The Most Recommended Books is a term Bookdao uses to indicate books that are worth reading. Through our data processing tools, the book lists are formed by professional readers’ collective opinions, rather than sales figures. For approach and methodology, see What Is a Good Book. The translated literature category contains popular literature works introduced from overseas. This month's list features 20 books by authors from 9 different countries in Europe, America, and Asia, including Abdulrazak Gurnah, Nobel Laureate in Literature, as well as Ursula Le Guin, a master of fantasy literature, with a variety of subjects, from short narrative fiction to fantasy, as well as essays and poetry.
By the Sea
Author:[UK]Abdulrazak Gurnah
Publisher: Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
One of the first five works of Abdulrazak Gurnah published by Shanghai Translation House, By the Sea is the story of Saleh Omar, a middle-aged man who arrives in England from Zanzibar at the end of the 20th century to seek political asylum. Upon arrival in England, Omar is given a temporary stay in a small seaside town, where he is approached by Latif Mahmoud, the son of a former enemy, which leads to a feud between the two families. In a hostile foreign country, Omar and Latif open up their hearts and memories of the family feud. The truth gradually emerges, and the two finally reached a reconciliation.
When We Cease to Understand the World
Author: [Chile] Benjamin Labatut
Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
A masterpiece by contemporary Chilean writer Benjamin Labatut, this book contains five short stories based on real people. The text crosses the boundaries between history, memoir, essay, and fiction, creating a unique narrative style. The book mainly tells how Fritz Haber, the inventor of poison gas, Karl Schwarz, the contributor to the Blackholes Theory, Schrödinger, who got tuberculosis, and Heisenberg, a genius physicist, and other scientific giants, like Prometheus, bring fire to mankind.
The Finding and the Losing
Author: [US]Ursula Le Guin
Publisher: Henan Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Ursula Le Guin has won multiple prizes and accolades from the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to the Newbery Honor, the Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and PEN/Malamud Awards. She has had her work collected over the years, but never as a complete retrospective of her longer works as represented in the wonderful The Found and the Lost.
An Odyssey: A Father, a son, and an Epic
Author: [US] Daniel Mendelsohn
Publisher: Shanghai People's Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Daniel Mendelsohn is an American author, literary critic, translator, and professor of literature from Princeton University. To what extent do we know our parents? A father and a son's Odyssey to light the classic literature candle into reality. In the intertwined gyrations of time and space, the story of a father, a son and an epic slowly unfolds.
Girl, Woman, Other
Author: [UK] Bernadine Evaristo
Publisher: Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
Girl, Woman, Other, winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women. From avant-garde and pioneering playwrights, to serious and conservative school teachers, to non-binary gender socialite celebrities, there are a wide range of diverse and vibrant voices. Their words shine brightly, but they are often ignored by society.
Cursed Bunny
Author: [Korea] Bora Chung
Publisher: Guangxi Normal University Press
Publication date: September 2022
Half a century with Borges
Author: [Peru] Mario Vargas Llosa
Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Can You Hear Me?: An NHS Paramedic's Encounters with Life and Death
Author: [UK] Jack Jones
Publisher: Beijing Daily Press
Publication date: September 2022
The Mutations
Author: [Mexico] Jorge Comensal
Publisher: Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Yu Weon the Survivor
Author: [Korea] Baek On Yu
Publisher: Jieli Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
The White Hotel
Author: [UK]D.M. Thomas
Publisher: Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
Miss Eliza's English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship
Author: [UK] Annabel Abbs
Publisher: China Translation Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
Gentle Certainty
Author: [Poland] Halina Poświatowska
Publisher: Guangxi Normal University Press
Publication date: September 2022
Ulugh Beg: The Astronomer of Samarkand
Author: [France] Jean-Pierre Luminet
Publisher: Shanghai People’s Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Why Fish Don’t Exist
Author: [US] Lulu Miller
Publisher: Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: September 2022
Sacrifice
Author: [Japan] Nanae Aoyama
Publisher: Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
The Silence
Author: [US]Don DeLillo
Publisher: Yilin Publishing House
Publication date: October 2022
The First Footsteps of the Universe
Author: [France] Jules Supervielle
Publisher: Guangxi People’s Publishing House
Publication date: November 2022
To Rehabilitate the Garden of Eden
Author: [US] Sharon Olds
Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: July 2022
Something Happened
Author: [US] Joseph Heller
Publisher: Yilin Publishing House
Publication date: November 2022