Monday 29 December 2014

2015 Books In Translation Challenge

Okay, she's done it again.  Just like last year, Jean @ Howling Frog Books has tempted me into another challenge.  And I love books in translation, so how could I resist?


Jen @ The Introverted Reader is hosting the challenge and the rules are as follows:

Read translations of books from any language into the language that you're comfortable reading.  You can read any genre and age range.  Crossovers with other challenges are fine.  Any format that you chose is acceptable.  The challenge will run from January 1 through December 31, 2015.  

Levels:
Beginner:  1 - 3 books
Conversationalist:  4 - 6 books
Bilingual:  7 - 9 books
Linguist:  10 - 12 books

Since my challenges are more concentrated on English literature, I have no idea how I'll do with this challenge.  Time will tell!  And please pop over to The Introverted Reader if you're interested in joining us!


My List

  1. Meditations - René Descartes
  2. The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
  3. The Plague - Albert Camus
  4. Erewhon - Samuel Butler (original in Latin)
  5. Confessions - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  6. Beowulf 
  7. Ecce Homo - Friedrich Nietzsche
  8. What Is To Be Done? - Nikolai Chernyshevsky
  9. Money - Émile Zola
  10. Mein Kamp - Adolf Hitler
  11. The Story of My Experiments with Truth - Mohandas Gandhi
  12. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
  13. Notes from the Underground - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  14. Selected Essays - Michel de Montaigne
  15. Rule of Saint Benedict 


9 comments:

  1. I know, right? I signed up for English lit and translations. :P You should laugh at me right now, though; it's not January yet and I have all these books that will fit the challenges that I want to read. But I won't because it's not January yet and I want CREDIT. How dopey am I? I should just enjoy them already...

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    1. Well, if I laugh at you I'd be laughing at myself because we're in the same boat.

      I know! I have 3-4 books I could start now, but I'm waiting until Jan 1st. So silly!

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  2. You never know how a reading year will play out; last year I was certain I'd be lucky to read one translation and ended up reading six. Hopefully you can find some areas to crossover or at least time to add some translations in! (There are certainly plenty of classics in translation to choose from…)

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    1. How many languages do you know, Amanda? Three? That makes it harder to read books in translation than for us uni-lingual people, so I think you deserve more leeway in this area. ;-)

      With my England challenges, we'll see how this one goes. I may be surprised!

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    2. Leeway for reading in other languages might be okay if I ever actually read anything in those other languages--2014 was an exception/improvement. In 2013 I didn’t' read a thing that wasn't originally written in English! (And truthfully my Italian isn't that great, but I've been surprised at how well Pinocchio is going--I thought I'd try it a bit before reading the translation.)

      Hopefully you'll have no problem finding good translated books to read, even with the England challenge!

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  3. Ooh this challenge is irresistible, particularly because I know I have several books I'm planning to read for other challenges that are translations. I think I need to stop signing up for more challenges, but there are so many interesting ones!

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    1. It is hard to pass up on some challenges, isn't it? If you go for the beginner level though, that should take the pressure off. Have I convinced you to join? ;-)

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  4. I just might be able to fit this one in...

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    1. Please do! It will be a little hard for me this year with so many English challenges but I just love Greek, French and Russian lit so I couldn't resist.

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