Tag: translated fiction

Translated Fiction: A New Hope

I am a fan of translated fiction and I find it very enjoyable to escape to far off places and discover a culture and scenery that is different to my own. Translated fiction opens up next experiences, places, tastes and themes that are not native to me.

I enjoy Latin American, Asian and Mainland European authors. My reading of these is dependent on translations as I am unable to read Italian, Spanish, Japanese etc. I love discovering a new series and getting into it. Since I switched to reading via a Kindle in 2018, early on I discovered a series written by the author Marco Vichi. Commisario Bordelli – which follows a Commisario in Florence investigating crimes and dealing with the ghosts of Italy’s fascist past. It quickly became one of my favourite series and I quickly got through all six translated works. But that was back in 2018, and since then unfortunately no further books in that series have been translated. So I have been stuck reading the same six books several times… until an epiphany moment this week.

I was talking to a friend and they mentioned why not use AI or tools to translate the books that remain untranslated into English… Why had I not thought of it before? So I had a go and purchased a book online and gave it a try. I will say this, I absolutely hate DRM (Digital Rights Management on digital purchases and purely for my own personal reasons to retain a copy for my own library I remove this lock from every book I buy. In order to do what I did I had to remove the DRM.) and so after purchasing my copy I removed it and I discovered on Calibre (ebook library software) there is a translation plug in you can set up to translate books that are stored in the Library. I have it a go and you know what? It worked! The book translated with no issue and it is almost perfect, perhaps there is the occasionally formatting issue like a misaligned “” but it is perfectly readable from the chapters I have read so far.

I am delighted to have access to an otherwise hidden World to me, and revisit an old friend for some fresh adventures.

Whilst it does go against the spirit of copyright etc, this is only for personal use and enjoyment and only for items I purchase.

Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida

I am now well and truly back into Japanese translated books. I bought this one a while ago and really what attracted me to it was the cover. Both the book and audiobook have beautiful covers (see above and below).

The book is very engaging and follows a Tokyo taxi driver and his clients, the stories are all intertwined with people who all flit across each others stories. The atmosphere is very good and I enjoy the cast of characters and their stories. The problem is I would want more, more depth to the stories and book.

The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Its been a while since I read one of Seishi Yokomizo’s Detective Kosuke Kindaichi novels and I fancied catching up on the series with a new one due to be released this coming week.

This read was a great one and very readable and flows nicely. It was an interesting case involving a family and a locked room murder and the devilish apparition of an already dead family member. The plot was very cunning and I didn’t guess the culprit. There is a bit of incest in the plot which was a surprise and may be a trigger for some.

Though these are old books they aren’t dated and are very readable and enjoyable. I have the next one ready to read. The Little Sparrow Murders.

The Night of The Panthers by Piergiorgio Pulixi

Wow, superb read and I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I had started it a long while ago and put it down due to being quite deep in other books and picked it up again last week to try an Italian crime book that wasn’t a Montalbano, Ricciardo or Bordelli. This was one heck of a read throughout and so much going on.

A great noir and it was full of twists and I gasped several times, absolutely thrilling and violent but not too voilent. It worked. Reminded me of Suburra, I think like Suburra it would make an excellent film/series. I enjoyed the characters and the relationships between them and I was expecting a few turns and double turns in the betrayals. A satisfying read and conclusion.

I believe in Italian this book is part of a longer series but sadly in English we have only this book translated, which is a shame as I would love to read more both by this author and of this series.