victoria cribb – Three Percent

Four Books for Women in Translation Month

Chad Post — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 12:20:57 +0000

Given that the posts over the past week plus have been very heavy on Open Letter and Dalkey Archive titles (*cough* and or exclusively about OL and DAP titles *cough*),, I thought I’d take a minute to point out a handful of Women in Translation books that I recently found out about and am adding to my “to read” pile.

��by Lucie Rico, translated from the French by Daria Chernysheva (World Editions)

Upon her mother’s death, Paule Rojas, a vegetarian city-dweller, returns to the chicken farm where she grew up. Pressured to fulfil her mother’s last request, Paule rediscovers pleasure and meaning in running the old family business. Yet, eager to bring something of herself to a family tradition, Paule embarks on increasingly intricate ways of helping the chickens to self-actualize before their deaths. She records the chickens’ life stories, adding them to the labels that decorate the vacuum-packed meat sent off to market—an individual biography for every chicken. But not all runs smooth in her childhood village; Paule finds she has few friends and many enemies. She is forced to spread her wings, relocate her livestock, and oversee the construction of an urban farm of never-before-seen practices and proportions.

This was mentioned during out Consortium Book Sales & Distribution pre-sales conference call, in which one of the CBSD team members said that it would make a good comp title for��River��by Laura Vinogradova, which Kaija Straumanis is translating from the Latvian for us. (Spoiler: An excerpt will appear here tomorrow.) I’m not sure how much chicken slaughter or death talk I’m really there for these days, but stories of a woman making her own way (or struggling to do so), like in River, Wolfskin��by Lara Moreno,��Un Amor��by Sara Mesa—these books are right in my wheelhouse right now.

by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Orenda Books)

“The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Aging carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’s the boyfriend of Petra’s aunt, but he’s struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks . . . Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters . . . perhaps too close . . .

As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark.

But is the real danger inside . . . within the family itself?

Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæberg family are uncovered . . . and the shocking truth revealed.

Succession��meets��And Then There Were None . . . A Golden Age mystery for the 21st Century, with a shocking twist.”

Couple, few things: 1) Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s series (of which this is book number four) is “Forbidden Iceland,” which is pretty sexy; 2) I’ve added a ton��of Orenda Books to the database recently, so check them out if you’re looking for really interesting international crime fiction; 3) before helping lead a trip of Ģ��ý alums through Iceland, I read approximately 1,000 Icelandic books, from Laxness to��Njall’s Saga.��And, more relevant to this, a number of Icelandic mysteries and thrillers.

My absolute favorite so far has been Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, whose Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series I’ve been enjoying. Especially on audiobook. And especially, especially because I listen at 1.2x speed, which makes everyone’s accent sound both whimsically sing-song, and sort of British?

Anyway, based on how much I’ve enjoyed her books (and the Ragnar Jónasson books from Orenda), I’m willing to read any Icelandic mysteries Orenda puts forth. I don’t know why this is called the “Forbidden Iceland” series, but I like that it’s set in a reasonably small Icelandic town (Arkanes, pop. 8,000), which is a feature of Icelandic crime that I love, with the small number of characters lending itself to Agatha Christie-type mysteries.��

by Catherine Leroux, translated from the French by Susan Ouriou (Biblioasis)

In an alternate history of Detroit, the Motor City was never surrendered to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism—and strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbours take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance.

When a strange intuition sends Gloria into the woods of Parc Rouge, where the city’s orphaned and abandoned children are rumored to have created their own society, she can’t imagine the strength she will find. A richly imagined story of community and a plea for persistence in the face of our uncertain future,��The Future��is a lyrical testament to the power we hold to protect the people and places we love—together.

The wonderful Dan Wells sent me a galley of��The Future��and this immediately moved to the top of my “read for fun” list. Detroit! Alternate history! Let’s do this!

by Liliana Colanzi, translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews (New Directions)

“The seven stories of You Glow in the Dark��unfold in a Latin America wrecked and poisoned by human greed, and yet Colanzi’s writing—at once sleek and dense, otherworldly and intensely specific—casts an eerily bright spell over the wreckage. Some stories seem to be set in a near future; all are superbly executed and yet hard to pin down; they often leave the reader wondering: Was that realistic or fantastic? Colanzi draws power from Andean cyberpunk just as much as from classic horror writers, and this daring is matched by her energizing simultaneous use of multiplicity and fragmentation—the book’s stylistic trademarks. Freely mixing worlds, she uses the Bolivian altiplano as the backdrop for an urban dystopia and blends Aymara with Spanish. Colanzi never gets bogged down; she can be brutal and direct or light-handed and subtle. Her materials are dark, but always there’s the lift of her vivid sense of humor.��You Glow in the Dark seizes the reader’s attention (from the title on) and holds it: this is a book that announces the arrival of a major new talent.”

This is on here both because I am intrigued in reading it (Bolivia has some killer writers in translation), but also because I read Colanzi’s debut,��Our Dead World, for a forthcoming “Reading the Dalkey Archive” post, right before I saw an announcement for this collection. (In fact, I was going to post a piece about her this week, but I’ve been wicked sick and am all wrapped up in writing about a��different��Dalkey title . . .)

I’m not a huge short story reader or admirer, but I’m going to try and read more collections in the future. Little bits of bite-size fun amid the gigantic, epic books that I seem to always be editing or proofing. (Although, and the full list will be available soon, the Summer 2024 Open Letter list consists of all books under 200 pages. BUCKING OUR OWN TREND.)

TMR 8.11: CoDex 1962 (Pages 451-517)

Chad Post — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 12:30:16 +0000

We did it! Chad and Rachel Cardasco (with an assist from Tom Flynn of Volumes) talk about the last sections of ��ó��’s��CoDex 1962.��It’s been quite the season and they bring it home in old school TMR style with a lot of��Twin Peaks��talk, many many digressions, acknowledging motifs and ideas that may or may not actually be in the text, and having a lot of fun. This is the most sci-fi section of the novel, which makes it a lot of fun. (THE ROBOTS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO TAKE OVER.)

Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature . Get your copy now!

And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included:

Follow and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And foll0w on Twitter and at

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.09: CoDex 1962 (Pages 344-406)

Chad Post — Thu, 27 Jun 2019 12:30:39 +0000

We’re into the homestretch! Today episode, featuring special guest Katie Whittemore, kicks off the discussion of the third and final volume of ��ó��’s��CoDex 1962, “I’m a Sleeping Door: A Science-Fiction Story.” More origin myths in this volume, ranging from the epic and literary, to the mundane and realistic. A woman gives birth to a daughter made up of sperm from four men, and we get to see the fate of all four thousand Icelandic children born during 1962, many of whom have mutated. We find out who’s been talking to whom and (kind of) why. And we find out about a mysterious geneticist. All of these threads are interwoven in a detailed, intricate way that Brian, Katie, and Chad unwind in a fun, intelligent ways.

The next episode will focus on the first eight chapters of this third volume (pages 345-406). The complete schedule can be found here.

Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature . Get your copy now!

And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included:

Follow and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And you can read some of Katie Whittemore’s translations and .

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.08: CoDex 1962 (Pages 303-343)

Chad Post — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 12:30:19 +0000

This week, Tobias Carroll joined Chad and Brian to talk about werewolves, puns that don’t exactly work in translation, evil baseball card shop owners, weird Masonic rituals, , and Fred Durst and John Travolta’s .��They also have a lot of praise for ��ó�� and the wild, fun nature of the second volume in��CoDex 1962, and set up volume three: “I’m a Sleeping Door: A Science-Fiction Story.”

The next episode will focus on the first eight chapters of this third volume (pages 345-406). The complete schedule can be found here.

Announcements! Season 9 of the Two Month Review will kick off at the end of July and will feature��. Get your copy now!

And Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included:

Follow and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests. And follow Tobias Carroll for information about all his writing, including his story in the forthcoming anthology.

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.06: CoDex 1962 (Pages 199-256)

Chad Post — Thu, 30 May 2019 13:32:34 +0000

Chad and Brian break down the next few chapters of “Iceland’s Thousand Years” by ��ó��, which really set the plot in motion. They also talk about water, what it means to be an Icelander, how “bacon-eater” is an insult, Danes in general, myth-making, and much more.

The next episode will focus on pages 257-302 (all in the second volume of the trilogy, “Iceland’s Thousand Years”). The complete schedule can be found here.

Follow and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder so that you’re prepared for a future TMR.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.05: CoDex 1962 (Pages 156-198)

Chad Post — Thu, 23 May 2019 12:00:30 +0000

Even without an expert to guide them, Chad and Brian dissect the end of the first volume of CoDex 1962, talking golems and tenderness, speculating about the film behind the narrator’s eyes, evaluating origin myths (and their apocalyptic counterparts), and praising the overall narrative structure of “Thine Eyes Did See My Substance” and how the writing itself ramps up as the volume comes to an end. Plus, they compare chapter one from the first two volumes and find some great parallels.

The next episode will focus on pages 199-256 (all in the second volume of the trilogy, “Iceland’s Thousand Years”). The complete schedule can be found here.

Follow and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder�� so that you’re prepared for a future TMR.

And be sure to check out next month for an excerpt from Kári’s novel.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.04: CoDex 1962 (Pages 110-155)

Chad Post — Thu, 16 May 2019 15:17:40 +0000

Kári Tulinius joins Chad and Brian this week and provides some incredibly valuable insight into the translation itself, connections to Iceland and to other writings, and much much more. This is one of the most difficult parts of the book to read, given the horrific actions of one of the characters, but also points toward some of the major themes in the trilogy.�� And Brian’s hatred of the name “Karl” turns out to be really justified . . .

As always, you can watch these episodes live on our the day before they’re released in podcast form.

The next episode will focus on pages 156-197 (the end of “Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story” and the first chapter of “Iceland’s Thousand Years”). The complete schedule can be found here.

Follow , and for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder�� so that you’re prepared for a future TMR.

And be sure to check out next month for an excerpt from Kári’s novel.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.03: CoDex 1962 (Pages 58-109)

Chad Post — Thu, 09 May 2019 12:30:55 +0000

Chad’s just back from a 7 hour train ride. Brian is inebriated. Tom Flynn is . . . Tom Flynn? It’s a classic episode of the Two Month Review about horny avenging angels, chamber pot dumps, how many books actually last for a hundred years, the name “Karl,” whatever Bumble is, and much more. A fun, loose podcast about a brilliant books.

As always, you can watch these episodes live on our the day before they’re released in podcast form.

The next episode will focus on pages 110-155 (chapters 12-15 of “Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story”). The complete schedule can be found here.

Follow , and ��for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions. And preorder�� so that you’re prepared for a future TMR.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.02: CoDex 1962 (Pages 1-57)

Chad Post — Thu, 02 May 2019 12:30:10 +0000

This is a special episode of the Two Month Review featuring Chad’s “World Literature & Translation” class, who read��CoDex 1962��(and ten other contemporary works in translation) this semester. They talk with Chad and Brian about interpretation and translation, how they judge whether a translation is good or bad, Werner Herzog and Lars von Trier, the structure of the narration in the first section of��CoDex 1962, British punctuation, Chad’s no-longer-so-secret project, Delino Deshields, and more.

As always, you can watch these episodes live on our the day before they’re released in podcast form.

The next episode will focus on pages 58-109 (chapters 7-11 of “Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story”). The complete schedule can be found here.

Follow and for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests.

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book,��, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.

TMR 8.01: CoDex 1962 (Introduction)

Chad Post — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 12:30:51 +0000

The new season of the Two Month Review kicks off with a pretty wide-ranging discussion. Sure, there is a bit about ��ó�� (pronounced SYOHN, which is��not how Chad says it) and a few things about his earlier books and CoDex 1962, but a good part of this introductory episode is about patterns in narrative, cinematic realism, the imaginative nature of international literature, boxes and small rooms, Game of Thrones, and Iceland.

As always, you can watch these episodes live on our the day before they’re released in podcast form.

The next episode will focus on pages 1-57 (chapters 1-6 of “Thine Eyes Did See My Substance: A Love Story”) and will be an audio only release. (Chad’s graduate students will be the guests.)

Follow and for more thoughts on and literature in general, and for information about upcoming guests.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to It really helps people to discover the podcast.