Category Archives: World Literature

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

Lives on Fire – Rosie Scott

Posted on January 17, 2020 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) When I travel to a new city, I love to pop into independent bookstores. So, when I ran across Hard To Find Bookshop, a second-hand bookstore in Auckland, New Zealand, I just had to enter this … Continue reading →

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My Neighbour Osama Bin Laden – Yslar Tatuky

Posted on August 31, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned What happens when one puts Osama bin Laden and Salman Rushdie at the same dinner table? Yslar Tatuky is such a person as he has grand, though idealistic, hopes for humanity in his novel, My … Continue reading →

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The 6:41 to Paris – Jean-Philippe Blondel, (Translated from the French by Alison Anderson)

Posted on August 10, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “What I feel now is pure hatred. And that surprises me—because I’m not like that, particularly toward someone I haven’t seen in what must be at least twentyfive years…I can’t help but sneak looks at him.” … Continue reading →

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Sleepless Night – Margriet de Moor (Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty)

Posted on July 24, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The love, the hatred, the fascination with everything he had or had not done, fascination that spiraled into fervid curiosity. Into obsession. Into madness.” A teacher combats her insomnia by baking cakes in the middle of … Continue reading →

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Amsterdam Noir (Akashic Noir Series) -René Appel and Josh Pachter (Editors), Josh Pachter (Translator)

Posted on May 22, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “It wasn’t until he’d come to see me a dozen times that he told me he wanted to concentrate on women who looked like the victims who’d escaped from him his first time around.” This man … Continue reading →

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Broken Humanity – Karine Vivier (Author), Kirsty Catriona Olivant (Translator)

Posted on April 18, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Heidi A. Swan) Reader beware: this story is about people involved in child kidnapping and child deaths. Wanting to turn away from such a topic, I was lured inside, like a child promised treats which can only be … Continue reading →

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Marrakech Noir (Akashic Noir Series) – Yassin Adnan (Editor)

Posted on March 3, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Morocco has no tradition of noir literature.” “Marrakechis are willing to read every type of story about the city—except those that are garbed in black.” Yassin Adnan, the editor of Marrakech Noir had a difficult time … Continue reading →

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House of Beauty- Melba Escobar (Author), Elizabeth Bryer (Translator)

Posted on February 13, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I also hate the ladies of Bogotá among whom I count myself, though I do all I can to stand apart. I hate their habit of using the term “Indians” to refer to people they consider … Continue reading →

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Death in Shangri-La (A Dotan Naor Thriller Book 1) – Yigal Zur (translated from Hebrew by Sara Kitai

Posted on January 17, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Would I have taken the bet if I’d known that as a result Israelis would be murdered, innocent people would die, the popular Israeli image would be shattered, India and Pakistan would be on the verge … Continue reading →

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Sydney Noir (Akashic Noir Series)- John Dale (Editor)

Posted on January 8, 2019 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Noir is as much a part of Sydney’s character as frangipanis and cockroaches, rusted iron lace and sandstone terraces, torrential rain and potholed roads.” “Crime and Sydney have always been inseparable: a deep vein of corruption … Continue reading →

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