My third reading resolution for 2009 was to ‘read more world and translated fiction’. Last year I read a dozen which were all Nordic or French except for Blindness by Saramago. This year I did a bit better…
Eighteen in translation, plus a sprinkling from parts other than the UK or USA. I spread my reading around the EU a lot more too including novels written in German, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish. Missing this year are novels from Canada, Japan and Eastern Europe – maybe more Margaret Atwood, Murakami and Stefan Zweig for next year to redress the balance.
RESOLUTION #3 – PASSED!!!
I loved "Blindness". It was so compelling, I didn't even notice the strange punctuation and lack of chapter.
If you want to broaden your scope and add some Russian literature, try 'Death and the Penguin' by Andrey Kurkov; it's a quick, sweet, sad and funny read.
Steerforth – Blindness is probably in my top twenty books ever. I shall try to read some more Saramago this year.Anna – I actually have the Kurkov in the TBR mountain – I shall try and locate it and read it pronto.