 Hi everyone, a big welcome or welcome back to my channel. So today, we are going to be taking it back old school. I'm going to be giving you five book recommendations in translated fiction. Free of charge. You can thank me later. So I am obsessed with translated fiction. I have been reading a lot of it over the past couple of years. There is such quality out there, such an exciting range being published, especially right now. Hopefully you will find something that appeals in today's selection. We have books from a range of cultures and countries and languages. We have the serious, the bizarre, the haunting, the beautiful. Please let me know if you've read any of these books and definitely give me your best translated fiction recommendations. I would love to add them to my list. So first up, we have Baldr by Eva Baltazar, translated by Julia Sanchez. Originally written in Catalan, this one tells the story of two married women who live in Reykjavik after meeting and falling in love on a merchant's ship. When one of the women at 40 years old decides that she wants to have a baby, her wife, nicknamed Baldr, finds herself dragged along on this journey that she ultimately finds to be alienating and thankless. I first read this book a couple of years ago and it has really stuck with me. Some of the most gorgeous, complex explorations of motherhood and freedom I have ever read. The character of Baldr in here and the raw insight we get into many different facets of her experiences is fascinating. This is unflinching and exact. It packs a massive punch. The prose and the translation is just stunning, filled with moments that you will want to go back and reread. This will stop you in your tracks. I honestly found it to be pretty much perfect. It's a little masterpiece. Next up, we have Minor Detail by Adania Shibley, translated by Elizabeth Jackett. This is a Palestinian novel told in two halves, one in the summer of 1949, one year after the forced occupation of Palestine by Israeli forces, and one in present day when a woman in Ramallah learns about a minor detail in history when a Palestinian woman was captured, raped, and murdered. This book is exquisite. It is incredibly intense and absorbing. I almost couldn't look away while I was reading. It is filled with such vivid imagery, really zooming in on these tiny details of this minor detail in history, building up the clearest and most transportive images of this time and place. The two halves in this book work really well together. The ultimate devastating parallels that are drawn between the two will take your breath away. As urgent now, as it always has been, I can't recommend this one more highly. Next up, we have A Whole Life by Robert C. Thala, translated by Charlotte Collins. This is a historical novel set in the mid-20th century, translated from German. It follows the life of a middle-aged man named Andreas, who lives in rural mountainous Austria and knows every peak and valley of the landscape he calls his home. This is a more backlist title than others on this list. I first read it years and years ago, Robert C. Thala actually being one of the first authors who really made me fall in love with translated fiction. This is so beautiful. It is a quiet, sublime examination of one's relationship with ancient landscapes, the value of solitude, the arrival of the modern world. It is a perfectly complete tale of this man and his place in the world, short and stunning, filled with those moments great and small who remind us who we are. This book is genuinely good for the soul. It also has one of my favourite covers in my entire collection. Next up, we have Vladivostok Circus by Eliza Chouard-Dussepin, translated by Anissa Abbas-Higgins. This is a new French literary novel recently published by Daunt Books, set in Russia as winter approaches. It follows Natalie, a costume designer for a trio of acrobats who are performing the Russian Bar, a dangerous act in the Vladivostok Circus. This is an incredibly unique book. The prose is very simple and almost dreamlike, kind of like you're reading through some kind of veil. It provides a very immersive reading experience. I was so swept up in this. All I wanted to do was keep reading. The vides are gloomy and sort of magical and kind of jarring and disconcerting. This is very character focused. It explores themes of creativity and collaboration and belonging in very understated ways. This is beautiful and quiet and perfectly placed. I'd highly recommend it to anybody looking for something a bit different. And again, gorgeous, gorgeous cover. And my final recommendation for you today is Paradise by Fernando Melkor, translated by Sophie Hughes. Another Fitzcarraldo edition's book on a translated fiction list. It cannot be helped. This is a Mexican novel translated from Spanish by one of the best contemporary translators we have. It tells the story of two impoverished teenage boys working on a luxury housing complex. One is lonely, overweight, addicted to porn and becomes obsessed with an older married woman. The other dreams of quitting his gardening job and escaping his overbearing mother and narco-filled village. Each facing the seeming impossibility of getting what they deserve, the two boys hatch a desperate and gruesome plan. This is one of those books that I just know I'm never going to forget. It is seared into my brain. It explores the fragility of Mexican society through themes of classism, hyper-violence, racism and teenage hardship. Everything is so cleverly and compellingly handled. The writing is unlike anything I have ever experienced. A torrent of chilling, unrelenting prose, stream of consciousness style veering off in different directions, hurtling towards this insane end. Truly one of the most captivating and totally intoxicating reading experiences I have ever had. I need people to read this, I need people to experience it for themselves. It is something else. So there we go guys, those are five translated fiction recommendations from me to you. I'm actually kind of in awe of the insane literary quality in this video. Please let me know if you've read any of these books, what did you think of them, and of course let me know what translated fiction I need to read. I can't wait to hear. Thank you so much for watching everyone, I hope you're well and I will hopefully see you very soon in another video. Bye.