girl on the Ice Floe by Adélaïde Bon
Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962 - 1972 by Alejandra Pizarnik
The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán
The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers
The Naked Woman by Armonía Somers
Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
The Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf
A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
Zuleikha by Guzel Yakhina
The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller
Please Look After Mom by Shin Kyung-sook
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
La Femme de Gilles by Madeleine Bourdouxhe
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde
The Weight of Things by Marianne Fritz
Translation as Transhumance by Mireille Gansel
✅Out by Natsuo Kirino
Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga
Subtly Worded by Teffi
The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

17/100

My List:
✅ Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
✅ The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
✅ Roseanna by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The White Book by Han Kang
✅ Betrayal by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
✅ Heidi by Johanna Spyri
✅ I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
✅ Abigail by Magda Szabó
✅ In the Country of Others by Leïla Slimani
✅ The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
✅ Murder at the Savoy by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg
✅ The Abominable Man by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Locked Room by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ Cop Killer by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Terrorists by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
✅ The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg
✅ The Stranger STRANGER Hardcover by Camilla Läckberg
✅ The Hidden Child by Camilla Läckberg
✅ The Drowning by Camilla Läckberg
✅ The Lost Boy by Camilla Lackberg by Camilla Läckberg
✅ Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
✅Human Acts by Han Kang
✅In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing by Elena Ferrante
✅The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
✅The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto
✅Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata
✅Greek Lessons by Han Kang

✅Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck - I just finished this book last week, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very well-written, and I would like to read more of her work.

✅Out by Natsuo Kirino - I read this book earlier in the year, and part of it I loved. Some of it was a little hard to swallow. I ended up giving it three stars, but I would definitely read more of her work.

These are the four other WiT books I have read this year so far.

✅ Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
This one is my least favorite on this list, but I still enjoyed it. I would read more by her.

✅ The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
I loved this book. I was bawling at the end. A must-read for any cat lover.

✅ Roseanna by Maj Stowall and Per Wahloo
I am a huge fan of Nordic Noir, and I am thrilled to have found this writing duo. They wrote ten books together, and I am planning on reading them all.

✅ The White Book by Han Kang
I have to admit that this book was a little odd, but I still enjoyed it. It was very short and full of mini-chapters. It made for a fast-paced read. Her style on this one was very unique, and I think it worked.

These are three WiT books I read before this year:

✅ Betrayal by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
A Nordic Noir - I thought it was really good, and I enjoyed it.

✅ Heidi by Johanna Spyri
A cute children's book. I grew up in a pretty oppressive Evangelical religions, so I didn't read many of the "classic children's literature," so I've been reading it as an adult!

✅ I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
This book is just heartbreaking. She is such a strong young woman.

✅ Abigail by Magda Szabo - I just finished this one, and I highly recommend it! Originally written in 1970, it was just translated into English two years ago. What a powerful and well-written story. I was on the edge of my seat.

To finish out last year (because I forgot I started this thread - oops! In my defense....... I'm an idiot - LOL!), I read:

✅ Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich. It was very well written. It had a lot of fascinating stories in it. It was a heavy book though and pretty sad in places and scary in others.

✅ In the Country of Others by Leïla Slimani. I really wanted to like this book, but I struggled through it. It is the first book in a trilogy I think, but I will not be reading the others.

In 2023 so far, I have read 7 WiT books.

✅ Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada - I have to say that I do not get the hype from this book. I didn't really enjoy it that much.

✅ The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, The Man on the Balcony, The Laughing Policeman, and The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahloo are books 2-5 in the Martin Beck series. It is a Nordic Noir series, and I am really enjoying it. They wrote it back in the 60s and 70s, but the books do not feel dated.

✅ The Years by Annie Ernaux was really good. It is limited in its scope, but I thought it was well done, and I really enjoyed it.

✅ The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg is another Nordic Noir. It is the first book in a series, and I am really looking forward to reading more of her work.

I actually forgot about this list. I'm glad I found it again. I have read three more on the list though: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, and Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. I enjoyed all three. I especially liked Disoriental.

I've read - and I really like - The Vegetarian and Convenience Store Woman.

Nike wrote: "I've read - and I really like - The Vegetarian and Convenience Store Woman."

I thought Convenience Store Woman was really good. I didn't enjoy The Vegetarian quite as much, but I am still glad I read it.

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and I have to say that I was not impressed. It was "meh."

Not on the list, but another WiT book: The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg. I love Nordic Noir, and she is so good! This is book 2 of the series, and I love it so much. I have the next four, and I am really looking forward to them.

✅ Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street by Heda Margolius Kovály - I enjoyed this book. It is layered and complex. It is also a little difficult to follow in places.

I've been slowly making my way through the Martin Beck Series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. I have the books on Audible, but they are being yanked from the "included" catalog, so I am trying to get through them quickly now. This book is the 7th of the series, and I really enjoyed it: The Abominable Man

I read Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. I really enjoyed Convenience Story Woman, but this story was just too strange. It was filled with abuse in the beginning which was hard to read, but after that, the book just got weirder and weirder and then exceptionally gross. If I had read this book first, I never would have read any others of hers. I have Life Ceremony, and I will read it, but I am not in any great hurry now.

Misty wrote: "I read Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. I really enjoyed Convenience Story Woman, but this story was just too strange. It was filled with abuse in the beginning which was hard to read, ..."

This was her first and for now last book of hers that i read.
Felt like you but thanks to u i might still try Convenience store

Shahar wrote: "This was her first and for now last book of hers that i read.
Felt like you but thanks to u i might still try Convenience store"

While I wouldn't recommend Earthlings, I did enjoy Convenience Store Woman. It is very different.

I finished another one on the list: Human Acts by Han Kang. It is a very violent book, so people with big triggers should beware. It is a fantastic book though. It is set during an act of political violence that happened in 1980 in South Korea. It is a powerful book, but people should know that it does talk graphically about torture and sexual abuse.

I finished two more on the list: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez. I enjoyed both of them, but they were very different from each other. Kitchen is two short stories - and they are both very sweet. Things We Lost in the Fire is a collection of short stories that are very dark and creepy. Interestingly, both translations use the term "transvestite." It is an outdated and even offensive term in the US. I am curious as to why it is used in the translations. I am going to look into it and see where the translators are from.

I finished The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, but I have to admit that I was underwhelmed. I did not really care for this book.

I got messed up and thought The Days of Abandonment was the Elena Ferrante book on this list. I'm glad to see it wasn't because I really did not like it. I loved her book of non-fiction that I read, so I'll give her work another chance.

I finished Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami today. It was a very sweet love story, and I really enjoyed it.

I read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa (which is on the list), and it was beautiful. It was a very touching book, and I was crying at the end. Some of them on the list have had me scratching my head as to why they were included, but this one was truly special.

I also read The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto, and I was underwhelmed. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't nearly as good as the other books I have read by her.

I finished Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata (translated from Japanese), The Door by Magda Szabó (translated from Hungarian), and Greek Lessons by Han Kang (translated from Korean), and honestly, I wasn't wowed by any of them. The Door was okay - weird, but her writing is really good. Life Ceremony was gross - like I thought I was going to vomit multiple times. Greek Lessons was just - meh. Part of that might have been that I was not in the right frame of mind to read it I supposed, but it just wasn't nearly as good as the other Kang books I have read.