The Biblio Blogazine

The subject of reading translations came up today. It brought to mind a promise I made to obtain and read more of them.

I decided to go through my library and was surprised by the amount that I have and how varied. Below is a listing of the twenty-seven books I currently own. That’s only 7% of my library, but it isn’t as low as I thought it would be.

What a pleasant surprise!

The countries represented by the list below are: Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.

So, do you read translations? How much of your home library is made up of stories translated for your reading pleasure?

(Those with an [R] are one’s I’ve read)

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Portrait In Sepia by Isabel Allende
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende [R]
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano [R]
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal [R]
Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coehlo [R]
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel [R]
Hannah’s Daughters by Marianne Fredrickson
The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz
The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon [R]

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
Translated from the Portuguese by Jull Costa
Fiction, 191 pages
Harper Collins Publishers

Inspired by personal experience, Coelho brings us this novella which explores the perceptions of those with mental illness and those who have to deal with it – or choose not to.

At the core is a story about finding acceptance, facing denial, and finding the freedom to takes one’s fate into their own hands regardless of the obstacles.

The only detraction, for some readers, may be way the author handles the narration, at times literally placing himself within the story. In addition, there is sexual content which didn’t bother me, but may put off others.

This was a good introduction to Coelho, but not the best one. I have a feeling The Alchemist may be a much better story. I’m looking forward to reading it, hoping to appreciate this author more.

If you would like to learn more about the this work, the author, or any of his other stories, please visit the links below:

• Paulo Coelho’s website
• Author discussing writing this book
• My reading notes