As a professional translator, thank you so much for actually mentioning the names of the translators. Too often we’re overlooked because a ‘good’ translation is one that doesn’t read like one. The better we are at our job, the more invisible we are. We often don’t get any recognition at all.
I'm from Argentina and even though I've heard of Claudia Piñeiro many times, it wasn't until I watched your video when her book was sent to you that I was interested in her. I haven't seen many people talking about her here in Argentina because everyone I've followed was international so thank you for making me fall in love with an argentinean writer, I met her in April here in our international book fair and got my Elena Knows copy signed. Anyways, thank you for being the booktuber I go to when I need book recommendations
01:42 Greek Lessons - Han Kang 02:49 Heaven - Mieko Kawakami 03:48 Paradais - Fernanda Melchor 04:55 The Woman Destroyed - Simone de Beauvoir 06:08 Elena Knows - Claudia Pineiro 07:45 Wild Woman - Marina Sur Puhlovski 08:45 Paradise Rot - Jenny Hval 09:42 Cursed Bunny - Bora Chung 10:18 Things We Lost in the Fire - Mariana Enriquez 10:30 The Houseguest - Amparo Davila 10:59 My Pen is the Wing of a Bird 11:39 Mona - Pola Oloixarac 12:25 I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman
I’m always intrigued by each book you recommend and find myself writing down the titles. My tbr list gets longer and longer! But I enjoy your videos so much, your enthusiasm is contagious! So jealous of your beautiful home library, by the way 😜
I read Heaven over the span of a month because I just COULD NOT bring myself to put myself through it all at once... it was haunting and just so sorrowful, but also very raw and real and beautiful
I loved this video jack, I like when you recommend books that aren’t the typical trending booktok recommendations, thank you for introducing me to different genres and being my book guide
Thank you so much Jack for this video. I had brought Elena Knows from watching a previous video you posted, and just hadn’t got around to reading it. I watched this Vlog at 11.30am this morning and was just had to start it! It’s now 2.30am and I have just finished it. The first book I have ever read in one sitting. What an amazing, thought provoking and totally heartbreaking story! For sure you are my favourite booktuber!!
hi jack! wondering if you've ever read any aboriginal australian literature? i recommend the white girl by tony birch, catching teller crow by ambelin & ezekiel kwaymullina and terra nullius by claire coleman :)
Thanks for all these recommandations 😍 apart from Terra Nullius, I've never heard of any of the other novels you've mentionned so I'll definitely look into that. I've discovered Aboriginal Australian literature through Alexis Wright first. I loved Plains of Promises ; Carpentaria was such a journey and I'm currently reading the Swan Book!
I've been living in Croatia for most of this year and I picked up Wild Woman. Such an interesting voice and character and I've thought about this book a lot since finishing it. It was also cool to read a book set in the new country where I've been living. Love to see you recommend this one! It was a riveting one for me.
I've been trying to branch out from reading fantasy & sci-fi this year, and I've been delving moreso into literary fiction (and also classical philosophy) so videos like these are excellent for providing me with a plethora of new books to check out!!! I would love to see more videos on authors in translation in general because I feel like there's so many hidden gems out there!!!
Thank you Jack! I have followed you for years for you knowledge on literature, your impeccable humor and your great video ideas. But overall you are my favorite book creator for you constant effort to showcase diverse literature for all around the world. ♥
Great video and the shelf background looks great!! I recently read Drive Your Plow Over the Dead by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk if you like more vibes only a bit of plot it’s very good
Two Mexicans made the cut !! I will also strongly recommend Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor too, it's also very raw and it's written from diffrent Povs arround a murder while diving into poberty, violence and sexism, a page turner.
As an Argentinean i'm so happy to see Mariana Enríquez here! If you liked 'Things we lost in the fire' I would absolutely recommend 'the dangers of smoking in bed'. They are very similar and all the stories are incredible!
such a great selection of reads! ✨ really wish that you could at least try doing a challenge of reading books by Filipino (Philippine) authors, as they’re such a gem too! ✨🫶☺️
Hey Jack, I've been loving your contents but noticed that you haven't mentioned books translated from Chinese on your channel. As a native Chinese speaker, Iwould like to recommend this book called Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise. I read it in Chinese. The author wrote it based on her own experience and she was super talented. The story itself is really powerful and thought provoking, and the language is breathtakingly beautiful. I haven't read the English version so not sure how much of it is preserved. If you're looking to read something translated from Chinese, I would highly recommend it
Funny how I've been reading translated books written by women almost all my life, haha! I should be reading more books written by women in my native language tbh
Jack!! I really hope you read some Greek writers when you visit Greece! If you visit Athens going to Politeia is a MUST it's such a famous and lovely bookstore and it's right at the centre of the city. It always has translated works by Greek authors. Kazatzakis (famously wrote "Zorba The Greek") and Karyotakis are some of my favourites from the greek literary canon
All these books are so great, yet I was still hoping for some translated Dutch literature, especially names like Hanna Bervoets (please check out Everything There Was, originally titled "Alles dat er was", Tessa de Loo with many books, but her most famous one is probably "The Twins" (De Tweeling), Lize Spit, a Flemish author with the fascinating book "The Melting" (Het Smelt), and literally everything Hella S. Haase has ever written ever. :)
Not me writing an essay on Simone de Beauvoir while watching this and jack going on about it 👀🤯 was very surprised to hear her name while I was writing 😂😂
Bringing to your attention that Simone de Beauvoir was a se>< predator thus not the best woman translated to highlight for this month 🙃 However you made me really interested in Heaven, might give it a try
You should read other stuff from Claudia Piñeiro if you liked her so much. Elena knows is a minor book in her production. Try Cathedrals or her most celebrated book "Thursday's widows"
Ohh now we will see that background time n again then! Will watch like a hawk now on 😅❤ BTW happy august, hope there is rust on your door in this salty air times 🫣
HI Jack ! I admire your videos and you as a writer and passionate about books. Therefore I am interested to know if you think AI is a menace for literature and creative writing? Will writers begin to take sides: those who use AI and those who don't ? What's your point of view or predictions ?
I really appreciate your recommendations but I find it funny that you always say: when you go to another country, try to read literature from that country, and yet you haven't read a single Spanish book when you've been to Spain more than once 😅
I would advise anyone who wants to read about Simone de Beauvoir to seek information about her personal life. She may be a great writer but she was an awful person and it is something to keep in mind while reading her work
In general,I have very different book taste than Jack (but still love to watch, because i love his takes on books and also occasionally find one i do want to read). But Jack is definitely the reason I've paid more attention to my authors for the past year or two, and made it a point to try a more diverse span of authors. Honestly something I never paid much attention to before.
A book that would be a good addition to this list would be Boulder, by Eva Baltasar. This year was the first time a Catalan author was shortlisted for the Booker Prize thanks to her novel.
It's kinda late tho, but I do recommend Violeta by Isabel Allende,It's a really nice book, It' s about the life of a woman from Chile, and her life during one hundred years, (from the 1920s to the 2020s), and the crisis during those ages. Sorry for bad english.
Tank you Jack for always providing us with fresh, well thought out recommendations! I’ve recently read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson because of you, and it was one of the most moving books I’ve read since A Little Life. I would recommend checking out Scandinavian literature - authors like Tove Ditlevsen, Vigdis Hjorth, Naja Marie Aidt (one of my favourites), Tine Høeg, Karl Ove Knausgård, Linn Ullmann and maybe Inger Christensen ✨
hey jack, just wanted to recommend another book perfect for this time. it's called "tomb of sand" by gitanjali shree. it's the first ever Indian book to win the booker prize and i must say it deserves it so damn much. give it a go and please make a video on it, would mean the world for me!
Hi Jack, if you're looking for something similar to your experiences with argentinian writing, you should definitely check some brazilian books and more latin american literature in general. Some titles that i think you would really enjoy are "An Apprenticeship or the book of the pleasures" by Clarice Lispector (one of the biggest female voices of Brazil) and "The Bitch" by Pilar Quintana (yes, you read that right)
I recommend everyone to read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by polish writer Olga Tokarczuk (I read the translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones). It is such a captivating read with immersive characters, and plot, with William Blake having a semi-central role. I cannot stop thinking about it, and are transfixed to this day (although I read it spring of last year)
very surprised to only have 2 translated texts by female authors on my shelf, nonetheless i hope to find some awesome reads now that its august! thanks jack!
