My father died in January of 2020, in Budapest. My sister and I weren’t able to get there for his funeral, and weren’t able to hold a memorial here. He was, among other things, a literary translator. I have read far too few books in translation. So I’ve decided to circle the globe (figuratively) reading 84 books in translation, one for every year of his life. We’ll both start and end in Hungary, as he did.
I’m going to be reading one every week or two, and then starting a conversation on social media — primarily Substack, with the hashtag #AroundTheWorldIn84Books. If you want to join me, just read the book and then join me on social media that day, or later.
#AroundTheWorldIn84Books List to date
(All links lead to the books’ Indiebound pages)
- Hungary : THE DOOR, Szabo
- Croatia: YOU WITH HANDS MORE INNOCENT, Parun
- Bosnia: MY HEART, Semezdin Mehmedinovic (Podcast with Aleksandar Hemon here)
- Austria: THE PIANO TEACHER, Elfriede Jenlinke
- Albania: THE FILE ON H, Ismail Kadare (Substack post here)
- Greece: THE MURDERESS, Alexandros Papadiamantis (Substack post here)
- Turkey: MADONNA IN A FUR COAT, Sabahattin Ali (Substack post here)
- Syria: NO KNIVES IN THE KITCHENS OF THIS CITY, Khaled Khalifa (Substack post here)
- Palestine: MINOR DETAIL, Adania Shibli (Substack post here)
- Lebanon: THE STONE OF LAUGHTER, Hoda Barakat (next up… I hope to finish this one in early September, ’23)
- Yemen: THE HOSTAGE, Zayd Mutee’ Dammaj
- Egypt: THE OPEN DOOR, Latifa Al-Zayyat
- Sudan: THIRTEEN MONTHS OF SUNRISE, Rania Mamoun (Substack post here)
These are the next books I’ll be reading:
- Eritrea: THE CONSCRIPT, Gebreyesus Hailu
- Somalia: LITTLE MOTHER, Cristina Ali Farah
- Kenya: WIZARD OF THE CROW, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
- Tanzania: NO EDGES (Swahili Stories)
- Uganda: WHITE TEETH, Okot p’Bitek
- Dem. Rep. of Congo: MR. FIX-IT, Richard Ali A Matu
- Rep. of Congo: LITTLE BOYS COME FROM THE STARS, Emmanuel Dongala
- Madagascar: BEYOND THE RICE FIELDS, Naivo
- Mauritius: EVE OUT OF HER RUINS, Ananda Devi
As I noted, my father would have said something remarkably condescending about this whole project.
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