![]() When he gets married, he finds himself digging into his father’s history and interiority, and finds complicity and darkness in the shadows of his own story. In A Heart So White Juan, a professional translator, finds himself often crafting words, tweaking messages, holding a power over language. Marías is one of Spain’s most celebrated novelists. A Heart So White by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa The result is a somber, poetic exploration into grief, family history, and silence in politics. While the story haunted Ybarra’s childhood, many of the details were hushed and kept silent until she decided to dig into their history after her mother’s death, unearthing newspaper articles and discovering as much of the truth as she could. In 1977, Ybarra’s grandfather was kidnapped by Basque separatists, went missing, and then was found murdered. This is a deeply affecting semi-autobiographical novel. The Dinner Guest by Gabriela Ybarra, translated by Natasha Wimmer Through the eyes of a young boy growing up, Rodoreda shows us these strange rituals and the attitudes of the people who enact them, and in an allegorical fashion, strikes at the harsh laws and restraint of Franco’s Spain. It’s a strange, twisting, lovely novel, written originally in Catalan, that gives a folkloric look into a small town that has rigid, bizarre, and often violent customs. I read Death in Spring on a beach in La Barceloneta, the breeze chilly and the sky a bluish grey. Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, translated by Martha Tennent I hope you, too, can dive into these books, whether it be someday in the future for your travels, or today to live through the pages. And others, I still have to read, saving them to spread over the next few months. Some of these I read after, during the pandemic, missing the glorious feeling of exploration, living vicariously through the novels. Some of these I read in Spain, with a glass of wine in the cobblestone maze of Barcelona’s Barri Gótic, or under the orange blossom trees in Seville. ![]() If you have recommendations, please share them with me on Twitter-I would love to hear them! It’s also worth noting that there are many fantastic authors and novels out there that I would have loved to dig into on my trip and on this list, but that are still untranslated, highlighting once again the importance of an international outlook for our reading lists. I should note that I attempted to make my list inclusive of authors of color, but struggled to find translated non-white authors writing in Spain. I included books written in Catalan and Galician, as they are important national identities of regions that have also pushed for independence. And when I went to Spain, I dug deep into lists of Spanish authors, of books to read before, during, and after my trip that were written by Spanish authors and were set in Spain. So when I went to Mexico City from Chicago, I read Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros when I went to England, I read Jane Austen. Photograph of Leah Rachel von Essen in Barcelona, by Oscar Mills, used with permission Now, when I travel somewhere, I want to read books not only set in the place, but written by someone who lived or was from there, preferably translated from the original language. That’s been true for a long time but in the last few years, as I became more aware of the lack of translated literature and the need to read more diversely, I made my plan even more particular. It’s always been the case that when I travel, I like to read novels that are region-specific. Twitter: All posts by Leah Rachel von Essen She is an avid traveler, a passionate fan of women’s basketball and soccer, and a lifelong learner. She was one of a select few bookstagrammers named to NewCity’s Chicago Lit50 in 2022. She writes passionately about books in translation, chronic illness and bias in healthcare, queer books, twisty SFF, and magical realism and folklore. Her blog While Reading and Walking has over 10,000 dedicated followers over several social media outlets, including Instagram. By night, she reviews genre-bending fiction for Booklist, and writes regularly as a senior contributor at Book Riot. By day, Leah Rachel von Essen is the editor-in-chief of Chicago Booth Magazine at the University of Chicago.
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