I saw a Booking Through Thursday post on Matt’s blog that made me want to put my own list together as well. I am terrible about keeping up with memes, but again, this one I had to participate in because I love literature from other countries. Like Matt, I also tried to choose books in translation. I may not read a lot of books in translations but I’m always working on that.
Name a book (or books) from a country other than your own that you love. Or aren’t there any? I have a lot but here are some of my favorites:
- Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
- Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder (Norway)
- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (México)
- Perfume by Patrick Süskind (Germay)
- Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura (Japan)
- The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig (Austria)
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain)
- House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Chile)
- A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot (France)
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)
I sort of cheated on the Laura Esquivel book as I am from México but I as I live in the U.S. I figured I could sneak that one on the list.
What are some of your favorites?
14 Comments
I loved The Post Office Girl and Like Water For Chocolate too. I would have to include Tove Jansson’s books as I have read loads of them. She is Swedish.
I LOVED Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, please tell me if there are any more books like that.. i love magic realism 🙂
of course I also loved The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Others I will definitely try at some point of time.
I am right now reading Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan .. and am loving the lovely description of the Chinese culture… i think you should someday try this author too 🙂
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a good one! Unfortunately, I really disliked Love in the Time of Cholera. You have made me want to go peruse my bookshelves though to see what other countries my books may be from.
Nice list! I’ll add Swann’s Way by Proust from France, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Calvino and The Name of the Rose by Eco from Italy, and Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World by Murakami from Japan.
I loved Sophie’s World! Haven’t thought about it in a long time, so I’m glad you reminded me. I guess I’ll have to order If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, as my library doesn’t have a copy. Loved The Name of the Rose.
I think I might have to come up with my own list. I wonder if it would be so varied as I’ve not be reading many books lately that have been translated. I loved Like Water for Chocolate, too. And someone also mentioned Stefan Zweig, too, who I also like.
I read Sophie’s World ages ago, and boy, was that over my head! I own it, so I could re-read it, but it’s so intimidating.
Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Canada)
The Companion by Lorcan Roche (Ireland)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Australia)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (India)
Sky Burial by Xue Xinran (China)
Blindness by Jose Saramago (Portugal)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda (France) (I am cheating too)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (England)
and of course
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Mexico)
Not sure that all of those would qualify as foreign litterature since some of them were written in English to start with. I also would have put “Perfume” in my list. I have not read “Shipwrecks” and will look into that. Thanks Iliana, most entertaining.
vivienne – I’m putting Tove’s name on my list. Have not read any of her books!
Veens – Have you tried any Isabel Allende or Gabriel Garcia Marquez? If you want magical realism, they got it! Also, I have read Lisa See’s books (2) and really loved them for the setting. Good stuff.
Stephanie – Was it the end in Love in the time of Cholera? I know several people who really didn’t like the main character and I understand why but I guess it just really worked for me 🙂
Stefanie – I must read Calvino. I wanted to add Murakami to my list but went with Yoshimura as I didn’t think he gets enough recognition! haha.
jenclair – Me too, I want to read Calvino. Name of the Rose was fabulous too. Did you see the film? Very good too.
Danielle – Oh please put together one of your lovely lists – I always get good suggestions from that! 🙂
Anna – I had never taken a philosophy course so I felt a bit out of my depth as well with that book but on the whole I felt like I was entertained and I learned something!
Roxane – Oh you’ve got some of my favorites on your list too – Zusak, Atwood, Mistry…. Shipwrecks was a chilling read. I hope you check it out!
Great list Iliana. A fav of mine is called Benny and Shrimp. I think it’s Swedish originally. Its such a cute and quirky love story.
A lot of your books are on my to-read list. Which is getting really long. I try to participate in this meme each week. It gives me something to talk about on Thursdays, anyway!
bookworm – Ah, I didn’t know that book was Swedish? I need to check that out. I seem to really enjoy literature from that cold country 🙂
Dana Huff – I know what you mean about lists getting long from memes like this one. I always love to read those BTT posts but I always seem so unprepared to put something together! haha..
Iliana, you’ve got a great list there. I totally forgot about Garcia Marquez, and what you picked is my favorite of his as well. Three books off your list I would like to read: A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot, The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig, and Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. I’m probably the last person on earth who hasn’t read the last one. 🙂