Top 10 Books By Women in Translation + TBR 📚 | #WITMonth

Here are my top ten books by women in translation, plus a look at my reading plans and many, many books on my TBR pile for August. Come join me! xx

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MY BOOKS:

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Things mentioned:

Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton*
Poetry from the Edge of Extinction ed. by Chris McCabe

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
NP by Banana Yoshimoto
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
So Much for that Winter by Dorthe Nors
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am by Kjersti A Skomsvold
The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge
I'll Go On by Hwang Jungeun
Elena Knows by Claudia Pinero

The Old Woman With the Knife by Gy Byeong-Mo*
The Rooftop by Fernanda Trias
Blind Goddess by Anne Holt
Bluebeard's First Wife by Ha Seong-Nan
Byobu by Ida Vitale
Monster human by Kjersti A Skomsvold
Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada
Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada
Island by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen
Seeing Red by Lina Meringue
Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin
All the Lovers in the Night by Meiko Kawakami
Child in Time by Yuko Tsushima
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
The Aosawa Murders by Rita Ondu
Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Pinero
Earth Eater by Dolores Reyes
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Ten Loves of Mr Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami
Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen
Moomin books by Tove Jansson

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WHO I AM

Hello, I'm Jen Campbell. I'm an award-winning poet and bestselling author of twelve books, spanning short stories, poetry, picture books, and nonfiction.

My books for adults include The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night, The Girl Aquarium, The Bookshop Book, and The Sunday Times bestselling Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops series. My picture book trilogy Franklin and Luna, and my middle-grade book The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers, are published by Thames & Hudson.

I've won both an Eric Gregory Award and the Jane Martin Poetry Prize, my books have been translated into twenty languages, and I have two new titles forthcoming in 2023 — more details on those soon.

I've worked in the publishing industry for over fifteen years, initially as a bookseller, and now as a freelance editor, content creator and disability advocate. I review books online, in print and on the radio. I run a Youtube channel where I talk about books, the history of fairy tales, and the representation of disability and disfigurement. I also offer online writing workshops and editorial services, give talks at schools, publishing companies, universities and book festivals on a variety of topics, and I run a book club for TOAST clothing.

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Where to find me:

This video contains no sponsored content. Any books marked with * were sent to me for an honest review.

#WITMonth #WomenInTranslation #Booktube #BestBooks

[CarinaZacharias]

Thanks for addressing that making an effort to read translated work is only really a thing in the English speaking world. I feel like many English speaking BookTubers are not as aware of this. 😉 Great video as always, thanks Jen! ❤

[renee_]

Wonderful list! I’m so glad you touched upon the way that a translation can “change a book”, as well as how English-speaking-centred this month can be. As a Dutchy, I grew up with most of my childhood-reading being translated works. When I started to learn multiple languages, I reread some of those translation in their original language and found the experience completely changed. It’s incredible to me how much different language can change a story.
Love the metaphor of “midwifing a book”, but I also feel like a translator leaves so much more of a mark on the story than that.

[ariannelg]

I loved that you pointed out that this is a very English speaking world thing!
I guess it’s the first time I hear someone acknowledging that!

[kreskova]

Thank you for always listing the books in the description!

[amandawells]

Hi Jen, Tons of good recs here - thank you! (I found The Bookshop Book in a used bookstore in Noosa, Queensland, Australia last week: excellent holiday reading! ) x

[philippawood]

My suggestion are: Jhumpa Lahiri - she originally wrote "Dove mi trovo" in Italian (her third language after Bengali and English), and she translated into EN herself under the title "Whereabouts".

Also Irene Solà - "Canto jo i la muntanya balla" (Catalan) translated to Italian by Stefania Maria Ciminelli as "Io canto e la montagna balla", and to EN as "When I Sing, Mountains Dance" translated by Mara Faye Letham.

[anise]

At first I thought Mrs March might be a translation since the author is Spanish but apparently she wrote the book in English. Which is of course extraordinary if you can write like that in what isn't your first language!

I loved Polly Barton's Fifty Sounds. I know some Booktubers DNFed it after the first chapters and I can see why because in the beginning the book is a bit too philosophical and niched if you're not really into linguistics but then it becomes more about Polly herself and her time in Japan with all the cultural clashes that entails and I found that really interesting. So for anyone starting this book, please stay with it and don't abandon it after the first chapters because it really does get more accessible after that.

[jeannareadsbooks]

I'm learning Spanish and am trying to start reading more Spanish language stuff and am getting a little bit more adventurous, so I've now decided that I'm going to try Elena Knows in the original Spanish soon after hearing you hype it so much

[alinas]

Love your recommendations which are special and always great! I would love a video of how you keep track of your books and what you’ve read and your review. And maybe your review process :) Thank you so much for always wanting me to pick up a book and sharing your love about stories, words and writing.

[MsReadsAlot]

A great book written by a woman and translated by a woman is Kristin Lavransdatter. It is massive but lovely. Thank you for sharing your top 10!

[schoolofholly]

My favourite phrase over the last two years - "what is time" hahaha great minds!

[BookswithBrittany]

The Discomfort or Evening was excellent, hope you enjoy it :) thanks for the recommendations!

[SM-vrdz]

The Rooftop is one of my favourite books! I read it last year and still can’t stop talking about it.

[victoriatangk]

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Bluebeard's First Wife. I loved it even if it didn't feel like a complete hit for me. Weird to explain...

[PaulinaSanchez]

I really need to get Elena Knows! This month I'll be reading Gentlemen Callers by Corine Hoex, translated from French by Caitlin O'Neill. I get a translated book from the Asymptote book club and that was a previous monthly pick!

[AnaMoShoshin]

Revenge, NP, and Please look after Mother are on my TBR for WIT month! Glad to hear about them here!

[indubitablyzara]

The two translated books by women I'm planning to read this month are Out by Natsuo Kirino and Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro (which I bought from your recommendation - that may be the case for Out too but it's been longer ago so I don't remember 😅). If I have time I'd like to also pick up one of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara's books, but I have a lot of other stuff on my tbr too so not sure I'll get there.

[alexplatt]

I'm currently reading The Copenhagen Trilogy (Childhood, Youth, Dependency) by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman. I got the audiobook of Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge. I'm so intrigued.

[ingerbeatehaga]

Monster human is one of my favourite books. It is very readable, don’t let the size scare you. I especially found it interesting how she describes entering the «literary world» as a scientist with no background in reading/writing.

[Juultje]

Lots of great recommendations to add to my tbr! I'll hopefully be reading Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree this month, very much looking forward to it!