My Feb highlights were The Last Samurai and the Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which I found much more complex than expected. And I'm continuing my Laurie Colwin and Dorothy Dunnett completionist projects. Only two more LC to go and I'll be so sad when they are finished.
I'm glad you enjoyed The Last Samurai so much (from someone who really didn't like it - but I wished I did!) I have been on the fence about Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny for a while but it is intriguing to hear you found it surprisingly complex!
I have heard such great things about LC, but have never read her! Maybe this comment is my sign to finally get round to it.
The Last Samurai was so weird, but I quite liked the playing with form (although admittedly skimmed some of the technical bits). Re. the Loneliness, I worried it would be a bit of a trite love story (the cover maybe?), but I really liked the alternating perspectives. You should read LC - the best articulations of marital love, and the female protagonists are so, so cool!
I was thinking about how calling it translated literature does center Western cultures, as it certainly isn’t translated for those in the original language. But it’s like race, we will “stop talking about it” once everyone has actual equal rights and opportunity - if giving into a marketing term helps people get over themselves and read a book about someone different then I’m all for it. I appreciate how people gave their perspective on the term and opened up discussion - translated lit doing gods work!
I only read 3 in February but I did discover a new favorite author Caroline Blackwood and finished Wuthering Heights so that’s an accomplishment.
Calling it translated literally really does centre Western cultures, but also, is that not the cultures that really should be pushed to be reading it more? I guess if we go really meta, most books are translated for most people! Translation just signals that it has originated from elsewhere. It seems the marketing of it all is a very delicate balance (in UK/US) between signalling that it is about someone/something different, but hopefully not othering other cultures entirely.
The discussion was v interesting and I think it was slightly lost that I can only speak/have the perspective of the one I have as someone who speaks no other languages and lives in the uk! Ofc I know that translated books aren't signalled out much in other cultures as they are here - that's just the way it is!
3 is a very happy February number! I've always been intrigued in Caroline Blackwood so I love to hear that. Finishing WH IS an accomplishment - did you like it lol? I need to watch the film this week, just so I can have an opinion on it if nothing else!
I actually loved Wuthering Heights because it was dark and desperate but it was a bit tedious at times. Although I’m all for artistic liberties with art and the vibes of Fennels movie are fantastic, I would love to see a realistic adaptation because it gave me a similar feeling as reading Shakespeare in that so much was happening internally off the page I needed to see the physical cues to get a better understanding of motivations etc. I need to write a Jan feb wrap up!!!
Google is telling me there are these adaptations; 1939, 1970, 1992, 1998, 2009, 2011 and the current one (2026). 1998 & 2009 both seem to be British tv adaptions! 2011 said to be 'the most accurate' apparently
Yes, that one does have a non-white Heathcliff. Not sure in that one if they also told the second half of the story? (most apparently cut it off halfway).
This latest 'adaptation' seems to be a hot mess, to put it kindly...
I’m two months into my reading “slump” and it is indeed more like a metamorphosis. For the first time ever I’m reading multiple books at once, all very different, and therefore finishing them at a glacial pace. It feels so different but right for right now? Anyway, I’ve been intrigued by Is Mother Dead for a while without really knowing what it’s about and that pull quote has totally convinced me!
Let's start a reading metamorphosis support group <3 I also never read multiple books at, am tentatively dipping my toe in reading two right now! Sometimes it is needed to finish books at a glacial pace - it took me 3 weeks to read Gomorrah even though I was really enjoying it. I would echo your sentiment that it feels different but right! You'd like Is Mother Dead - it's a fascinating portrait of the tension that can exist between mother, daughter, and families. About how hard it is to love people, and hate them, and the myths we tell ourselves to justify our actions/feelings/behaviours.
Oh man, I am now a multiple book addict! I've always got one on audio, one ebook, and at least a few physical books going at a time. There was a point this month where I had 11 books going. 😱 Currently I'm down to just 7, and that does include 2 'slow reads' of large books I'm just sipping on consistently. I do try to keep them different in subject/genre/format. But that was a game-changer when I started (which at first was one audio, one ebook, one physical - it's kinda snowballed. 😏)
11 books going at once is crazy Erin I admire and fear you!!! I am not a multiple book reader at all (I find it hard to parcel my admiration and attention into sections for various books?!)
The multiple book thing seems to suit my ADD brain! If my focus wavers, I just pick up something else!
Also, when I started this I reminded myself that before streaming and binge-watching we all, for decades, watched serialized stories on TV, half to one hour a week, often multiple different stories/shows per night, then had to wait a week for each one to pick back up, and no one thought that was difficult or odd at all. So dipping in and out of different books is really not as daunting as you'd think.
I'm also a multi-book reader! Not quite 11, but one digital, one audio, and one physical is pretty normal--more if I'm tearing through book club books. I also have ADHD, so maybe that's why? One of my favorite things to do is play the video game Fortnite while listening to a good book 🙈
So many BUYs!!! Feels like a great reading month to me!
I love that you are always championing translated books. It’s always felt like expansion, not reduction, coming from you because you highlight these different perspectives and try to read as widely as you can.
"I am not calling it a slump anymore, and thinking of it more as a metamorphosis." Oof, that's...just it. I'm taking this as a motto. For life.
And about the books, I read Long Live the Post Horn last year and it was such an interesting read. It's both light and full of things.
As for the translation question, I think there's definitely a question of where you stand in the globe, culturally speaking. I don't think of "translated books" as a category in itself but I would be lying if I said that I don't often gravitate towards them because they come from linguistic areas I can't otherwise access.
Btw, highly recommend Taiwan Travelogue. If I may be so bold to cite myself, I wrote about it (sorta), back in September, precisely in relation to, you guessed it, reading and writing across languages: https://cronista.substack.com/p/travelogue-of-voyages.
It IS a motto for life you're right!! Officially everything will be called a metamorphosis now - no one can stop us!
I love your Long Live the Post Horn thoughts - Hjorth is such an interesting writer so I expect no less. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!
Thanks for sharing your perspective - it is definitely about where you are position in the globe I'd agree. Which I think is why it is specifically named translated literature so much in UK publishing, because as I wrote, everything is (on average) so monolingual/anglophone here it is truly sometimes necessary I think to signal that there is great literature from elsewhere that you can read! I would agree with your point - that I don't think of it as a category per say (but employ it sometimes for descriptive purposes) but I do specifically gravitate and look out for translated books because I can't otherwise access them like you said! I'll read anything if its translated - whatever the genre, the fact it has been translated is what is so attractive to me, so I guess describing them as 'translated lit' is just me being literally descriptive? And perhaps being so literal is not the most beneficial? I have never considered the way I speak about books as something that could be interpreted as anything other than expansive, but all of this discourse is making me consider it a lot more (it's not a bad thing!)
I do often think though if I wasn't English, and still such a voracious reader, would I be calling my reading something that focuses on translated literature, because I would naturally just be reading a lot more translations anyway? Like it goes both ways, english books translated into other languages, and other languages translated into English? We're all reading translations!
Love to hear how highly you recommend Taiwan Travelogue - I think it's the one I want to read most on the list! You should always be so bold as to cite yourself!!!
I remember reading at some point someone talking about how "world literature" can only exist because of translations, and I wish I could remember where that was, because I think it relates to this question!
In any case, I think the fact that you give so much thought to this topic is in and of itself an important case for this conversation but also for just spreading the world of non-anglophone literature to everyone! Coming from Brazil and having just gone to a bookstore yesterday, I would say most of the books on the shelves were non-Brazilian, but there's an added note to it: there's a separation between "Brazilian" and "lusophone," as most stores will categorize Portuguese or Mozambican literature as "foreign" alongside French, Chinese, or Russian titles!
Swimming in Paris was my standout in February...was I sobbing at the end? Yes, self-discovery hits me at my heart center.
Three 'buys'❣️ Yippy for breaking the slump spell. Although I love 'matamorphasis'.
I like the phrase 'global reading'. Seems more active / intentional? For me, this phrasing more accurately (or actively) forms my approach to reading books from other countries - along with other times. 'Translated' describes the process.
Yippy for the metamorphosis! I am glad you're loving the wording reframe as much as I am - it seems to be the spell for breaking the slump (as well as reading lots of good books!)
Ok I like the phrase global reading! It gives a wider scope / sounds more intentional I'd agree. I often find the process of translation is what is so attractive to me as a reader (I will read anything if it's translated bc I am interested in the act of it being translated) but I do also appreciate not everyone views it this way! I think I tend to apply a phrase like 'global reading' when I am looking at non-translated books, but maybe it is time to join them up?!
Wait! A metamorphosis for translated/global. And big yes to translation. I adore languages but only minored in French and I often think of a translators career as something magical✨. Swimming in Paris reminds me of The Copenhagen Trilogy.
If you loved Bait it might be worth checking out Death in Spring by Mercé Rodoreda if you haven’t already. It follows a young boy in a small town in the Catalan mountains, a town which is extremely strange and lots of weird things are going on.
Yes!! I have been recommended this so many times, but thank you for drawing the comparison w Bait to reremind me that I really should check it out soon! I love strange weird things happening in an insular town.
I hope you read (and love) Taiwan Travelogue! It was one of my favorites of 2025. It’s such a delight to see Taiwanese literature and culture elevated.
The other two Taiwanese books I read last year were both wonderful - there was a memoir of someone from the Taiwanese diaspora that went back to get in touch with her roots, and is also an environmental historian, so there's also lots about the geology, flora, fauna, and natural history of the island. That one was Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica Lee.
And then I read a CliFi book with a side of magic realism, The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi, which I really enjoyed. Having just read about the natural history of the island before this really added to it. It also centers a couple of the different indigenous peoples of the island (that also got touched on in Two Trees).
Very much recommend both if you want to read more about Taiwan. I hear Taiwan Travelogue has a *lot* of food descriptions, so I'll be buckling in for that!
reframing the way i view my reading habits and adjust expectations was a game changer for me when i slowed down! now it just is what it is no matter how much or little i read in a month. i'm glad you're feeling better about and i'd say martha kafka is working with this many buys 😎
The translation question is such a tricky one! One thing I appreciate about its rise as a 'category' is that it's highlighted the role of translators too. Translation in itself is an artform! I think it's good to have an awareness of how a text might change between languages, and so in that sense, I think the category can be helpful. I can see how it can be reductive to lump them all together, but I also think there’s something lovely about bookshops with ‘translated literature’ tables, not only because it showcases diverse writers, but because different genres get to sit next to each other. I like finding a horror book next to a family drama!
It sure is an artform! Yes I really do also love how that on the 'translated lit' tables in bookshops they are a whole array of different genres! I hate genre specific lay outs! The consensus seems to be it is a very western centric term which makes complete sense and I've always thought that anyway - as in, that the 'phase' doesn't translate to elsewhere in the same way. I think there is worth in highlighting translated books in the west bc it is directly challenging the anglo-centric cultures. I have a friend who works in a bookshop in the UK who said once they made a 'translated section' as it were in the shop, their sales of translated books and people engaging with them rose loads! I think its worthwhile reminding people they exist here. But also to remember that translated books are so normal elsewhere they are not much of a point of convo. Someone in the comments called it 'reading across languages' which I think is a much cooler, more appropriate phrase?!
On the other hand I WILL be reading the longlist!! This is mainly because I have already read 7 of the books and so it doesn’t feel like a stretch to read another 6 🤷🏻♀️ I am a regular reader of the booker prize longlist but have never read the IB one so let’s see how we go. Just picked up Taiwan Travelogue and I am intrigued. But Martha, I am also reading the third realm by Knausgaard and we are SO BACK in Morning Star territory, baby! 4 chapters in and I am calling it a certified banger. I think I commented on Pandora’s post but now I can’t remember what I said but I think I did mention that I have never been to a bookshop in Sydney that had a separate translated literature section. All the translated lit is shelved by author, amongst all the other literature.
I admire you for reading the longlist Nell - you're my idol! If I had already read 7 of the books, I think I'd do the same! I am so intrigued in Taiwan Travelogue it sounds really good? Perhaps the most 'me' on the list that I haven't read. I LOVE to hear this enthusiam for Third Realm - loved that it is a certified banger! I really do want to get to Wolves of Eternity soon, I think I am apprehensive because it is long and things are currently moving slow in my reading. On the other hand, it could be lovely to fully get lost in a big book - plus I love KOK. You did comment on the post and I loved that you had to say - it is very interesting to hear how book stores are laid out differently elsewhere. In some in the UK there are translated specific sections, others they are all mixed together but there might be a like 'promo' table all about translated lit. It seems the consensus is translated lit as a phrase is very western centred (not a shock, makes sense, have always thought that) so the term just doesn't translate well (pun intended) on the international stage when describing translated books bc it is the norm for everyone else!
Okay, I have thoughts on the whole 'translated lit' label! While I read quite a lot of what is categorized as 'translated lit', I really bristle at it as a label. It is so very, very, very Anglophone centered. For monolingual English speakers this seems a neutral and obvious thing to call what is to me - who while I am a native English speaker am multilingual and read in multiple languages - very much not, and does not even accurately reflect what everyone really means by it. The Anglo-centric influence worldwide is insidious - I actively look for booktubers to follow who read in the other languages I do - and have to really hunt for those who aren't just reading translations into their languages of the same old popular English Bookstagram books - or even English classics.
I love the work translators do and very much appreciate and respect their work and the access that gives me to work written in the majority of the world's languages that I can't read in! However, there is also nothing inherently virtuous about a translation vs reading it in the original language - which I still think is the preferable way to go if you have access to that. And of course most people don't, which is why YAY translations! But this fetishizing of 'translated' as if it *elevates* the work somehow is upside-down.
What everyone is trying to get at with this 'translated' label is that we shouldn't just read from our own perspective and our own culture. But calling it as a category 'translated' assumes that 'our own culture' is English-speaking (with a side of probably also white, but that's another kettle of fish).
So yay to diverse and translated literature, yay translators, but not sure how I feel about it as a category. But I'm probably whistling in a windstorm. And I'm probably just getting old and crotchety and possibly splitting hairs... 🤪
I love this answer Erin and, dare I say, might be the most nuanced one I have read about why the term is used, and why it doesn't best serve. I haven't thought about the fact that for monolingual native English speakers the term 'translated lit' seems like the neutral and obvious thing to call it - as a monolingual native English speaker I'd agree! It is employed much more just as a descriptive, rather than a defining category? Just to signal that is it a translation and nothing else - like how you might describe a book as written by a woman or a person of colour as those are important aspects to profile?
I utterly agree that the Anglo-centric influence of the world is insidious - it is like I said, it is hard to explain but I truly believe a possible attitude that reading translated books is somehow harder in the UK comes from how narrow culture is here. It really fails everyone.
I love the comments about people assuming translated lit is inherently virtuous - I'd assume that if you can read in another language, you would 100% be doing that?! I am intrigued that some people might find it inherently virtuous to read a translation - although I do think you are a more virtuous reader if you read across the languages. I hadn't thought much about the idea of fetishizing or elevating translated work w the description of calling it 'translated' - MUCH to think about!
Agree agree about the label and the fact that it does assume our 'own' culture is english speaking - I have actually never once thought that 'translated lit' was a 'thing' anywhere else other than UK/US spaces - elsewhere they are just books. But UK/Us culture does dominate (like we've said) so it makes alot of sense that in the term being using in these countries as just as descriptive, neutral phase it seems as though it implies that the rest of the world follows suit!?
So glad to hear you're feeling better about your reading - we all go through different stages in life where our focus naturally changes to different things - I went decades while raising kids where my reading volume was greatly reduced and the focus was mostly reading to/with them. Our lives have phases - it's great that you are able to feel better and socialize and have other outlets than just reading! A metamorphosis is a great way to think about it!
I've had that book Is Mother Dead on my get-to-it-eventually-maybe TBR for ages, but I think the cover has put me off - I really don't find it compelling! Which is of course a dumb reason not to read a book, and am glad to hear your good review! :)
I very much cherry-pick from Booker/Int'l and other prize lists. I'm interested in many of the same ones you are - Women without Men, The Wax Child, and Taiwan Travelogue, which I had already meant to get to last year when I read some other Taiwan books, and of course She Who Remains. And also The Remembered Soldier - keep hearing such good things. I've already read The Director.
Stand-out reads from my reading last month are Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro, which I read in prep for reading the biography of that author, The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, the bunch of books I read for my Gilgamesh project: The Buried Book by David Damrosch, Gilgamesh by Joan London (very tangentially Gilgamesh related in spite of the title!), and Anna In by Olga Tocarczuk. Still have a couple more to go. And Orlando by VW followed by Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, which was very different from and I much preferred to I Who Have Never Known Men.
We really do all go through different reading stages! I just had a mini identity crisis about mine lol. But I love to hear from other readers about how reading has ebbed and flowed in their life.
So intriguing to hear the cover of Is Mother Dead put of you off - I really love it!!! Its a book well worth your time - complex mother daughter relationships are endlessly fascinating to me.
I also keep hearing such good things about The Remembered Soldier which fascinates me because the cover is so hideous (in my opinion) that I would truly never pick it up!! I still feel like I need a little convincing haha
I really need to get round to reading Barrera - and I've never heard of Anna In by Olga Tocarczuk - is it one of her older ones?! Would love to hear your thoughts on Orlando and Orlanda in succession - I still haven't ever read any Harpman!!!
It is funny how covers are so subjective! And still influence our opinions even though we all know 'we shouldn't judge...' 😉
So far by Barrera I've only read On Lighthouses, which is a book of essays about her visiting lighthouses! I've been meaning to read Elena Garro forever, so when I saw Barrera had this biofic out about her (which seems to be getting good reviews), that was the catalyst for me finally doing it.
I enjoyed the Orlando/Orlanda sandwich. Orlanda came up as a group read in another group I'm in, and I'd not read Orlando before, so like with the previous thing, I decided to finally get to it first (as did a few others in the group). Enjoyed them both. Orlanda is really very different from IWHNKM - it's playful, but also a bit dark, lots of moral grayness, and the author's background as a psychoanalyst is very much on display. It was a good book to discuss with a group.
I've read most of Olga T's work translated to English, but not all of it in English (read The Empusium in German) - she has a huge back catalog that's not in English yet. When I had the idea for this Gilgamesh project, and found she'd written a retelling of the Inanna myth, I just had to include it - but alas, although it has been translated into 9 languages, English is not yet among them (I also read this one in German). And the cover was gorgeous, so catnip! 😻
I think one reason people (myself, at times, included) feel that translated fiction is difficult is that it often feels quite heavy. It seems like it's the literary books that critique society that tend to be deemed "important" enough to translate. Where are the pulpy mysteries, feel-good romances, slice-of-life family dramas? Certainly not all readers in France, Japan, and Argentina are reading philosophy and literary fiction!
It is highly probable that they're out there and I'm just not aware of them, but most of my translated fiction reading tends to fall into the "satisfying work" category of reading. The one big exception I can think of are all of the healing fiction books coming out of Japan and Korea right now. I have enjoyed a number of these, but they're starting to all feel the same.
They are out there, but they do tend to get translated less and are harder to find as they don't get highlighted by literary prizes...
I've read some German SciFi (all of which I found because it has been translated and I went back to find the originals), one was awful, one was okay, and one was a fun romp.
Thank you for sharing this Melanie! I found it really interesting and illuminative to read. Perhaps I'll start seeing if i can pile a list of less 'heavy' translated books (even tho I mostly read the heavy ones!) My humble guess would be the 'worthy' books get translated or get more interest in being translated because they feel more all encompassing about the human experience, talk about themes which publishers feel really confident in that will transcend borders, that are just immediately understood worldwide?
Off the top of my head; The Winterlings Cristina-Sánchez-Andrade (weird village where bizarre funny things happen), Far by Rosa Ribas (eerie mystery with a slice of romance), Just A Little Dinner by Cecile Tlili (dinner party drama), Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki (coming of age girls falling in love), Friends and Lovers by Nolween le Blevennec (middle age female friend drama/mystery) Cautery by Lucia Lijtmaer (2 female protagonists from different centuries who hate men lol)
I would agree that all healing fiction books from Japan & Korea feel the same.
Four very interesting and intense books Martha. I remember when Gomorrah was published (yes I go way back!) and I thought it was such a brave and risky publication. It was made into a TV series in 2014. I try to read translated books as much as I can. Recently finished Perfection, which I really enjoyed. But unless they are well known publications translated books are very hard to find in Irish bookshops. Do English books translated to other languages carry the moniker 'translated' too? I don't see them as a genre. For me the genre is the book itself, i.e. fiction, non-fiction etc.
Thank you Lucy! Haha yes Gomorrah is very risky, very brave. I do think generally translated books are hard to find for most people, like you said unless you know the publishing houses / know what you're looking for (that flash of blue from Fitzcarraldo for example). I would assume not that English books translated into other languages carry the label of 'translated' - but would again assume thats because it is common for english stories to be translated into other languages, whereas it is (up until recently) not been THAT common for other languages books to get translated into English (apart from break out classics that sometimes gain popularity). Up until recently I think the UK publishing scene has been incredibly insular regarding work from elsewhere, and this is where the descriptive label of 'translated' comes from! I don't think of it as a genre, but more just as a statement/descriptive because I don't read in genre really! Or I don't really pay attention to it
My Feb highlights were The Last Samurai and the Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which I found much more complex than expected. And I'm continuing my Laurie Colwin and Dorothy Dunnett completionist projects. Only two more LC to go and I'll be so sad when they are finished.
I'm glad you enjoyed The Last Samurai so much (from someone who really didn't like it - but I wished I did!) I have been on the fence about Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny for a while but it is intriguing to hear you found it surprisingly complex!
I have heard such great things about LC, but have never read her! Maybe this comment is my sign to finally get round to it.
The Last Samurai was so weird, but I quite liked the playing with form (although admittedly skimmed some of the technical bits). Re. the Loneliness, I worried it would be a bit of a trite love story (the cover maybe?), but I really liked the alternating perspectives. You should read LC - the best articulations of marital love, and the female protagonists are so, so cool!
I think the worry that it would be trite is exactly how I feel towards it too - but thrilled to have been proven wrong! Will deffo read LC
I was thinking about how calling it translated literature does center Western cultures, as it certainly isn’t translated for those in the original language. But it’s like race, we will “stop talking about it” once everyone has actual equal rights and opportunity - if giving into a marketing term helps people get over themselves and read a book about someone different then I’m all for it. I appreciate how people gave their perspective on the term and opened up discussion - translated lit doing gods work!
I only read 3 in February but I did discover a new favorite author Caroline Blackwood and finished Wuthering Heights so that’s an accomplishment.
Calling it translated literally really does centre Western cultures, but also, is that not the cultures that really should be pushed to be reading it more? I guess if we go really meta, most books are translated for most people! Translation just signals that it has originated from elsewhere. It seems the marketing of it all is a very delicate balance (in UK/US) between signalling that it is about someone/something different, but hopefully not othering other cultures entirely.
The discussion was v interesting and I think it was slightly lost that I can only speak/have the perspective of the one I have as someone who speaks no other languages and lives in the uk! Ofc I know that translated books aren't signalled out much in other cultures as they are here - that's just the way it is!
3 is a very happy February number! I've always been intrigued in Caroline Blackwood so I love to hear that. Finishing WH IS an accomplishment - did you like it lol? I need to watch the film this week, just so I can have an opinion on it if nothing else!
I actually loved Wuthering Heights because it was dark and desperate but it was a bit tedious at times. Although I’m all for artistic liberties with art and the vibes of Fennels movie are fantastic, I would love to see a realistic adaptation because it gave me a similar feeling as reading Shakespeare in that so much was happening internally off the page I needed to see the physical cues to get a better understanding of motivations etc. I need to write a Jan feb wrap up!!!
Are there truly not any realistic adaptions of WH? SURELY there are - I'd eat my hat if there weren't good british ones
As far as I know, no, there aren't. I'm not sure there are even any where Heathcliff isn't played by a white actor. 😒
Please someone do correct me if I'm wrong...
Google is telling me there are these adaptations; 1939, 1970, 1992, 1998, 2009, 2011 and the current one (2026). 1998 & 2009 both seem to be British tv adaptions! 2011 said to be 'the most accurate' apparently
Yes, that one does have a non-white Heathcliff. Not sure in that one if they also told the second half of the story? (most apparently cut it off halfway).
This latest 'adaptation' seems to be a hot mess, to put it kindly...
I’m two months into my reading “slump” and it is indeed more like a metamorphosis. For the first time ever I’m reading multiple books at once, all very different, and therefore finishing them at a glacial pace. It feels so different but right for right now? Anyway, I’ve been intrigued by Is Mother Dead for a while without really knowing what it’s about and that pull quote has totally convinced me!
Let's start a reading metamorphosis support group <3 I also never read multiple books at, am tentatively dipping my toe in reading two right now! Sometimes it is needed to finish books at a glacial pace - it took me 3 weeks to read Gomorrah even though I was really enjoying it. I would echo your sentiment that it feels different but right! You'd like Is Mother Dead - it's a fascinating portrait of the tension that can exist between mother, daughter, and families. About how hard it is to love people, and hate them, and the myths we tell ourselves to justify our actions/feelings/behaviours.
Extra sold!!
Oh man, I am now a multiple book addict! I've always got one on audio, one ebook, and at least a few physical books going at a time. There was a point this month where I had 11 books going. 😱 Currently I'm down to just 7, and that does include 2 'slow reads' of large books I'm just sipping on consistently. I do try to keep them different in subject/genre/format. But that was a game-changer when I started (which at first was one audio, one ebook, one physical - it's kinda snowballed. 😏)
11 books going at once is crazy Erin I admire and fear you!!! I am not a multiple book reader at all (I find it hard to parcel my admiration and attention into sections for various books?!)
The multiple book thing seems to suit my ADD brain! If my focus wavers, I just pick up something else!
Also, when I started this I reminded myself that before streaming and binge-watching we all, for decades, watched serialized stories on TV, half to one hour a week, often multiple different stories/shows per night, then had to wait a week for each one to pick back up, and no one thought that was difficult or odd at all. So dipping in and out of different books is really not as daunting as you'd think.
I'm also a multi-book reader! Not quite 11, but one digital, one audio, and one physical is pretty normal--more if I'm tearing through book club books. I also have ADHD, so maybe that's why? One of my favorite things to do is play the video game Fortnite while listening to a good book 🙈
So many BUYs!!! Feels like a great reading month to me!
I love that you are always championing translated books. It’s always felt like expansion, not reduction, coming from you because you highlight these different perspectives and try to read as widely as you can.
It was a good reading month! So much better than January in every way.
I am, of course, a fan of you saying it always feels like an expansion <3 thank you
"I am not calling it a slump anymore, and thinking of it more as a metamorphosis." Oof, that's...just it. I'm taking this as a motto. For life.
And about the books, I read Long Live the Post Horn last year and it was such an interesting read. It's both light and full of things.
As for the translation question, I think there's definitely a question of where you stand in the globe, culturally speaking. I don't think of "translated books" as a category in itself but I would be lying if I said that I don't often gravitate towards them because they come from linguistic areas I can't otherwise access.
Btw, highly recommend Taiwan Travelogue. If I may be so bold to cite myself, I wrote about it (sorta), back in September, precisely in relation to, you guessed it, reading and writing across languages: https://cronista.substack.com/p/travelogue-of-voyages.
It IS a motto for life you're right!! Officially everything will be called a metamorphosis now - no one can stop us!
I love your Long Live the Post Horn thoughts - Hjorth is such an interesting writer so I expect no less. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!
Thanks for sharing your perspective - it is definitely about where you are position in the globe I'd agree. Which I think is why it is specifically named translated literature so much in UK publishing, because as I wrote, everything is (on average) so monolingual/anglophone here it is truly sometimes necessary I think to signal that there is great literature from elsewhere that you can read! I would agree with your point - that I don't think of it as a category per say (but employ it sometimes for descriptive purposes) but I do specifically gravitate and look out for translated books because I can't otherwise access them like you said! I'll read anything if its translated - whatever the genre, the fact it has been translated is what is so attractive to me, so I guess describing them as 'translated lit' is just me being literally descriptive? And perhaps being so literal is not the most beneficial? I have never considered the way I speak about books as something that could be interpreted as anything other than expansive, but all of this discourse is making me consider it a lot more (it's not a bad thing!)
I do often think though if I wasn't English, and still such a voracious reader, would I be calling my reading something that focuses on translated literature, because I would naturally just be reading a lot more translations anyway? Like it goes both ways, english books translated into other languages, and other languages translated into English? We're all reading translations!
Love to hear how highly you recommend Taiwan Travelogue - I think it's the one I want to read most on the list! You should always be so bold as to cite yourself!!!
I remember reading at some point someone talking about how "world literature" can only exist because of translations, and I wish I could remember where that was, because I think it relates to this question!
In any case, I think the fact that you give so much thought to this topic is in and of itself an important case for this conversation but also for just spreading the world of non-anglophone literature to everyone! Coming from Brazil and having just gone to a bookstore yesterday, I would say most of the books on the shelves were non-Brazilian, but there's an added note to it: there's a separation between "Brazilian" and "lusophone," as most stores will categorize Portuguese or Mozambican literature as "foreign" alongside French, Chinese, or Russian titles!
Okay, "Reading across languages" is a *much* better term than "Translated literature" - I really like that!!!
We've officially found a new term!!!!! I like it more too
Swimming in Paris was my standout in February...was I sobbing at the end? Yes, self-discovery hits me at my heart center.
Three 'buys'❣️ Yippy for breaking the slump spell. Although I love 'matamorphasis'.
I like the phrase 'global reading'. Seems more active / intentional? For me, this phrasing more accurately (or actively) forms my approach to reading books from other countries - along with other times. 'Translated' describes the process.
Ooh I haven't heard of Swimming in Paris!! It sounds similar (ish?) to The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (https://marthasmonthly.substack.com/p/april-2024-reads?utm_source=publication-search) I love self discovery books too!
Yippy for the metamorphosis! I am glad you're loving the wording reframe as much as I am - it seems to be the spell for breaking the slump (as well as reading lots of good books!)
Ok I like the phrase global reading! It gives a wider scope / sounds more intentional I'd agree. I often find the process of translation is what is so attractive to me as a reader (I will read anything if it's translated bc I am interested in the act of it being translated) but I do also appreciate not everyone views it this way! I think I tend to apply a phrase like 'global reading' when I am looking at non-translated books, but maybe it is time to join them up?!
Wait! A metamorphosis for translated/global. And big yes to translation. I adore languages but only minored in French and I often think of a translators career as something magical✨. Swimming in Paris reminds me of The Copenhagen Trilogy.
Ooo ok I am very interested by you comparing it to TCT!
If you loved Bait it might be worth checking out Death in Spring by Mercé Rodoreda if you haven’t already. It follows a young boy in a small town in the Catalan mountains, a town which is extremely strange and lots of weird things are going on.
Yes!! I have been recommended this so many times, but thank you for drawing the comparison w Bait to reremind me that I really should check it out soon! I love strange weird things happening in an insular town.
Oh I love Merce Roderera! I had a Catalan officemate who recommended her work.
I hope you read (and love) Taiwan Travelogue! It was one of my favorites of 2025. It’s such a delight to see Taiwanese literature and culture elevated.
I hope so too! I think I will like it very much - the only other Taiwanese books I've read is Notes of a Crocodile & I'd like more!
Notes of a Crocodile was *so weird*! LOL.
The other two Taiwanese books I read last year were both wonderful - there was a memoir of someone from the Taiwanese diaspora that went back to get in touch with her roots, and is also an environmental historian, so there's also lots about the geology, flora, fauna, and natural history of the island. That one was Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica Lee.
And then I read a CliFi book with a side of magic realism, The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi, which I really enjoyed. Having just read about the natural history of the island before this really added to it. It also centers a couple of the different indigenous peoples of the island (that also got touched on in Two Trees).
Very much recommend both if you want to read more about Taiwan. I hear Taiwan Travelogue has a *lot* of food descriptions, so I'll be buckling in for that!
reframing the way i view my reading habits and adjust expectations was a game changer for me when i slowed down! now it just is what it is no matter how much or little i read in a month. i'm glad you're feeling better about and i'd say martha kafka is working with this many buys 😎
who'd have thought just a simple reframe could make such a profound difference lol! it's the little things 🙂↕️ martha kafka official name change?
The translation question is such a tricky one! One thing I appreciate about its rise as a 'category' is that it's highlighted the role of translators too. Translation in itself is an artform! I think it's good to have an awareness of how a text might change between languages, and so in that sense, I think the category can be helpful. I can see how it can be reductive to lump them all together, but I also think there’s something lovely about bookshops with ‘translated literature’ tables, not only because it showcases diverse writers, but because different genres get to sit next to each other. I like finding a horror book next to a family drama!
It sure is an artform! Yes I really do also love how that on the 'translated lit' tables in bookshops they are a whole array of different genres! I hate genre specific lay outs! The consensus seems to be it is a very western centric term which makes complete sense and I've always thought that anyway - as in, that the 'phase' doesn't translate to elsewhere in the same way. I think there is worth in highlighting translated books in the west bc it is directly challenging the anglo-centric cultures. I have a friend who works in a bookshop in the UK who said once they made a 'translated section' as it were in the shop, their sales of translated books and people engaging with them rose loads! I think its worthwhile reminding people they exist here. But also to remember that translated books are so normal elsewhere they are not much of a point of convo. Someone in the comments called it 'reading across languages' which I think is a much cooler, more appropriate phrase?!
On the other hand I WILL be reading the longlist!! This is mainly because I have already read 7 of the books and so it doesn’t feel like a stretch to read another 6 🤷🏻♀️ I am a regular reader of the booker prize longlist but have never read the IB one so let’s see how we go. Just picked up Taiwan Travelogue and I am intrigued. But Martha, I am also reading the third realm by Knausgaard and we are SO BACK in Morning Star territory, baby! 4 chapters in and I am calling it a certified banger. I think I commented on Pandora’s post but now I can’t remember what I said but I think I did mention that I have never been to a bookshop in Sydney that had a separate translated literature section. All the translated lit is shelved by author, amongst all the other literature.
I admire you for reading the longlist Nell - you're my idol! If I had already read 7 of the books, I think I'd do the same! I am so intrigued in Taiwan Travelogue it sounds really good? Perhaps the most 'me' on the list that I haven't read. I LOVE to hear this enthusiam for Third Realm - loved that it is a certified banger! I really do want to get to Wolves of Eternity soon, I think I am apprehensive because it is long and things are currently moving slow in my reading. On the other hand, it could be lovely to fully get lost in a big book - plus I love KOK. You did comment on the post and I loved that you had to say - it is very interesting to hear how book stores are laid out differently elsewhere. In some in the UK there are translated specific sections, others they are all mixed together but there might be a like 'promo' table all about translated lit. It seems the consensus is translated lit as a phrase is very western centred (not a shock, makes sense, have always thought that) so the term just doesn't translate well (pun intended) on the international stage when describing translated books bc it is the norm for everyone else!
I don’t like the term or meaning of a slump, so I love the metamorphosis!
Same!! Heard it here first, we will now all be officially called it a reading metamorphosis instead of slump (which has such negative vibes!)
Okay, I have thoughts on the whole 'translated lit' label! While I read quite a lot of what is categorized as 'translated lit', I really bristle at it as a label. It is so very, very, very Anglophone centered. For monolingual English speakers this seems a neutral and obvious thing to call what is to me - who while I am a native English speaker am multilingual and read in multiple languages - very much not, and does not even accurately reflect what everyone really means by it. The Anglo-centric influence worldwide is insidious - I actively look for booktubers to follow who read in the other languages I do - and have to really hunt for those who aren't just reading translations into their languages of the same old popular English Bookstagram books - or even English classics.
I love the work translators do and very much appreciate and respect their work and the access that gives me to work written in the majority of the world's languages that I can't read in! However, there is also nothing inherently virtuous about a translation vs reading it in the original language - which I still think is the preferable way to go if you have access to that. And of course most people don't, which is why YAY translations! But this fetishizing of 'translated' as if it *elevates* the work somehow is upside-down.
What everyone is trying to get at with this 'translated' label is that we shouldn't just read from our own perspective and our own culture. But calling it as a category 'translated' assumes that 'our own culture' is English-speaking (with a side of probably also white, but that's another kettle of fish).
So yay to diverse and translated literature, yay translators, but not sure how I feel about it as a category. But I'm probably whistling in a windstorm. And I'm probably just getting old and crotchety and possibly splitting hairs... 🤪
I love this answer Erin and, dare I say, might be the most nuanced one I have read about why the term is used, and why it doesn't best serve. I haven't thought about the fact that for monolingual native English speakers the term 'translated lit' seems like the neutral and obvious thing to call it - as a monolingual native English speaker I'd agree! It is employed much more just as a descriptive, rather than a defining category? Just to signal that is it a translation and nothing else - like how you might describe a book as written by a woman or a person of colour as those are important aspects to profile?
I utterly agree that the Anglo-centric influence of the world is insidious - it is like I said, it is hard to explain but I truly believe a possible attitude that reading translated books is somehow harder in the UK comes from how narrow culture is here. It really fails everyone.
I love the comments about people assuming translated lit is inherently virtuous - I'd assume that if you can read in another language, you would 100% be doing that?! I am intrigued that some people might find it inherently virtuous to read a translation - although I do think you are a more virtuous reader if you read across the languages. I hadn't thought much about the idea of fetishizing or elevating translated work w the description of calling it 'translated' - MUCH to think about!
Agree agree about the label and the fact that it does assume our 'own' culture is english speaking - I have actually never once thought that 'translated lit' was a 'thing' anywhere else other than UK/US spaces - elsewhere they are just books. But UK/Us culture does dominate (like we've said) so it makes alot of sense that in the term being using in these countries as just as descriptive, neutral phase it seems as though it implies that the rest of the world follows suit!?
So glad to hear you're feeling better about your reading - we all go through different stages in life where our focus naturally changes to different things - I went decades while raising kids where my reading volume was greatly reduced and the focus was mostly reading to/with them. Our lives have phases - it's great that you are able to feel better and socialize and have other outlets than just reading! A metamorphosis is a great way to think about it!
I've had that book Is Mother Dead on my get-to-it-eventually-maybe TBR for ages, but I think the cover has put me off - I really don't find it compelling! Which is of course a dumb reason not to read a book, and am glad to hear your good review! :)
I very much cherry-pick from Booker/Int'l and other prize lists. I'm interested in many of the same ones you are - Women without Men, The Wax Child, and Taiwan Travelogue, which I had already meant to get to last year when I read some other Taiwan books, and of course She Who Remains. And also The Remembered Soldier - keep hearing such good things. I've already read The Director.
Stand-out reads from my reading last month are Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro, which I read in prep for reading the biography of that author, The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, the bunch of books I read for my Gilgamesh project: The Buried Book by David Damrosch, Gilgamesh by Joan London (very tangentially Gilgamesh related in spite of the title!), and Anna In by Olga Tocarczuk. Still have a couple more to go. And Orlando by VW followed by Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, which was very different from and I much preferred to I Who Have Never Known Men.
We really do all go through different reading stages! I just had a mini identity crisis about mine lol. But I love to hear from other readers about how reading has ebbed and flowed in their life.
So intriguing to hear the cover of Is Mother Dead put of you off - I really love it!!! Its a book well worth your time - complex mother daughter relationships are endlessly fascinating to me.
I also keep hearing such good things about The Remembered Soldier which fascinates me because the cover is so hideous (in my opinion) that I would truly never pick it up!! I still feel like I need a little convincing haha
I really need to get round to reading Barrera - and I've never heard of Anna In by Olga Tocarczuk - is it one of her older ones?! Would love to hear your thoughts on Orlando and Orlanda in succession - I still haven't ever read any Harpman!!!
It is funny how covers are so subjective! And still influence our opinions even though we all know 'we shouldn't judge...' 😉
So far by Barrera I've only read On Lighthouses, which is a book of essays about her visiting lighthouses! I've been meaning to read Elena Garro forever, so when I saw Barrera had this biofic out about her (which seems to be getting good reviews), that was the catalyst for me finally doing it.
I enjoyed the Orlando/Orlanda sandwich. Orlanda came up as a group read in another group I'm in, and I'd not read Orlando before, so like with the previous thing, I decided to finally get to it first (as did a few others in the group). Enjoyed them both. Orlanda is really very different from IWHNKM - it's playful, but also a bit dark, lots of moral grayness, and the author's background as a psychoanalyst is very much on display. It was a good book to discuss with a group.
I've read most of Olga T's work translated to English, but not all of it in English (read The Empusium in German) - she has a huge back catalog that's not in English yet. When I had the idea for this Gilgamesh project, and found she'd written a retelling of the Inanna myth, I just had to include it - but alas, although it has been translated into 9 languages, English is not yet among them (I also read this one in German). And the cover was gorgeous, so catnip! 😻
I think one reason people (myself, at times, included) feel that translated fiction is difficult is that it often feels quite heavy. It seems like it's the literary books that critique society that tend to be deemed "important" enough to translate. Where are the pulpy mysteries, feel-good romances, slice-of-life family dramas? Certainly not all readers in France, Japan, and Argentina are reading philosophy and literary fiction!
It is highly probable that they're out there and I'm just not aware of them, but most of my translated fiction reading tends to fall into the "satisfying work" category of reading. The one big exception I can think of are all of the healing fiction books coming out of Japan and Korea right now. I have enjoyed a number of these, but they're starting to all feel the same.
They are out there, but they do tend to get translated less and are harder to find as they don't get highlighted by literary prizes...
I've read some German SciFi (all of which I found because it has been translated and I went back to find the originals), one was awful, one was okay, and one was a fun romp.
Thank you for sharing this Melanie! I found it really interesting and illuminative to read. Perhaps I'll start seeing if i can pile a list of less 'heavy' translated books (even tho I mostly read the heavy ones!) My humble guess would be the 'worthy' books get translated or get more interest in being translated because they feel more all encompassing about the human experience, talk about themes which publishers feel really confident in that will transcend borders, that are just immediately understood worldwide?
Off the top of my head; The Winterlings Cristina-Sánchez-Andrade (weird village where bizarre funny things happen), Far by Rosa Ribas (eerie mystery with a slice of romance), Just A Little Dinner by Cecile Tlili (dinner party drama), Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki (coming of age girls falling in love), Friends and Lovers by Nolween le Blevennec (middle age female friend drama/mystery) Cautery by Lucia Lijtmaer (2 female protagonists from different centuries who hate men lol)
I would agree that all healing fiction books from Japan & Korea feel the same.
Four very interesting and intense books Martha. I remember when Gomorrah was published (yes I go way back!) and I thought it was such a brave and risky publication. It was made into a TV series in 2014. I try to read translated books as much as I can. Recently finished Perfection, which I really enjoyed. But unless they are well known publications translated books are very hard to find in Irish bookshops. Do English books translated to other languages carry the moniker 'translated' too? I don't see them as a genre. For me the genre is the book itself, i.e. fiction, non-fiction etc.
Thank you Lucy! Haha yes Gomorrah is very risky, very brave. I do think generally translated books are hard to find for most people, like you said unless you know the publishing houses / know what you're looking for (that flash of blue from Fitzcarraldo for example). I would assume not that English books translated into other languages carry the label of 'translated' - but would again assume thats because it is common for english stories to be translated into other languages, whereas it is (up until recently) not been THAT common for other languages books to get translated into English (apart from break out classics that sometimes gain popularity). Up until recently I think the UK publishing scene has been incredibly insular regarding work from elsewhere, and this is where the descriptive label of 'translated' comes from! I don't think of it as a genre, but more just as a statement/descriptive because I don't read in genre really! Or I don't really pay attention to it