Every Country's Most Translated Book
Mar. 11th, 2024 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aggienautSo this morning I came across this cool chart:
Mostly it's novels but there's a few that aren't, a chess guide for Latvia, a book on evolution for Kenya. By virtue of the Scientologists madly evangelizing his work an L Ron Hubbard book is apparently the United Stateses. I'm kind of surprised they didn't list the Bible for Israel, and apparently by virtue of JRR Tolkien being born in South Africa they list The Hobbit for SA which I think is a bit shlonky -- I had to just google this and yes he lived there till he was 3 but he apparently rarely mentioned it and it was very incidental to his life.
I currently have read the most translated books from: Colombia, Brazil, Scotland, England, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa (see above), maybe Russia (I may have read Anna Karenina in high school, I forget, I certainly read a bunch of Tolstoy)
My first inclination on seeing this list was that I'd love to try to read every country's most translated book .. but then taking a few for example (like Venezuela's Dona Barbara) it seems like its going to be really hard to find (I mean you really can buy any book on amazon but finding it in a library or on audible is another story).
But then I thought of a great solution! If I remember to check this chart before I travel, surely every country's most translated book is available actually in-country! So now I have a new specific souvenir quest when I travel!
Mostly it's novels but there's a few that aren't, a chess guide for Latvia, a book on evolution for Kenya. By virtue of the Scientologists madly evangelizing his work an L Ron Hubbard book is apparently the United Stateses. I'm kind of surprised they didn't list the Bible for Israel, and apparently by virtue of JRR Tolkien being born in South Africa they list The Hobbit for SA which I think is a bit shlonky -- I had to just google this and yes he lived there till he was 3 but he apparently rarely mentioned it and it was very incidental to his life.
I currently have read the most translated books from: Colombia, Brazil, Scotland, England, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa (see above), maybe Russia (I may have read Anna Karenina in high school, I forget, I certainly read a bunch of Tolstoy)
My first inclination on seeing this list was that I'd love to try to read every country's most translated book .. but then taking a few for example (like Venezuela's Dona Barbara) it seems like its going to be really hard to find (I mean you really can buy any book on amazon but finding it in a library or on audible is another story).
But then I thought of a great solution! If I remember to check this chart before I travel, surely every country's most translated book is available actually in-country! So now I have a new specific souvenir quest when I travel!
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Date: 2024-03-11 02:37 am (UTC)Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).
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Date: 2024-03-11 02:39 am (UTC)love this
I have only read two on the this list.
Ghana and Colombia.
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Date: 2024-03-11 12:02 pm (UTC)Shared this chart with my dad and sis who are both big book people
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Date: 2024-03-11 08:38 pm (UTC)It depresses the shit out of me about the damn scientology book.
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Date: 2024-03-17 10:09 pm (UTC)I completely agree!
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Date: 2024-03-11 09:21 pm (UTC)I would have expected Isabel Allende's Tge House of the Spirits for Chile. And maybe Kristen Lavrasdatter for Norway.
And I agree with you about Tolkien, though they do use his name to drum up tourism in the Amatola Mountains. I'd have suggested either Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton or Nelson Mandela's Long Walk Home.
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Date: 2024-03-13 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-11 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-13 02:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-11 10:17 pm (UTC)I'm surprised they didn't list the Koran either.
Also, USA, do better.
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Date: 2024-03-17 10:15 pm (UTC)I had to find this in list format since I couldn't begin to read the map, lol. I have read the books from Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Dominica, England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Most of the ones I have read are children's books, and the others I read for school. The only book out of the ones I have read that I would NOT recommend is Wide Sargasso Sea (Dominica). I saw the mini series of The Thorn Birds, but I don't think that counts. ;)
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Date: 2024-03-18 04:45 am (UTC)Oh wow you've got a bunch knocked off already! I'm curious what's wrong with Sargasso Sea?
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Date: 2024-03-18 04:11 pm (UTC)Have you read Jane Eyre? Wide Sargasso Sea is sort of a prequel/ companion piece. the story of the crazy lady in the attic. I was never fond of Jane Eyre, and didn't like WSS either. I read it for a class in college and I don't think anything was wrong with the writing. Just not my thing. I will say that the movie was way worse than the book. The movie actually gave me nightmares.
I recently read "Salt and Broom" which is a remake of Jane Eyre as a fantasy novel, and it was awesome. I was surprised at how much I liked it. :)