The Translated works you should read

[Dhanaraj]

An interesting link that I found. Also I loved the collection of the books. You can also check how many books you have read in the list. More than that it can also serve as an introduction to many books.
This is the link: http://flavorwire.com/415153/50-works...

[Leslie]

I assume translated means into English... I have read:

- Candide by Voltaire
- The Three Musketeers by Dumas pere
- Les Miserables by Hugo
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
- Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

but lots of these are on my long list tbr as they are also on the Guardian list.

[Jenny]

Nice list!

I've read:

The Three Musketeers by Dumas
Against Nature by Huysmans
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky (a favorite)
Dead Souls by Gogol
Madame Bovary by Flaubert
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Swann's Way (and the rest of it) by Proust
The Trial by Kafka
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz (another favorite)
The Stranger by Camus
Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
The Master and Margarita by Bulgakow
The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir (and one more favorite)
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Austerlitz by Sebald
IQ84 by Murakami (book 1&2, book 3 to come)
My Name is Read by Pamuk
Suite Francaise by Némirovsky

a few more on my TBR and some I had never heard of. Apparently I have a real blank spot where African and Arabic literature should be.

[Alannah]

I have only read Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. To be honest most books I would read are mainly by English speaking authors. It's not on the list but the only other translated text I have read is Alone In Berlin.

[Dhanaraj]

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The Trail by Kafka.
The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges.

[dely]

Finally a list with books I have read :D

Don Quixote
Candide (though I don't remember much, read long years ago and read in French)
One hundred years of Solitude
Crime and Punishment
Dead Souls
Madame Bovary (read in the original language)
The Trial
The Master and Margarita
The House of the Spirits
My name is Red (though I haven't finished it)

And there are a lot in my tbr list.

[Shirley]

Only one, Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.

[LauraT]

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
Candide, Voltaire
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
Oblomov, Ivan Goncharov
Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust (I’ve actually read the whole Recherche!)
The Trial, Franz Kafka
The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende
The Land of Green Plums, Herta Müller
1Q84, Haruki Murakami
Suite française, Irène Némirovsky

Funny that of the two italian authors listed there (Calvino and Deledda) I've read other works!!!

[LauraT]

P.S. Jenny: I've seen that aslo you have still the third book of 1Q84 to read. Shall we do it in pair? Or with whom alse is interested?

[Jenny]

Yes lets! I was going to read it around December, would that suit you?

[LauraT]

Yes, I think I can manage. Just remind me though!!!

[Jenny]

Will do ;)

[Amber]

I've only read the three musketeers.

[Tweedledum]

Hi here are some of my favourites.
The Periodic Table
Mendelssohn is on the Roof
The Little World of Don Camillo
Germinal
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Smilla's Sense of Snow

[Tweedledum]

Oops lost the plot there didn't actually read first post. Maybe I should start my own list of translated books everyone should read....

[Dhanaraj]

Tweedledum wrote: "Oops lost the plot there didn't actually read first post. Maybe I should start my own list of translated books everyone should read...."

Create your own list.
By the way the books that you mentioned are some of the bests.

[Petra]

From the list I've read:

Don Quixote (currently reading, so I'm counting it :D)
Les Miserables
Anna Karenina
Swann's Way
1Q84
Suite Francaise

[Leslie]

Dhanaraj wrote: "Tweedledum wrote: "Oops lost the plot there didn't actually read first post. Maybe I should start my own list of translated books everyone should read...."

Create your own list.
By the way the b..."

I like this idea! Post here if you do create one so I can go check it out :)

[Gill]

I like the idea of posting our own lists also. Will try to get round to it in the next couple of weeks.

[Jenny]

Oh yes let's!

[Dhanaraj]

The encouragement is interesting enough to create one's own list of the best translated works. May be I would create a list soon of the books that I have read.

[LauraT]

@Tweedledum: you've read The Little World of Don Camillo???? I can't belive that!!!!

[Dhanaraj]

I had created a list of the best translated works out of the BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ. These are selected according to my taste and the impact that these books made on me.
I was also strict with myself and thus had to make real decisions at times. With much difficulty I have exclude few books.
This is the list:
1. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino.
2. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
3. The Stranger by Albert Camus.
4. The Trial by Franz Kafka.
5. The Sons by Franz Kafka.
6. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
7. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi.
8. Silence by Shusaku Endo.
9. Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata.
10. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo.
11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
12. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges.
13. Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist.

These are the books that nearly made it to the list:
1. Our Ancestors: The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Non-Existent Knight by Italo Calvino.
2. Pereira Declares: A Testimony by Antonio Tabucchi.

Notable omission is the Russian literature. I have not read the big giants of Russian literary world. And another omission is the French literature. I have not many of them either.

Make your own list of the best translated works from the books that you have read and let us know.

[Jenny]

I've read a half of them, and Camus, Kafka, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino and Erich Maria Remarque would make it on my list as well, except of course I didn't need to read a translation for the latter ;) I feel I have way too much to chose from, but will sit down and write my own once I have the time. Thanks for sharing yours!

[Gill]

Here are some of the best translated works that I have read. I say 'some' because I am sure I will think of more later. They are not in any particular order.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
If This Is a Man / The Truce by Primo Levi

[Dhanaraj]

I too had thought of Chronicle of a Death Foretold. A great read it was.

The list seems interesting. I will have to add some books to my TO READ list.

[Gill]

Yes, Dhanarah, I think it's pretty incredible for such a short book. I love every word of it.

[Jenny]

Gill, I was happy to find Crime and Punishment, If This is a Man and The Last Temptation of Christ on this, as they belong to my favorites as well.

[Gill]

Jenny wrote: "Gill, I was happy to find Crime and Punishment, If This is a Man and The Last Temptation of Christ on this, as they belong to my favorites as well."

It's nice to have things in common isn't it? And then you can expand your experiences by looking at the things that aren't in common!

[Jenny]

I agree, in fact you make me want to try Orhan Pamuk again, who I fail to appreciate every time I try! (and I've tried a few times)

[Jenny]

(I also love that you've slipped Arnaldur Indriðason into this list of literary giants, will pick the next book in the series up soon) ;)

[Leslie]

Jenny wrote: "(I also love that you've slipped Arnaldur Indriðason into this list of literary giants, will pick the next book in the series up soon) ;)"

I just finished Hypothermia (4½ stars) - not a traditional mystery but I found it compelling. I did miss the involvement of his subordinates but it was fitting for this plot for Erlendur to be working alone.

[Gill]

I wasn't sure at first about putting Indridason in the list. I decided to because some scenes in his books have stayed with me and made me ponder. This seems to me to be the sign of a potentially great writer. Also, I find his plots fascinating.

[Gill]

Jenny, I can understand why you have problems with Pamuk. I find him a rather self-indulgent writer, which makes me impatient with him. This was less obvious in My Name is Red and in Snow.

And not many writers express their self-indulgence quite so well!

[Dhanaraj]

Found an interesting link where the translations are discussed. Also one gets the knowledge of the new translations and their availability. If you are interested check this out: http://www.rochester.edu/College/tran...

[Jenny]

That's a brilliant page Dhanaraj! Thanks for posting, I bookmarked it immediately. Among the 'recent reviews' I found two that I would love to read like The Infatuations by Javier Marias and Between Friends by Amoz Os and one by a very good German author: Dark Company: A Novel in Ten Rainy Nights by Gert Loschütz

[Dhanaraj]

You are welcome, Jenny......

[Gill]

Has anyone read The Red and the Black in English? If so, what translation did you use and how was it?

[Leslie]

Gill wrote: "Has anyone read The Red and the Black in English? If so, what translation did you use and how was it?"

No but it is on my TBR - hopefully, I will read it in 2014! I got my Kindle edition from www.feedbooks.com but it doesn't say who did the translation. I have the audiobook also (narrated by Davina Porter), which uses the translation by C.K. Scott-Moncrieff.

[LauraT]

Gill wrote: "Has anyone read The Red and the Black in English? If so, what translation did you use and how was it?"

Sorry just read it in italian!!!

[Rowena]

Gill wrote: "Has anyone read The Red and the Black in English? If so, what translation did you use and how was it?"

I have, Gill. I read the Signet Classic edition, translated by Lloyd C. Parks

[Elaine]

Jenny wrote: "I agree, in fact you make me want to try Orhan Pamuk again, who I fail to appreciate every time I try! (and I've tried a few times)"
Hi Gill, try his book on Istanbul first - its a non fiction book on his journey in Istanbul and growing up there. IT is fascinating. Then maybe try and read his other books.

[Holly]

My list is going to look really measly:

Most of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Clearly I need to read more translated books... They just all seem so long!

[Elaine]

Hi all, I find I read more foreign translated books now than the normal UK and USA books. They are so rich and compelling and different. I read a lot of Indian authors, Turkish - try Elif Shafak too, Italian, Egyptian, Israeli - Amoz Oz is amazing, and a couple of other Israeli writers, Palestinian. It stems from when I started reading travel books, I love the old ones, where you see where it was newly explored. Some of the newer ones are interesting too of course. You learn about other cultures, which then makes you interested in their literature.
I cant wait to go and see some of the places I've read about!

[Gill]

Elaine wrote: "Jenny wrote: "I agree, in fact you make me want to try Orhan Pamuk again, who I fail to appreciate every time I try! (and I've tried a few times)"
Hi Gill, try his book on Istanbul first - its a no..."
Hi Elaine, I think you mean Jenny, not Gill! And yes, I was impressed with Istanbul.

[Dhanaraj]

Reading the literature of the people of other lands is like getting a free ticket into their culture and beliefs. I love the translated works just for this reason alone.

[Jenny]

Elaine wrote: "Hi all, I find I read more foreign translated books now than the normal UK and USA books. They are so rich and compelling and different. I read a lot of Indian authors, Turkish - try Elif Shafak to..."

Elaine, thank you for the recommendation on Pamuk (I think it was for me?). Any recommendations for Isreali or Palestinian authors? I've read a few books by Isreali authors like Oz, Shalev and Grossman and particularly enjoyed To the End of the Land by the latter, a fantastic book and one I'd highly recommend.

[Shirley]

Dhanaraj wrote: "Reading the literature of the people of other lands is like getting a free ticket into their culture and beliefs. I love the translated works just for this reason alone."

I agree Dhanaraj, and for this reason, I would like to read more translated works. It's good to be stretched and in this way you can better understand other cultures.

[Leslie]

Shirley wrote: "Dhanaraj wrote: "Reading the literature of the people of other lands is like getting a free ticket into their culture and beliefs. I love the translated works just for this reason alone."

I agree ..."

I agree also, Dhanaraj! I also feel this about historical fiction - I love the way I can learn some history in a way that doesn't bore me plus get a sense what life was like in past times (rather than just the big events or famous people).

[Holly]

Just looked back at the list, I definitely need to read more of these books. Dostoevsky is high on my list, considering how much I loved Crime and Punishment. But Tolstoy is also looking like a good read!