The Joy of Reading: A Personal Reflection on "Mirror Visitor" Quartet and Other Translation Prompts

As I sit here surrounded by books, each one a promise of adventure and discovery, I am reminded why I love reading so much. For me, reading is not just about escaping into a different world, but also about exploring new cultures, ideas, and perspectives. And what better way to do that than through the magic of translation? Today, I want to share with you my excitement about some of the books on my reading list for this year's Women in Translation Month.

First up is the "Mirror Visitor" quartet by an author whose name I don't recall, but who has won me over with their engaging stories. The first two books have been translated by Hildegarde Serle from French, and I must say that I love these covers - they're so eye-catching! I've read the first two books in this series, and while I'm eager to dive back into it, my current book is about a young woman who is arranged to be married and must travel to a very cold ark. The arks are floating in the sky, which makes their world feel like a fantastical landscape of floating rocks - each one is sort of like its own country. I love this series because it's so much fun to read, and I've already recommended it to several friends. It's definitely going to bring me joy this month.

Another book that has caught my eye is "Field work in Ukrainian Sex" by Oksana Zabuzhko, translated from Ukrainian by Halyna Hryn. This year's buddy read pick, chosen by Jen, and I couldn't be more excited! I've heard great things about Oksana Zabuzhko's writing, and the fact that this book is available on audio is just an added bonus. I also have a physical copy on its way to me, so I'm looking forward to diving in and discussing it with our reading group. The buddy read has become one of my favorite parts of this readathon - there's something special about sharing books with friends and exploring them together.

In addition to these two books, I've also added "Whereabouts" by Jhumpa Lahiri to my list. While not entirely new to me, I do love Jhumpa Lahiri's work, and the fact that she translated this book from Italian herself is a bonus. The book itself is shorter than some of her other works, which is just what I need right now - I'm trying to stick to shorter books this month. And who knows? Maybe it'll be the start of a new favorite series.

For those who are interested in reading along with me, there's also a bonus prompt available - a buddy read with our group. This year's pick is "Field work in Ukrainian Sex" by Oksana Zabuzhko, translated from Ukrainian by Halyna Hryn. It's been chosen by Jen, and we're all really excited about it. If you're interested in reading along with us, I encourage you to join the conversation on social media or our private group chat.

As for me, I have a whole shelf dedicated to books translated from languages other than my native English. It was incredibly difficult to choose which ones to read this month - there are so many great titles out there! But I'm hoping that by reading these books, I'll not only be exploring new cultures and ideas but also discovering new favorite authors.

And finally, I have to mention Jhumpa Lahiri's "Whereabouts". While it's not entirely a new book for me, I do love her work, and the fact that she translated this book herself is just an added bonus. It's also shorter than some of her other works, which makes it the perfect choice for my reading goals this month.

In conclusion, I'm so excited to dive into these books and explore the world of translation with all of you. Whether it's through buddy reads, personal recommendations, or simply picking up a new book that catches our eye, there's something special about discovering new authors, cultures, and ideas through the magic of translation.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello friends! Welcome back to my channel. I'm Kendra Winchester, and today it is that  time we are going to be talking about the women in translation month readathon that  I host with my friends Jen @ Insert Literary Pun Here and Matthew of Matthew Sciarappa.  And I always get very excited for this readathon but particularly this year because when we sat  down to talk about like what we wanted to do for the prompts, we really came back to wanting to  revisit old favorites and find like a playfulness and joy in the books that we read. Because  as we all know it's been a very difficult past few years. So this seemed to be something encouraging  and fun that we could do for the readathon, so the readathon will be held during women translation  month, which of course is August. And the dates go over one week. So the readathon itself is one  week in August, and that's from August 8th—I put on my glasses so you can actually see—to  August 14th, midnight to midnight your time zone. Of course, all of this information will be down in  the description box. Jen has done a magnificent job of including all of this information,  and also different publishers you can check out. And of course their videos about the  readathon will be linked down below as well. I will probably forget something, so you should  probably go just watch both of those ,and you will have all of the information that you could want.  So like I said, we really wanted to do something fun, and so the ideas are to slow down and go  deeper into the books that we read, and also playfulness and joy. And so for this readathon,  that's where the prompts come from, and of course, when we say women translation month,  we also mean trans women, of course, and trans femmes. And so maybe perhaps women  and other marginalized genders would be more of the spirit of the readathon? But we want to  make sure that we are being inclusive in that way as well. So yeah, all right, I think that's  all the housekeeping. So let's just jump into the prompts. I will have my picks for these prompts,  but this year we also have different tracks. So you can mix and match customize the readathon  that you want to do, and we've geared this towards three particular types of readers. So we  have just the regular prompts that we normally do. Then we have a new to women in translation  prompts, so that if you're new and you haven't read things before, you have a place to start.  And then we also have a third more challenging kind of prompt, so you can you know push yourself  a little bit make it challenging as you so desire. I'm mixing and matching these, so feel  free to do so as well. This is all for fun and to read more women in translation, and I think,  I mean as long as you're hitting that goal. I mean I think you've won. Also non-existent bonus points  per usual for translators that are also women. So first the first prompt . . . the first prompt is  read a book from a language you've read before. The newer to women translation option is, try  a book and translation from a country you've read about in your own language. So say you've read  about French history, you can then read a book originally written in French and translated into  whatever language you choose to read. Because, of course, you don't have to read in English  for the women in translation month readathon. Just a book that's translated from one language  into another. The more challenging option for the first prompt is read a book from an author  you've read before. So I'm combining these um and doing a book from an author I've read before,  that's obviously in a language I've read before. And so I have a couple things. So i've read  several Japanese novels at this point, and so I've also read Mieko Kawakami, and I want to read  all of the things that this author has written. So I have her most recent two books  and both of these are translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd from the original Japanese. And so I'm  so excited because this counts . . . this counts for both of the different parts of the first  prompt, which makes me very excited. And they're also pretty short and available on audio, and so  I feel like that will help me get through them during the, you know, week-long readathon. Okay,  so that's prompt number one. The second prompt is revisit a book you've already read. Now, revisit  doesn't necessarily mean read. It means, like, peruse. You can like read your favorite scenes.  It gives you options for how you want to revisit a book that you've already read. So and the newer  two women in translation month option is read a work in translation recommended to you by a friend  bookseller or librarian. I mean honestly, if a random stranger recommended a book in translation  to you, like, on the street or something, I think that would count too. But you get the idea.Now I'm just a imagining like, I would totally be that person just randomly  walking down a street and handing people books. I mean, that would be a great job, honestly.  The more challenging option is reread a women and translation month book,  so I'm combining these a little bit. So I have been working on annotating MY BRILLIANT FRIEND by  Elena Ferrante, and this is translated by Ann Goldstein. Did I remember that correctly? Right,  yes, I was like, I always second-guess myself. But anyway, I've been working on annotating  this since before the pandemic started. And what's weird is my reading kind of froze  when the pandemic started. And I have all these books I was in the middle of that I just couldn't  keep reading for some reason. And this is one of them because I wanted to annotate the whole series  because I really enjoy annotating books. So I figured this would count as revisiting/rereading a  book. I am about halfway through it, so I won't be rereading it completely. But it will finally get  off my currently reading shelves on StoryGraph and Goodreads. Because yes, I use them both,  and I will link them down below if you are interested in being my friend on StoryGraph  because that would be fun. Okay, so the third prompt is the same across the new to women in  translation month and the more challenging option. It's all the same. So the third prompt is read a  book that brings you joy. So I will probably be reading the last two books in Christelle Dabose's  The Mirror Visitor quartet. I've read the first two and this is translated by Hildegarde Serle  and from French. I really love these covers. I want to frame them and put them on my wall.  But this is about a young woman who in the first book is kind of arranged to be married  and has to go to this very cold ark. And you see these arks are floating in the sky,  so their world is just a bunch of floating pieces of rock, I guess. The people live on and each one  is sort of like its own country. And so she has to go from her arc to her fiance's ark, which  is up north and it's very cold. He's not really thrilled about the arrangement. She isn't either.  And that's kind of how the story starts, and she finds herself really entangled in  the politics of the court. I love this series. It's a lot of fun. I've recommended it to a lot  of people, and so this would definitely qualify as a book that brings me joy.  Or books, I should say. There are other options for languages that I've read from before for some  of the other prompts. Like, I have Nagar Djavadi's Disoriental which is translated by Tina Kover. And  I thought like this would be a great option because I'm not only rereading from a language  I've read before but also a translator I've read before. So I really enjoy Tina Kover's work.  And so another one from an author that i've read before and a language I've read before is Jhumpa  Lahiri's Whereabouts. I love Jhumpa Lahiri, and she translated this herself from Italian. And so  I thought that might be good it's also shorter. And I'm trying to stick to shorter books.  I know she has another book out coming out soon or is already out. I'm not sure.  But I just love Jhumpa Lahiri. So those are three reading prompts. We also have a bonus prompt,  which as it has been in previous years, is a buddy read with us. And so you can  read this book along with us. This year's pick is a novel translated from Ukrainian,  and it is Field work in Ukrainian Sex by Oksana Zabuzhko. It's translated by Halyna Hryn, and so  you can go learn more about that book. Jen chose the book this year and we enthusiastically agreed.  And so iIm so excited to listen to this book. It's also on audio, and I also have a physical copy  on its way to me now. So we're very excited about that book as well. I will say the buddy  read has become one of my favorite parts of this readathon because it's just nice to be able to  discuss books with friends. Right? I mean, that's why we're here! So all of that again  will be linked down in the description box so you can go check that out. And of course,  you can go check out the origins of women in translation month. They'll be linked there as  well. Publishers that do a great job of publishing translated works so all of the things will be down  in the description box. But yeah, tell me what books you're excited to read. I mean, I feel like  there's so many more. Like, behind you—you can't see it—but i have a whole in translation shelf,  and it was very difficult to pick which ones that i was gonna focus on. So if I just keep going,  maybe it'll be even more. I mean, maybe i will finally read Olga Tokarczuk.All right, i'll talk to you later, friends. Bye!\n"