it occurs to me that as an english speaker i am already spoilt for choice when it comes to translations, i can already get many many great works done quite well into english sometimes even having several translations to read.

That was my impression too - especially older stuff.

i have noticed that in the age of information the problem is not so much information, as the time needed to weed through all the crap to get to the "good stuff"

i see a shape forming in the mist..

I SEE IT TOO!

so after a couple of pm's we are thinking

take it in turns as "leader" (including anyone with a text to bring us) to pick a region/culture/language example, post up the links to any translations found and discuss away from there. Aomame first!

maybe then the threads could be a resource to look back over foreign language texts (and the links pertaining to) that have expanded our horizons, a vista grande if you will.

i was thinking keep it to chapters or excerpts (picked by current leader and at their discretion) rather than whole books, so not so much time is required and people can still read on and discuss further if interest is high in a particular example.

not sure about details such as where to post it etc ... perhaps Chris could suggest format.

still early days so anyone with improvements suggest away.

We should really find a best selling book from a different country and different language soon. This could be something new for BookTalk.org and any opportunity for us to learn about different cultures is valuable. What country/language?

What we really need is someone to find 5 best selling foreign fiction books that have been translated into English and are readily available on Amazon.com to purchase. If someone can do this I will create a poll so we can all vote. Just make sure you give me a link to where people can read more about the book, such as book descriptions or book reviews, so that I can create the poll properly.

Personally, I'd love to find an Irish or Greek novel but I'm open to whatever you find. Beggars can't be choosers and right now I'm not sure how many foreign language novels have been translated into Engli9sh so we might not have a bunch of choices.

There is definitely something out there - I had a closer look. If you want, I can post links to 5-6 novels here, each from a different country. Greek, Ireland, Spain, Italy are not to difficult to find. Youkrst was also having a look at Mali and given the trouble in Algeria, this might also be an interesting place. I will post some suggestions within the next couple of days.

If somebody has a suggestion, please post it.

Aomame

P.S.: Happy Monday to everybody!

Yes I've been reading a book originally in french but now available in English about a pretty cool Sufi in Mali, i can post up some more about it when I get back from work.

That sounds cool - I am pretty curious about it.

As I said, "What we really need is someone to find 5 best selling foreign fiction books that have been translated into English and are readily available on Amazon.com to purchase. If someone can do this I will create a poll so we can all vote."

Yes, post the links right here.

Here are some ideas:

From Ireland:

Robert Mclaim Wilson: Eureka Street: A Novel of Ireland like not other
Romantic Ireland is definitely dead and gone. With the exhilarating Eureka Street, Robert McLiam Wilson cheerfully and obscenely sends it to its grave. Jake Jackson, his thoughtful anti-hero, finds Belfast's tragedies are built on comedy: Catholics and Protestants so intent on declaring their differences "resembled no one now as much as they resembled each other…. That was what I liked about Belfast hatred. It was a lumbering hatred that could survive completely on the memories of things that never existed in the first place." He spends a certain amount of time worrying about seeming too Catholic and an equal amount worrying about not seeming sufficiently Catholic. Sometimes, after several drinks, Jake forgets that he's not a Protestant. Each position is as dangerous, and absurd, as the other. His best friend is less torn up. Chuckie Lurgan is a chubby Methodist whose only accomplishments so far have been shaking Reagan's hand, appearing in the same photo as the Pope, and having "an intense and troubling relationship with mail-order catalogues."
amazon.com/Eureka-Street-Novel-Ireland- ... eka+street

Bernard Mac Laverty: Cal: A Novel
For Cal, a Belfast teenager who, against his will, is involved in the terrible war between Catholics and Protestants, some of the choices are devastatingly simple: he can work in the slaughterhouse that nauseates him or join the dole queue; he can brood on his past or plan a future with the beautiful, widowed Marcella for whose grief he shares more than a little responsibility.
http://www.amazon.com/Cal-Novel-Bernard-MacLaverty/dp/0393313328/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358809992&sr=1-1&keywords=cal

Sebastian Barry: The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
For Eneas McNulty, a happy, innocent childhood in County Sligo in the early 1900s gives way to an Ireland wracked by violence and conflict. Unable to find work in the depressed times after World War I, Eneas joins the British-led police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary—a decision that alters the course of his life. Branded a traitor by Irish nationalists and pursued by IRA hitmen, Eneas is forced to flee his homeland, his family, and Viv, the woman he loves. His wandering terminates on the Isle of Dogs, a haven for sailors, where a lifetime of loss is redeemed by a final act of generosity. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty is the story of a lost man and a compelling saga that illuminates Ireland's complex history.
http://www.amazon.com/Whereabouts-Eneas-McNulty-Sebastian-Barry/dp/0140280189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358809793&sr=1-1&keywords=the+whereabouts+of+eneas+mcnulty

From Greek:

Panos Karnezis: The Birthday Party
It is the summer of 1975. Marco Timoleon, an Onassis-like tycoon, is nearing the end of his life. When he finds out his troubled daughter is pregnant by a man he doesn't approve of, he throws a birthday party for her on his private island, secretly intending to persuade her to terminate the pregnancy. A doctor stands by to perform the operation on the spot. The story of this fateful party and the lives it affects is a brilliant modern fable, a rags-to-riches tale with no certainty of a happily-ever-after ending.
http://www.amazon.com/Birthday-Party-Panos-Karnezis/dp/009950278X/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358810154&sr=1-13&keywords=panos+karnezis

Alexis Stamatis: Bar Flaubert
A journey full of love, denial and danger, where fiction is not that distant from reality. The answers will be found at Bar Flaubert. One man's quest to discover and understand the driving force behind an aspiring novelist who's written words seem to echo his innermost thoughts. Both a search for identity and an intriguing family saga, this tale follows the journey-filled with love, denial, and danger-undertaken by a young man who tries to discover why a novel by an aspiring writer seems to echo his own innermost thoughts. In Barcelona, Berlin, and Florence, he traces his Greek family's many connections and at last uncovers a mysterious ancestor who links together the strands of his investigation. Readers are taken on a journey where fiction is not that distant from reality.
http://www.amazon.com/Bar-Flaubert-Alexis-Stamatis/dp/1900850575/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358810256&sr=1-1&keywords=bar+flaubert

heres some stuff on that Malian book

i was going to pm it over to you Aomame but thought i would post it up here in case anyone else might like it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Ham ... A9_B%C3%A2

Hampâté Bâ is perhaps best known for his oft-quoted statement: “Every time an old man dies in Africa, it is as if a library has burnt down” (“En Afrique, quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle”).

“Every time an old man dies in Africa, it is as if a library has burnt down”

how different that is to the saying we have around here, "when an old man dies that's one less useless old codger to clog up the supermarket aisle", well we dont actually have that saying but we may as well have sometimes.

So Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ, someone from places few people go.

if you are lucky enough to speak french you can check him out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVQraRcxVY

here is a blurb

http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/autho ... te-Ba.aspx

anyway he wrote a book called

A Spirit of Tolerance The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar

http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Tolerance- ... 1933316470

Review
This easy-to-read book tells the story of Tierno Bokar (1875-1939), a devoted Muslim spiritual teacher who lived and died in what is now Mali. He spent his life teaching others about Islam and God, and yet was brought down by his countrymen's jealousy, tribalism, and deliberate refusal to understand what was really important in a Muslim's life. -- Islamic Horizons, January/February 2008 issue

a book out of Mali =)

note from the preface

This is the first full English translation of the book Vie et enseignement de Tierno Bokar: Le Sage de Bandiagara, which was written by his student, the well-known writer on African life and spirituality, Amadou Hampaté Bâ (c. 1900-1991). It is our hope that the gift given to the French-speaking world by Bâ through this extraordinary story will now be extended to the English-speaking public through the publication of this English translation.

i am about 25% through and am waiting to get to the last section of the book which has heaps of perennial philosophy from a sufi viewpoint.

although i have already picked up lots of enjoyable and confronting stuff by reading about the more cultural stuff, day to day lives, roles of women, etc etc

i immediately noticed the effect Chris spoke of... it's like ooh now they seem much closer, much less "other" far more like who they really are, my fellow humans.

and of course the french are always lurking... maybe i should read a book from france next

they are the imperialists at the time.