Tag Archive for: Translated

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My Friends

My FriendsTitle: My Friends
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: Audio
Pages: 436
Length: 13h 7m
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Reason Read: Book Club, Book of the Month
Rating:

My Thoughts

I don’t know what it is about Fredrik Backman, but he has the ability to tell a story with so much feeling and depth without it being boring or seeming contrived. He writes characters, situations, and the feelings of both better than any other author I’ve read. I love his ability to tell his stories in parts.

MY FRIENDS was a beautiful story about growing up, found family, resilience, and finding the silver lining in really shitty circumstances. It deals with hard topics like bullying, immigration, abuse, sickness, and grief. Even though the story is sad, it’s interspersed with laughter and happiness, and ends with a feeling of hope. There are also a lot of farts (iykyk). This one kept me guessing until the end and I loved taking the journey with the characters.

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Beartown

BeartownTitle: Beartown
Author: Fredrik Backman
Series: Beartown #1
Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: Kindle
Pages: 496
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

BEARTOWN was a very hard emotional read. It was a thought-provoking story that deals with hard subjects like toxic masculinity, winning at all costs, and consent. The story’s sad but hopeful, and extremely maddening. At times, it was difficult to keep reading. Even though my heart hurts, it was worth the pain and sorrow. I absolutely had no idea that a book about hockey (but not really) would make me feel the way I did.

Backman’s stories are as good as they are because of his characters. Not only is he a master at writing emotionally charged stories, he’s also a master at writing a whole cast of round, complicated characters. The characters in BEARTOWN were no different. These characters were so easy to connect with because they felt like real people with real lives.

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Anxious People

Anxious PeopleTitle: Anxious People
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: Kindle
Pages: 341
Reason Read: Book Club Backlist, Reading Challenge
Rating:

My Thoughts

I’m so glad I decided to read ANXIOUS PEOPLE because I absolutely adored this book. I was giggling from the outset and I was hooked from the get-go. I loved how it was written, that we got the story in parts. I wanted to keep reading so I could figure out how everything would play out.

After I finished it, I felt almost spiritually moved and like Backman had spoken to me through his characters on a deep personal level. Backman made me feel a gambit of emotions for every single character, including the grumpy know-it-all who thrived on causing conflict. It made me love every single one of them. He even made me have feelings for bridges.

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Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories

Japanese Children’s Favorite StoriesTitle: Japanese Children's Favorite Stories
Author: Florence Sakade
Genre: Short Stories, Children's
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 120
Reason Read: Play Book Tag
Rating:

My Thoughts

My parents gave me JAPANESE CHILDREN’S FAVORITE STORIES as a Christmas present when I was 10 years old. I read a few of the stories before now, but not all of them. I really wish I had read more of these as a child. The ones I had read were familiar and very fun to revisit. The ones I hadn’t read were also fun, but the lack of nostalgia had me nitpicking the writing style. While the stories are great, the writing was something to be desired, probably because of the “lost in translation” factor.

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The Little Prince

The Little PrinceTitle: The Little Prince
Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Genre: Classic, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Kindle
Pages: 65
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

I first read LE PETIT PRINCE in 1997 as part of the curriculum for my college French class. Even though I had previously taken four years of French in high school, I’ll admit I didn’t understand much when I read this story. Many of the French words were ones I had never encountered. And, unfortunately, I had missed the point and charm of the story. For nearly 20 years, I’ve said I disliked THE LITTLE PRINCE, thinking it was weird and idiotic. I decided I needed to give it a fair chance and read it in my native tongue.

I liked THE LITTLE PRINCE much better in English, only because I understood its nuances more. However, because I’m a very literal person, the symbolism was a little lost on me. And, I still don’t appreciate it nearly as much as I probably should.

My favorite character the little prince encountered was the fox. It’s because I love animals and I can relate to their friendship. I understand the meaning and responsibility behind taming as I’ve tamed many animals and almost every animal I’ve ever come in contact with has tamed me, leaving me sad when we part.

I wish I had read this as a child, or at least had it read to me as a child. I think I would’ve appreciated it more then. I wouldn’t be a grownup who only sees a hat instead of a snake who swallowed an elephant. Although, I’ll admit I did know it was a snake from the context but I didn’t know he had eaten an elephant. I thought it was the animal in the previous picture. Does this mean I’m still a grownup but maybe with childlike tendencies? Or, would the narrator and little prince still think of me just as a grownup?

Anyway, I’m really glad I gave THE LITTLE PRINCE another go. It was definitely a more pleasant experience and I can now at least appreciate it and read it more than 1 star.