Books translated into English

This month, we organize a Book Club about translated work. Even though our bookshop consists mainly of books written in English, we have a small section of translations (French and other languages). There are many great authors out there who don’t write in English - so hence: another theme for a Book Club!

French books -> in English?

In the shop, we’re getting asked if some of your favorite French books/authors are translated into English. And we often have to answer: “no, not this one.” It’s quite rare to see French books being translated into English (or any other language for that matter). Our section for French books translated into English is filled with classics and a bit of contemporary authors. We have for example: Simone de Beauvoir, Victor Hugo, Maurice LeBlanc, Zola, Leïla Slimani, and Jacqueline Harpman.

“I who have not known the existence of this book and never read a book like this. This is a book that makes you wonder about humanity, society, life, and womanhood. The way it's written, the choice of words, the story it's telling, the pace of the book, trust me, it's worth reading it!” -  I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman & translated by Ros Schwartz

Mythical 3%

When I tell our readers that it’s rare to find books translated into English, I base this on my experience - what I see in the shop and what I hear around me. For this blog post, I dived into the subject to give you more and accurate information. We don’t want to get accused of sharing fake news, do we?! ;) 

This is how I found out about the mythical (or not so mythical)  3% the industry talks about. This is the amount of literature being translated - in general. For the English market, it is roughly this amount - while other countries have a higher amount of translated books. Little Island wrote an article in 2020 about “When books cross borders”.

There are several reasons given for not having an English translation such as “The market for literary translation is very limited” and “No one here knows who [insert name of crucial historical figure or author] is.”. And if everyone believes all these reasons, then we won’t have many translated works in English. To find out more about this, check out the article ”Stuck at 3%: Why Can’t We Have More Literature in English Translation?” from Lit Mag News.

Translation is an important role

When you talk about translated work, you also have one (sometimes two) person to add to the book: the translator. Not an easy job! The translator has to not only find the right words but also has to capture the writer’s voice/style/invented world. Unfortunately, it happens quite frequently that the translator doesn’t receive (enough)  credit for this tough job. That’s why we always try to add the translator when we write our Book Crushes. For the readers who have a subscription with the NY Times, check out their article “Stop Pretending All Books Are Written in English”.

Our selection at The Little Bookshop

In this blog post, we shortly mentioned some of the French books we have. For everyone looking for some inspiration for the Book Club or readers who would like to add even more books to the evergrowing pile: 

- My all time favorite: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa & translated by Philip Gabriel

Such a beautiful and touching story about a man and his cat. The journey, the loyalty, the unconditional love, the writing, the emotions… It has everything you need in a good book! (small warning: tissues required)

- DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee & translated by Sandy Joosun Lee*

“This is the perfect book if you're looking for something cute & whimsical about dreams. The characters are nicely done, the stories about the customers vary, and here & there are some nice messages about life and dreams. The story has a certain vibe/flow and it's best to just go with it.”

- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel & translated by Carol and Thomas Christensen

"Oh, I really enjoyed this one but just realized I never wrote a Book Crush." As the youngest daughter, Tita is forbidden by Mexican tradition to marry. Instead, she pours all of her emotions into her delicious recipes, which she shares with readers along the way. When Tita falls in love with Pedro, he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. Unfortunately, he's married to her sister...

- The Vegetarian by Han Kang & translated by Deborah Smith

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams--invasive images of blood and brutality--torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It's a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that's become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

- Butter by Asako Yuzuki & translated by Polly Barton*

Journalist Rika Machida is facing an unusual assignment: she is tapped to investigate serial killer Manako Kajii, notorious for drawing rich men in with her pricey cooking classes, only to murder them and move on to the next. Kajii refuses to cooperate with the press until Rika writes her a letter asking for her beef stew recipe, a correspondence and ongoing series of conversations between the two women that sees Rika transforming as she becomes closer to Kajii, taking on some of her confidence and strength but also some of her deadly intention. Game on.

- The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson & translated by Rod Bradbury

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not...Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan's earlier life in which - remarkably - he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century.

- The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina & translated by Lucy Rand

On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo. Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, who returns to his home-town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi's house. Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats…

- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman & translated by Henning Koch

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet, a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots—and no wonder, with all those happy joggers and shop assistants who talk in code, not to mention the perpetrators of the vicious coup d’état that ousted him as chairman of his neighborhood residents’ association. People think him bitter. But must a man be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered on his face all the time, doesn’t always tell people what they want to hear, and remains silent when he has nothing in particular to say? Ove’s well-ordered, solitary world gets a shake-up one November morning with the appearance of new neighbors—a chatty young couple and their two boisterous daughters—who announce their arrival by accidentally flattening Ove’s mailbox with their U-Haul. What follows is a funny and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unlikely friendships, and a community’s unexpected reassessment of the one person they thought they had all figured out.

- French YA: A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos & translated by Hildegarde Serle

A mix of awkward misfit and misunderstood genius, Ophelia cares little about appearances or other people’s opinions of her. She possesses two special gifts: an unrivalled talent for reading the pasts of objects and the ability to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful, if somewhat dull existence on the ark of Anima is interrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a powerful clan from a distant ark, the cold and icy Pole. Ophelia must follow her fiancé to the towering city of Citaceleste, where nobody can be trusted. There, in the company of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world.

- French YA: Ascension by Victor Dixen & translated by Daniel Hahn

Six girls, six boys. Each in the two separate bays of a single spaceship. They have six minutes each week to seduce and to make their choices, under the unblinking eye of the on-board cameras. They are the contenders in the Genesis programme, the world's craziest speed-dating show ever, aimed at creating the first human colony on Mars. Leonor, an 18 year old orphan, is one of the chosen ones.  She has signed up for glory. She has signed up for love. She has signed up for a one-way ticket. Even if the dream turns to a nightmare, it is too late for regrets.

*translator mentioned on cover

We hope you enjoyed reading our latest blog post about translation/translated work and, like us, maybe learned something as well! :) Looking to order one of the books from our list? Just follow the path! 👇

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This blog post is written by The Little Bookshop, your bookshop for English books in Rennes.