1 post tagged “translated books”

What book are you reading right now?

Oh, thank you, Culture qotw, for this question, which will waste at least 15 or more minutes of my time.  Amazing the things I will do to avoid packing. 

I've got two novels that I'm actively reading right now... I specify "actively" because I always seem to have bookmarks in a dozen books at a time, some of which take me months to read.

The first is Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. 

Russo won the Pulitzer for his novel Empire Falls in 2001, and it was six years until he published this, his next novel. 

I've read three or four of his previous novels and all stood out among other books for their good writing, obviously, but also their humour.  I rarely actually laugh out loud while reading, but a few of the most hilarious passages in Russo's book had me doing so.  I also rarely remember the details (or even the major plot points) of books after I've finished reading them, but a few of the characters were so well-crafted that I'm hard-pressed not to believe they're still living their lives in some small upstate New York town. 

I'm only a short ways in, but so far, Bridge of Sighs seems to be a much less humourous novel.  The characters are still realistic, and the attention to details that Russo somehow makes matter to the reader is as fine as ever, but it's actually a bit sad in a way I can't quite pin down.  There's foreshadowing of something tragic to come, and the main part of the novel is written from a looking-back point of view, which casts 90% of the story in this late Sunday afternoon in September sort of ambiance.  Whatever the hell that means to anyone but me, which is why I don't post more book reviews.

I still have hundreds of pages to read in this book, and the characters have captured me enough that I'm definitely going to continue with interest - I just have to let go of this expectation that the very next page is going to have me laughing, because I continually feel disappointed when it doesn't
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I'm also reading The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson, as translated by Ebba Segerberg.  I started this one when I misplaced Bridge of Sighs and it was quicker to grab a new book off my shelf than hunt around for the lost one.

I'm even less far into this than I am with Bridge of Sighs, so I don't know what to say.  It's the second in a murder mystery series that's popular in Sweden.  Only the first to be translated to english.

I'm always a bit distracted when reading translated books - I find myself wondering if my experience of the book in English is what the author originally intended, and how much of him/herself the translator injects into the writing.  Speaking only English and having no understanding of what it's like to be multi-lingual, these are the things that I think about.

The atmosphere created in this novel is serious, solemn, and cool yet somehow made intimate by the setting and quiet moments we're allowed with the characters.  Not as much of a page-turner as your typical crime novel, but neither is Bridge of Sighs, so I think I'll move along smoothly with both of these, as time permits.