My Top Ten Science Fiction Novels in Translation

A list of my favourite science fiction novels from around the world translated into English
0:00 Intro
1:28 10
3:19 9
4:54 8
6:28 7
8:43 6
10:28 5
12:24 4
13:28 3
14:40 2
16:50 1
19:56 Goodbye
#booktube #sciencefiction #scifi #translatedfiction
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[@ghostsandglitter]

This is such a good list! I haven’t heard of a handful of these. The Cabinet sounds so intriguing.

[@bookspin]

Thank you for watching! Yes The Cabinet is a surreal underrated gem in my opinion.

[@andrewbell2712]

War with the Newts is a hilarious romp of a book and a delicious satire by Karl Capek. Another good one is Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Andrei Tarkovsky made his film The Stalker from the Strugatsky brothers' most famous novel.

[@bookspin]

I have these titles on my bookshelf and I'm looking forward to them both, especially Roadside Picnic.

[@hungryformusik]

Also interesting are We, by Eugene Zamyatin (actually the first ,1984‘ like novel), written 1920 in Russian, published in English by Dutton 1924 Metropolis, by Thea von Harbou (also a ‚1984‘ like novel), written 1925 in German, published in English by Reader‘s Library 1927 Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (my favorite SF story) written 1971 in Polish, published in English by MacMillan 1977

[@bookspin]

Thank you. I'm planning to read both We and Roadside Picnic soon.

[@rafm3068]

Thanks this is what I was looking for. I love to find sci-fi writers from other regions!

[@tashslibrary]

Thank you for this great video. I plan to read the Three-Body Problem this year and the Cabinet is now on my wish list.

[@bookspin]

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

[@FairyWeatherMan]

Your channel is really good. You definitely deserve much much more views

[@bookspin]

Thank you for your kind words

[@thesci-fished]

Great idea, well done

[@bookspin]

Thank you!

[@thesci-fished]

@@bookspin you're most welcome

[@criticalhit148]

Wow,, I read Savchenko's novel a month ago (and I liked it), currently reading "Heart of a dog" (and it's great), and today added "Planet of the apes" to my TBR. Nice list🙂

[@arekkrolak6320]

cool list, you should make lists of best books translated into other languages too!

[@Rangersly]

Very happy to see Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes on your list. I read La Planete des Singes in the original french (I'm french-canadian). The ending of the novel is very different from the movie. But the movie's ending (written by Rod Serling) was better in my humble opinion. Boulle also wrote another novel that became a famous movie: The Bridge on the River Kwai.

[@alexvaldiers9788]

Hard agree. The book ending is quite poor and really downgrades what a good book it is.

[@thekeywitness]

Roadside Picnic Hard to be a God The Futurological Congress Fiasco

[@alexvaldiers9788]

Glad to see all the 'Hard to be a God' comments. It's one of my all time favourite novels and hands down one of the greatest SF novels ever written

[@vintagesf]

What a great idea for a video! Read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Planet of the Apes. Looking forward to reading Solaris and Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Not sure if I will pick up your other recommendations. Have you read any of Arkady and Boris Strugatasky's books?

[@bookspin]

Thank you! I've read a couple of Strugatsky short stories but none of their novels yet. I have Roadside Picnic on my bookshelf and I hope to get round to it soon, I've heard so many good things about it.

[@davlang3783]

Roadside Picnic is brilliant, Hard To be God is worth a read, and Planet of the Apes was very good. Will read 20,000 Leagues. Love the 50s film. Nice video.

[@bookspin]

Thanks, looking forward to Roadside Picnic

[@r3lativ]

Another French sci-fi writer worth checking out is Gerard Klein. The Overlords of War is one of the best time travel novels I've read.

[@bookspin]

Thank you for the recommendation! I love time travel fiction so I will make a note of that.

[@ColonelFredPuntridge]

Pierre Bouille was NOT the first to use the story of a traveler who goes to a place where non-human primates talk and rule, and humans are dumb animals. The first time that idea was used was in a chapter called "The Land of the Civilized Monkeys" in a book called _The Magical Monarch of Mo,_ written by ... well, you can guess who the writer was, of course.

[@bartsbookspace]

Excellent list! I would add Roadside Picnic to the list and rank Solaris top three. But, I cannot argue with dark forest at number one. 🙌

[@bookspin]

Thank you! Roadside Picnic is high up the TBR pile

[@peterdollins3610]

'Hard to be a God' is I think by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky? They were planning to make a film from it. I don't know if that went ahead or not. A fair few of the Japanese writer Murakami novels are very SF. My favourite is 'Kafka On The Shore'. Also a bit other worldly & in his other books. You could do an entire list on him. As to dreaming into the past Jack London did that with 'Before Adam.' In his 'The Star Rover.' he has a man in a strait jacket who wanders through other lives in 'The Star Rover.' Also his "The Iron Heel' helped inspire '1984' along with 'We' by, I think, a Russian. Jack also inspired Orwell's 'Down & Out in Paris & London'.with 'The People of the Abyss.' A better book than 'Down & Out' though his 'Iron Heel' was clumsy with some very weak parts but on certain things such as to the buying off of the Unions Jack is far better. See 'The Road' for an intro into Jack's socialist leanings. After 'The Iron Heel' ALL of Jack's book were removed from the US Public Libraries even his dog/wolf books. See First & Last Men' by Olaf Stapledon for a philosophical take.

[@bookspin]

Thanks for your comments. I've read Call of the Wild and White Fang but not Jack London's other works. I also loved Kafka on the Shore. Zamyatin's We is on my bookshelf for an upcoming read.

[@alexvaldiers9788]

There are two films of 'Hard to be God'. One German / French shot in Kazakhstan in the early 90's. It very faithful to the book, all shot in natural decor. Saddly, the video quality isn't great. The other one is the German version (it's the director's name not the country). Russian movie released a few years ago, shot over 10 years, one of the most disturbing films ever made. It centers more on the decadence of the world and the mental struggles of the hero than actually following the plot. I have the collector's blu ray, it's stunning, but I cannot recommend this film to anyone. It's too hard to watch

[@peterdollins3610]

@@alexvaldiers9788 Thanks for the info.

[@Acqua99]

Very useful video! Have you read "The Membranes" by Chi Ta-wei?

[@bookspin]

Thanks! I'm not familiar with that one

[@Acqua99]

@@bookspin it's a great sci-fi novel 💯

[@jean-marieboucherit4518]

I like your Proust t shirt.

[@birgerjohansson8010]

The English translation of Solaris is a 'double' translation from the German version. The translator Michael Kandel has unsuccesfully tried to interest US publishers in a direct from Polish translation.

[@bookspin]

That's interesting to know. Yes I heard that Lem wasn't that happy with the English translation, however it's still widely regarded as a classic. Without any knowledge of Polish or the original text, it's impossible for me to judge if it does justice to its source material, but it feels well written nonetheless.

[@birgerjohansson8010]

@@bookspin The Tarkovsky 1972 film version adds much, and if you have the patience for the 3-hour film and its deliberately slow pacing, you will enjoy it .

[@mike-williams]

The original English edition published by Faber was translated via French, not German and it's also abridged!. A direct Polish-English translation by Bill Johnston has been available since 2011. There are some fresh translations of some other Lem novels like The Invincible. (Generally of the pre-Kandel translations.)

[@mike-williams]

I'll also recommend: Karel Capek: The War with the Newts Zamyatin: We Lem: Fiasco, Eden, The Cyberiad, Star Diaries, ... Eduardo Mendoza: No word from Gurb (hilarious Spanish novel) Andreas Eschbasch: The Carpet Makers

[@bookspin]

Thanks for the recommendations! War with the Newts and We are both upcoming reads on my bookshelf. I've heard of the others except No Word from Grub - I will look into that one

[@alexvaldiers9788]

I think you forgot everything the Strugatsky Brothers ever wrote. Hard to be a God, Roadside Picnic, Definitely Maybe, etc.

[@bookspin]

So far I've only read some of their short stories, none of their novels. However, I'm planning to read Roadside Picnic and Monday Starts on Saturday.

[@alexvaldiers9788]

@@bookspin You should start with 'It's Hard to be a God', it's their best work I'd say. Medievel setting, hard SF, gut-wrenching

[@bazoo513]

No Strugatsky brothers?

[@bookspin]

I've read some of their short stories but none of their novels yet. I have Roadside Picnic and Monday Starts on Saturday on my bookshelf - definitely looking forward to those.

[@theresaderwin2298]

Now the original Planet of the Apes is stunning. What a denouement.

[@bookspin]

Agreed, thank you for watching!

[@brettrobson5739]

No Strugatskys, no Rosny-Aine. You have some reading to do.

[@bookspin]

I've read some Strugatsky short stories but none of their novels yet. Roadside Picnic is on my reading list

[@tomtomaok]

Bit like Wales 2023

[@korbendallas5318]

Hard pass on 20k under the Sea. I read it a couple of months ago, and it was by far the most boring of Verne's novels of the twenty or so that I know. You mention the description, but they are far worse then you make them out to be. The book contains pages and pages of nothing but lists of marine life. I didn't count, but I estimate that all in all, a full 50 pages of the book is filled with this nonsense. The rest is mostly boring too. The "protagonists" are utterly passive, they are just tossed around by events without any input. Nemo has no features except being superenigmatic. Watch the Disney movie, it's much more entertaining. If you want to read Verne, try Journey around the Earth in 80 Days.

[@bookspin]

Fair enough, I appreciate your honesty and accept this book's flaws are too much to bear for some readers. I still enjoyed it though for the sense of wonder it inspires, and I found the adventure narrative engaging and suspenseful even if the marine biology descriptions are excessive.

[@ProbablyLying]

Things really heat up in The Dark Forest.