Tag Archives: translation

Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audio)

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Thistle

Someone is burning up all of Julian Carax’s books, a man with a leathery face who calls himself after the name of the devil in Carax’s latest book. Young Daniel Sempere, son of a bookseller, saves his copy of The … Continue reading →

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Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo (audio)

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Thistle

This is an incredibly difficult book to review, for multiple reasons. I won’t even begin to try to summarize it. I spent two months and two days listening to the audiobook of Les Miserables, so that the experience stretched out … Continue reading →

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The Book of Margery Kempe, by Margery Kempe

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Thistle

This is an autobiography from the early 1400s of a woman who was apparently considered quite saintly. Basically, she had fits and religious delusions, gave herself over to crying and weeping so hard she astonished people continually (even those who … Continue reading →

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The Fortune of the Rougons, by Émile Zola

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Thistle

While I’ve loved almost every Zola I’ve read in the past, I was not sold on this book. At least three-quarters of it is backstory, and it felt very clumsily put together. I appreciate the Rougon-Macquart history laid out in … Continue reading →

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Readathon: Emma (vol 1), by Kaoru Mori

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Thistle

Historical fiction, London. Emma is a maid for a retired governess. She is beautiful, but either unconscious of that beauty, or unwilling to flaunt it, despite multiple suitors. She does, however, begin to fall for William Jones, a rich young … Continue reading →

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What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami (audio)

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Thistle

I’ve never read anything by Murakami before. He’s one of those authors that scares me, probably because a long time ago I heard a rumor about some sort of animal brutality in his book Kafka on the Shore. I’m not … Continue reading →

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The Dream, by Émile Zola

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Thistle

In a small town outside of Paris, a nine-year-old orphan named Angelique sits outside a cathedral the night after Christmas. It’s snowing, and she has nothing on but rags. She stares up at the images carved into the cathedral’s wall, … Continue reading →

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Callback: We

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Thistle

I first read We back in early July 2008. I’ve gone back and read my review from that time, and it’s clear that I had no idea what to make of this book. It’s supposedly one of the three best … Continue reading →

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Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Thistle

I have been terrified of Hermann Hesse for years. I’m not sure how I got the impression that he was difficult and dense to read, but I’ve avoided him. Next year, however, my book club is reading Siddhartha, so I … Continue reading →

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Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Thistle

Waiting for Godot is a French absurdist play written by an Irishman who then translated it himself into English. There is no plot. Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet at a tree every day and talk, while they wait for … Continue reading →

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