21st Century Literature discussion

Do you plan to read any specific books for Women in Translation Month (August)?

Are there any books you'd like to highly recommend to others for WIT Month?

More about it here:
https://www.womenintranslation.org/

Great question, curious what others will say. I will read Off-White by Astrid Roemer (but to be fair will read most of it in my native Dutch) and also hope to finally get to Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías in August.

I take the opportunity to recommend the brilliant Boy with a Black Rooster by Stefanie vor Schulte.

Two other 5-star WIT titles this year for me were:

- The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
- Bad Habit

One of my favorite times of year! Here's a list of the 100 best WIT works that was group compiled in 2019, and here's a shelf of my own personal five star rated works, all of which should have reviews.

I unfortunately don't pay as much heed to monthly themes in my reading as I used to, but here are a few that are near the top of my current pile:

'Art' - Yasmina Reza
Thank You for Not Reading - Dubravka Ugrešić
Aaron's Leap - Magdaléna Platzová
Gilgi - Irmgard Keun
Women Writing in India, Volume II: The Twentieth Century - Susie J. Tharu (some in translation)

August will be busy for me so I'm not sure how much reading I will get done. That said, I will likely pull a few new-to-me ones off my shelves to read for WIT, including Nails and Eyes and The Lonesome Bodybuilder.

I have lots of suggestions (lol) and will point to my "women-in-translation" shelf here on GR (all ones I have read).

I also have shelves for regions/continents so will recommend based on some of those categories:

Africa: (Rwanda) Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga, tr. from the French by Melanie Mauthner.

Asia: (South Korea) One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun, tr. from the Korean by Jung Yewon.

Caribbean: (Haiti) The Infamous Rosalie by Evelyne Trouillot, tr. from the French by M.A. Salvodon.

Europe: (Denmark but set in outer space) The Employees by Olga Ravn, tr. from the Danish by Martin Aitken.

Latin America: (Argentina) Eartheater by Dolores Reyes, tr. from the Spanish by Julia Sanches.

Middle East: (Palestine/West Bank) You Can Be the Last Leaf: Selected Poems by Maya abu Al-Hayyat, tr. from the Arabic by Fady Joudah.

North America: (Mexico) The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli, tr. from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney.

Stacia wrote: "I will likely pull a few new-to-me ones off my shelves to read for WIT, including Nails and Eyes and The Lonesome Bodybuilder."
Lonesome Bodybuilder is a blast!

I'll try to get to:
Hanna Johansson, Antiquity
Gabriela Damián Miravete, They Will Dream in the Garden

I've read so many good WiT books this year! I especially enjoyed Woodworm, Dead Girls, Bad Habit Not a River, Confrontations, The Simple Art of Killing a Woman and Elena Knows. Oh, and Fever Dream!

Right now I'm reading Off-White and on my bedside table I have Pink Slime, Permafrost, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, and Hurricane Season which I hope to get to in August.

Aubrey wrote: "One of my favorite times of year! Here's a list of the 100 best WIT works that was group compiled in 2019, and here's a shelf of my own personal five star rated works, all of which should have revi..."

A great shelf, Aubrey. Two I hope to read next month: The Wall and Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets. I'm very excited about them. And hope you like Gilgi--I want to read more Irmgard Keun!

Also I've started View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska, which I'm loving, and hope to fit in Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan.

Some 21st Century WIT I've read previously and really enjoyed, but I think this group is already familiar with them:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin
Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye
The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya

I really appreciate everyone's ideas!

I read WiT year round but it's always exciting to have a whole month dedicated to it! Some books I'm hoping to get to this month:
Swimming in Paris: A Life in Three Stories
Antiquity
Clean
Reservoir Bitches
If Only

Some of my favorites from the 30 I've read so far this year:
A Sunny Place for Shady People
Love Novel
Fury: A Novel
The Singularity

So far this year, I have read nine books in translation that were by women, all of which I highly recommend --
Time of the Flies and A Little Luck by Claudia Piñeiro;
It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken;
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías;
Not a River by Selva Almada;
Abyss by Pilar Quintana;
Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia;
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

I have read quite a few of those recommended above and liked them all. Very glad for the recommendations for those I have not read.