Did you know? March 29th is National World Language Day. It's a day to commemorate ...
In addition to celebrating my 696-day Duolingo Streak in learning ESPANOL, I wanted to share some Works in Translation with you. 💃
One reading goal I have this year is to read more Works in Translation to give honor to the diverse languages around the globe. Here are three titles I wanted to share. One of them I read and really enjoyed. The other two are on my To-Be-Read list.
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The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo (Author) and Sophie Lewis (Translator)
Translated from Portuguese, The Simple Art of Killing a Woman is a genre-defying tale of women in the Amazon and their reckoning with brutal oppression--by turns poetic, humorous, dark, and inspiring.
To escape her abusive boyfriend, an unnamed lawyer takes an assignment in the Amazonian border town of Cruzeiro do Sul in Brazil. Soon she learns about the rampant attacks on the region's women, which have grown so commonplace that the cases quickly fill her large notebook.
This book had me by the THROAT. It took a bit to get into, but once I was in, I was IN. Completely hooked and couldn't stop reading until I get to the end to see what ultimately happened with the women in the novel.
Purchase The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patricia Melo
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi (Author) and Tina Kover (Translator)
Translated from French, Disoriental is a multigenerational epic of the Sadr family's life in Iran and their eventual exile.
Full of surprises, it stars Kimiâ, a punk-rock aficionado, storyteller extraordinaire, a Scheherazade of our time, and above all a modern woman divided between family traditions and her own "disorientalization."
I really enjoy multi-generation books and I'm interested in reading this book about a woman coming to terms with her own memories and the stories of her ancestors in order to live the life that she wants.
Purchase Disoriental by Negar Djavadi
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun (Author) and Janet Hong (Translator)
Translated from Korean, Lemon is a piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime.
When 18-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder in the Summer of 2002, both suspects are eventually freed and the case goes cold. Seventeen years later, Hae-on's younger sister, Da-on, unable to move on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened. In addition to Da-on, the novel also shifts perspectives to two of Haw-on's classmates.
I impulsively borrowed this via Libby in a classic #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt. I started reading it and was immediately hooked into the interrogation of one of the suspects. Then, I got distracted and Libby stole their book back. 😤 But I definitely plan to give this another shot and finish it.
Purchase Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun
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If you could learn any language instantly, which language would you choose and why?
