Recommend me a well translated book!

[Reedplayer]

Ages ago I remember reading a thread about books that were translated really well. Can anyone find the thread (I’ve searched but no luck). Or failing that, suggest any good ones? Bonus points if it’s detective fiction!

I’m currently working my way through Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino but it’s hard going because the English is just a bit clunky. Good story though.

The Leïla Slimani books are very well translated :)

Both fantasy but
Nightwatch series by Sergei Lukyanenko (you can probably buy them all second hand now if you're concerned about a Russian receiving royalties)
The Mirror Visitor series by Christelle Dabos (from French)

Well translated but style of writing might be a bit marmite
The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo

Donato Carrisi's books are excellently translated. But don't read them in the dark! They are detective / thriller fiction - but do make sure that you read them in the right order as some are a sequence. They are some of the twistiest books I have ever read, and have me on the edge of my seat without fail.

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/donato-carrisi/

The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo

I know the translator. She's really great! She also did The Cat Who Saved Books and Death on Gokumon Island.

Pushkin Press tends to have excellent translations

Thanks everyone. Keep them coming!

The Camilla Lackberg books about Erika and Patrik

Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf is very good!

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (and other books by him) - beautifully translated (not that I have read the original Spanish version!)

Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey makes it very readable

Also I second the PP re Seamus Heaney and Beowulf

Victoria Cribb's translations are beautifully written - she translated from Icelandic. Arnaldur Indridasson and Sjón are two authors she has translated (the former wrote a series of detective novels and the latter is a more poetic mind of wrote - both highly recommended).

The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, originally in Egyptian Arabic.

Was this originally written in Arabic? Fabulous book! I never realized.

I'd also recommend Isabelle Allende's books (though they're not detective novels)

Any Isabel Allende - just magical.

Natsuo Kirino books. An acquired taste but I really like them. Not enough of her work has been translated.

This was shortlisted for the Booker rather than the international booker and so it musthave been written in English. Fab book, I really enjoyed it although I think the historical sections were better than the modern day sections.

The visit of the Royal physician. Can't remember who wrote it, think the bloke is swedish.

I think you have to get to know which translators you like. Although that's easier for widely spoken languages like Spanish than for more obscure languages.

Edith Grossman translates from Spanish, her Don Quixote is reckoned to be the best modern translation, she's also translated a few of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels. Tiina Nunnally translates from Scandinavian languages and is very good. I'll have a think. Some writers always work with the same translator (e.g. Elena Ferrante, although the translation of her Neopolitan Quartet has been criticised for being clunky. Still very readable though).

How about Pierre Lemaitre's Camille Verhoeven series? Detective/crime fiction translated from French.

@JaninaDuszejko d'oh, you're right 🤦🏻‍♀️

I think what's confused me is how the author explores the roots of many Arabic words so that Arabic itself is a theme in the book, making me misremember that it was not, in fact, written in Arabic. It's a good book though