Play Book Tag discussion
January 2017: Foreign Literature
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Announcing the January Tag(s) - yes, Tags
Sara wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I didn't love Elegance as much as everybody else ... FYI"Shhhh! This has been on my tbr for-evah and now you are making me wary. This is why despite wanting to read [book:The Brief..."
Same here with Oscar Wao.
But Hedgehog is an issue because I have some pressure on the read it side . . .from people who I do trust, but who don't necessarily know my reading as well as Nicole. Um, Sara, I vote you read it first and tell me what to do . . .how does that sound?
Just to add my thoughts to this issue, I am very sure that I read the elegance of the hedgehog Way back when. And yes I can remember almost to exactly nothing about it. Did I like it? Not sure. I think I did. Where there a lot of people in an apartment building on a woman with some pies? Or was that the next book? Or am I confusing this with Muriel Barbary. No I think I read it, it's very rare for me to have such little association. If I had to guess, I gave it 3 1/2 stars. Liked it a lot, didn't love it, didn't hate it, and now can't remember nothing. Still so frustrating to me about the incredible number of reviews I lost on Shelfari, but I am actually going to look this one up and see if it jogs anything.
It says I rated it four stars. Naturally the review was lost.
For my 2 cents (re: Hedgehog) --- I listened to the audio and it worked for me. I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much in print form because some parts were a bit dense.
Anita wrote: "Ok, so I really have plenty to read for this month's tag. The hard part will be squeezing everything in.At the top of my list are:
War and Turpentine - a holiday gift!
The..."</i>
Since you love books set in India have you ever read [author:Amitav Ghosh?
Anita wrote: "Sara, I vote you read it first and tell me what to do . . .how does that sound?"I can do that, but I can't promise it will be January.
Jennifer P. wrote: "I may finally read Lolita. We'll see. I hope I get into some of the admin tags. I'm intrigued by how many of the "librarian" tags are risqué."Oh! Definitely try to get to Lolita! It is an amazing.
Anita wrote: "Kristel wrote: "The bonus tags are: (GUESSING)Everest Anita
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
librarian Cindy
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
psychological thriller Linda
https:..."
I would've gone with the same thing. The only thing that surprises me is Nicole didn't go with Twilight. LOL
Sara wrote: "Oh my goodness! I love these bonus tags. Also super-duper excited for foreign literature!For foreign lit I can't recommend enough Cry, the Beloved Country. Seriously, I feel like I re..."
You know I'm pulling for And the Mountains Echoed!
Regina wrote: "Sara wrote: "Oh my goodness! I love these bonus tags. Also super-duper excited for foreign literature!For foreign lit I can't recommend enough Cry, the Beloved Country. Seriously, I f..."
It is on my definite list as it also covers a PBT High Note for me.
Regina wrote: "Jennifer P. wrote: "I may finally read Lolita. We'll see. I hope I get into some of the admin tags. I'm intrigued by how many of the "librarian" tags are risqué."Oh! Definitely try to get to [boo..."
I second Regina. Lolita blew me away when I read it last year.
Nicole wrote: "Nothing says "foreign literature" quite like Twilight...."ROFL!
If I can get through it, I'm going to go with The Prague Cemetery for the foreign literature tag. If I make it through that, I will probably go with Defending Jacob for psychological thriller.
Karin wrote: "I gave it four stars, not because I loved the story, but I loved the writing and the philosophical nature of the book. ..."I wasn't a fan. It was all that philosophy...
I just went through my TBR and came up with 58 books that fit the international tag (and I left off several that weren't available at the library.)Feeling overwhelmed! I'll weed it out tomorrow. Complicating matters, last night I promised my son I would read a book he's been recommending to me next month.
Sara wrote: "Regina wrote: "Sara wrote: "Oh my goodness! I love these bonus tags. Also super-duper excited for foreign literature!For foreign lit I can't recommend enough Cry, the Beloved Country...."
It's kind of strange. If someone tells you the premise your first reaction is "ewwww!" But, WOW! What a story.
Recommendations? How do I even begin?Interestingly I've recently discovered that there's not a single
Russian Literature book I've rated below a 5. I guess I should have studied that in school. LOL.
Therefore, I'm going to recommend One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
If you are a Khaled Hosseini fan (Oh how I wish he'd hurry up and release another book) and would like a similar experience I can't say enough about Rooftops of Tehran
I also am constantly trying to get people to try Amitav Ghosh My favorite is The Glass Palace
What I'm reading? I may not come up for air. Ya'll remind me now and then how important food is.
I'm definitely reading This Earth of Mankind. I absolutely adored The Girl from the Coast and want to read more of his work. The story of his oppression is utterly fascinating and it seems to have permeated his work.
Missing Soluch
The Good Muslim
Other possibilities:
The Trial
Another Orhan Pamuk book
The Master and Margarita
The Last Jew of Treblinka
The Makioka Sisters
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Birds of Amber
A Mansion in the Sky: And Other Short Stories
If I get to Psychological Thriller (but, honestly?) it will be Cartwheel
Regina- I very much agree with your thoughts about Rooftops of Tehran. Although I read it prior to joining Goodreads, I likely would have given it a 4 or 5 star rating.
Lisa Ann ⛄ wrote: "Regina- I very much agree with your thoughts about Rooftops of Tehran. Although I read it prior to joining Goodreads, I likely would have given it a 4 or 5 star rating."Oh! It's good to find a kindred spirit on that!
I want to get one more plug in for those who read historical fiction for interesting new nuggets. Give The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
LibraryCin wrote: "I wasn't a fan. It was all that philosophy....":) True--philosophy isn't everyone's cup of tea. I didn't agree with all of the philosopy, which is one of the reasons it was only 4 stars. So, then, you probably don't want to read the NZ y/a novel (released as an adult novel in the US & Canada, or at least the US) Genesis by Bernard Beckett, because it's a philosophical scifi novel, much of it written like a Socratic dialogue that examines some philosophical issues in the novel.
My recommendation would be The Vegetarian. There are so many good ones- this should be a good tag to whittle down the TBR!
This is my favorite tag. I love reading foreign (to me) books especially from countries I know little about. I have to give it some thought but I have so many options!! I'll make recommendations soon!
Anita wrote: "Oh, I didn't consider The Elegance of the Hedgehog, but I own a copy, and that has been on my list forever and has been highly recommended to me . . .hmmmm . . .ok, now I have too many choices!..."I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It does have a lot of philosophy, but I think that's something that you may like about the book. I loved the writing and loved the main characters. I thought the writing was excellent.
Regina wrote: "Sara wrote: "Regina wrote: "Sara wrote: "Oh my goodness! I love these bonus tags. Also super-duper excited for foreign literature!For foreign lit I can't recommend enough [book:Cry, the Beloved C..."
Well, I bought the audio from Audible earlier this year so it may make my January list.
Happened to stop at the library just minutes before it closed and just hours before were getting on the plane, and I picked up the spy by Paulo Coehlo for January. Have totally wanted to read it. But shocked to realize it's just under 200 pages. This solves the over crunch I already have planned for January.
Regina wrote: "I want to get one more plug in for those who read historical fiction for interesting new nuggets. Give The Pearl That Broke Its Shell"Oh oh oh!!!! This is my f2f book club book for January! I'm so happy it fits!
Karin wrote: "So, then, you probably don't want to read the NZ y/a novel (released as an adult novel in the US & Canada, or at least the US) Genesis by Bernard Beckett, because it's a philosophical scifi novel, much of it written like a Socratic dialogue that examines some philosophical issues in the novel. ..."LOL! That is a definite "no"! :-)
LibraryCin wrote: "Regina wrote: "I want to get one more plug in for those who read historical fiction for interesting new nuggets. Give The Pearl That Broke Its Shell"Oh oh oh!!!! This is my f2f bo..."
There should be a lot to talk about in that book!
Anita wrote: "Karin wrote: "Marina wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I didn't love Elegance as much as everybody else ... FYI"Me neither... I think I gave it 3 stars, because it wasn't bad, I just couldn't see where all ..."
I am looking for my review of Hedgehog on LibraryThing, and if the page ever goes to the right place, will bring it over here. Got it: (ps it's been over 2 years, so I have no idea what I was going to say near the end where it just says "the with.")
Renee Michell, concierge at a building of exclusive homes for the wealthy, hides her brilliance behind her short, squat, ugly body and a mask of intellectual dullness, convinced that this is how things need to be. Paloma, younger daughter of residents there, also hides her brilliant intellect and secretly plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday to escape the meaningless darkness of life and set fire to the family apartment to spite her family who don't give her a moment's peace to think unless she hides. Enter Ozu, a bright, thinking, wealthy Japanese man who purchases an apartment upon the death of its owner, who not only sees past the masks Paloma and Renee wear, but also befriends Renee and helps the two of them connect.
The book is not only very well written, but it has also been translated to retain beauty and nuance of language that captures the philosophical flavour of the novel in a different language. However, it is becoming increasingly irritating to read books where anyone who is hyper-intelligent just "knows" that there is nothing but what we can see, similar to existentialism or authenticity, and that other thought is inherently weaker. It's blatantly inaccurate to conclude that this is the end of all intelligent, deep thought; there are hyper-intelligent, deep thinking people who come to vastly different conclusions. One might argue that these are just the characters and not the author speaking, but in this case I highly doubt it given that Barbery is a professor of philosophy. A great, and I suspect unwitting, irony of this book is the self-fulfilling fear/prophecy that Renee has about what will happen if she steps out of intellectual hiding and makes a friend out of her class. The ending for Paloma is much more believable and works in the novel's favour. Therefore, despite the brilliant use of language, the with, and some lovely scenes, I am giving this book a 3 for lack of intellectual originality and a bit of a rushed ending.
Regina wrote: "There should be a lot to talk about in that book! ..."Good to know! I don't even know what the book is about!
I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog; I listened to the audiobook performed by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris. LINK to my review
Book Concierge wrote: "I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog; I listened to the audiobook performed by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris. LINK to my review"
Ha ha, I looked at all my friend's ratings and they are pretty evenly split between 2 stars and 4 stars, lol . . .I'm just going to have to read it.
For me, I'll interpret this tag as being literature written and originally published in a language other than English. So that leaves out most of the current or former British colonies where much literature is still written and published in English.However, recognizing that there are some great Indian, Australian and South African works out there, I might consider reading one of those as well. I've had Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda on my tbr for ages.
I previously recommended Isabel Allende. Here are some other books I've read and enjoyed that would fit the tag:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog / Muriel Barberry (French)
The Almond Picker / Simonetta Agnello Hornby (Italian)
Suite Française / Irene Nemirovsky (French)
Crime and Punishment / Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russian)
The Housekeeper and the Professor / Yoko Ogawa (Japanese)
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter / Mario Vargas Llosa (Spanish)
Blindness -or- The Double / Jose Saramago (Portuguese)
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie (French ... by a Chinese author, about China, but originally written/published in French)
Midaq Alley / Naguib Mahfouz (Egyptian)
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker (German?)
And a couple of books that were originally written in English, but are mostly "foreign" in scope (i.e. foreign to the USA / Canada / or Great Britain)
What the Body Remembers / Shauna Singh Baldwin
A Fine Balance / Rohinton Mistry
The Inheritance of Loss / Kiran Disai
A River Sutra / Gita Mehta
Disgrace / J.M. Coetze
Cry, the Beloved Country / Alan Paton
Book Concierge wrote: "However, recognizing that there are some great Indian, Australian and South African works out there, I might consider reading one of those as well. I've had Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda on my tbr for ages."Oscar and Lucinda is one of my all time favorites!
Shuva wrote: "Anita wrote: "Ok, so I really have plenty to read for this month's tag. The hard part will be squeezing everything in.At the top of my list are:
War and Turpentine - a holiday gi..."
Oh Yay, Shuva - - I loved two of the three, so it sounds like The White Tiger may also be up my alley!! Thanks for chiming in!!
Sara and Anita - I didn't hate it and at times loved the writing, but in the end I celebrated and I'll leave it at that. I don't think either of you will hate it.
I was going to say "hooray" for librarian (I am one) but - really! Risque? I never thought of it that way :-)So many good recommendations for Foreign lit. I've had A Man Called Ove and The Housekeeper and the Professor on my list for quite a while - I hope to get to one those at least.
I haven't even finished one book for this month yet! Not only did I have 13 people for Thanksgiving dinner including my bachelor 45 year old who brought a serious girlfriend to "meet the parents" from Ohio (we live in FL), but planning for my mother's 90th birthday party on Dec 16 as a sort of surprise (told her at the last minute). I was the one surprised too because my Colorado son and grandson showed up out of the blue and my niece from Texas came over the same day! And - is it me - was this the fastest Thanksgiving to Christmas period in history? Very little time for shopping but what a great time with my family. I need a breather though.
I recommend Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina. Both are biggies, but I really enjoyed them.I plan on reading Wuthering Heights. It's been on my tbr for a long while AND it meets my 1001 Books group read for January. (Two birds with one stone!) If I have time for another it'll be The Prince (have this sitting on my shelf) or The Alchemist (would have to get, but really want to read this one).
I'm happy with this tag.My top suggestion and I encourage people to read it, not just because I love it, but so we can decide if it truly deserves to be on the PBT top 100 list, The Investigation.
Other recommendations are:
Do Not Say We Have Nothing
The Association of Small Bombs
In the Sea There are Crocodiles: Based on the True Story of Enaiatollah Akbari
The Garden of Evening Mists
Beauty Is a Wound
We Need New Names
Our Lady of the Nile
A Long Way Home
Fear: A Novel of World War I
Radiance of Tomorrow
I don't read enough translated work from other nations. Lots of great recommendations from Denizen, Book Concierge, and BooknBlues.Top recommendation: Kafka on the Shore.
For the ambitious, I keep hoping someone else I know on Goodreads will try Life and Fate, a Russian take on WW2 with the scope of War and Peace, written by a man who was a news correspondent on the Eastern Front.
I hope to read the one BnB and many Shelfarians were recommending several years back, The Garden of Evening Mists.
For a huge gap in Latin American fiction, I hope for:
The Infatuations by Marias
Something French:
The Elementary Particles
Something Italian:
The Late Mattia Pascal
Something Swedish:
The Laughing Policeman
I'm going to be reading The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin, which was sent to me as a mid-year prize for some reading thing or other (not new, but loved and passed on). This is also because it's a fantastic fit for another reading challenge in a way few books could be.I don't know what my top recommendation would be as there are so many great ones to choose from.
Michael wrote: "I don't read enough translated work from other nations. Lots of great recommendations from Denizen, Book Concierge, and BooknBlues.Top recommendation: Kafka on the Shore.
For the ambitious, I keep hoping someone else I know on Goodreads will try Life and Fate, a Russian take on WW2 with the scope of War and Peace, written by a man who was a news correspondent on the Eastern Front..."
Michael, I've considered Life and Fate but am not sure I'll be able to work in an 800+ page book before the month's end. I was looking at Forever Flowing also by Grossman and on my TBR but considerably shorter. Have you read it?
Anita wrote: "Ha ha, I looked at all my friend's ratings and they are pretty evenly split between 2 stars and 4 stars, lol . . .I'm just going to have to read it. ..."I do think you'd like it!
Michael wrote: "I don't read enough translated work from other nations. Lots of great recommendations from Denizen, Book Concierge, and BooknBlues.Top recommendation: Kafka on the Shore.
For the am..."
I'll trade Life and Fate for The Garden of Evening Mists.
I really want to read Life and Fate but not this month
Booknblues wrote: "... I'll trade Life and Fate for Garden of Evening Mists..."Deal. We have invented a singlet version of Share a Shelf.
Denizen wrote: "...I was looking at Forever Flowing..."
Nice idea-- haven't read it. January for Life and Fate could be mentally extreme given the coverage of Stalingrad and Leningrad.
This has been tough.My Recommendations:
Embers - Maria Sandor
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo
I will be choosing my read from the list below, 4 books and 4 audio books:
In the Shadow of the Banyan - Vaddey Ratner
Everything Flows - Vasily Grossman
The Farming of Bones - Edwidge Danticat
In the Beginning Was the Sea - Tomas Gonzales
The Association of Small Bombs - Karan Mahajan; audio
Please Look After Mom - Kyung-Sook Shin; audio
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry - Fredrik Backman; audio
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia - Moshin Hamid; audio
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Me neither... I think I gave it 3 stars, because it wasn't bad, I just couldn't see where all the hype came ..."
Fascinating how disparate the views are of The Elegance of the Hedgehog. In real life, I have people LITERALLY telling me it is the best book ever, and that I will love it. But I'm a little concerned when I see several people here, with whom I know my taste generally aligns, say it wasn't a good one for them. I guess I will have to read it for myself to decide . . .but I hope I don't start off the year with a bad book. Karin, your enthusiasm definitely gives me hope!