The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
Best Translated Book Award
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2019 BTBA Discussion

The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn by Tenella Boni, translated from the French by Todd Fredson (Cote D’Ivoire, University of Nebraska)
Dying in a Mother Tongue by Roja Chamankar, translated from the Persian by Blake Atwood (Iran, University of Texas)
Moss & Silver by Jure Detela, translated from the Slovenian by Raymond Miller and Tatjana Jamnik (Slovenia, Ugly Duckling)
Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst, translated from the Portuguese by Laura Cesarco Eglin (Brazil, co-im-press)
Autobiography of Death by Kim Hysesoon, translated from the Korean by Don Mee Choi (Korea, New Directions)
Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku, translated from the Albanian by Ani Gjika (Albania, New Directions)
Scardanelli by Frederike Mayrocker, translated from the German by Jonathan Larson (Austria, Song Cave)
the easiness and the loneliness by Asta Olivia Nordenhof, translated from the Danish by Susanna Nied (Denmark, Open Letter)
Nioque of the Early-Spring by Francis Ponge, translated from the French by Jonathan Larson (France, Song Cave)
Architecture of Dispersed Life: Selected Poetry by Pable de Rokha, translated from the Spanish by Urayoán Noel (Chile, Shearsman Books)

I've put together a post that has book blurbs, covers, and some accompanying reviews (including a few from Paul!) HERE.
My first impression is that it is a strong list in that it has a lot of titles I hadn't really considered before peppered in with some of the year's highlights (like Sjon, Djavadi, Tokarczuk, and Ugresic).
My first impression is that it is a strong list in that it has a lot of titles I hadn't really considered before peppered in with some of the year's highlights (like Sjon, Djavadi, Tokarczuk, and Ugresic).

I look forward to a lively discussion.

I agree with your comments. As always the books selected by the individual judges are easy to identify, but some of them look quite interesting. For example, I enjoyed 64 and have been waiting for a long flight to read 17. That is the first mystery genre book ever longlisted for the BTBA. And then we also have the first longlisted zombie book...

Yes:
1. Oraefi https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2. Flights https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3. The Governesses https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4. Fox https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
5. CoDex 1962 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Maybe:
6. Disoriental https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
7. People in the Room
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
8. Convenience Store Woman https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
9. Lion Cross Point https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
No:
10. Love in the New Millennium https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
11. Bricks and Mortar https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Not quite the first zombie novel in BTBA history!
We crossed that bridge when I was a judge, and we even shortlisted Wicked Weeds, which I really liked! It’s interesting that Wicked Weeds was from the Dominican Republic while Dézafi is from Haiti.
For the record, I also love César Aira’s Dinner. I didn’t realize until today that zombies just might be my kind of thing!
We crossed that bridge when I was a judge, and we even shortlisted Wicked Weeds, which I really liked! It’s interesting that Wicked Weeds was from the Dominican Republic while Dézafi is from Haiti.
For the record, I also love César Aira’s Dinner. I didn’t realize until today that zombies just might be my kind of thing!
Other than the one year I had to, I have not ever succeeded in reading all 25, let alone in the short time between the long and short list announcements. I love having a lot of options, though, and I cannot wait to hear what folks think!

For those reading The Old Slave and the Mastiff, I suggest reading Chamoiseau's essay,
"Éloge de la créolité (In Praise of Creoleness)," co-authored with Jean Bernabé and Raphaël Confiant, as well as some sampling from Édouard Glissant, Chamoiseau's mentor, since the allusions draw deep from those works.


My favorite is the one I am reading right now, The Fox. Hopefully, I did not just jinx it. My least favorite was Love in a New Millienium.
1, Fox
2. Slave, Old Man 2 and 3 are equal
3. Codex 1962
4. Disoriented
5. Convenience Store Woman
6. Comemadre
7. Love in the New Millenium


http://cordite.org.au/translations/ch...

No offense taken Lascosas. I will be interested in your view of Comemadre as well as the rest.

2. The Governesses
3. Codex 1962
4. Comemadre
5. Flights
Many of these are equal in my mind...
I own After the Winter and Slave Old Man and just ordered People in the Room since it was on my TBR list anyway. And I keep thinking I should read Disoriental.


READ
1-Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau
2-Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
3-Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
4-Comemadre by Roque Larraquy
5-The Governesses by Anne Serre
6-Lion Cross Point by Masatsugo Ono
READING NOW
Dézafi by Frankétienne
People in the Room by Norah Lange
Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama
After the Winter by Guadalupe Nettel
Transparent City by Ondjaki
NLF GROUP READ MAY/JUNE
Love in the New Millennium by Xue Can

I've already read Convenience Store Woman and I liked it a lot

This may be too far afield for this discussion, but I do find it weird that the small publisher who runs the BTBA is also eligible to win it. I know he started it and built it up from nothing, so it’s a tricky situation. But for a press that only publishes -10 books a year, I feel like Open Letter is over represented on this longlist.


https://www.lrb.co.uk/v41/n07/michael...
Thanks to Barbara who tweeted it recently.



1) Flights
2) Disoriental
3) Bricks and Mortar
4) Convenience Store Woman
5) Love in the New Millennium
6) CoDex 1962
7) Lion Cross Point
Doubt I'll get to any more, a mixture of not having any and having plenty of other books I need to get through...


I'll aim to read 5 or so before the shortlist announcement. For some reason this list has captured my attention much more than MBI this year, I'm not sure why that is.

Bride & Groom by Alisa Ganieva
Convenience Store Woman
Flights (which I didn't like as much as a lot of readers).
There are several others I really want to read, but not sure if I'll manage to fit them in.
Fox and Codex 1962 are the first ones I'd go for.

I think the reasons are fairly clear ;)




Indeed it was quite hard to guess which Fitzcarraldo book was the one that was (clearly from the picture) longlisted as the eligible list wasn't exactly their strongest 4 (this, Companions, the Fosse, Insane) because I suspect the better one from their backlist were picked up by others.





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Congo Inc.: Bismarck's Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane, translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager (Democratic Republic of Congo, Indiana University Press)
The Hospital by Ahmed Bouanani, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Morocco, New Directions)
A Dead Rose by Aurora Cáceres, translated from the Spanish by Laura Kanost (Peru, Stockcero)
Love in the New Millennium by Xue Can, translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen (China, Yale University Press)
Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (Martinique, New Press)
Wedding Worries by Stig Dagerman, translated from the Swedish by Paul Norlen and Lo Dagerman (Sweden, David Godine)
Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan, (France, Feminist Press)
Disoriental by Negar Djavadi, translated from the French by Tina Kover (Iran, Europa Editions)
Dézafi by Frankétienne, translated from the French by Asselin Charles (published by Haiti, University of Virginia Press)
The Bottom of the Sky by Rodrigo Fresán, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden (Argentina, Open Letter)
Bride and Groom by Alisa Ganieva, translated from the Russian by Carol Apollonio (Russia, Deep Vellum)
People in the Room by Norah Lange, translated from the Spanish by Charlotte Whittle (Argentina, And Other Stories)
Comemadre by Roque Larraquy, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Argentina, Coffee House)
Moon Brow by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Khalili Sara (Iran, Restless Books)
Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (Germany, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Japan, Grove)
After the Winter by Guadalupe Nettel, translated from the Spanish by Rosalind Harvey (Mexico, Coffee House)
Transparent City by Ondjaki, translated from the Portuguese by Stephen Henighan (Angola, Biblioasis)
Lion Cross Point by Masatsugo Ono, translated from the Japanese by Angus Turvill (Japan, Two Lines Press)
The Governesses by Anne Serre, translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson (France, New Directions)
Oraefi: The Wasteland by Ófeigur Sigurðsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Iceland, Deep Vellum)
Codex 1962: A Trilogy by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Iceland, FSG)
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft (Poland, Riverhead)
Fox by Dubravka Ugresic, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursac and David Williams (Croatia, Open Letter)
Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama, translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai (Japan, FSG)