Women in Translation Month: Translated Books for Your TBR

It’s Women in Translation Month this August so I wanted to share translated books (of all genders) that I’ve read, want to read, or are on my radar.

It’s important to read translated books because we can’t all afford to travel around the world (though if you can, do!). Books are a unique way to travel. We get to sample the lifestyles, cultural norms, language, and styles of other people from other countries.

I have set myself a lifelong task to Read Around The World, which I encourage you to do, too.

(Most of these are literary fiction reads)

Translated books I’ve read

• Before the Coffee Gets Cold – translated from Japanese
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles – translated from Japanese
• Sweet Bean Paste – translated from a Japanese
• The Lonely Castle in the Mirror – translated from Japanese
• Earthlings – translated from Japanese
• Taiwan Travelogue – translated from Japanese
• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed (short story collection) – translated from Spanish (Argentine author)
• Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 – translated from Korean
• Hunchback – translated from Japanese
• Vita Nostra – translated from Ukranian

Translated books I own but haven’t read yet

• Breast and Eggs – translated from Japanese
• I Who Have Never Known Men – translated from French by Belgian author
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of Your Dead – translated from Polish
• The Shadow of the Wind – translated from Spanish
• Haruki Murakami books
• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante – translated from Italian
• On Earth As It Is Beneath by – translated from Portuguese (Brazilian) [borrowed from local library]
• She Who Remains by Rene Karabash – translated from Bulgarian [borrowed from local library]

Translated books on my radar

• Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung – translated from Korean
• The Director by Daniel Kehlman – translated from German
• Confessions by Kanae Minato – translated from Japanese
• Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro – translated from Spanish
• The Wall by Marlen Haushofer – translated from Austrian
• Han Kang books
• Birth Canal by Dias Novita Wuri – translated from Indonesian (by the author)
• Paradais by Fernanda Melchor – translated from Spanish
• My Pen is the Wing of a Bird – translated from Afghan writers
• What I’d Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma – translated from Dutch (trigger warnings for suicide and MH)
• Witcher series – translated from Polish

The majority of these books are literary fiction so these are fantasy translated books that may be of interest to you:

Sincerely,

S. xx