Reading in Translation

It's that time of year again!  Time for our Reading the World Table.  As always, Eric has put together a beautiful table filled with thrilling tales from around the world.  Translation gives you the chance to read something you wouldn't normally have access to.  And it's not just the original  language that makes these books so different and remarkable...

It's the different styles of writing, far off settings, and the strange and unique tales, that all weave together to give you the feeling that you are reading something truly out of the ordinary.  Come down and see some of our favorite translations from around the world.  Open a window on the world with a few well-chosen words.

Chris recommends: 
Reticence by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
This book could very easily be subtitled : the fevered imagination of a paranoid mind. It reads a lot like a murder mystery, only without the murder, and the mystery seems only to exist in the main character's head. It's a well-paced, cerebral anti-thriller that you'll want to read in one sitting.

Adam suggests:
Amsterdam Stories by Nescio
Can society and art - or the "artful life" - peacefully coexist, or must the two be forever at each other's throats, tooth and nail? This is the question Nescio asks again and again as he drops us onto the alluring but unforgiving byways of Amsterdam, watching as his characters try, sometimes tragically and sometimes comically, to compress essential pieces of themselves into immortal works - or acts - of art.