January SeriesCAT

Series in Translation

This month we're reading books that were translated from another language. All the suggestions below are books that have been translated into English but, because we're an international group, the number of possible permutations and combinations is enormous.

Literary Fiction

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust French

The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil German (Austria)

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz Arabic (Egypt)

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset Swedish

Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano Spanish (Uruguay)

The Rougon-Macquart series by Emile Zola French
The Fortune of the Rougons

The Alberta trilogy by Cora Sandel Norwegian
Alberta and Jacob

The Danny Smiricky series by Josef Skvorecky Czech
The Swell Season, The Cowards, The Republic of Whores, The Miracle Game, The Engineer of Human Souls

The Wartesaal trilogy and the Josephus trilogy, by Lion Feuchtwanger German (Jewish)
Success: Three Years in the Life of a Province, The Oppermans, Paris Gazette

The Transylvanian trilogy by Miklos Banffy Hungarian

The D'Artagnan Romances by Alexander Dumas French
The Three Musketeers

Extraordinary Voyages by Jules Verne French

Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante Italian
My Brilliant Friend

My Struggle series by Karl Ove Knausgaard Norwegian

The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
The Shadow of the Wind

The Deer and the Cauldron series by Louis Cha Chinese (Historical fiction)

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino Japanese (one of a multilingual publisher's series, The Canongate Myths)

The Interpreter by Diego Marani Italian (the third in a loose trilogy of novels about language and culture)

Graphic Novels

The Adventures of Asterix by Rene Goscinny French
Asterix

Tintin by Herge French

Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara Japanese
Aincrad

Crime

The Lieutenant Boruvka series by Josef Skvorecky Czech

The Maigret series by Georges Simenon French

Chief Inspector Adamsberg series by Fred Vargas French
The Chalk Circle Man

Marseille Trilogy by Jean-Claude Izzo French
Total Chaos

Nestor Burma series by Leo Malet
The Bloody Streets of Paris

Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri Italian

Inspector Bordelli series by Marco Vichi - Italian

Inspector Lojacono by Maurizio De Giovanni - Italian

Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin Russian

Kyoichiro Kaga series by Keigo Higashino Japanese
The Devotion of Suspect X

Grijpstra and de Gier series by Janwillem van de Wetering Dutch

Martin Beck series by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo Swedish

Intercrime series by Arne Dahl Swedish
Misterioso

Wallander series by Henning Mankell Swedish

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson Swedish

Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen Danish
The Keeper of Lost Causes

Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo Norwegian

Henning Juul series by Thomas Enger Norwegian

Detective Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason Icelandic

Thóra Guðmundsdóttir series by Yrsa Sigurardottir Icelandic

Mario Conde series by Leonardo Padura - Spanish (Cuban)

Teodor Szacki series by Zygmunt Miłoszewski - Polish

Eberhard Mock series by Marek Krajewski - Polish

Sergeant Studer series by Friedrich Glauser German (Swiss)
Thumbprint

The Hangman's Daughter series by Oliver Potzsch German

von Bodenstein und Kirchhoff series by Nele Neuhaus German
Snow White Must Die

Turkish Delight Mysteries by Mehmet Murat Somer Turkish

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Remembrance of the Earth's Past series by Liu Cixin Chinese
The Three-Body Problem

The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel French

Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski Polish
The Last Wish

Tyranael series by Elisabeth Vonarburg French (Canadian)
Dreams of the Sea

Children's/YA

Vango series by Timothee de Fombelle French
A Prince without a Kingdom

Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke

This is quite a euro-centric collection. Lots of French and Scandinavian. Keeping an eye out for series from the rest of the world.

My possibilities here are:

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino (Japanese), though the series is a multilingual publisher's series, The Canongate Myths, rather than an author's series;
The Interpreter by Diego Marani (Italian), the third in a loose trilogy of novels about language and culture; and
The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas (French)

I kept meaning to read an Inspector Montalbano book in 2018 and never quite got around to it so I am hoping to read Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri which has been translated from Italian.

I've had the first book in the Inspector Chen series, When Red is Black (by Qiu Xiaolong) on hand for awhile now, and even started it (maybe a year ago?!) Time to start over and dig in!

I can recommend The Cardinal's Blades for lovers of Dumas senior, it's like the three musketeers with dragons.
For my own reading, I hope to make time for Death's End.

I've decided to start with The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen which I took as a BB way back in 2013.

I am thinking of reading The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. Which would fit under Science Fiction and Asian. I believe this is the first book in a series. Yes it is Rememberance of Earth’s Past series.

>8 dudes22: I love that series.

I'll be reading The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

I may read The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin for this challenge.

I'll probably read A Prince without a Kingdom by Timothee de Fombelle.

I am planning to start with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This has been on my TBR pile for awhile.

So many interesting choices. Might finally read a Qiu Xiaolong.

I'm going to get back to the Martin Beck series with The Locked Room.

>15 rabbitprincess: That’s where I am in the Martin Beck series too. I’ll have to check my library.

I know exactly which series I want!

I've already read (and really liked, so would recommend): Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus.

I'm going to see if my library has one of the other ones that has been translated into English, so my options there are:
I Am Your Judge
The Ice Queen
Bad Wolf

Oooh, my library has them all, with the added bonus of "Bad Wolf" on audio. I'm tempted to go for the audio (though I'm sure I'll eventually read the others, as well).

My TBR pile has some other crime series:

Sergeant Studer series by Friedrich Glauser - German (Swiss)

Mario Conde series by Leonardo Padura - Spanish (Cuban)

Teodor Szacki series by Zygmunt Miłoszewski - Polish

Eberhard Mock series by Marek Krajewski - Polish

Inspector Bordelli series by Marco Vichi - Italian

Inspector Lojacono by Maurizio De Giovanni - Italian

I have some other options as well--still not sure what my choice will be!!

Hmm...I have Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, first in the Neapolitan quartet, on my shelves, but I'm not really feeling it at the moment. I also still have half of Kristin Lavransdatter to read, so I may try to make some headway there instead!

I've been meaning to read Shadow of the Wind for ages now, so that's my first priority. If time permits, I might also move on to Seeing, the sequel to Jose Saramago's Blindness (I adore his work, but have been saving that one...), or to an Inspector Chen mystery since I also love those. I have no doubt that this thread is going to provide some book bullets, though--I've already jotted down the fantasy/sci-fi books mentioned above!

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out for everyone :) Thanks for such a complete intro, >1 pamelad:!

I've had the Witcher series and the Inspector Chen series on my radar for a while now. The Inspector Chen series appears to have been originally writen in English though, so that won't count as a translation for me since I'll be reading them in English. My library has a copy of The Last Wish, so hopefully I can get to that one.

I also have a ton of international mystery series I've been working on, so I'm sure I will have plenty of other options if I need them. Top of the list would be the next in Oliver Potzsch's Hangman's Daughter series which takes place in 17th century Germany.

>21 staci426: Saw the Chinese name and just assumed Qiu Xiaolong was a translated writer. Thank you. I'll delete him.

I've put in ILL requests for Thumbprint and Heretics. Thanks >18 NinieB:

Also considering The Oppermans. And The Three-body Problem. In fact, I'm considering more books than I can possibly read in a month!

Thanks >20 whitewavedarling:!

Thanks for this great list! I am leaning towards the Maigret crime series )several on my Kindle), also Tintin graphic novel, which I have on my shelf.

>21 staci426: Since the Inspector Chen series is now out of contention, I'm grabbing another SOHO press title from my shelves to replace it, Detective Inspector Huss (by Helene Tursten.) And I checked! It's translated from the original Swedish by Steven T. Murray :-)

>21 staci426: Oh, I hadn't thought of Oliver Potzsch. That would have been a good one if I hadn't been able to get my hands on Nele Neuhaus!

>21 staci426:. I have an Oliver Potzsch to get to as well.

>22 pamelad: I had assumed so as well, but when I was looking at the books on Amazon, noticed there was no translator listed. Hopefully I'll get to the series in another month.

>26 LibraryCin: The Nele Neuhaus series is a good one. I've read and enjoyed three of them so far.

>26 LibraryCin: >27 Kristelh: The Hangman's Daughter is one of my favorite series. I'm up to number 7 which looks like the last one. Not sure if he plans to do more.

>23 pamelad: If you end up reading Thumbprint, I will as well!

I decided on the first book in the Department Q series, The Keeper of Lost Causes. I was intrigued by the description.

>28 staci426: Oh, I think #7 is my next one, as well! I didn't realize that was (potentially) the last one!

>28 staci426: and >31 LibraryCin:. I think I am only at number 2 and did not realize there are so many in this series. I am sure I should get to #2 next year either with series or TBR or ROOt or something.

>29 NinieB: I hope it gets here in January. ILLs can arrive in a couple of days, a few months, or never!

I have been planning to re-read Kristin Lavransdatter for ages now, so that is my choice for this one!

I'm going to read Blind Goddess: Hanne Wilhelmsen Book One
by Anne Holt (Author), Tom Geddes (Translator)

I'm planning on reading I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork, translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund, the first book in the Munch & Kruger series.

I am a bit behind in my Inspector Montalbano books (the ones that have been translated into English), so I will try and catch up with that series in January.

I am planning on Maigret. I like crime fiction, and have not read any of these yet.

>29 NinieB: Thumbprint is already here, so I'm right to start. From the brief author blurb Friedrich Glauser led a wild life. I'd like to know more. Very much looking forward to starting this book.

Adding this series to the the second post.

Another crime series in translation is Mehmet Murat Somer's Turkish Delight Mysteries, which is set in Istanbul and originally published in Turkish. The first in the series is The Prophet Murders; I'll be reading the the third, The Gigolo Murder.

I wouldn't say that this is a fabulous series, but I fascinated by the setting and the fact that the characters and mysteries are firmly entrenched in Istanbul's LBGTQ community makes it very different from other mysteries I read. Most of the books in the series were written 15 or more years ago, which leads me to wonder how different these novels would be in the current political situation in Turkey....

>40 Dejah_Thoris: They look intriguing. I've wishlisted the first one.

>39 pamelad: That's great! I am on vacation, so my copy of Thumbprint is not where I am, but I will dig it out next week!

When The Death of Achilles by Akunin arrives I will be reading it.

>43 hailelib: - I'll be reading that one shortly. It'll be fun to compare notes!

I’m halfway through Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and I picked up The Locked Room from the library. That gives me Italian and Swedish.

I am reading The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg for a group read.

I'm hoping to get to the first Inspector Montalbano book: The Shape of Water. Just what I need....another series!

My copy of Kristin Lavransdatter just arrived in the mail! I went to borrow it from the library and they have culled it from the shelves. Sometimes it makes me sad that they have to cull the great literature to make room for the newer stuff, some of which you know will be no longer popular in six months. Oh well, I have scored some great finds in the culled books sales over the years!

>48 JayneCM: Loved Kristin Lavransdatter; a wonderful saga which I read in my twenties (some 40 years ago), on recommendation from my mother, who had read it in the 1940s.

>49 kac522: It must have been twenty years ago that I first read it and I LOVED it! Looking forward to reading it again at a different time in my life.

I have finished Die Eisprinzessin schläft by Camilla Läckberg on audio, borrowed from my sister's library. It seems it was edited, but I still found it too long. I don't think I'll bother with the rest of the series.

>40 Dejah_Thoris: I'm also intrigued by this series (and also by what's happening in Turkey right now), BB taken.

>41 Robertgreaves: >52 LisaMorr: I've finished The Gigolo Murder and when I get around to it (tomorrow? Sunday?) I'll write a short review and post it. If you give the series a try, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I have finished The Fourth Secret, a novella in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series. This was a good story to read as a refresher before I dive back in to the series midstream as most of the regulars put in an appearance here.

I've finished Friedrich Glauser's Thumbprint, and liked it so much that I'm about to start the next book in the series, In Matto's Realm. Thank you, NinieB. A fortunate discovery.

It turned out that I had already read the first in the series, so I read Blessed Are Those Who Thirst by Anne Holt. It was translated from the Norwegian by Anne Bruce.

I have had the sequels to Inkspell by Cornelia Funke in my tbr pile for AGES, so I will at least read Inkdeath for this challenge.

>57 ronincats: I love all these books!

>55 pamelad: Wow, that's great, pamelad! I am looking forward to reading it later this month!

I found this thread through a post by Roni, in the 75 books Challenge group. I'm doing a reading around the world challenge, slowly, certainly not in 80 days. This thread is a wonderful resource! I'm going to save it, so thanks very much.

So many choices here, I have to think about what I will be reading.

Die siebte Leiche caught my eye in the window of my charity bookshop because of the author's name, Vlastimil Vondruška. He's Czech and apparently a very popular and prolific writer in his home country. This is a historical mystery, set in the times of king Ottokar II, and one in a series about a royal procurator who gets to travel a lot. This time he and his squire get lost in a snowstorm and find refuge in a castle where during the feast of St. Barbara several people have been killed in the years before. Our hero solves the case in less than two days...
The plot is not entirely convincing, the language and the attitudes a little too modern, but the novelty factor of the unusual setting makes up for it. I'll probably pick up the next book if I run into it.

I started The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and translated by Ken Liu yesterday. I am listening to the audio, narrated by Luke Daniels and I am really enjoying it.

The Gigolo Murder is the third of Mehmet Murat Somer’s Turkish Delight Mysteries, and as I did about the other two, I have somewhat mixed feelings. I’m fascinated by the setting - Istanbul - and the fact that these novels were originally written and published in Turkish. That these mysteries are firmly rooted in the LGBTQ community also gives them an unusual piquancy. Nevertheless, it doesn’t always make for the most comfortable reading.

I don’t always like the unnamed hero/heroine of The Gigolo Murder, who is a computer security expert / hacker by day (so to speak) and a nightclub owner by night. Sometimes, his actions are mystifying to me. There is sex that takes place off page, but there are some very frank discussions throughout. There is one scene that the amateur detective walks into in his own apartment that cracked me up and still sets me to chortling, but would probably offend a number of readers.

I haven’t been in a hurry to read these - one a year is about my pace. I’ll read the fourth book in the series, The Serenity Murders (I believe there are seven, but only four available in English), eventually.

Continuing my binge read through Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano books, I have finished A Voice in the Night. Not the best story in the series but it kind of helps to know that the story was written a number of years before it was published, something Camilleri refers to in his Author's Note as the "secret alchemy of publisher's schedules". :-)

>64 lkernagh: I read a Camilleri book too!

Rounding the mark by Andrea Camilleri

In this story Montalbano deals with a problem of human smuggling and asylum-seekers. It is an interesting look at the issue from an Italian perspective. I enjoyed this installment of the series where Montalbano comes across as more compassionate However, I still wonder what keeps he and Livia in a relationship.

Finished a second Friedrich Glauser, In Matto's Realm.

I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Council of Twelve by Oliver Potzsch, translated from the German. I've also just started Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis, book 3 in the Nina Borg series translated from the Danish.

Finished The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin a mystery series translated from Russian to English.

I'm reading Total Chaos, the first book in the trilogy by French author Jean-Claude Izzo. It's translated from French to English by Howard Curtis.

>69 Crazymamie: A new series! Adding it.

Also adding Leo Malet's Nestor Burma series.

>57 ronincats: Added the Inkheart trilogy too.

>60 EllaTim: You might find some more good suggestions in the Reading Globally group, and the Endless European Challenge. The second is more moribund than eternal, but I still have quite a few books lined up for small European Countries.

The Europe Endless Challenge

Reading Globally

I think I will read The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem (Polish), translated by Michael Kandel, and maybe some of the others if I like it well enough. It is a volume of short stories about the character Ijon Tichy, and there are several more books about that character; LibraryThing calls it a series. About Lem, Wikipedia says that "translating his works is difficult due to passages with elaborate word formation, idiomatic wordplay, alien or robotic poetry, and puns." Michael Kandel does it very well for Cyberiad and Mortal Engines!

>63 Dejah_Thoris: I read The Gigolo Murder some time ago and remember enjoying it quite a bit, although not enough to immediately go and buy all of the others. Now you have reminded me, maybe I will do that...

>72 amaranthe:, I've read some of the Star Diaries and they are a lot of fun.

Finished The Three-body Problem by Cixin Liu, Translated by Ken Liu.

Finished Maigret's Christmas, which I read on the cruise ship (vacation from hell, unfortunately) during a 15 day trip.

I did a reread of Flight 714 to Sydney, from the Adventures of Tintin series by Hergé. This was one of my favourite series when I was a child and my own children enjoyed the books too.

>76 LadyoftheLodge: Oh no! What went wrong?!

I have completed Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri and found it to be another enjoyable mystery with an excellent translation being provided by Stephen Sartarelli.

>79 DeltaQueen50: Sartarelli really makes these books. I love his notes at the end of the book.

This has been up for a few days now, but I guess I forgot to advertise it!! (Sorry about that!)

Feb SeriesCAT: http://www.librarything.com/topic/302430

>80 raidergirl3: A good translater can really make the difference in books written in other languages. Sartarelli's is seamless.

Finished the second in the Hangman's Daughter series, The Dark Monk by Oliver Pötzsch. This is a fun mystery but what I like best is the author's end notes. German literature, translated by Lee Chadeayne

I read Thumbprint this afternoon. It offers a complex plot, an interesting Swiss sergeant and setting, and for Simenon/Maigret fans it will be manna from heaven. It's not really my type of mystery but I enjoyed nonetheless. 3.5*

Thanks to this CAT, I stuck with a YA Fantasy that got off to a slow start. A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos; Translated from the French by Hildegarde Serle.

Binge read my way through two more Inspector Montabano books: A Nest of Vipers and The Pyramid of Mud. Now I can count myself all caught up with the current English translations in the series!

COMPLETED The Ghost Riders of Ordebec (original French title L'armée furieuse) by Fred Vargas

Starting the next in the series A Climate of Fear (original French title Temps glaciaires)

Completed I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork, pen name of Frode Sander Øien - translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund. Excellent Norwegian Noir! There are two more books so far, but I don't think I can get them in the US yet.

>78 JayneCM: Very rough weather, for one thing, and our cruise ship had to divert from Colombia, so we missed our first stop. Lots of seasickness on that ship, plus our stateroom was really close to forward, so we felt all the movement! That was just the beginning. I know the captain cannot control the weather, but there were other things too, involving air travel, plus everything on the ship was way more pricey than we are used to--forget this ultra-luxury stuff!

Just finished Carney's House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace, which is really for BingoDog but will fit for February SeriesCAT too.

>89 LadyoftheLodge: Oh no! :-( I love cruises. I hope it wasn't your first? I'm sorry things went so wrong.

This was not my first, but we usually go with a different cruise line--to which we will return!

Finished The Shape of Water, the first Inspector Montalbano, which seems to be popular choice for a translated series here. I did appreciate the endnotes by the translator.

>92 LadyoftheLodge: Ah, good! Curious, what is your preferred cruise line? I'm a Celebrity girl, myself, though RCCL is almost the same for me! The only other line I've done is NCL, but they are not my favourite for travelling solo, with their freestyle dining. I like traditional, so I can sit with the same people every night and get to know them better.

We usually go with HollandAmerica. Some people think it is a cruise line for seniors, but we like it. There is enough to do to fit our likes, and we get to pick our method of dining. There are not many kids on HollandAmerica, although they have a kiddy program. We like the prices too. (The "cruise from hell" was with Oceania, which is part of NCL--we should have known better, since we had bad luck on the other NCL cruise we took in Hawaii.)

>95 LadyoftheLodge: I've not tried Holland America, but I've heard good things from another friend of mine, as well. Celebrity, similarly, does not tend to have many kids, either. I didn't realize NCL owned Oceania! Good to know. :-)

Could we move the cruise discussion to a personal thread so we can keep this one about books?

>97 pamelad: Sorry, yes.

Bad Wolf / Nele Neuhaus
4 stars

When a dead girl is found floating in a river, detective Pia ends up on a case with far-reaching consequences. And multiple cases that match up, including a popular tv celebrity who has taken on a new topic for her sometimes-controversial show, but it’s not a topic she is sharing with anyone until she gets everything lined up. Unfortunately for her, someone knows what she’s looking into and she is in danger, as well.

Another really good book in this series. I do wish all the books were translated into English and it would have been nice to read them in order. But, that’s not the case. They are pretty much standalones, with the police the connecting thread between the books, including their personal lives. Previous cases are mentioned, but really just in passing. The book is divided into days and there are snippets from different characters’ points of view during each day, so there are a lot of characters to follow, which can get a bit confusing, but overall, it wasn’t too bad for following and the story was certainly enough for me to really enjoy it.

>97 pamelad: Sorry, we just get involved with fun discussions with our book friends.

COMPLETED A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas (Adamsberg 8 from the French Temps glaciaires)

>100 LadyoftheLodge:

And I am all for more fun discussions. I was enjoying it and learning about what not to do.

Thanks for your encouragement! I feel as if I have many friends here at LT, probably more than in "real life."

I have completed The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem, translated from the Polish by Michael Kandel. It is a satirical mixture of ridiculous stories about traveling in space and time, and lengthy philosophical discourses (usually delivered by robots or citizens of other planets). 4.5*, it is very good but I like his stories with all robots better.

>100 LadyoftheLodge:, >102 Kristelh: No offence meant.

>105 pamelad: I get it. Some people like those conversations, but not everyone wants to be a part of it. (Especially on a thread not meant for random conversations.) Sometimes those little comments just end up taking on a life of their own, and the conversation grows!

>106 LibraryCin: Thank you!

...We could have a thread for off-topic conversations (or to continue off-topic conversations)...

>108 LisaMorr: Personally, I think it a nice idea! It's a nice way to get to know more people, I think.

We need a thread for this one! An off-topic thread about off-topic conversations. I'll start it.

Here it is: https://www.librarything.com/topic/302928

>110 pamelad: Cool, thanks!

Just like >101 Robertgreaves:, I've had a very enjoyable return to the work of Fred Vargas with The Ghost Riders of Ordebec.

Off to pick up Havana Blue from the library. First book in the Mario Conde series.

I have read another series book in translation, Death in the Blue Lake by André Bjerke. Bjerke was a Norwegian poet whowrote 4 mysteries in the 1940s; this one is the only one translated into English.

Death in the Blue Lake is a great mystery story. I haven't made up my mind how I feel about the solution, but it is a virtuoso performance. Four stars.

I finished up The Millennium Trilogy with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest translated from Swedish. Loved the whole trilogy.

I meant to finish off the Inkheart sequels by Cornelia Funke, translated from the German, but instead I read the second of her Dragon Rider series, The Griffin's Feather.

I finished the fourth book inThe Erasht Fandorin series , The Death of Achilles, translated from the Russian.

I've finished The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen which was translated by Lisa Howard from Danish.

I am hoping to finish up one more, My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.

Finished one more translation for this month: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino, book 2 in the Detective Galileo series originally written in Japanese.

>119 Kristelh: I just finished it. I was liking it so much I made sure to buy book 2 after work so I could keep going.

I did finish My Brilliant Friend. I enjoyed this series month.

>122 Kristelh: Glad you enjoyed it. I have too, and have found many books to add to my wishlist.

As January ended, I JUST managed to finish The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. And, I LOVED it. I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading it. I'd honestly recommend it to any lover of reading. 1>, thank you for hosting this month. Although I didn't have many choices in my tbr for what to read to make it work for me, I'm so thankful it pushed me to finally get around to reading this book! And now I get to look forward to the rest of the series :)