Recent Reads 240905: Sofi Oksanen, Jean Cocteau, Xinran

[@Elnora-i6e]

Thank you. I'm always on the hunt for translated fiction.

[@SluggishReader]

@@Elnora-i6e You're welcome! Same for me - there are so many interesting ones out there!

[@readingwithavengeance]

Hi Freddie! You always make such interesting reading choices! Thank you for bringing these books to my attention ❤

[@SluggishReader]

@@readingwithavengeance Thank you Heather!! 😁

[@ariannefowler455]

My copy of purge had a different cover (woman baking bread). I wish I had the fly! I read Purge last year and knew nothing going into it. It was dark but so captivating. It's one I still think about, and I think I might reread it at some point.

[@SluggishReader]

@@ariannefowler455 I noticed that many other editions have similar cover as yours - typically woman doing housework or woman in kitchen or something similar. I initially thought it bizarre but after reading it I think those covers work well with the story! My cover is part of the Atlantic Cult Classics series and there are five other books with similarly pretty covers. Have you read other Sofi Oksanen books?

[@ariannefowler455]

@@SluggishReader I have not read anything else by the author. I have looked, but it appears that her other works have not been translated in English.

[@SluggishReader]

@@ariannefowler455 I have Norma on my shelf - but I'm not sure if I'll get to that this year since I'm returning to school. 😅

[@williamlee5518]

I was very happy to find even one review of Les Enfants Terribles. I understand why you came away feeling disappointed. Cocteau is a brilliant writer but a bad novelist. If something necessary for the narrative doesn’t interest him, he just skips it to go on to the next dramatic scene (and those are fantastic). I did find its treatment of themes very insightful and satisfying, but I read the book first in French, and thought the English translation quite a poor one. A good literary translator could show the book for the little gem that it truly is.

[@sarah-roadworthy]

I remember enjoying Purge when I read it years ago. Funny my only vague recollections are scenes based in the kitchen. The Leopard has been on my shelf for a long time. I'm not sure if I want to hear your thoughts. What if you didn't like the book? The Xinran book sounded interesting. My library has mostly non-fiction written by her. The Book of Secrets sounds particularly interesting. I listened to Hell of a Book. I will wait for your thoughts before I tell you mine.

[@SluggishReader]

I guess I'm not surprised since the kitchen holds some significance in Purge. Many of the variant covers feature kitchens. As for The Leopard, I don't think I'm influential enough to affect anyone's thoughts, heheh.. I have not progressed much in that book, but so far I'm kinda liking it. It's a bit of a struggle navigating the foreign geographical setting, but that happens to me with every book taking place somewhere I'm not familiar anyway. Xinran apparently wrote a lot of nonfiction too, and I'm thinking of trying those out. And I finished Hell of a Book and I talked about it in my most recent reads video... So I guess you can share you thoughts now haha (I'm intrigued... since I saw your *gasp* Goodreads rating lol)

[@sarah-roadworthy]

@@SluggishReader I have opened up the atlas for many books. When characters travel from one city to another, I need to know what that looks like on a map! I'm way behind on my BT viewing. I'm sensing differing opinions on Hell of a Book....

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

Cocteau sounds like he should be an interesting figure, I know I once saw one of his movies and felt a bit meh about it. That idea about the inferiority of daughters has been entrenched - you would think it on the wane because not super relevant anymore, but the desire to perpetuate the family name remains strong. 🥮

[@SluggishReader]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry Which one of his movies did you see? He did seem kinda interesting to me. The desire to continue the family name can be pretty strong here where I live too. I don't have a family name (as do the rest of my family and "people") the idea of daughters being "less" because of that even in my community is pretty strange to me. 🤣

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@@SluggishReader It might have been his last one, but I’m really not sure.