‘Books can do so many things – sometimes they spur you on to study, sometimes they entertain and sometimes they drive you to write yourself. Every time I read Bolaño I feel so inspired, I just want to write…He’s a genius – the expansiveness he creates, how he relates one book to another – he’s...
To Keep the Sun Alive – Written by Rabeah Ghaffari “Did my mother just trade me for a silver platter?” “My darling,” said her great aunt, “we have often been traded for less.” Bear with me as I begin this review with an anecdote: As I dug deep into the opening chapters of the book, and the family gathered around for dinner – each...
Hidden in a quaint village by the name of Hawarden in North Wales, six miles from the beautiful city of Chester, Gladstone’s Library is a lot of wonderful things: the only residential library in the UK, the UK’s only prime-ministerial library, and the best place, in our humble opinion, to spend a weekend on the whole bloody island. We...
Morgan Giles is a Japanese-to-English literary translator based in Tokyo. For her, 2019 is off to a fantastic start; Tokyo Ueno Station, a novel she has translated from the original Japanese by Yu Miri, will be published this year by the awesome folks over at Tilted Axis Press. Having grown up in Kentucky, moving to London, and now being...
Mazen Maarouf | Translated by Jonathan Wright Jokes for the Gunmen is simultaneously the title of the book, the title of its opening (and longest) story, and the theme of the entire collection. Having been born as the son of Palestinian refugees and grown up in a city and country torn apart by war and civil unrest, Mazen Maarouf is no...
What a year 2018 was! A year of incredible literature in translation, and the year that Books and Bao was born. Our list of Best Translated Books of 2018 barley skated the surface of the incredible ocean of translated literature released last year, and this list of upcoming books we’re looking forward to in 2019 barely does either...
Stroud is a small Gloucestershire market town at the edge of the beautiful and historic Cotswolds. In this quaint and idyllic town, you’ll find farmer’s markets, old manor houses, and endless countryside walks across rolling hills. The town boasts Victorian homes, some charming cafes, and two delightful independent...
Through the Water Curtain & other Tales from Around the World Fairy Tales selected and introduced by Cornelia Funke ‘Fairy tales are Time Machines. They have preserved all the fears and hopes of our ancestors in the folds of their magical cloaks.’ – Cornelia Funke When you stop to consider it, it’s frightening how many things...
How the World Thinks | Written by Julian Baggini It is very easy for people to believe that their way of thinking is the right way. This can stretch from something as simple as a husband and wife debating the best time to eat dinner all the way to debating the existence of a god or gods, and to every subtle and complex concept and idea...
Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore Part of our Bookstores Around the World series. Fuzhou Lu is one of the main arteries that lead into the beating heart of Shanghai: People’s Square. The road is lined with interesting stores, cafes, barber shops, and more. Its crown jewel: the Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore, located a ten-minute...
