So excited for a new month and an opportunity to read lots of great things. It’s also time for Women in Translation. If you haven’t heard about this or just want to read a bit more about this please visit WIT. There’s a ton of info from suggested reading lists to even a bingo card to help you get out of your comfort zone and find books to read this month.
I have selected 5 books from my shelves that are perfect for this and wanted to show you what I’m considering:
Space Invaders by Nona Fernández, translated by Natasha Wimmer. This is a story about a group of children growing up in Chile at the end of the Pinochet regime and who in adulthood are preoccupied by uneasy memories of their classmate Estrella.
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi, translated by Sherif Hetata. A novel about a young women in a Cairo prison cell, facing execution.
My Grandmother’s Braid by Alina Bronsky, translated by Tim Mohr. Max lives with his grandparents in a residential home for refugees in Germany. When his grandmother moved them from the Motherland it was in search of a better life. But she is not at all pleased with how things are run in Germany: the doctors and teachers are incompetent, the food is toxic, and the Germans are generally untrustworthy.
The Girl with the Leica by Helena Janeczek, translated by Ann Goldstein. Gerda Taro was a German-Jewish war photographer, anti-fascist activist, artist and innovator who, together with her partner, the Hungarian Endre Friedmann, was one half of the alias Robert Capa, widely considered to be the twentieth century’s greatest war and political photographer.
High Tide by Inga Abele, translated by Kaija Straumanis. The story of Leva, her dead lover, her imprisoned husband and the way their youthful decisions dramatically impacted the rest of their lives.
What do you think of these? I mentioned in my last post that I’m carrying over several books from July but my goal is that any book I pick up in August has to fit into WIT month. I don’t usually do very well with a set of book but I’m going to try. Plus I have many other books either on my Kindle or shelves that I can choose from if I’m not quite feeling these at the time.
How about you? Are you reading any books for #WITMonth?
I didn’t know about Women in Translation month, but My Grandmother’s Braid is on my wish list and A Girl Returned is waiting on my kindle. Maybe I can get to one of them this month!
Women at Point Zero certainly sounds intense. Hope you enjoy all of these! 🙂
All of these sound good, but The Girl with the Leica really piques my interest!
Oh, your list looks really good! A great month of reading ahead 🙂
Joann @ Gulfside Musing – I hope you are able to join in! I’ve read another book by Alina Bronsky and really enjoyed it so I have high hopes for this one too!
Lark – I’ve heard it’s a pretty dark story but it’s really short. I haven’t read anything by an Egyptian writer in a long time either so it would be great to read this one. Plus she wrote like 50 or so novels and I’m just now hearing about her so definitely would like to learn more.
Jen Mullen – My husband is a big fan of Leica cameras and even he was like what’s that book about! haha.. It really does sound like a very interesting story and I do love the fact that it’s based on a real story.
Stefanie – If I am able to at least read two of these I’ll be super thrilled. Lately my reading seems to have stalled. Hope you have a great month too!
Sounds fun and I hope you enjoy reading all the books, Iliana!
I wonder if you hope to read all five in August.