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What will be your first book?
I think the appeal of depressing is that it introduces conflict, which is the cornerstone of any plot. I am trying to think of books that are along a different sort of line.
What about absurdist futurist dystopia? Yes, dystopia, but so ridiculous that it isn't depressing as much as completely baffling? Try Memoirs Found in a Bathtub for Poland/Ukraine.
You might also consider travel writing. Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff would work for Egypt, for instance.
I am also staying away from war and holocaust as much as possible. The exception I'm making consciously is to read a few books from the Balkan conflicts, because so many good ones have been written recently by people in those countries.
Louise: here is a link to my Africa shelf. You will find books by Graham Greene, William Boyd and Alexander McCall Smith. There are also a couple African mystery writers.http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
chrissie and Jenny: So many interesting books set in Poland....many thanks for the suggestions.
I very assiduously put out non-depressing - or at least not only depressing - Israeli books in my recommendation thread exactly because of this very trend, Louise.
Louise wrote: "Is it because the "serious issues" books are deemed more worthy of translation? "Louise, I definitely agree with what you are saying, but consider Sweden, which is of course large in area but small in population. It is terribly well known for its crime novels. So very many have been translated. Maybe it is the publishers that want to make sure they have a large market?! They want a book that is sure to bring in a large profit. Haven't you noticed that few people dare to give a "holocaust book" a low rating - almost as though this would be showing a lack of empathy for those who have suffered. Some holocaust books ARE better than others. Judging a book is not judgement of a given historical event. I do think that horrible events move people, and for this reason they gather an audience. A book has to grab out attention.
But heck, we all need to laugh! Maybe it is harder for publishers to spot what will make lots of us laugh. Isn't humor harder to pin down?! What makes me laugh maybe wont make you laugh.
Your question is interesting.
Angela wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Oooh I really want to read Half Blood Blues too. What country are you in? It is unavailable where I am until February...."I am in the US. It is not available here, but you can order it from The Book Depository.com, in th UK for $10.26 with free shipping. "
Interesting, thanks!
Louise, and others,another possible source of non-depressing literature may be that based on local myths, legends and fairy tales. Sometimes these can be really fun reads (though they can equally have serious lessons to teach).
I will probably start with The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific because I'm sure I will want to pass it on to other people doing the 666 challenge on Bookcrossing as one of their Oceania reads. I always have multiple books going at a time, though, since I also read on nook and listen to audiobooks (I was listening to The Satanic Verses while I did the Philadelphia Half Marathon yesterday...), so I'll probably also have a couple other "first" reads competing for my attention come 1/1/12!
Oh by the way Arto Paasilinna (Author) - a Finnish author - writes some really funny books (ok they are a little weird too). As far as I can see, two of them have been translated into English. The Howling Miller and The Year of the HareAs Sweden is our neighbour, a LOT of their fiction is translated into Danish, and there is a lot of comic/light stuff as well - authors like Karin Brunk Holmqvist and Jonas Jonasson. But they haven't been translated into English.
Maybe publishers consider humor to be more region based?
Thanks for the suggestions :-) I found a book of Nigerian folk tales in one of my piles, maybe I'll read that for the challenge.
@Chrissie, I actually have Three Bags Full - the premised just sounded fantastic. And after reading A Wild Sheep Chase I have a thing for literary sheep :-)
Louise, please drop me a ,pote when you read Three Bags Full. I always get so nervous when I recommend a book to someone one I don't really know well...... but jeeze, I think almost anyone will enjoy this. You know I think it is harder to write a book that is predominantly funny. How many really funny books can you list?! I think this site may interest you: http://wordswithoutborders.org/. It ipresents translated books that are not that well known. I found The Homecoming Party there. It takes place in Italy in a small village where the people are predominantly Albanian. I state in my review that "you walk away from the book happy b/c you have met some really kind, nice, compassionate and yet perfectly NORMAL people. The story is soothing. You spend all of your time chuckling." I probably have some quotes in the review. if you are curious to test the prose style.
Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan is a humorous book, and if we are talking humorous books, don't forget The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel. In fact there they say that humor has a "short shelf-life"! It seems studies have been done. Hmm, is that the explanation for why there are so few really funny books. Of course, it all comes down to money....... How could we think otherwise.
I've already startetThe Handmaid's Tale as I've been wanting to read it for a long time. I'm not as enthusiastic about it as I thought I would be, so I'll probably read some other books inbetween and finish it in 2012. I'm really looking forward to reading Room so I'll start with that one in 2012.
Beth wrote: "I will probably start with The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific because I'm sure I will want to pass it on to other people doing the 666 challenge on Bookcrossi..."Sex Life of the Cannibals is one of the funniest books I've ever read.
I started with In Pale Battalions and am now reading Winter in Madrid. I spent a couple of months in Madrid when Franco was still in power and this certainly takes me back.
Angie wrote: "Thanks, Wendy. I've got the Michener book turning up in a few days, so I'll see how I feel about it then. But I've saved yours on my Amazon wishlist, in case I find the Michener one too much to ta..."One other book for Poland that I read not long ago was The Zookeeper's Wife which I'm afraid is a WWII book and would not fall into the light and funny category -- but it WAS interesting and did share some of the history of Poland during that period. I will definitely have to check out some of these lighter/funnier books that were suggested in this thread. I am clearly in a misery memoir funk!
Barry: "I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED! I'm not even thinking abt holidays this year, only 1/1/2012 "You're not the only one, Barry. D))
There are holidays before 1.1.2012?Oh yes. 25.12 is my father's birthday.
Oh man I saw Effi Briest at the used bookstore today and couldn't remember where I'd heard of it!
Marieke wrote: "i'm going to start with Agaat..."Me too! I'll probably start it over Christmas, I figured that it should be ok since I'll be on a break and will actually have some time for reading... Once January hits, I'll be hopelessly behind again...
A quick update - I have now finished reading Poland by James Michener - so that's my first book read. (I started early because it's 846 pages long.) An excellent and enlightening book, I recommend it if you have the time to read it.
I found a challenge to read orange prize winners in January, and some of mine are on that list. While I'm not sure they'll be my *first* pick, I'm targeting Frangipani: A Novel and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian for January as two out of the four.
Jenny wrote: "I found a challenge to read orange prize winners in January, and some of mine are on that list. While I'm not sure they'll be my *first* pick, I'm targeting Frangipani: A Novel and [...""A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" - what a fantastic title for a book!
This whole concept is so overwhelming for me. I've started my list but can't commit to 52 books for sure. But I will start with All the Pretty Horses because I just got it from the library.
MarcieI'm sure there are plenty of people on here (and I am probably one of them) who won't manage to read 52 books - see it as just a goal to work towards.
Judy wrote: "Marcie, the slogan is "no rules" (with the exception of listing books with links.) so don't worry about not reading 52. If you only do 10, 20, 30, it doesn't matter. Besides we're just glad you joi..."Thanks Judy, I just reserved Agaat, so I'll get started with that one when I get it. I enjoy reading everyone's suggestions, hope to have read some great 'around the world' titles by this time next year.
Marcie wrote: "This whole concept is so overwhelming for me. I've started my list but can't commit to 52 books for sure. But I will start with All the Pretty Horses because I just got it from the li..."I second what everyone else said. I'm one of the few crazies who is right now aiming for the full 52, but now I'm applying for a job, and it will change everything if I get it. My goals will drop incredibly if I take a job in academia, so it is good to know that I will have lots of company in not doing the full 52 if that happens.
Beth wrote: "My goals will drop incredibly if I take a job in academia, so it is good to know that I will have lots of company in not doing the full 52 if that happens. "Good luck with your job hunt, from someone who works in academia and loves every minute!
Jenny wrote: "Good luck with your job hunt, from someone who works in academia and loves every minute! "Jenny, thanks! I was in academia for 10 years and loved it, but left to marry my college sweetheart (20 years after we dated the first time) and to start a family. Private practice seemed more flexible for that. I gave up tenure, the whole package when I left GA. Now there is a possible job for him in a college town, and there is an open position that might work for me. I'm REALLY itching to be back in teaching. BUT boy do I know how much less leisure reading I did when I had a serious teaching load!
Hmm, maybe you could be creative and somehow work in assigning the books you want to read. :)
I had intended to start on Christmas day, but due to a very extended wait at the airport yesterday, I've started my reading list with [Book:The Opposite House|6277226] by Helen Oyeyemi, which is my Cuba selection*. It is heavily based on immigrant experience, exiles from the Castro regime, and features a lot of Santeria.*despite being set in contemporary London/mythical Lagos, and written by a British-Nigerian author.
Ok, because of a group read on another thread, I'm going to start in Trinidad and THEN go to Kiribati. I'm chomping at the bit (and desperately trying to finish Palace Walk from a challenge for 2011!
I'm struggling to pick my first book...
Need help, Kimberly? Hmmmm? You know I like to help! I started my first book today. It's the audiobook The Blood of Flowers. The problem is that I finished the audiobook I was listening to on my way to work this morning. I have 2 more days of driving back and forth and will go into withdrawals if I don't have a book to listen to. There's no point in starting anything else because then it would be mid January before I could start.
By Jan 1st, I will be about 2-1/2 hours into it.
Thanks Janice :) most of my books on my list are library books and I only own a few, the problem is the ones I own are in my library room...laying haphazardly on the floor (the poor things) I haven't ventured in there to restore order in weeks. Though I might go now. Then I'll have to pick from my pile that I do own... they all look so good.
Melissa wrote: "Mine was Long Hot Summoning, which I finished a couple days ago. It was set in Canada."How was it, Melissa?
Pragya wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Mine was Long Hot Summoning, which I finished a couple days ago. It was set in Canada."How was it, Melissa?"
I liked it. It was funny- the cats cracked me up. There were one or two lesbian make-out scenes that the conservatives probably wouldn't like, but they didn't really bother me.
Mine will be Far North (Uganda) as I'm supposed to have finished this one by the 1st for a group read...no pressure!
*lines the two books she's beginning with on her table, bounces up and down on her toes*I'm reading Doctor Zhivago when properly, Russian-ly, hammered after the New Year's party at my parents'. Nyah.
Genia wrote: "*lines the two books she's beginning with on her table, bounces up and down on her toes*I'm reading Doctor Zhivago when properly, Russian-ly, hammered after the New Year's party at my parents'. N..."
Genia is taking the reading and drinking by country very seriously. Will you do the same for all countries, Genia?
Genia wrote: "*lines the two books she's beginning with on her table, bounces up and down on her toes*I'm reading Doctor Zhivago when properly, Russian-ly, hammered after the New Year's party at my parents'. N..."
:) That's the way to immerse yourself in the writing!
I will be joining Genia in Russia, reading Dr. Zhivago. Genia, pass the vodka.
I knew it!!! You had about a 10 hour head start on me. Hope you enjoyed yourself. I'll just have to get my own bottle. Cheers! (don't know how to say that in Russian)
Around the World
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Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (other topics)Anonymous Celebrity (other topics)
Mulata (other topics)
Agaat (other topics)
Kristin Lavransdatter (other topics)
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Veronica Scott (other topics)Anne Brontë (other topics)
True Chrissie, but as I was browsing through African titles there was soo much civil war, genocide, repression, terror etc. I agree books don't have to be depressing when dealing with issues like the holocaust, butI just got to wondering, where are the Terry Pratchetts, Jasper Fforde's etc of translated literature? Is it because the "serious issues" books are deemed more worthy of translation?