Recommendations Needed!

[Nossa]

I need some recommendation for literary works that are not written in English. Anything translated, whether from Europe (obviously not from UK), the far East, Asia, latin America or anywhere else. I'd really appreciate the help!

[Alexei]

I don't know why do you searching for such so i am not sure what to suggest.May be you could try with Marcel Proust's works or the one from Hermann Hesse.

[CrazyDiamond]

:) Sup Noss?

Hows the Classical Music going?

[barbara0207]

Yes, that's the problem. (Edit: What Alex said.) There are so many good authors around that it's hard to recommend anyone unless you specify what you like.

But as you are looking for translations you might go for well-known classics. The translations tend to be better, more carefully done than those of recent works, which are often done hastily and thus sloppily.

[Nossa]

I know that I'm asking for a hard thing..lol..but this is the thing, I'm not sure what I like..I mean, I obviously don't know many authors, other than those who originaly write in English, since my studyings are basically concerntrating on English-written works. I kinds wanted to get outside the box and try to read more works that aren't written in English.

@CrazyDiamond: It's goind pretty well :D Sinking in slowly, but I'm getting there!

[barbara0207]

Well then here are some of my favourite works from German authors.
18th century: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
19th century: Theodor Fontane, Effi Briest (I do not know whether the title is the same in the translation, but this one may appeal to you very much)
20th century: Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks (comment see Fontane)
20th century: Günter Grass, The Tin Drum

These books cover a wide range of feelings, societies, cultural and political issues and are fun to read.:D

[Nossa]

Thank you so much :D:D That's a good start!

[bazarov]

Victor Hugo - very interesting and smart or Bulgakov's Master and Margarita - very funny and smart.

[Telegram Sam]

Try some Dostoevsky.

[Bakiryu]

Try "A Hundred Years of Loneliness" and "Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marques, they were originally written in spanish.

[Nightshade]

Nossa a q, before I recommend anything have you and would you read the Jacobian Building?

[Aiculík]

Well... there are so many I'm not sure where to begin (that's an advantage when you live in the country where most books are translations! :)). I'll just list few of my favourite - only books I've read and liked. Now I look at the list - most of these are books I've read this year... funny...

Amelie Nothomb (Belgian) - Antichrista
Alessandro Baricco (Italian) - Silk; Without Blood
Franz Kafka (Czech) - The Metamorphosis
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombian) - One Hundred Years of Solitude; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Love in Time of Cholera; Of Love and Other Demons ...
Georges Bernanos (French) - Diary of a Country Priest
Haruki Murakami (Japanese) - Kafka on the Shore; South of the Border, West of the Sun
Isabel Allende (Chilean) - The House of Spirits
Ismail Kadare (Albanian) - Spiritus
Luigi Pirandello (Italian) - The Late Mattia Pascal
Milan Kundera (Czech) - The Joke, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Naguib Mahfouz (Egyptian) - Children of Gebelawi
Orhan Pamuk (Turkish) - My Name is Red ; Istanbul
Patrick Suskind (German) - Perfume
Umberto Eco (Italian) - The Foucalt's Pendulum; The Name of the Rose; The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Hope it helps. :)

[CrazyDiamond]

Noss - =] Woot, that's good. It does get easier, I promise!!

Listened to Chamber music yet? =/

[Madhuri]

You can read anything by Rabindranath Tagore, he wrote in Bengali, one of Indian languages. His works are also available on litnet. He wrote poetry too.

Chokher Bali -- Tagore (is one I have read) - It's about the life of a young widow and what happens when she goes to live with a married couple.

Chandalika -- is a play by him that I read.

In Urdu language, there's one called Umrao jaan 'ada' -- written by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa. It's about the life of a courtesean in the mid 19th century.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Try some Dostoevsky.

Hear Hear.

I'm partial to the Russians. Dostyevski, Tolstoy.

Or you could read some of the old epics like Homer's Iliad and Oddyssey, or Beowulf.

[Niamh]

you could try Peig by Peig Sayers but then again i dont know if its been translated. Its in Irish.

[Nossa]

Thank you very much everyone. I see more than one recommendation went for the Russian lit. and I already started with that last year..and it was fascinating. I'll write down all the names you guys have mentioned.
But, if it's not too much to ask, I needed some book recommendations for Japanese, Chinese and maybe even Indian lit. (maybe something aside from Salman Rushdie). That'd be really appreciated.

@Night: I read that book I think a year and a half ago..I'm not sure why you're asking about it..lol...but I didn't exactly enjoy it..I kinda like the movie though...but it was just...too gloomy for someone who's already living in these kinda conditions..didn't need a reminder, ya know.

@Niamh: I read some works by James Joyce, but I guess that's not the kind of Irish lit. you mean, right?

[Nossa]

Well... there are so many I'm not sure where to begin (that's an advantage when you live in the country where most books are translations! :)). I'll just list few of my favourite - only books I've read and liked. Now I look at the list - most of these are books I've read this year... funny...

Amelie Nothomb (Belgian) - Antichrista
Alessandro Baricco (Italian) - Silk; Without Blood
Franz Kafka (Czech) - The Metamorphosis
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombian) - One Hundred Years of Solitude; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Love in Time of Cholera; Of Love and Other Demons ...
Georges Bernanos (French) - Diary of a Country Priest
Haruki Murakami (Japanese) - Kafka on the Shore; South of the Border, West of the Sun
Isabel Allende (Chilean) - The House of Spirits
Ismail Kadare (Albanian) - Spiritus
Luigi Pirandello (Italian) - The Late Mattia Pascal
Milan Kundera (Czech) - The Joke, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Naguib Mahfouz (Egyptian) - Children of Gebelawi
Orhan Pamuk (Turkish) - My Name is Red ; Istanbul
Patrick Suskind (German) - Perfume
Umberto Eco (Italian) - The Foucalt's Pendulum; The Name of the Rose; The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Hope it helps. :)

Thank you so much. But I have a little question...you surely read the Naguib Mahfouz novel in English...I read it this summer, but in Arabic..I didn't even know that it was translated. Is the translation good?! I might be able to buy it.
Thank you for the rest of the recommendations :D

[Madhuri]

maybe even Indian lit. (maybe something aside from Salman Rushdie). That'd be really appreciated.


Like I mentioned in my previous post, you can read anything by Rabindranath Tagore. His works are here on litnet too. He has written stories, poetry, plays.

I read the novel Chokher Bali by him.

[Nightshade]

@Night: I read that book I think a year and a half ago..I'm not sure why you're asking about it..lol...but I didn't exactly enjoy it..I kinda like the movie though...but it was just...too gloomy for someone who's already living in these kinda conditions..didn't need a reminder, ya know.


I asked because when I tried to get it in Egypt my aunt and grandmother pitched a fit , just making sure before I go a recommend Isabelle Allande that you dont have the same sensitivities...
but I dont really know many 'forigen' writers or rather ones that area associated with certain countries --which is why I would like to read countries in the forum book club this year.:D

[Aiculík]

Thank you so much. But I have a little question...you surely read the Naguib Mahfouz novel in English...I read it this summer, but in Arabic..I didn't even know that it was translated. Is the translation good?! I might be able to buy it.
Thank you for the rest of the recommendations :D

Well I enjoyed the book very much... and so I think that the translation was pretty good.

Of course, I didn't read original. And when you don't know the original, all translations seem good. Only when you read both and compare it, you can see if the translator was able to capture not only meaning, but also atmosphere, different culture, etc.

[Nossa]

@Madhuri: Thank you for your recommendations :D
@Night: I don't really have any sensitivities concerning what I read, I read anything actually...lol
@Aiculik: You're right..I think I'm the one who can be the judge of that, since I have access to both language :D But yeah, I guess since you enjoyed the book, you probably had a good translation. Who translated the one you have btw?!

[Niamh]

@Niamh: I read some works by James Joyce, but I guess that's not the kind of Irish lit. you mean, right?

No different kind. Joyce originally wrote in English. Paig is Written in Irish, but i'm not sure its been translated.

[Nossa]

No different kind. Joyce originally wrote in English. Paig is Written in Irish, but i'm not sure its been translated.

Aha! I see. You know, you were the first one to actually tell me that there's an Irish language..I didn't know that before :blush:
I'll see if there's any of her works that are translated and see if I can find them...thank you for your recommendation :D

[Niamh]

Aha! I see. You know, you were the first one to actually tell me that there's an Irish language..I didn't know that before :blush:
I'll see if there's any of her works that are translated and see if I can find them...thank you for your recommendation :D

:) Dont Worry about it Nossa. But do have a look for the book. Its kind of a biographical book about life living in the Gaeltacht on the blasket Islands off the coast of kerry. Heres Sinaed O'Connor singing a song in Irish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImW2sqzZNmQ
Go Raibh ma agut. (Thank you very much!);)

[Nightshade]

I knew if I thought long enough Id think of other things Id read that didnt originate in English. :D

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón ( spanish V.V. good book BTW) :nod:

The Swiss family Robinson-Johann David Wyss is amusing.
Well my copy was but then again I had the Moby books Illustrated classics collections and I think quite alot of it was simplified or cut. ( I mean the Pride and predjudice completly cut out the scene towards the end where lady Catherine comes to visit Elizabeth and let me tell you the story doesnt make that much sense with all sorts of bits cut out.)
:D

[Bakiryu]

Children's litterature: Tintenhertz! (Inkheart in english, originally in german) and Tintenblut (Inkblood), Thery are pretty good. And so are Herr der Diebe (The Thief Lord) and Drachenreiter (Dragon Rider) all by Cornelia Funke.

[kiz_paws]

Heres Sinaed O'Connor singing a song in Irish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImW2sqzZNmQ
Go Raibh ma agut. (Thank you very much!);)
Great video, love that Irish language, Niamh!

As for book recommendations, I am in the few for suggesting Dostoyevski, brilliant author. :)

[Bakiryu]

And I forgot to say: Vladimir Nabokov! I'm currently obsessed with Lolita (:lol: but not like Humbert Humbert) it's original in English but the author also wrote it in russian.

[Nossa]

@Night: It's not easy getting books here..lol...but I'll see what I can find from the stuff you recommended.
@Kiz Paws: I love Dostoevsky...I already have a couple of books by him and started reading the first a couple of days ago (called Poor Folk and other stories)
@Baki: I've been looking for Lolita for SO long now, and I can't seem to find it anywhere...I'm not sure if it's on litnet..but I'll see if I can find an online text. Thank you for the rest of the recommendations!!

[Nossa]

:) Dont Worry about it Nossa. But do have a look for the book. Its kind of a biographical book about life living in the Gaeltacht on the blasket Islands off the coast of kerry. Heres Sinaed O'Connor singing a song in Irish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImW2sqzZNmQ
Go Raibh ma agut. (Thank you very much!);)

Thank you Niamh :D
I've searched the net for the Irish language and found a website that had some words and expressions on it in Irish...it seems like it has its own letters, right?! I'm just making sure that my comp. isn't playing tricks on me :lol:

[Niamh]

We are missing some of the alphabeth, and some letters have a Fada ( ó )
over them.