Read Women discussion

Our first quarterly challenge for 2023 is to read nonfiction or fiction books written by women and in translation from the language in which each book was originally published.

Our #WiT challenge starts 1 January and ends 31 March. For those participating in our annual Women in Translation challenge, this quarterly challenge either gives us the opportunity to jump start our annual challenge totals. This challenge offers members who may not want to participate in an annual challenge a way to focus on women in translation for a 12-week period, and then, perhaps, to choose a new focus.

Let's use this thread to capture our plans, thoughts and conversations about our WiT reads. We encourage everyone to engage in this thread in order to have more conversations between members about the books we're reading and choosing; however, if it's important to you to set up and maintain a separate thread to capture your progress, feel free to do so in this Quarterly Challenge folder.

Do you plan to participate? Let us know what you're thinking about reading, seek resources and recommendations at your option, and share your reading experiences as the quarter unfolds.

Here's a link to the widget if you like to use them to assist in tracking

https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

Thanks for setting this up - and all the other new threads - will think about the questions and get back to you.

Alwynne wrote: "Thanks for setting this up - and all the other new threads - will think about the questions and get back to you."

You’re welcome, Alwynne. Thanks for all you contribute.

I’m starting off this challenge by reading The Old Woman with the Knife by Korean author, Gu Byeong-mo, and am enjoying it immensely. It reminds me of The Plotters but the main character is better developed and the system less opaque.

How wonderful! I just happened upon this thread. I love a reason to read more women in translation.

I’m currently reading Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga and translated from the French by Mark Polzzotti. It’s a beautiful fable / origin story from Rwanda. A perfect way to start the year.

Jen wrote: "How wonderful! I just happened upon this thread. I love a reason to read more women in translation.

I’m currently reading Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga and tra..."

I’m so excited, Jen. I put this on hold at my library and was notified this afternoon it’s come in.

I tend to concentrate my WiT reading in August. But over the last couple of years I’m dipping in more and more throughout the year. Also my bookshelf is overflowing with WiT, which is a significant percentage of the books I buy as they are often not available through my library system. So I’m happy to have found this is a first quarter challenge - I’ll be more motivated to read some owned books.

Looking there now I’m thinking that this year I’d like to read:

Paradise of the Blind
Transit
Childhood / Youth / Dependency
Women of Sand and Myrrh
The Ravishing of Lol Stein
Bad Handwriting
And a stack of books from Charco press!

But these plans are subject to change as there are others that could catch my attention on a whim. I’ve also got my eye on recent and upcoming releases, including:

Still Born
Body Kintsugi
Strega (this should arrive from my library soon)
Greek Lessons
Our Share of Night
The Book of Goose

Carol wrote: "Jen wrote: "How wonderful! I just happened upon this thread. I love a reason to read more women in translation.

I’m currently reading Kibogo by [author:Scholastique Mukasonga|3034..."

Carol, it’s the kind of book that lends itself really well to a single longer reading session. Unfortunately I couldn’t make that work but I hope you can!

I finished my first book for this challenge. (am updating as I finish other challenge books)

1. The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo. Translated by Chi-Young Kim.

Fantastic, with all of the bleakness and hopelessness typical of at least the South Korean novels I’ve read. The protagonist is authentic and unforgettable. The dog: (view spoiler)[doesn’t make it, but dies peacefully (hide spoiler)]

2. The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin. Published by a small press: Open Letter. Translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. Higgins' translation of Dusapin's Winter in Sokcho won the 2021 National Book Award for Translation.
3. Nada, the first novel of Carmen Laforet. Translated from Portuguese by Edith Grossman. Forward by Mario Vargas Llosa.


Currently reading: Punishment of a Hunter by Russian author, Yulia Yakovleva

Planning -
Checked out from the library: Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga
books I own: Katja Ivar's Trouble
Nothing Is Lost, an urban thriller by Cloé Mehdi. Translated from French.
Maybe Waiting for God by Simone Weil

I wasn't sure about this one but you make it sound very tempting and thanks for the tip about the dog - appreciated!

I'll be adding that one to my TBR list, Carol.

I finished Kibogo last night. I think it's a fantastic story - it starts off seeming like a it will be a simply told fable. But there are layers and it evolves into something more complicated, with humour throughout.

I am planning a few WIT books, but I hope to read others on a whim. Right now I plan to read:

Eve out of Her Ruins 1/7/23
Awu's Story: A Novel
Love, Anger, Madness: A Haitian Trilogy
The Story of Gösta Berling
The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II

My second choice was less satisfying. I finished a debut novel by a Swedish author Lydia Sandgren Collected Works, it won a major award in Sweden and has sold loads of copies. But I didn't find myself warming to the style. At its heart is the mystery surrounding a mother who abandons her family and never returns, the novel partly explores that mystery via her now grown-up daughter, and partly revisits the story of her meeting with her husband Martin and the complex interactions between them and Martin's best friend Gustav, an up and coming, then acclaimed artist. There is so much material here, lengthy descriptions of the characters' cultural pursuits, everyday life, choice of furniture etc that the story itself gets buried, and any intended emotional impact is muted. I did find the information about Swedish literary/artistic culture interesting, but I also found it hard to keep going at various points. I think it would make a great mini-series though, a more bohemian/bourgeois variation on 'Bonus Family'.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Alwynne wrote: "My second choice was less satisfying. I finished a debut novel by a Swedish author Lydia Sandgren Collected Works, it won a major award in Sweden and has sold loads of copies. But I..."

I am also missing the gene that loves details about interiors, parties, apparel, small talk and the like - all under the heading of atmosphere. It's impressive that this took off as a debut, and then won an award. I'll keep on walking past it, though, at the library : )

Read: Abigail by Magda Szabó
Translated from Hungarian.

I enjoyed Abigail, it’s the second book of Szabó’s I’ve read. I had the feeling when it ended that I wished it went on a little longer. I was still curious about what else was going to happen.

Over the weekend I finished "It's the End of the World, My Love" by Russian author Alla Gorbunova it's translated by Elina Alter and published by Deep Vellum. There's no GR entry unfortunately. I had mixed feelings about this one, it's been billed as short stories but also as a novel and has a fractured, episodic structure, some episodes follow a young girl growing up in 1990s Petersburg, others focus on local characters she encounters, some elements are folkloric, others conventionally realist. The world she lives in is a blighted one, rape is a constant both as threat and reality as are drugs, alcoholism, poverty and violence of all kinds. It's fascinating but not always likeable.

I'd heard a lot about acclaimed Columbian writer Pilar Quintana, so read her prize-winning novel (more novella really) Abyss which deals with women's oppression, and the what mothers may bequeath to their daughters. There are some great elements but overall found the style and the story hard to engage with.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also finished an award-winning memoir by Marina Jarre Return to Latvia now available in translation from the original Italian. Jarre came from a Jewish/Italian family and spent her early years in Riga, Latvia, but left with her mother when she was ten. Her Jewish father and his family were later murdered by the Nazis during WW2, something which haunted her for years and which she attempts to lay to rest by visiting Riga and the sites of her past and her father's final years. She also pieces together an account of what happened to Latvian Jews during the war, so her memoir blends memory/trauma with historical account. I feel bad about the fact that I found some elements a little dry but overall found it fascinating and affecting.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've started my next read for this Challenge, Punishment of a Hunter, a debut by Yulia Yakovleva, translated from Russian. I'm such a fan of historical mysteries and this one takes place in 1930s Russia, which is ideal.

Alwynne wrote: "Over the weekend I finished "It's the End of the World, My Love" by Russian author Alla Gorbunova it's translated by Elina Alter and published by Deep Vellum. There's no GR entry unfortunately. I h..."

this sounds unpleasant, from my perspective, unless there's some overriding artistic reason to dwell in its world for awhile : )

Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Over the weekend I finished "It's the End of the World, My Love" by Russian author Alla Gorbunova it's translated by Elina Alter and published by Deep Vellum. There's no GR entry un..."

It's a very downbeat book but the incidents she describes do seem commonplace at least in the circles she inhabited. So I imagine it's a kind of testimony/record of the culture of misogyny that was thriving when she was growing up in the post-Soviet years.

I read The Pachinko Parlour was a beautiful, quiet story that dealt with themes like family, identity, sense of belonging. Relationships felt at arms length on one hand, and at the same time, profound. It was quite an accomplishment for a very slim story.

I haven't yet set a goal, but I would like to add more WiT into my reading lists for sure. So far this year I have finished three WiT books:

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada. I honestly did not care too much for this book. It was okay. Parts of it were really good, and parts of it were not.

The Man Who Went Up in Smoke by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. It is book 2 in a 10 book series. It wasn't as good as the first book, but it was still quite good. I am a big fan of Nordic Noir.

The Years by Annie Ernaux. This book was captivating. It took a little while to get used the style of writing she used in this book, but in the end I really like the book.

Misty wrote: "I haven't yet set a goal, but I would like to add more WiT into my reading lists for sure. So far this year I have finished three WiT books:

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada...."

Misty - what a great, varied set to-date. I have had Polar Bear on my TBR for so long, and now it can stay there longer. I've also been wanting to read Sjowall and Wahloo's series for awhile, but noticed that none of this series' books have good ratings, so when I'm standing in a used book store, I don't end up buying them. I wonder why that is? More importantly, you've empowered me to buy 1 or 2 and read them soon.

I haven't read any Ernaux but want to. Does making this one my first make sense or do you recommend another instead?

Jen wrote: "I read The Pachinko Parlour was a beautiful, quiet story that dealt with themes like family, identity, sense of belonging. Relationships felt at arms length on one hand, and at the ..."

This is on my bedside table as a "next up", so I'm delighted to see that you liked it, Jen. Yay!

Carol wrote: "I haven't read any Ernaux but want to. Does making this one my first make sense or do you recommend another instead?"

The Years is the only book of hers that I have read. I really liked it. It did take a little while to get fully into though.

I love Nordic Noir, and Sjowall and Wahloo, I think, write in the genre very well. The first book I read of theirs was written in the 60s (70s maybe), and it really didn't feel dated. I thought it was great.

As for Memoirs of a Polar Bear, I heard so many good things about it, but I just never got into it. It is weird, and I like weird usually, but this brand of weird didn't do it for me.

I finished The Pachinko Parlor last evening and am still deciding what I think of it. On the one hand, I loved the author’s spare style. OTOH, I’m not sure there was enough here for an enthusiastic 4 or 5 stars. Maybe.

As an aside, it is translated from French and takes place 98% in Japan, for those working on language or country diversity.

@jen, I’d love to hear more about what you think worked well , since I feel like I missed something and wanted it to be more successful than I thought it was.

I finished my third novel for this challenge, Nada by Carmen Laforet. Translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman. I liked it more than I understood it. The writing and structure were superb. I haven’t a clue what was going on. Highly recommended. 💀

My copy of Katja Ivar's Trouble arrived. yay! I'm ready for Finland, as soon as I finish an IRL book club book for a meetup on Sunday. (It is dragging, unfortunately.)

Carol wrote: "I finished The Pachinko Parlor last evening and am still deciding what I think of it. On the one hand, I loved the author’s spare style. OTOH, I’m not sure there was enough here for..."

Carol there was quite a lot that worked well for me. I love the sparse dialogue and quiet focus on actions and Inactions. The themes of language and identity / displacement were examined deeply for such a short novel, and it exposed me to a history and culture I knew nothing about (ie Koreans in Japan displaced after the civil war). The story was universal in its themes but also personal to the characters and setting. It stuck with me and just might get a fifth star when I look back at the end of the year.

I do like short books and tend to enjoy this kind of sparse style, but it’s not for everyone. It also has to hit me in the right mood.

I need to read Nada soon!

Jen wrote: "Carol wrote: "I finished The Pachinko Parlor last evening and am still deciding what I think of it. On the one hand, I loved the author’s spare style. OTOH, I’m not sure there was e..."

Thanks, Jen. This helps because we share a lot of preferences in writing style. I may re-read.

I wasn't totally blown away by Cursed Bunny but see the publisher is bringing out another collection of Bora Chung's stories later this year, To Meet Her, which might be worth looking out for, it's not listed on GR yet though.

I read and hugely enjoyed Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes in the 1950s and recently reissued by Astra House in a new translation by Ann Goldstein (best known as Ferrante's translator).

This must have made a huge splash in the '50s. There is nothing radical or new about the themes for today's audience, but it is a propulsive and intimate story that gave me much to think about. I loved it! 5*

Jen wrote: "I read and hugely enjoyed Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes in the 1950s and recently reissued by Astra House in a new translation by Ann Goldstein (best known a..."

Adding to my TBR. This one sounds perfect for me. Love to see that the translator is also a woman.

I finished a collection of writing from Japan that focuses on lesbian identity and experiences Sparkling Rain: And Other Fiction From Japan Of Women Who Love Women ed. by Barbara Summerhawk. It's an uneven collection and frustratingly some of the prominent Japanese lesbian authors like Yoshiya Nobuko aren't included - the person now running her estate didn't want the work featured in a collection centred on lesbians, which is rather ironic given that Yoshiya is such a well-known lesbian icon in Japan and elsewhere.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Shumona Sinha's Down with the Poor! I thought this was exceptionally compelling, intense and complex. It's an exploration of issues around race, power and gender and the systems that deal with migrants seeking residency. It's told through the thoughts of a woman of colour who's been arrested after an apparent attack on a man. She works as a translator for migrants and the man she attacked may or may not be one of the people whose stories she's interpreted.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Alwynne wrote: "I finished Shumona Sinha's Down with the Poor! I thought this was exceptionally compelling, intense and complex. It's an exploration of issues around race, power and gender and the ..."

Is she an Indian author? Sounds like one for me to chase down.

How is everyone doing with this challenge? With 8 days ago, it's a race to the finish, except it's not since we can all switch over to the year-long version and keep the translated reading going.

I enjoyed the 3 books I read for this challenge: The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo; The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin; and Nada by Carmen Laforet.

What have you enjoyed the most or do you recommend of the books you finished this quarter?

Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I finished Shumona Sinha's Down with the Poor! I thought this was exceptionally compelling, intense and complex. It's an exploration of issues around race, power and..."

She's Franco-Indian, she grew up in India and started out there as a poet writing in Bengali, she later moved to France and started writing in French.

Alwynne wrote: "Carol wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I finished Shumona Sinha's Down with the Poor! I thought this was exceptionally compelling, intense and complex. It's an exploration of issues around r..."

Thanks, Alwynne!

I've read 3 #wit this quarter:

Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enríquez, Spanish
Nada by Carmen Laforet, Spanish
Medea by Christa Wolf, German

Will definitely keep the challenge going all year. They've all been 3 star reads for me, but I do find that I enjoy reflecting on them. I'm very much enjoying historical fiction in translation as a genre.

I've just received my library copy of Lonely Castle in the Mirror, perhaps too late for this quarter or the monthly discussion, but I'll read it anyways.

I finished a collection of short stories by Yuko Tsushima The Shooting Gallery which didn't disappoint. I love Tsushima's work it's quiet and elegant but painfully realistic about the lives of women in Japan at the time she was writing. This one sits well alongside Child of Fortune and Territory of Light

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Anita wrote: "I've read 3 #wit this quarter:

Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enríquez, Spanish
Nada by Carmen Laforet, Spanish
Medea..."

It’s never too late :)

Alwynne wrote: "I finished a collection of short stories by Yuko Tsushima The Shooting Gallery which didn't disappoint. I love Tsushima's work it's quiet and elegant but painfully realistic about th..."

You’ve challenged me to give Tsushima another try. Do you think this short story collection might be the best on-ramp or should I take a run at another work?

Which ones have you tried Carol?

I read four WiT titles in this first quarter of 2023:

The Pachinko Parlor by Elisa Shua Dusapin (French; 4 stars)
Madness Treads Lightly by Polina Dashkova (Russian; 2 stars)
Boulder by Eva Baltasar (Catalan; 3.5 stars)
Ganbare!: Workshops on Dying by Katarzyna Boni (Polish; 3 stars)

Thought people might be interested in this newly unearthed conversation between Annie Ernaux and Yuko Tsushima

https://lithub.com/a-passion-for-livi...