February TravelKIT - In Translation

Welcome to the February TravelKIT with the theme of In Translation

When I first thought about this subject, I thought that translated books picked up while traveling would work. Books like:

Tallinn: A Medieval Crossroads by Toomas Vendelin
The mont Saint Michel by Lucien Bely
Rubens house by Carl DePauw
Funny Tales from Daily Life in the Westfjords of Iceland by Gisli Hjartarson

I also thought something like Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 by Thorkild Hansen, which describes the first organized expedition by Europeans to Yemen, would work.

Then I also thought that translated fiction books that take place in other countries and give you a feel for the country could also fit this month's theme. I thought of the Harry Hole novels by Jo Nesbo, Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy, and also I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork. Also I think something like Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino could work - it's ostensibly about Venice.

Please share what you're planning on reading and if you have other interpretations, please share that as well.

Have fun reading!

I have chosen a book that I am not sure why I have never read before as I have known about it for ages - The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guavara.

Dropping a star while I look around and make my selection.

Thanks for posting the thread! Adding a star, thinking about Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex which is something on my TBR list, and definitely a translation that gives one a feel for her life.

I'm going to read The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov (translated by Ross Ufberg) - about Moldovan villagers and their attempts to emigrate to Italy. I can't wait to read it. It also fits the GeoCAT (Europe), and I thought that the emigration theme would be particularly relevant to a Travel challenge.

I'll be reading Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura.

>2 JayneCM: That looks like a great choice - exploring South America on the back of a motorcycle!

>4 LadyoftheLodge: I'm sure the collection from Anne Frank will give a feel for her life in Amsterdam as well.

>5 Jackie_K: What a find for both the GeoCAT and this KIT; I haven't read anything about Moldova or by a Moldovan author.

>6 mstrust: That looks like a great gothic read!

I'm also planning to read Journey to the Alcarria which will fit this TravelKIT, the Europe part of GeoCAT, and the travel theme of the NonfictionCAT. Triple bang with one book!

>6 mstrust: Putting that one on my list!

I wanted travel to be part of the story. I found this one:
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker

>8 thornton37814: and >10 LibraryCin: Those both sound really good!

I just finished a Invisible Cities, which is an option for February; it's a short book by Italo Calvino where, using beautiful imagery, Marco Polo describes different cities to Kublai Khan. Also, it's a 1001 book, for those that are reading from that list.

I finished Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura. It's an engrossing story set in a coastal Japan during the Medieval period, and the struggle of young Isaku and his family, as the village is nearly always on the verge of starvation. The only time they aren't struggling is when the village has lured a merchant ship to crash into the rocks so they can kill the crew and take their cargo.

>13 mstrust: I just picked this one up from the library too. It sounded really interesting as I am assuming that the premise is based in fact.

>13 mstrust: Sounds interesting.

>13 mstrust: Wow - that sounds really interesting and a BB for me!

>14 JayneCM: >15 thornton37814: >16 LisaMorr: I hope you all can get a copy as it's a very interesting story. I'll look for more from the author.
>14 JayneCM: I'm sorry, I really have no idea if it's based on fact.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats / Jan-Philipp Sendker
2 stars

Julia’s father disappeared, so she heads to Burma to find him. When there, she meets someone who tells her a tale of her father and another woman, a women who was not her mother.

Summed up in one word: boring. I have no idea what prompted me to add this to my tbr! Even just before starting, I looked at the title, and wondered about that – based on the title, it did not sound like something that I would like... and I was right. It actually started a bit creepy, I thought, what the man (who ultimately told the story) said to Julia. It might have been more entertaining for me had it stayed creepy! The end was super-unrealistic and eye-rolling.

March thread is up!
https://www.librarything.com/topic/316826

Oh dear, oh dear, I haven't even started my February book yet!

>20 MissWatson: Neither have I, although it's at the top of the pile for when I've finished the two books I'm closest to finishing! I'm getting a bit behind after last month's reading slump, it's taking a while to catch up.

I read The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, translated from the Italian. I am not sure how well it fits this category but at least it is 'in translation'.

>20 MissWatson: >21 Jackie_K: Me neither! It is in the pile bt I don't think I will get all the February KITs and CATs done.

I have a couple of other books in translation: Le Pere Goriot by Balzac and Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen, both translated from French.

I read And the Wind Sees All by Guðmundur Andri Thorsson, translation by Andrew Cauthery and Björg Árnadóttir - Iceland and Out Stealing Horses by Per Peterson, translated by Anne Borne - Norway.

>1 LisaMorr: I have finished the German translation of Thorkild Hansen's book about the Danish expedition to the Yemen, Reise nach Arabien, and can heartily recommend it. Only one of the men came back, most of the botanical and zoological specimens were lost and the scientific findings published piecemeal or not at all, but it is an amazing story well told.

edited for touchstone

>26 MissWatson: I'm so glad you got to read that! I have the NYRB copy on my table, and will need to get to it sooner rather than later.

Hm. I was going to read The Murmur of Bees for this, but I won't get to it by tomorrow... fortunately it fits in the KITastrophe March for epidemics.

Sorry I haven't been here much - got my right knee replaced on Feb 11 and while I thought I would have lots of time to read, I have been exhausted most of the time from rehab and drugs making me tired.

I did manage to finish two small books for this month and they reminded of some lovely trips I took.

First was The Mont Saint Michel is a slim volume with lots of beautiful pictures of Mont Saint Michel along with its history. I really enjoyed learning more about the architecture and the history of this beautiful abbey situated on a 170 meter block of granite in Normandy, France, which I hardly remember from when I visited it in 1977.

Then I read Tallinn: A Medieval Crossroads, which I visited in 2012. A really interesting short history of the city; I remembered a lot more from this visit of course, and I recognized a lot of places that I saw on that trip.

>29 LisaMorr: Funny, Mont Saint Michel is one of the places I remember best from my first trip in Europe in 1982 (well, the first trip I can remember - my parents took me abroad when I was 3 but that doesn't count!). That and Castle Neuschwanstein...

>30 leslie.98: I probably wrote that wrong - I definitely remember my visit to Mont Saint Michel, but I totally forgot its history!

Neuschwanstein Castle is so beautiful in pictures and is definitely a place I want to visit someday!

>31 LisaMorr: Oh, that makes much more sense! What I remember is the look of the place (and the restaurant we ate at), not the history. Neuschwantein is worth a visit - the Disney castle come to life. I do remember some of its history - not too surprising as it was built at the personal expense of Ludwig II who was deposed because he was thought to be insane!

What I remember about Mont St Michel (we camped at a nearby campsite a couple of times on our way to holidays further south) was that you could always see it on the horizon, and it didn't seem to matter how far you walked towards it, it always seemed to look the same size on the horizon until you were really close, and then suddenly it was looming massive above you! It's a magical place, I'd love to go back and see it again.

>32 leslie.98: That's right, mad King Ludwig!
>33 Jackie_K: That's a great description - I felt that way too.

>27 LisaMorr: I looked up Carsten Niebuhr in the State Library of Schleswig-Holstein catalogue, and it seems that on the occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the expedition some of the papers were republished. There's also a bibliophile edition of Niebuhr's diaries with all the illustrations which I hope to borrow.

>35 MissWatson: That's really neat; I look forward to seeing what you think of the diaries.

Better late than never (I just took on too many challenges the past couple of months), I've just finished Vladimir Lorchenkov's The Good Life Elsewhere and highly recommend it.

>37 Jackie_K: Yay!

>37 Jackie_K: I have heard that this is great - it is on my TBR.

>39 JayneCM: Yes, I really enjoyed it. I think 'tragicomic' is probably the best word to describe it.