One of the things I keep seeing on Twitter and such places is the existence of a Japanese word tsundoku, defined by Wiktionary as:
(informal) the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with such other unread books
The popularity of the word suggests that the “to be read” pile has become a global phenomenon. Anyway, in honour of Translation Thursday, here are a few highlights of mine.
The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon and intriguingly translated by Daniel Hahn, Ollie Brock, Lisa Dillman, Thomas Bunstead and Anne McLean (Pushkin Press). This is the subject of another of the Writers’ Centre Norwich Summer Reads books, with a discussion event coming up in July so I need to have read it by then… WCN Review
Mr Darwin’s Gardener by Kristina Carlson, tr. Emily and Fleur Jeremiah (Peirene Press). I tried to read this a couple of weeks ago and failed, being in the wrong frame of mind to tackle anything poetic and postmodern. I will come back and have another go soon, honest. Nicholas Lezard’s Paperback of the Week in the Guardian
Gallic Books have also sent me a review copy of Monsieur le Commandant by Romain Slocombe tr. Jesse Browner, which sounds fascinating but disturbing.
I am excessively excited about Pushkin Press launching a children’s list, so I’m thrilled to have won a copy of Oksa Pollock, The Last Hope by Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf from the Mumsnet Book Club. I haven’t yet been able to find out who the translator is, so I hope he or she will be more prominently credited in the book and publicity material once it actually comes out.
And finally for now, Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig, tr. Anthea Bell (Pushkin Press) – this is courtesy of Lindsay Healy and the Literary Blog Hop, – you can see her review here: The Little Reader Library
Related articles
- Oksa Pollock: everything you need to know about the ‘French Harry Potter’ (guardian.co.uk)
- Eduardo Halfon and The Polish Boxer (3ammagazine.com)
a discount ticket to everywhere 