Tag: books in translation

Book of the Week, mystery, new releases

Book of the Week: A Game of Cat and Killer

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Happy Tuesday everyone. After last week’s Japanese fiction Recommendsday it just so happens that I’ve got another Japanese novel in translation today – it’s actually a new release in English and it’s got a very different feel from the ones I mentioned last week…

Yoshitaro Katayama is not an ideal candidate to be a detective: he doesn’t like heights, he’s socially awkward and he’d rather not come into contact with dead bodies. But his father was detective and it was his dying wish for his son. And so here he is. One morning he’s offer the choice of looking at some gruesome crime scene photos of a murdered young woman or going to the college she was a student at to conduct investigations. He chooses the latter, but soon there are more bodies and he has acquired a cat which belonged to one of the victims. He’s not keen on having a pet, until she starts to show an unusual level of interest in the case…

Now I know there are a lot of cozy mysteries with cats (often talking cats) in them. This is not one of those. Katayama also has a sister that he lives with and worries a lot about, and an auntie who is trying to arrange him a marriage but this is not cozy. Do not be deceived. This is a serial killer mystery which happens to have a cat. The detective is a bit hapless but the crimes he is investigating are anything but.

This originally came out in the late 1970s and is the first in a long running series by Jiro Akagawa that has only just making it into English. Considering their age they felt surprisingly current – obviously there are no mobile phones or computers but apart from that they could have been now. Of course that could be down to the choices Haydn Trowell has made in the translation. The murders were a bit on the gruesome side for what I’m used to reading, but I am interested enough in what happens to detective Katayama next that I may pick up the next one when it comes out in a few months time.

My copy came from NetGalley, but it’s out today in Kindle and Kobo and all the usual formats. I have no sense of how easy (or otherwise) this will be to get in hard copy, but it’s got physical copies listed so it may be possible

Happy Reading!

Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Japanese Novels in Translation

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Happy Wednesday! I’ve said that it’s feeling autumnal and there’s something about autumn that makes these three Japanese novels feel really apt. I’ve said they’re in translation which is a bit of a “well obviously” because I haven’t been hiding a secret talent for Japanese, but there’s a definitely a bit of a vibe about this sort of Japanese novel too – it’s sort of cozy and low stakes and reflective. And that is what I want in back to school season, even though it’s a long time since school!

Tsubaki Stationery Store by Ito Ogawa*

Hatoko has recently returned to Kamakura to take over her grandmother’s stationery store and scribe business. As a child Hatoko rebelled against the expectation that she would become a scribe and the atrict training that was required and ran away (sort of) as soon as she was old enough. But now she is back, she starts to find her place in the community as she writes various correspondence for the locals and she starts to uncover the secrets of her grandmother as the seasons of her first year running the shop gently pass. This is really lovely. Hatoko gets into a sort of flow state when she’s writing and reading about her process is very soothing too. I could really imagine her neighbourhood, the people that she helps, the friends she makes and the food she eats. There are no bad consequences from her letters to worry about and it has a real gentle rhythm about it that is sort of hypnotic.

The Cat Who Saved The Library by Sosuki Natsukawa*

This is the sequel to former BotW The Cat Who Saved Books and Tiger the Cat is back and saving more books. This time our human is 13-year-old Nanami who has asthma and spends more time with books than she does with other children.

Nanami had a peculiar habit of reading multiple books at once, yet still feeling the need to reach for new ones. There were always so many books she wanted to read, far more than she could keep up with.

I mean I think we know that this is basically me. I have such a huge pile of books to read and so many on the go at once and yet I still find myself standing in front of the to-read bookshelf trying to find something I want to read next. Anyway. Nanami notices that books are disappearing from the library where she spends a lot of her free time and finds herself helping a talking cat to save the books from forces of darkness. I enjoyed this as much as I did the first one – and was delighted to see some of the characters from that first book reappear here. And of course there are plenty of parallels with what is going on in the book and with books being banned in real life.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa*

I often find Japanese fiction slightly more melancholic than I want it to be, but I pretty much always enjoy it anyway. This is one of those. The central character is Takako who goes to stay in the flat above her uncle Satoru’s bookshop after her boyfriend tells her he is marrying someone else. What happens then is a discovery of shared community, making of new friends, a new found love of reading and a greater understanding of love. It’s short but it’s very readable, although I preferred the first section that is about Takako, her uncle and the community around the bookshop to the second part which has the return of Satoru’s long disappeared wife. This has got a sequel out now, which I’ve seen in bigger bookshops.

And that’s your lot for this week – enjoy!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: What You Are Looking for is in the Library

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Hello everyone. Apologies for the slightly blurry photo – I was finishing this one late night on Sunday, and haven’t been home in daylight to improve this. These things happen. Anway…

What You Are Looking for is in the Library is the stories of a series of people who visit a library in Tokyo and receive book recommendations from Sayuri Komachi, the enigmatic librarian who works there. Each of them is struggling with something in their lives, and although they don’t really tell her that, she senses what the recommendation is that they need. Each chapter follows the person receiving the advice, so you don’t actually see that much of Sayuri – just when they visit her in the library.

This is quite quiet and low stakes, but it’s immensely satisfying and soothing, and I loved seeing little glimpses of the people we had already met in the subsequent chapters. I read this in about 24 hours – starting fairly late on Saturday evening and finishing later than I should have been awake the night before the early train on Sunday and it still almost felt like it was over too quickly. I would happily read a sequel, but so far I can’t see that there is one, although this has been so successful that another one of Michiko Aoyama’s books, The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park, has been published in English already, with another, Hot Chocolate on Thursday, coming early next year although interestingly they both have different translators from this one.

What You Are Looking for is in the Library should be really easy to get hold of – it’s sold a tonne of copies and I’ve seen it all over the bookshops. And of course it’s also on Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

bookshops

Books in the Wild: Spanish Supermarket edition

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Happy weekend everyone, and when we were on holiday I did my traditional wander around the supermarket to see what that book selection was like in Gran Canaria, because I always like to see what has made it into translation, and what covers they’ve been given.

So i hose the romance section for the first picture because a) I like romance and b) I think it’s a good summation of the whole thing – some books in translation, mixed in with Spanish authors and no real pattern to which of the translated authors get new covers and which don’t!

I picked this one out because as you can see, the sports romance trend has made it to Spain. There’s Elle Kennedy, Stephanie Archer and Elsie Silver in that first photo above, but this is a home grown one. There isn’t an English version, but it’s a tennis romance where the hero is an up-and-coming player who comes to the heroine’s father for coaching help because he’s in a slump. And just like so many authors at the moment, it sounds like Anna Farres started out on Wattpad.

You all know how much I loved Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, so here it is in Spanish, with the same cover design as the UK hardback had – but in paperback. and I think it works really well in Spanish. I do like this design better than the paperback adaptation it got in the UK – the retro computer font hints at the game design element of the book. Yes the wave is from the computer game, but you don’t know that – so I think the paperback with just the wave and then a more boring/standard font and layout is a bit of a miss.

This is A Lady’s Guide to Scandal, the sequel to A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting, I picked this one out because it’s actually got the American cover translated, as opposed to having the UK cover (and a quote on the cover from The Bookseller, which is British!). And it just goes to show what a mix it is on the cover front – it doesn’t even really seem to decided by genre- the Jojo Moyes in the first picture has the UK cover, this has the US cover, Nora Roberts has the US cover for The Mirror, the Elsie Silver has the same illustration in slightly different versions on the UK, US and Spanish versions.

And finally I’m finishing with Dan Brown, because they seemed to be completely different covers to the UK and US ones – and they didn’t have the new one at all and I couldn’t work out if that was because it was sold out or because it hadn’t arrived yet. And also because it was displayed with kids books!

Have a great weekend everyone!

books

Books in the wild: Sicily!

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The other thing that happens when I go on holiday, is that I have a look in the bookshops there to see what I can spot in translation – so for an extra treat this week, here are my Sicilian spots!

Super easy to start with – here’s former BotW The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood and Netflix sensation (that I’m currently working my way through) Heartstopper. I haven’t read the Elena Armas – but she’s another of the TikTok/BookTok authors – this one is The Spanish Love Deception.

Next up we have a string of former Books of the Week – starting with T J Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, which I recommended to someone only last week. I also spotted the newest Klune adult novel as well – which reminded me that I really need to get hold of that at some point. I must keep an eye open next time I’m in Foyles/a big Waterstones.

Then we have Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston which a friend messaged me about the other day to say how much he was enjoying it – which meant I was able to recommend a whole bunch of other books to him on an if you like… then this basis. And you can also see One Last Stop nestled next to it – which as I mentioned on Wednesday is 99p this month.

Then we have Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners, which I think is the first time I’ve spotted one of their books on holiday, but you know me, I forget things. I’ve written a lot about Christina Lauren – but this one is in their sweet spot for me – a fake relationship romance that doesn’t have the pranks/meanness issues that I have with say Dating You/Hating you.

And finally this is the one that I keep seeing but haven’t read yet – What if it’s Us by Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and Adam Silvera. The second book in this series is in the Kindle offers this month, but you know me and reading sequels before the original. I don’t like it and I won’t do it and I won’t suggest you do it either. Anyway, this is suddenly everywhere – I saw both of them in Foyles when I was in there the other month, but ended up buying Piglettes instead – and now it’s coming up in my suggestions on goodreads and amazon. It must be a sign right?

Anyway the big thing I noticed this holiday was how many of the english translation books are now keeping their English cover art in their translated editions – this might be an italian thing that’s been going on a while, but it definitely wasn’t how it’s been in Spain when I’ve been looking there both before and after the pandemic – or in France last time I was there (which was pre-pandemic times). So I will keep an eye next time we go anywhere to see if this is now A Thing.

Adventure, Book of the Week, Young Adult

Book of the Week: Piglettes

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We’re rocketing towards the end of the month, and after a delightful week of reading last week, I’m finishing the BotW selections off with a YA novel which I picked up on my buying spree at Foyles at the start of the month.

Piglettes tells the story of Mireille, Astrid and Hakima who are voted the ugliest girls in their school by their fellow students. None of them are happy about it – but for Mireille it’s not her first time on the list – which was started by a boy she used to be friends with – so she decides to befriend her fellow Piglettes rather than sit around and be miserable. What ends up happening is an epic summer cycle trip from their town to Paris to try and go to the French President’s garden party on Bastille Day. Each of the three girls has their own reason for going, but what they don’t expect is to become the centre of media attention as the country starts to follow the three girls as they cycle towards Paris selling sausages on the way.

This is a modern twist on the adventure-without-adults sort of books (see Swallows and Amazons etc) that I really loved when I was younger (and still do to be honest). Ok, Hakima’s brother comes along with them and he’s an adult, but he never really seems like an intruding adult presence restricting the girls, he becomes more like part of the gang. The idea of cycling across France selling sausages sounds a little bit bonkers – but it’s actually perfect – the girls have a goal, they get to meet loads of people and they get to find out new things about themselves and each other. But as well as being about friendship and self discovery, this is also quite a foodie novel. The pork sausages they’re selling are made by a local butcher. Mireille’s grandparents own a restaurant and they make their vegetarian sausages there themselves – as well as their special apple sauce to go with it. At the places they stop at on the way there’s often local food – including when Mireille detours them to go through the town where her favourite cheese is made (Crottin de Chavignol if you’re interested).

Clementine Beauvais has translated this herself from the original French, and if you can get past the envy of being good enough to write novels in two languages (and it did give me a touch of the green-eyed monsters), she’s given it a whole load of humour but it also still feels distinctly French. I would love to see the original for comparison to see what the jokes and references were in the original and what if anything she’s changed for a non-French audience. It’s clever and funny and I really enjoyed it. Also it made me want to go on holiday to France and eat some regional produce. Maybe I’ll have to settle for buying some speciality cheese to keep me going until we can get over there again.

I bought my copy of Piglettes on a trip to Foyles but it’s also available on Kindle and Kobo. As I found it in store, I’m hoping that you could be similarly lucky if you look in a bookstore, even if Foyles’ website isn’t currently showing any click and collect copies…

Happy Reading!

fiction, reviews

Review: The Secret Paris Cinema Club

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When I replied to this intriguing tweet from Quercus at the start of the month, I didn’t know what to expect.

I did try and work out what the book in question might be (and failed spectacularly) and settled down to wait for the package, which duly arrived bearing a copy of The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau – which is out today in its shiny English language edition.  With the author name and the subject matter, I was surprised to find that this is a novel in translation from the German – not from French.  I went looking because I would have loved to have read this in French back in my university days when I had to review a French language book a term (my choices back in those pre-e book days tended to involve dry French classics which I struggled through and did not enjoy).

So, a plot summary:  Alain owns and runs Cinema Paradis – an arthouse cinema in Paris.  He is a man after Mark Kermode’s heart – his cinema doesn’t sell popcorn and he has strict rules about the sort of films that he’ll show.  He’ll also do anything for his customers – particularly one of his regulars – a woman in a red coat. But just after he eventually plucks up the courage to ask her out, she unexpectedly vanishes just as his cinema gets a new lease of life…

This book reminded me in some ways of one of my favourite French films – Amelie.  It’s fun, it’s quirky, it’s almost ridiculous in places and the city of Paris is practically a character in its own right.  Despite Quercus’ tweet, I’d say it’s more about films and acting than it is about theatre – and it’s about secrets and coincidences as well.  The Secret Paris Cinema Club is a little gem of a romantic comedy, which will bring a smile to your face as autumn arrives.  It’s also chock full of film references and quotes – I’m sure I didn’t spot them all – and it’s given me some really good ideas for French films to watch.

This book wasn’t on my radar until I won a copy from Quercus – but it brightened up my commute during nightshift week and I’m hoping that it’ll find an audience beyond sleep-deprived Francophile chick flick fans.  You can find the Secret Paris Cinema Club here and on Kindle here – and if you’re in the US be aware it was published as One Evening In Paris in the States.