There may be more adventurous ways to expand your literary horizons, culturally speaking, than by relying upon the United Kingdom-based Booker Foundation to release its list of excellent works of fiction from abroad that have been translated into English. You could, for instance, learn the foreign language and read one in the original version.
But who has the time—or the intellectual stamina—to do that? Fortunately for us less ambitious lit lovers, the six books on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize not only emerged in early April, but the administrators of the prize once again have mounted two-minute videos on YouTube of dramatic readings from them given by some well-known UK authors and performers. The top prize for 2025, which will be announced on May 20, will net the equivalent of more than $66,000 in English pounds for its writer and translator to evenly split and doubtless increase the book’ sales receipts here and abroad.
Here are the hopeful contenders:
“On the Calculation of Volume I,” by Danish author Solvej Balle and translated by Barbara J. Haveland, is the first book of a series of seven (though four others have already been written), this one involving a protagonist, Tara Selter, who relives the single day of Nov. 18 over and over again for an entire year. Her predicament is brought to life in a short film featuring British actress Lucy Boynton, who has multiple credits on both sides of the Atlantic, and whom you may remember as starring in 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” opposite Rami Malik.
“Small Boat,” by French author Vincent Delecroix and translated by Helen Stevenson, is narrated by a woman who took distress calls from migrants in a dinghy on their way to England, who wrongly informed them they needed to direct their pleas to British authorities, and all but two of the 29 of them perished. Its dramatic reading is by Omari Douglas, a British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Olivier-nominated actor also in the Netflix series “Black Doves” opposite Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw.
“Under the Eye of the Big Bird,” by Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Asa Yoneda, is a novel set in a dystopian future in which humans on the verge of extinction gathered in small settlements across the globe are dependent upon interbreeding with alien beings for their ultimate survival. Video narrator Rosalind Eleazar is a Screen Actors Guild-nominated actor embarking on her fifth season as the character Louisa Guy in Apple TV’s hit series “Slow Horses.”
“Perfection,” by Italian author Vincenzo Latronico and translated by Sophie Hughes, revolves around a well-off expat couple living the good life in Berlin who become increasingly dissatisfied with the emptiness of their existence and embark upon a radical attempt at change. Giving the dramatic reading is Jamie Demetriou, a leading comic actor in the UK who played one of the Mattel execs in Greta Gewig’s “Barbie” and has numerous screen credits with such actors as Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Depp, Will Ferrell, Emma Stone and Elle Fanning.
“Heart Lamp” is by Banu Mushtaq, a lawyer, activist and author from India who writes in the Kannada language; Deepa Bhasthi is her translator. Her collection of 12 short stories depicting the lives of ordinary women and girls in Southern India is filled with vivid characters that engagingly display the author’s keen understanding of human nature. The video actress is Ambika Mod, an improv comedian and award-winning actress starring as Emma Morley in the Netflix series “One Day.”
“A Leopard-Skin Hat” by French author Anne Serre, translated by Mark Hutchinson, is a moving novel about a male narrator and his long, complicated and intense friendship with Fanny, who suffers from mental disturbances. The video narrator is Peter Serafinowicz, an actor, comedian, director and screenwriter who played the title role in the Amazon comedy “The Tick” and William F. Buckley Jr. in HBO’s “While House Plumbers” with Woody Harrelson.
To view the narrations, visit the Booker’s YouTube page here.
In California we read …: Whodnunits! That is what we have gleaned from a study conducted by tech website Cloudwards (and publicized by mentalfloss.com) on literary preferences and reading habits of people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. According to the research, which collected Google Trends numbers over a 12-month period (then filtered those further to delete what people were watching on TV or at the movies), the most popular genre is romance fiction, which came out on top in a whopping 22 states, many in America’s heartland. (Don’t turn up your noses, lit snobs; Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” fits the bill.)
General fiction and poetry shared top billing for the second most favored genre, with nine states each. Fantasy came in third, attracting the most readers in six states, and family-themed literature followed, with the most devoted following in Iowa, Mississippi and South Carolina. Intriguingly enough (at least to me), there were two states that stood proudly alone in their dedication to a particular genre. Massachusetts, which has been drenched in it since the country’s founding, is particularly fond of history, while we Californians, ensconced in the land of Sunset Boulevard dreams and glamour, gravitate towards mystery.
Author alert: Fans of Shelby Van Pelt’s best-selling “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” about an uncommon relationship between an octopus and a widow who is also still mourning the disappearance of her son, will be heartened to hear she is appearing at Rakestraw Books in Danville at 7 p.m. May 15, in a joint appearance with Simon Van Booy, whose novel “Sipsworth” also involves a widow who has an unusual animal encounter—with a mouse. It is a ticketed event with a $22 price tag, but that allows you to bring a friend and nab a paperback copy of Van Pelt’s book.
Hooked on Books is a monthly column by Sue Gilmore on current literary buzz and can’t-miss upcoming book events. Look for it here every last Thursday of the month.