Well, August was a bit full. I’ve done some long bike rides, hung out with friends, eaten good food. Plus Tim and I celebrated 20 years together. Twenty years!

August was Women in Translation Month and I read 3.5 books by women in translation. In fact, I’m currently halfway through three different books.

My top films this month were The French Dispatch (the latest Wes Andersen), and Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) – a sweet Australian teen romance.

Books read

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This was a book club choice and it certainly gave us lots to talk about. It’s the story of Kya, the “Marsh Girl”, who raises herself in a small coastal town in North Carolina after her parents abandon her. It’s an unlikely but entertaining story with some lovely descriptions of nature and mediocre poetry, but for me it was spoiled by its racism. I don’t see how in 2018 an editor let this through.

Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernández
Translated by Julia Sanches
This El Salvadorian novel is about a woman who fought in and survived the civil war; about the life she built after the war with four of her five daughters; about her efforts to find and reconnect with her lost daughter; about her coming to terms with the world she now lives in and her place within it. None of the characters are named, which can be confusing but the translator’s note gave some convincing reasons for it.

His Dark Materials 2: The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
In this volume we meet Will, who lives in “our” universe but escapes it into a world that seems to be populated only by children. There he meets Lyra and they are pulled into each other’s stories. Will is searching for his father, an explorer who disappeared mysteriously years ago. Lyra is still on the run from Mrs Coulter and searching for her role in the inevitable coming war.

An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky
Translated by Jackie Smith
This is a strange and wonderful book. It’s a collection of essays and short stories about things that have been lost to humanity, such as the Villa Sacchetti and the love songs of Sappho. But these are not straightforward pieces, they’re abstract – almost ethereal. This certainly isn’t a quick read but it’s worth taking the time over.

The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami
Translated by Allison Markin Powell
In some ways this slim novel is typical of the modern Japanese literature that tends to get translated to English – it’s a cool, detached study of a womanizing man as told by 10 women from his life. Which could have been a good read but there are some weird sexual assault connotations and I was frustrated by this series of women falling for a man who cheats on all of them. And I was frustrated that I didn’t really get to know any of the women properly.