Episode 7 - Mallory is Obsessed with Iceland and Interview with Yrsa Siguroardottir

[Rachel]

This episode, Brea and Mallory discuss the best places for book tourism, interview Icelandic crime author Yrsa Sigurdardottir and debate spoilers. The hashtag #ReadignAroundTheWorld is recommended to discuss this.

Use this post to discuss reading internationally, as well as the episode.

[Anna]

I was so pleased to see an episode on international literature this early in the podcast! I just received my bachelor's in literary translation, so reading translations of foreign works is something that's really important to me and something I'm passionate about growing as a reading subculture in the US.

Does anyone here read translation, or books in other languages? If so, what translations or books have you read/would recommend?

For anyone who loves poetry, I love Thomas Epstein's translations of Elena Shvarts' work. (You can find some in Twentieth Century Russian Poetry.)

One of my favorite foreign-language books is Perico trepa por Chile (Perico Climbs Up Chile), about a little shepherd who lives in the very bottom of Chile and goes on an adventure traveling through the entire country. It's a kid's chapter book, so it's a fairly easy read for intermediate Spanish learners, and it's a really heartwarming little story about finding individual identity through national identity. As far as I can tell it hasn't yet been translated into English (perhaps that's my next project??), but if you're looking to practice your Spanish you should give this book a try!

[Sarah]

If anyone is interested in Chinese culture, they have a lot of modern lit books like Shanghai Baby. I read a lot of Chinese and Taiwanese lit (both modern and classic) because of my major. More modern lit is so interesting because you can experience how China's modernity still pulls heavily from it's centuries long ancient history. If you consider all of China's recorded history, it's only until very recently that they've started to really cultivate a modern identity.

[Anna]

Thanks so much for this! I'll be sure to take a look. I know almost nothing about China and very little about modern day China so I'm excited to read some Chinese translation! What was your major, Asian Studies?