Category Archives: World Literature

**Books translated from the original language to English**

Karna’s Wife: The Outcast’s Queen – Kavita Kané

(Reviewed by Ishita RC) I love mythologies. Indian mythologies and historical facts are my absolute favorites. The number of ways in which you can tell a story is the most fascinating feature of mythologies.The Mahabharata is one of those stories … Continue reading

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Women with Big Eyes – Angeles Mastretta, (Translated from the Spanish by Amy Schildhouse Greenberg)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “A shiver ran down Paulina Trasloheros’s back. This man was horrible, excessive, outrageous. To exorcise him, she would have to commit a string of sins for which she could never repent. Not even when he decided … Continue reading

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Fatale – Jean-Patrick Manchette, Afterword by Jean Echenoz, (Translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) ” I don’t tell them I’m a killer. I’m a woman, and they wouldn’t take me seriously. I tell them that I know a killer. Sometimes I let them assume that he is my lover. That … Continue reading

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Rupert: A Confession – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, (Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison )

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “She was my martyrdom, my masochism, and my sugar-sweet, shimmering Mira. She appeared like a reflection before my eyes the first time I saw her, she killed me when she was mine, and she finally brought … Continue reading

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A Corner of the World – Mylene Fernández Pintado (Translated from the Spanish by Dick Cluster)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “It doesn’t seem crazy to want to live in my country. Or there must be a lot of crazy people around. Or is it that I belong to a group you left out…? The group for … Continue reading

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The Oxford Murder – by Guillermo Martinez (Author), Sonia Soto (Translator)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Mathematicians collide with murder and mayhem in Guillermo Martínez’s thriller, The Oxford Murders. An un-named young Argentinean graduate student goes to Oxford University to study mathematics. One evening, he returns to the house where he’s renting … Continue reading

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The Black Spider – Jeremias Gotthelf (Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “And now the people where gripped by the ancient fear that the spider might carry off an unbaptized infant, the pledge of their old pact. The woman was beside herself, she had no trust in God, … Continue reading

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The Stonecutter – Camilla Läckberg (Translated by Steven T. Murray)

(reviewed by Renée Kay) I came across The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg while at the library picking up another book I had reserved. What caught my attention was that is was yet another Swedish mystery, which I can’t seem to get … Continue reading

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3 to Kill – Jean-Patrick Manchette(Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith)

Reviewed by JD Jung Acheter ce livre! Shit happens. OK, that’s probably an understatement as it relates to Georges Gerfaut. Then again, maybe not. Gerfaut, a rather ordinary 30-something businessman, discovers how twisted life can get in the late Jean-Patrick … Continue reading

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Mygale – Thierry Jonquet (Translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith)

Ah, revenge can be so sweet. Now mix it with obsession and a touch of madness, and it turns utterly twisted and bizarre.  Such is the case with the intense and fascinating novel, Mygale, written by the late French crime … Continue reading

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