The ten fiction finalists for the Best Translated Book Award have been announced
- Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk, tr. from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns
- Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss, tr. from the German by Joel Rotenberg
- The Golden Age by Michal Ajvaz, tr. from the Czech by Andrew Oakland
- Hocus Bogus by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar), tr. from the French by David Bellos
- The Jokers by Albert Cossery, tr. from the French by Anna Moschovakis
- A Life on Paper by George-Olivier Châteaureynaud, tr. from the French by Edward Gauvin
- The Literary Conference by César Aira, tr. from the Spanish by Katherine Silver
- On Elegance While Sleeping by “Viscount” Lascano Tegui, tr. from the Spanish by Idra Novey
- The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, tr. from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
- Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, tr. from the German by Susan Bernofsky
I have read only three of the finalists and reviewed only two (the highlighted ones above, with links to my reviews; I will soon have a review of A Life on Paper up). Of the longlisters I read, I’m not surprised A Jew Must Die is not on this list (though it is certainly worth reading), but I did really like Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico.
By any measure, these are fine books. I have four on my shelf to read, and I’m looking forward to each.
Me too, so it’s a surprise, though I’m certainly glad Chateaureynaud is up there.
I was very glad to see that one on there, too, Lee. Of all that I read, that was the main discovery for me (mainly because I’ve already read Marias and Aira). The one I have that I’m most looking forward to is Georg Letham. I’ve also been meaning to read The True Deceiver for months now. For some reason, I pick it up and don’t read more than a couple of sentences. It’s not the book; I’m just always more anxious to read something else, and I haven’t given myself the opportunity to get into the rather short book.